The Washington herald., 1914-04-01

ent wilson Is uepenulnB 10 push tne pro
ess.
it. no possible misconstruction Of 1t. I
refuse absolutely to be a party to any
such performance. Tell 1t not in Gath.
proclaim II not in the streets OF Askalon
that the Democratic party will not keep
faith with confding public"
Scream of American Eagle.
From this point on the American Eagle
was screamed hoarse.
| I'VE 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 a
feeble folk, with only five or six millions
OF people and with very little wealth.
the high-souled jefferson scornfully re-
| fused to pay tribute to the pirates OF
/ the Barbary coast. and. though life
| long lover OF peace. sent American men,
| o'-war TO shell them out Of their holes.
Now. being the richest and most pow
| erful nation on the globe. with a popula-
ton Of 100000 souls-the very flower
| Of the human race-we are asked to grant
TO Great Britain. whom we defied and
| defeated in our infancy. and whom We
| defied again and defeated again in our
early youth in the war OF lsl2-properly
| called our second war Of independence
| concessions grounded in injustice and
| humiliating in chsracter-clalms for which
| concessions had been abandoned by Great
| Britain until Senator Elihu Root made a
| speech uphOlding the contentious of that
| foreign power-contentions which had
been fatty rejected by President of
| the United States and his Secretary of
State. There is no tale in the Arabian
Nights or even in Munchausen so utterly
| incredible as that historic fact Why
should We grant Great Britain 4 de-
| mand which she had abandoned prior to
| that widely bruited Senatorial speech?
I No sufficient reason has ever been vouch-
safed to us, and none ever will be, be-
| cause IL is an impossibility in nature.
Yes. we desire peace with all nations:
but it is the sort OF peace which Disraeli
hoasted he returned with from the Con-
gress of Berlin to London Peace with
honor. for securing which he was made
an Earl and further distinguished by the
| Garter. In his famous first inaugural.
formulating the Democratic creed,
| Thomas jefferson puts the same idea in
these words. familiar to us all:
=" Peace. commerce. and honest friend
ship with all nations, entangling alliances
with none
War Is Not Wanted.
we want war with no nation. hut
rather than surrender our right to our /
complete sovereignty over every square |
foot of our globe-encircling domain We
will cheerfully and courageOusly face a |
world in arms"
At this point the Speakers remarks |
took a more argumentative turn. and his !
controversy was frankly with the Presi- |
dent.
THE amazing request of the President |
for the repeal, like the peace OF God, |
passeth all understanding. IL he has |
any reasons which are not utterly unten- |
able and which impelled him to make the !
request, he has not vouChsafed them to |
US as a body or. so far as l am informed, |
TO any member of the House If he has |
adequate reasons and did not deem IT
proudent TO make them known to the
world at large. he could have communi-
Gated them to us in secret session.
If he has any tenabIe reasons in the
world. why in the name of heaven, didn't |
he communicate them TO me. l think as
Speaker of the House l had a right to
know them.
with all due Difference to the Presi-
dent. it seems to me that we are entitled
to those reasons before boiling a Demo-
cratic platform, which is generally con-
sidered an indefensible. an extra-hazard-
Gus performance. frequently fatal in its
results.
In his message one reason assigned
by the President was in these words:
That exemption constitutes a mis-
taken economic 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 1872 when
We all. under the lead of the President
himself, indorsed it as part of the DEM
Ocrstic creed. on which we appealed for
votes? II so. why did the President in
dorse it then? 1t cannot be that a pro-
position which was good before the elec-
ton can be so awfully bad after the
election.
Facts of History.
But it is not a mistaken economic
policy II so. is not our policy from the
very beginning OF shutting all foreign
ships out of our coastwise trade also a
mistaken economic policy? Do not our
rules of charging foreign vessels for
wharfage, dOckage pilotage, and so forth.
while charging our own vessels no fees
or smaller fees. also constitute a misi
taken economic policy il the President
is correct? In short. IL 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?
Most assuredly the mistaken econom-
ic policy reason of the President Is un-
tenable and fades away before the stub
born facts of our history.
Now may the God of our fathers who
nerved 100000 backwoods Americans to
fling their gauge of battle into the face
Of the mightiest monarch in the world,
who guided the hand of Jefferson in writ
ing the charter Of liberty. who sustain
ed Washington and his ragged and starv-
ing army amid the awful horrors OF
Valley Forge and who gave them COM
plete victory on the blood-stained heights
Of Yorktown. may He lead members
to vote so as to prevent this stupendous
folly-this unspeakable humiliation of the
American republic
The conclusion Of Mr.. Clarks speech