Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-06-17

The statement tonight. entitled by the
former secretary as the real issue" is
as follows.
ITO the American People:
You now have before you the text
of the note to Germany-the note which
it would have been my official duty to
sign had | remained secretary of state.
ask YOU to sit in judgment upon my
decision to resign rather than to share
responsibility for it. | am sure you will
credit me with honorable motives, but
that is not enough Good intentions
could not atone for mistake al such a
time, on such subject and under such
circumstances. If your verdict is against
me- ASK no mercy; | desire none if
have acted unwsely. A man in public
life must act according to his conscience
but however conscientiousiy he acts he
must be prepared to accept without COM
plant any condemnation which his own
errors may bring upon him. he must be
willing to bear any deserved punishment
from ostraclsm to execution, But hear
me before you pass sentence.
The President and | agree in purpose;
we desire a peaceful solution of the dis
pute which has arisen between the Uni
ted States and Germany We not only
desire it, but with equal fervor, we pray
for it; but We differ irreconcilably as to
the means of securing it, II it We're
merely a personal difference it would be
a matter of little moment for all the
prescriptions are on his side--the pre-.
)sumptions that 60 with power and au-
thority. He is your President, l am a
private citizen without office or title
hut one of the one hundred million nhab-
itants,
But the real issue is not between per-
sons, it is between systems, and l rely
FOR vndication wholly upon the strength
Of the position taken.
Among the influences which govern
ments employ In dealing with each other
there are two which are pre-eminent and
antagonistic-force and persuasion. Force
| speaks with flrmness and acts through
the ultimatum; persuasion employs argu-
| ment. courts investigation and depends
| upon negotiation. Force represents the
old systematic system that must pass
away, the persuasion represents the new
| systematic system that has been grow
ing. all too slowly 1t is true, but growing
for nineteen hundred years. In the old
| system war is the CHER corner stone
war which at its best is little better than
war at Its worst; the new system con.
templates an universal brotherhood es-
tablished through the uplifting power of
! example.
PERILS OF FIRNINESS.
IF l correctly interpret the note 10
| Germany, it conforms to the standards
! OF the old system rather than to the
rules of the new, and / cheerfully ad-
NIT that ii is abundantly supported by
precedents-precede written In
| characters of blood upon almost every
page of human history. Austria fur
/ nishes the most recent precedent: it
was Austria's firmness that dictated
the ultimatum against Serbia which
set the world at war Every ruler
now participating in this unparalleled
conflict has proclaimed his desire for
peace and denied responsibility for the
war. and it is only charitable that we
should credit all of them with good
faith. They desired peace. but they
| sought 1t according to the rules OF the
old system They believed that Arm
ness would give the best assurance OF
the maintenance of peace, and. faith
fully following precedent they went
so near the fire that they Were one
after another sucked into the contest
Never before have the frightful fol
lies Of this fatal system been so clearly
revealed as now. The most civilized
and enlightened-aye the most Chris
tian. OF the nations OF Europe arr
graphing with each other as If in {
death struggle They are sacrificing
the best and bravest of their sons or
the battlefield; they are converting
their gardens into cemeteries and theil
homes into houses Of mourning; the,
are taxing the wealth OF to-day ant
laying burden OF debt on the toll o
the future; they have filled the all
with thunderbolts more deadly thar
those of Jove and they have multiplied
the perils of the deep. Adding fresi
fuel to the flame Of hate. they have
daily devised new horrors until on
Aside Is endeavoring to drown non