The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-10-12

delivered in the form of a greeting to the Daughters of the American Revolution at their silver Jubilee cele- bration in Continental Memorial Hall yesterday afternoon, President Will son sounded the slogan America first.''
 The President spoke in a most kindly way about foreign-bOrn citi- zens of the United States. At the same time he reminded his hearers that a minority of naturahzed Amer jeans have not since the outbreak of the European war been over1oya1 to the great American ideals. But he declared he knew where the vast majority of American citizens of for eign birth would stand if census were taken on the issue of America first.
 ''I am not deceived he said, ''as to the balance of opinion among the foreign-born citizens of the United States, but I am Nin a hurry to have an opportunity to have a lineup and let the men who are thinking first of other countries stand on one side BibIicalIy, it should be the 1eft-and all those that are for America first, last and all the time, on the other side"
 At another point he declared: ''We are not trying to keep out of trou- b1e; we gre trying to preserve the foundations upon which peace can be rebuilt"
 The remarks of. the President were cheered to the echo. The hall, which seats thousands, was filled to capac- ity with fashionabE gowned women and a sprinkling of men prominent in official life. When the President entered he was welcomed with the Presidential greeting by six buglers. As he stepped on the platform the band struck up 'eThe Star SpangIed Banner and the audience rose en nasse, giving the President a stirring ovation. The Presidents Speech.
 Madam President and Ladies and Gentlemen:
 Again it is my very great privi- Iege to welcome you to the city of Washington and to the Inequalities of the capital May I admit a point of ignorance? I was surprised to learn that this association is so young and that an association so young should devote itself wholly to mem oFy I cannot believe. For to me the duties to which you are consecrated are more than%the- duties and pride of memory.
 There is very great thrill to be- had from the memories of the American Revolution, but the Ameri- can Revolution was a beginning, not a. consummation; and the duty laid upon us by that beginning is the duty of bringing the things then begun to a noble triumph of completion. For 1t seems to me that the pecu- liarity of patriotism in America, is that it is not mere sentiment. It is an active principle of conduct. It is something that was born into the world, not to please it, but to regen- crate it. It is something that was born into the world to replace sys- tems that had preceded it and to 1nxE Rla n privilege.
 '"The glory of the men whose mem- ories you honor and perpetuate is that they saw this vision, and it was vision of the future. It was vis- ion of great days to come when a lit tie handful of 3.0OO,0 900 people upon the border of a single sea should have become a great multitude of free men and women spreading across a great continent. dominating the shores of two oceans and sending west as well as east the influence of individual freedom.
 A Maling-Over Process. E '"These things were consciously in their minds as they framed the great government which was born out of the American Revolution; and every time we gather to perpetuate their memories it is incumbent upon us that we shouldNbe worthy of recalling them and that we should endeavor by every means in our power to emulate their example,
 'sThe American Revolution was the birth of a nation; it was the creation 1 of a great free Republic based upon Traditions of personal liberty which heretofore had been confined to sim gle little island, but which it was pur- posed should spread to all mankind. And the singular fascination of Amer tcan history is that it has been pro cess of constant recreation, of making over again in each generation the You know how peculiarly necessary that has been in your case, because America has not grown by the mere multiplication of the original stock, 1 Ut is easy to preserve tradition with continuity of blood; it is easy in a, sin gle family to remember the origins of the race and the purposes of it's organ ization, but it is not so easy when that race is constantly being renewed and 1 augmented from other sources, from stocks that did not carry or originate the same principles.
 50 from generation to generation 1 strangers have had to be tndoctrinated with the principles of the American family, and the wonder and the beauty 1 of it all has been that the infection has been so generously easy. For the l principles of liberty are united with the principles of hope. Every indi- vidual as well as every nation wishes I to realize the best thing that is in him. the best thing than can be conceived out of the materials of which his spirit l is constructed.
 Drawn by American Ideals. | ''It has happened in a way that think fascinates the imagination that we have not only been augmented by additions from outside, but that we have been greatly stimulated by these additions Living in the easy prosper 1 ity of a, free people, knowing that the sun has always been free to shine 1 upon us and prosper our undertakings, we did not realize how hard the task of liberty is; and men were drawn out of every climate and eIt of every