The Alaska daily empire., 1915-11-23
prMocRAcY ARMaD FoR DEFENSE
lNnw York World.l

(NeW York World.)
 would not feel that discharging the
 solemn obligation owe the country were not
 to speak in terms of the deepest solemnity or
 the urgency and necessity of preparing our
 selves to guard and protect the rights and pfl-
 vlieres of our people, our sacred heritage ot
 the fathers who struggled to make us an ln-
 dependent Nation (From President Wilson's
 Manhattan Club speech)
 Wm any member of Congress publicly challenge the wisdom and the patriotism Of the President In his plea for democracy armed in aeltdeiense 10 Vin' dicate our right to independent and unmoested ac- tion?"
 wn any leader of public opinion assume the grave moral responsibility Of seeking to defeat the programme of preparedness which the President has presented for the protection of the American peope3
 Mir Wilson induges in glorrcaton of force for forces sake He has no dreams of military conquest or imperial destiny. What he sees is the Republic steadfast all the principles and ideals of the hepuo c and ready to maintain those principles and ideals in the face of any challenge from without within
 Like the historian that he is. the President is fac ing the facts of @ world fin which the impossible has become the actual The Armageddon of the nations which could not be frought is being fought torce everywhere speaks with loud and imperious voice in titanic struggle of governments and in the pre- seryaton of nations institutions and life the only an swer to force is force The situation that exists s not Go our liking. but did not create it and we cannot change 1t. What can do Is to make sure that no aggressor will care to pay the price or invading our peace and security.
 What the President is seeking to do s to harmon ze adequate preparedness for defense with the trad tions of the Republic. His programme does not mean swollen armaments that will forever hang like mill stones from the neck of labor and industry. It does not mean turning the country Into armed camp It does not mean departure from any of tho historical ideals and principles of the Republic It simply means making defense adequate without changing its spirit or purpose It Is not preparedness for the ammu ntonmakers but preparedness for the people. n the Presidents action in this matter is not the discharge "a solemn obligation then no solemn obligation can ever rest upon the chief magistrate of the Nation
 1t is fitting too that Mir. Wilson should have coupled defense enemies abroad with defense with enemies at home Nothing since the Civil War has brought such shock to patriotic Americans as the discovery that we are not Q united people, SO firmly belieyed' that there exists body of so-caled Americans who speak "alen sympathies and who have forgotten that their chief and only alegience was in the great Gov ernment under which they live"
 No question of maintaining the rights and dignity of the United arisen since the beginning or the European conflict but 1t has been complicated by the moral treason of who have been ready to sac rice their country to the military necessities or foreign country.
 Congress can deal with the national defense from enemies abroad. but only the American people them selves can deal with the national defense from traitor citizenship that forgets It's allegiance to the RepuD lie It's devotion to allen governments that 1t has fore sworn.
 The Liberty and Union" that Webster goriiied in his reply to Hayne has come to have new meaning in the light of this war The question of Liberty and Un- ion of States was settled fifty years by blood and iron The Is Liberty and Union of the Amer people That too must be settled and settled for ali time