The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-09-22
ROOSEVELT


TO wrong MS or by bullying small and
weak nations who have done us NO
wrong.
viii Not Submit 70 Injustice.
"Thc American people desire to do
Justice and to act with frank gencr'
osity toward all the other nations Of
mankind. but err greatly i'm my
Judgment of my countrymen il they
are willing to submit to wrong ana
Injustice. Again and again in the
past they have shown, and rightly
shown, that when the choice lay be-
tween righteousness and peace they
chose righteousness, Just exactly as
they also chose righteousness when
the choice lay between righteousness
and war
Mr.. Roosevelt cites the revolutions
airy, war. the civil war and the Span
ish-American war as instances in
which eve put righteousness above
peace" He also cites the existing
arbitration treaties between the Unit
ed States, Great britain and France
as better than the proposed treaty,
because they make no false pretenses
and exclude questions affecting our
vital interests, independence or honor
"Justiciable" a Confusing Word.
He continues:
The proposed arbitration treaty is
defective, in the first place, because
it is not straightforward. 1t sets forth
that all justiciable' matters shall be
1arbitrated. The language both Of
the opponents and the defenders If
the treaty shows that even among our
own people, and before a cause for
applying the treaty has arisen, there
is hopeless confusion as to what jus
ticiabe' means Such being the case,
it can be imagined how useless would
be the effort to define 'justiciable'
when a serious conflict has actually
arisen and blood was up and passion
high. The wording of the treaty l2
so loose, it so lacks eXplicitness, as
to allow one set of its advocates tol
announce that it binds us to arbitratel
everything and another set to say
that under it we would not have to ar
bitrate anything we did not wish TO.
Now, no moral movement is perma'
nently helped by hypocrisy
Monroe Doctrine, Plat Amendment.
Does the proposal in the treaty,
if entered into with various nations,
bind us to arbitrate the Monroe doc.
trine, the Plat amendment with
Cuba the payment of state bonds toI
European bondholders, the question
whether various European countries
are entitled to the same concessions
that Canada is to receive under the
reciprocity agreement, the right of
other foreign nations to interfere IN
Panama, our own right to exclude any
immigrants whom we choose to eX-
clude? If these questions arose, am
sure our representatives would, pri-
vately or publicly, inform foreign
powers land, indeed, would have TO
inform foreign pOwers) that the Amer |
lean people would never be able to
abide by an agreement to arbitrate
them; in which case the only proper
course to follow is that followed by
the Senate committee and to say in
honest fashion that there are certain ,
questions which this nation will not
arbitrate at the dictation OF an ouL-
side body. Critics of the Senate IN
this matter talk as if it had 'usurped'
a right in reality the Senate has
merely performed a duty
Will Not Submit to Outsiders.
1--WE, the people of the United
States, cannot and will not surrender
to outsiders the powers to determine
' neither or not we are fit to decide
for ourselves what are our vital
needs, and what are the policies
proper for meeting these needs. In
other words, uncle sam does not II !
tend to wrong any one, but neither
does he intend to bind himself, if his
pocket is picked, his home burglar
lied, or his face slapped, to 'arbitrate' /
with the wrongdoer; and as long as
he does not intend to bind himself nj
would be offensive hypocrisy for him
to say that he will so bind himself.
1T is our duty 50 far as now pos
sible, so far as human nature in the
present day world will permit, TO try
to provide peaceful substitutes for
war as method for the settlement
Of international disputes But prog
ress in this direction is merely hin
dered by the folly that believes I'M
putting peace above righteouenesa;
urbiIa II 10 Of course even WOTgc 10