The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-11-05

[ world disturbed by great disaster and abIaze with terrible war; butx our thought is now inevitably of new things about which formerly we gave ourselves little concern. We are think ing now chiefly of our eI&t1ons with tho rest of the worId,-not our com mercia1 reIations,-about those we have thought and planned alwayA,- but about our political relations, our duties as an individual and independ- ent force in the world to ourselves, our neighbors, and the world itself.
 "Our principles are we'll known. It is not necessary to avow them agin. We believe in political liberty and founded our great government to ob- tain it, the liberty of men and people. of men to choose their own lives and of peoples to choose their own ale glance Our ambitions, also all the world of Knowledge of. It is not only to be free and prosperous our selves, but also to be the friend and thought full partisan of those who are free or, desire freedom the world over. If we have had aggressive purposes and covetous ambitions they were the fruit of our thoughtless youth as nation and we have put them aside. We shall T confidently believe, never again take another foot of territory by conquest We shall never in any circumstances seek to make an independent pople subJct to our dominion; because we believe, we passionate1y believe, in the right of every people to choose their own allegiance and be free of masters altogether For ourselves we wish nothing but the full liberty of self deve1opment3 and with ourselves in this great matter we associate all the peoples of our own hemisphere. We wish not only for the United States, but for them the fullest freedom of independenf growth and of action,a for we know throughout this Hemisphere the same aspirat tons are everywhere being worked out, under diverse con ditions but with the same impulse and ultimate object.
 All this is very clear to us and will confidently predict, become more and more clear to the whole world as the great processes of the future unfold themselves It is with a full consciousness of such principles and such ambitions that we are asking ourselves at the present time what our. duty is in regard to the armed force of the Nation Within year we have witnessed what we did not believe possible, a great European conflict in vofving many of the greatest nations in the world The influences of a great war are everywhere in the air All Europe is ernbatt1ed Force everv- where speaks out with a loud and inn pefious voice in titanic struggle of governments, and from one end of our own dear country. to the other men are asking one another what our own force Is. how far we are prepared to maintain ourselves against any inter ference with our national action or. development
 'sIn no mans mind, I am sure. is there even raised the question of the wflfu1 use of force on our part against any nation or any peop4e. No matter what military or naval force the United States might develop. states men throughout the whole world might rest assured that we were eaf91- erfng- that force, not for attack in any quarter, not for aggression of any kind, not for the satisfaction of any political or international ambition but merely to make sure of our own se-a curfty. We have it in mind to be pre- pared, but not for war, but orffv for defense; and with the thought con stant1y in our minds that the pTfn
 cip1es we hold nsst dear can be. achieved by the slow processes of his tory only in the kindly and whole some atmosphere of peace, and no4 by the use of hostile force The mis- sion of America in the world is es- sentfaI1y mission of peace and good-a will among men She has become tn he home and asylum Of men of all creeds and races Within her hospitabIe bor- ders they have found homes and con- genial associations and freedom and a, wide and cordial welcome and they have become part of the bone and sinew and spirit of America itself America has been made ups out of the nations of the world, and is the friend of the nations of the world
 'tBut we feel justified in preDar-- ing ourselves to Vindicate our right to Independent and uhmolested action by making the force that is in us ready for assertion
 And we know that we can do this in a way that win be itself an Illus tratfon of the American spirit Tn ac- tions we want and shall work for only an army adequate to the constant and legitimate uses of times of fnterna -t tfonal peace But we do want to feel that there is a great body of citizens
 who have received at least the most rudfIn enfary and necessary forms of military training: that they will be ready to form themselves into a fight ing force at the call of the nation: and that the nation has the munitions and supplies with which to equip them without delay should it be necessary to call them into action. We wish to supply them with the training they need, and we think we can do so without calling them at any time too long away from their civilian pur- suits.
 .eIt is with this idea, with this con ception, in mind that the plans have been made which it will be my privf-