Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1915-11-10
sAD DREsS to At N ARK s AN
\ (Frocsmrt the,F Ey,e,,ninlga, Gazette..)

(Frcm the Evening Gazette.) "
Woodrow Wilson, president of the
United States during the most troubl-
Gus period the world has yet known,
again has. demonstrated his rightful
claim to the great distinction the
people of this nation placed upon
him when they selected him to head
their administration.
In his address before the Man.
haitian club, New York, Thursday ev-
ening, the president sounded some
of the most momentous truths it
ever. has fallen to the lot of any
chief executive to utter. Incidental
ly he sounded, clearly and without
leaving the most remote possibility
of doubt, the, note of new epoch.
But it was not so much the occasion
of his address, or his subject that
marked the event as one Of the
most significant of Mr.. Wilson's
regime. 1t was the things he said
and his manner Of saying them
He might have made an inglorlous
middle of the whole thing, as one or
the presidents who preceded him
only a few years undoubtedly would
have done, under similar conditions.
He might have ranted and roared,
SCARED rhetorically and created a Ter
rible stew, as SO many allegeo
statesmen have been doing in recent
months. =,
But the president deported himself
as befitted man in his office. ne
did not abuse the notoriety which
is his, a practice which has become
a habit Of late. Instead CT doing all
these things he gave voice to one
of the most remarkable addresses
ever delivered by a man in high or
low position. Quiet, forceful, full OF
the glow rather than the blaze Of
patriotism, this speech goes down
in history as one which tells the
world what it may rightfully expect
from the United States Of America
in peace and in war, and tells the
people of those United. States what
they may rightfully be expected to
do. as true citizens of a great nation
which. "has become the home Of men
Of an creeds and races,
There was not the faintest> Smack
of partisanship apparent in any
thing Mr.. Wilson said. His Is q hap
by faculty in this respect. He more
nearly approaches non-partisansh1p
in his actual administrative affairs
than a majority of the men who
have held his office before him. He
looks beyond party lines when the
great issues which affect all men
arise. In spite Of the accusations OF
q former president whose star has
fallen almost TO- the obscurtty below
the line OF. horizon, Mr. Wilson is
not weakened or poorly splned.
Nor is he q peace at any price mol
vidual. ''' 49, ~ ~ -
The announcement by. the presi-
dent Of the plan to train a citizen
soldiery, of 100000 men is the first
of a formal nature to be made by
anyone in high authority. 1t betokens
an awakening in this country which
may lead to better or to worse
things. Manipulated as Mr.. vii
son says they will be, the increased
army~and navy and citizen soldiers
should tend to increase the respect
of other nations for ours and should
not breed disfavor from any source.
The plan is perfectly sane, though
perhaps not sanely perfect. 1t is
described as a plan "for liberty and
1t is not propos-
ed as a means Of intimidating any
one, but solely to make possible
better self-defense should anyone
to intimidate us. Even should
there be those who predict interna-
tional friction as the result OF our
scheme to strengthen ourselves,
their talk would not be taken seri-s
ously, y because the increase in our
defenses lis not onei which will make
any material difference TO the out
side world. J It would neither invite
nor avert war, If war was imp ending
at all.
Not the least significant OF the
many portentious'. assertions of the
president in this. speech were those
referring to the lack Of American
Ism among certain elements OF the
in this country. The
words he used cannot fail to make
their impression, and they should be
remembered not only by those per-
sons to whom they referred but by
every American whose desire is to
see: his country naticnal unit
than which there can be none more
s~/'~ -.
"The. only thing within our own
borders, that has given us grave
concern in recent months said Mr..
Wilson, has been that voices
hate been raised in America profess
ings-to be the voices of Americans,
which were not indeed and in truth
but which spoke alien
sympathies, which came from men
who loved other countries better
than they loved America; men who
were partisans of other causes than
that of America and had forgotten
that their chief and only allegiance
was to the great government under
which they lived. These voices have