Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-11-10

Wilson Conscientious, He Says.
The former secretary of states state
ment. which reiterates views he has
previously expressed on the subject of
preparedness for war;, was regarded as
the opening gun in the fight which
administration leaders expect in con-
gress against adoption of the plan. Mr..
Bryan's statement says:
81 have read the presidents speech
at New York with sorrow and con-
to be his duty Inc so long as a man
follows his conscience and judgment
we cannot criticise his motives, but
we may be compelled to dissent from
his conclusions. I feel it my duty to
dissent and as he has given his views
with clearness and emphasis, those
who differ from him are under a like
obligation to express themselves with
equal clearness.
III says that his position is differ
ual. in that the individual is free to
speak his own judgment and risk his
opinion. This sentence is a little
obscure. Insofar as he expresses his
own opinion, he does not differ from
the private citizen except that he
speaks under a sense Of official re-
sponsibility, but where a nations fate
Is involved In a policy every private
citizen who loves his country and tries
to serve it is conscious Of RESPONSE
O1kxlys u PxSS10S1lI WAkx HUI dSSuxlxO
that he is more deeply interested in
the welfare of his country than he
millions who elected him to be for the
time being their spokesman. And IL
as he evidently believes. he is giving
voice to the opinions of his country
men, he is, Of course, anxious to have
them as frank with him as he has
been with them, how otherwise IA
he know whether he represents or mis-
represents their views?
Reverses National Policy.
H has announced a policy which
country and never Endorsed by any
party in h country and he has no way
of knowing until he hears from the
people whether ne a correctly in
terpreted the will Of the public. His
appeal is not to any party, but, as he
saws. to men Of all shades Of opinion
He asks for the hearty support Of the
country. meaning of course, that he
wants the support, provided the people
favor the policy which he has outlined.
support a policy which they did not
indorse. especially IL they considered
the policy dangerous to the country.
"From my view oe the subject, the
plan which he proposes Is not only q
departure from our traditions, but O
not only q menace to u peace and
safety, but a challenge to the spirit Of
Christianity. which teaches US to in
fluence others by example, rather than
by exciting fear.
Philosophy False, He Says.
THE president says that we should
be prepared not for aggression, but for
Defense That is the ground upon
which all preparation for war is made.
What nation has ever prepared for wal
On h theory that it was preparing tor
aggression? ]. is only fair to assume
that the European rulers who are in
volved in the present war thought that
they were contributing toward the
maintenance of peace When they were
making elaborate preparations for de-
tense. 1t is a false philosophy. and be-
ing false. it inevitably leads into diff
ficulties. The spirit that makes the
individual carry a revolver-and who
ever carries a revolver except for de-
fense?-lears him not only to use 4,
on slight p~rovocation, but to use
language which provokes trouble.
".Speak softly. but carry a big
stick is one Of b delusive maxims
employed by those who put their faith
In force. There are two answers to il
first. the man who speaks softly has
not the disposition to carry q club. and
\ if a mar with q soft voice is pre-.
suaded to carry q club his voice
changes as loon AZ he begins to rely
upon he club.
w. 0.A0ARns