Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-08-26
Nation Has ''Tamely Submitted
to Seeing the Weak, Whom
We Have Covenanted to Pro-
tect, WrOnged."
CONDEMNS BRUTAL GERMANY
Tells Amateur Soldiers at Platts-
burgh That MunitiOn Makers
Should Be Encouraged so
That We May BE Able to Hold
Our Own When Peril Comes"

Plattsburgh, y. Y, Aug. 25.-Theodore
Roosevelt in an address tonight at the
military instruction camp here declared
that for 13 months the United states had
'paved an ignohe part among the ma
tons" in that it had "tamely submitted to
seeing the weak. whom we had covenant
ed to protect, wronEed." and had seen
our own men, women and children mur-
dered on the high seas without action on
our part
The former President condemned the
government for having mot taken the
smallest step in the way of preparedness
to defend our own rights" Germany ne
condemned as utterly brutal and ruth
less in its disregard of international NOR
nlity" and declared that it would he
base abandonment Of morality" for Amer
ican manufacturers Of munitions of war
80 refuse to make shipments for the use
of the armies that are striving to restore
Belgium to its own people"
Munition makers who refused to make
such shipments should be put. he said.
on a roll of dishonor." He added that
they should he encouraged so that we
may be able to hold our own when the
hour of peril comes tC us I'm our turn"
His speech follows in part:
Free citizens should he allowed to do
their own fighting. The professional paci-
fcist is as much out of place in democ-
racy as is the poltroon himself; and he ~
no better citizen than the poltroon. Prob.
ably no body Of citizens in the United
States during the last five years wrought
so efficiently for national decadence and
international degradation as the profess
sional paci6cists. the peace-at-any-pricc
men, who have tried to teach our people
that silly all-inclusivc arbitrat tion trea ties
and the utterance Of fatuous platitudes at
peace congresses are substitutes for ade-
1uate military preparedness.
MEN DO NOT SPRING TO ARMS
"tnder the conditions of modern war
fare it is the widest nonsense to talk
Of men sprnging to arms in mass un-
less they have been taught how to act
In mass and how to use the arms to
which they spring. For l3 months
America has played an iSnoble part
among the nations. We have tamely
submitted TO seeing the weak. whom
We had covenanted to protect. wrongcd.
We have seen our own men, women and
children murdered on the high seas with
out action on our part During this
time our nation has not taken the
smallest step in the way of prepared
ness to defend our own rights. Yet
these y months have made evident the
lamentahle fact that force is more domi-
nant now in the affairs of the world
than ever before; that the most powerful
of modern military nations is utterly
brutal sand ruthless in its disregard of
International morality, and that righte-
BUSINESS divorced from force is utterly
1utlle.
Ihe government has not paid one
dollar toward your direct expenses. In
asmuch as we as nation have done
nothing whatever for national defense
during the past l3 months, the time when
during al! our history 1t was most neces-
safY to prepare for self-dcfense, ii is
well that private individuals should
have tried, however insuffcently, to
provide some kind of substitute for
proper governmental action. The army
officers and enlisted men have put all
Food Americans under fresh debt by
what they have done in connection with
thls camp and we owe much to the
private citizens who have advanced the
money without which the camp could
not nave peeh held. But you men have
had 10 puN your own uniforms; you have
had 10 spend money in 81 different ways;
IN other words, you have had to pay for
the privilege OF learning how to serve
your country
EVERY MAN POTENTIAL, SOLDIER.
This means that for everv oro ma,
like yourselves who can arford +, coma
here there are a hundred oouollv ,ood
American citizens. oouallv n,,rio,ic ,,bo
would like to come and are unobIe to
It is undemocratic that the vo,np