The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1915-04-28
MUST NOT FORGET
WILSON SAYS NATION SHOULD REGARD
ITS IDEALS
LF-POSSESSION NEEDED

President Address Annual Congress
of ID. A. r. in Convention Assem-.
bled at Was;lington-Pleads for
Preservation Of Past Traditions Of
the Republic.
The need of self-possession, calm
ness, and judicial temperament by
the United States in the present world
crisis was urged by President Wilson
in a speech before the opening ses-
sion of the oath Continental congress
of the Daughters Of the American
Revolution, which convened in Wash
ington Monday.
The president scid self-possession
was the supreme test Of nations
mettle, and urged the congress to
rally to the cause of righteousness,
administered by those who hold their
minds quiet and judge upon princi-
pie.
| Following the presidents speech
Am mbassador Jusserand Of France told
the congress that the United States
had behaved in the European crisis
20 as to command the gratitude and
tha1kfulness OF the world.
eve in France" he said, "have
| learned to know what the American
heart is made of-the pure American
gold that is in it. I am glad that I
may affirm the thanks of France for
the generosity Of America-the neu-
| tral United StcteS'
The ambassador said that the
Chief question in the European
struggles was the same problem that
confronted America in Revolutionary
times.
1--WE thought we had solved the
problem Of human liberty" he added
"But it agSin confronts US. It will
be solved now just rs it was solved in
former times, as it was solved in the
trenches at Yorktown"
| The presidents address follows:
"In these times when unusual
things are happening and there are
many queries as to the future, I sup
tpose that those associations whose
business it is to commemorate the
past must be asking themselves what
part they have in the future.
"Our business Of course is not
merely the business Of remembering
and reverencing the traditions of the
country that we love. There is nc
dignity in tradition which has lost
it's practical energy, and our interest
in traditions is that they should beal
fruitage in the present and still
richer fruitage in the future.
! Your society is particularly in
tended to commemorate the circum
stances of the birth of this nation
but I take it for granted that it is
not your thought to create an eXclu
sive company of those whose recol
Elections by heredity run back to thai
great day, but that your thought is
also of the constant rebirth of the ma
. ton.
"In a peculiar degree the United
States is to be reborn from genera
ton to generation, because renewed
out of all the sources of human en-
!, ergy in the world. There is here E
great melting pot in which we must
compound precious metal. Thai
metal is the metal Of nationality, anc
if you will not think I am merel!
d playing upon words, would like t
spell the word metal in two ways
For it is just the mettle of this ma
ton that we are now Eost interested
lin.
There are many tests by which {
!: nation makes proof of its greatness
but it seems to me the supreme tes
is self-possession, the power to resis
excitement, to think calmly, to think
in moments Of difficulty as clearly a:
, it would think in moments OF ease
to- be absolutely master of itself anG
of its fortunes.
Therefore, it seems to be that the
object of traditions such as this so
ciety cherishes and means to assist il
iperpetuating is to show US the base:
of principle upon which we shall keel
our poise. We are interested in the
United States, politically speaking, ir
nothing but human liberty. We are
not interested in policies Of govern
ment for their own sake.
"Such ideals can not be maintained
with steadiness Of view amidst con
test and excitement and what I an
constantly hoping is that every grea1
influence, such as you ladies exercise
for example, will be exercised to pro
duce the sober second thought upon
every critical matter that arises.
| "I venture to say that if there
should ever be discovered better
Il form of government than the Demo
cratic, we should have to adopt it
because it was better; for our object
is not to stick in the bark, our object
is not merely to preserve forms, bui
to preserve precious essence, AMI
that is the essence of equal oppor.
tunity and essential human rights.
'The first thought is apt to pro
ceed from impulse, is apt to proceed
from prejudice, from prediction,
from some transient sympathy, but
we can not afford 70 sympathize with
anybody or anything except the pass
| ing generations of human beings
America forgets what she was born
! for when she does exactly the way
| every other nation does-whoI she
loses her recollection Of her main OBJ
1 JeCL, DIS SOuCIluGS uGI1OuS 40, anu
sometimes, perhaps, she herself has
done in pursuing some immediate and
transitory object.
81 can not speak, ladies, as you
know, in more than general terms.
Indeed, it is indiscreet for me to
| speak at I'll. But I can ask you to
rally to the cause which is dearer in
my estimation than any other cause,
and that is the cause of righteousness
as ministered to by those who hold
their minds quiet and Judge accord
ing to principle.
eve must preserve the judicial
temperament, not because we would
sit in judgment upon others, but be-
cause we should ultimately wish to
sit in judgment upon ourselves, be-
cause we should ultimately wish to
be judged by our own consciences and
| by the standards of our own national
life. Do you wonLer that, hoping for
such things and expecting such things
from bodies of people like this,
should be slad to come and greet