Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-03-31
Peace With Honor Only.


We most earnestly desire peace with
all nations: we will buy peace from
none. In the memorable words of the
immortal Pinckney. millions for defense.
but not one cent for tribute" When We
were feeble folk, with only five six
millions of people and with very little
wealth, the high-souled Jefferson scorn-
fully refused to pay tribute to the pirates
of the Barbary coast, and, though a life
long lover of peace, sent American men
ofwar to shell them out of their holes.
Now. being the richest and most pow
erful nation on the globe, with a popua-
ton of 100 eco, 900 Souls-the very flower
of the human race-we are asked to grant
to Great Britain, whom We detied and de-
feated in our infancy, and whom de-
fed again and defeated again in our early
youth in the war of 1Sl2-properly called
"our second war of Independence
cessions grounded in injustice and humil-
iating in character--claims for which con-
cessions had been abandoned by Great
Britain until Senator lIlihu Root made
speech upholding the contentious of that
foreign REPRESENTATIONS which had
been fatty rejected by a President of the
United States and his Secretary of State.
There is no tale in the Arabian Nights
or even in Munchausen utterly in
credible as that historic fact Why
should we grant Great Britain de-
mand which she had abandoned prior
| speech? No sufficient reason has ever
| been vouchsafed to us, and none ever
| will be. because it is an impossibility
| in nature. Yes. we desire peace with
| all nations; but il is the sort of peace
| which Disraeli boosted he returned
| with from the congress of Berlin to
| London, peace with honor" for Sc
| curing which he was made an earl
| and further distinguished by the Gar
| ter. In his famous first inaugural, for
| Inf iptr no Iayt hnTr1:I
jefferson puts the same idea in these
| words, familiar to us all: Peace, com
| Inerce and honest friendship with all
nations, entangling alliances with
| none
To Fight for Rights.
| We want war with no nation. but
| rather than surrender our right to
| our complete sovereignty over every
| square foot of our globe do
| main we will cheerfully and courage
! ously face a world in arms.
| The amazing request of the President
| for the repeal, like The peace of God
| passeth all understanding. If he has
| any reasons which are not utterly un-
| tenable and which impelled him to
| make the request, he has not vouch-
| safed them to us as a body or. so far
as ! am informed, to any member of
| the House. If he has adequate rea-
| sons and did not deem it prudent to
| make them known to the world at
! large, he could have communicated
| them to US in secret session. With all
| due Difference to the President II
| seems to me that we are entitled tc
| those reasons before boiling d demo-
| cratic platform. which is generally
| considered an indefensible. an extra
| hazardous performance, frequently
| fatal in its results.
| In his message one reason assigned by
the President was In these words: That
| exemption constitutes mistaken eco
| nomic policy from every point of view"
| If II is "a mistaken economic policy
| now, was it not "a mistaken economic
| policy during the campaign of 1912, when
| we ALL under the lead of the President
himself, Endorsed it as part of the demo
| cratic creed, on which we appealed for
votes? If SO, why did the President in
| dorse it then? 1t cannot be that a prop
| ositiOn which good before the cleo
ton can be SO awfully bad after the cleo
| ton.
But it is not "a mistaken economic
| policy" II so. is not our policy from the
| very beginning of shutting all foreign
| mistaken economic policy? Do not ouI
| rules of charging foreign vessels foI
| wharfage. dockage, piotaee. and so forth
| while charging our own vessels no fees
| or smaller fees, also constitute "a mis-
| taken economic policy if the President
| is correct? In short, if he is correct. Is
| not anything we can do to give our own
| people any economic advantage whatso-
! ever in the race for commercial suprem'
| acY"a mistaken economic policy?