Fergus County Democrat. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-1919, 1915-12-09


Wilson in his annual address to con
gress today, dealing mainly with ma
tional defense, proclaimed an advanced
Pan-Americanism growing from the
guardianship of the Monroe doctrine tt
''the full and honorable association
of all the Americans.
Although in the longest address he
has yet delivered to congress, the
president touched upon variety OF
subjects; the predominating note was
the necessity of policy of military
preparedness to meet the readjust
ments of the next generation as they
will affect the American continent
He emphasized his point by saying:
'Unless you take it within your
view and permit the full significance
of it to command your thought.
cannot find the right light in which
to set forth the particular matter that
lies at the very front Of my whole
thought as ! address you today.
mean national defense
The point was not overshadowed
when the president, in the most un
measured terms he ever has employed
before congress, denounced naturalizeG
Americans who, by their sympathies
for the European belligerents, have
endangered American neutrality
While congress cheered him loudly, he
referred to them as having poured
the poison OF disloyalty into the very
arteries of our national life and as
those who would turn in malign re-
action against the government and the
people who had welcomed and nur
tured them" With evidences of deep
feeling, The president expressed "the
even deeper humiliation and scorn
which every self-possessed and
thoughtful patriotic American must
feel when he thinks of them. and OF
the discredit they are daily bringing
upon us
While the presidents outline of the
administration plan for the army and
navy passed without ripple of ap-
plause. and his references to Pan
Americanisms We're only punctuated
with evidences of approval, republi
cans and democrats alike Joined in
an enthusiastic demonstration at his
words of condemnation for those he
assailed SO unreservedly.
The Message in Full.
Gentlemen of the Congress-: Since
| last had the privilege of addressing
you on the state Of the Union, the wal
of nations on the other side of the
sea, which had then only begun tc
disclose its portentous proportions
has extended it's threatening and sin
;cto hnc IL,
it's flames some portion of every
quarter of the globe, not excepting
our own hemisphere, has altered the
whole face of international affairs
and now presents prospect of re-
organization and reconstruction such
as statesmen and peoples have never
been called upon to attempt before
Neutral in World War.
We have stood apart, studiously neu
trail 1t was our manifest duty to dc
so. Not only did we have no part OF
interest in the policies which seem tc
have brought the conflict on; it was
necessary. if a universal catastrophe
was to be avoided, that limit should
be set to the sweep Of destructive wal
and that some part of the great fam
lily of nations should keep processes OF
peace alive, if only to prevent col
lective economic ruin and the break
down throughout the world of the in
dustries by which it's populations arc
fed and sustained. 1t was manifestly
the duty Of the self-governed nations
Of this hemisphere to redress, II pos
sible, the balance of economic loss
and confusion in the other, If they
could do nothing more. In the day
Of readjustment and recuperation We
earnestly hope and believe that they
can be of infinite service.
In this neutrality, to which they
were hidden not only by their sep
arate life and their habitual detach
ment from the politics of Europe but
also by clear perception of interna
tional duty, the states of America
have become conscious of new and
more vital community of interest and
moral partnership in affairs, more
clearly conscious of the many com
mon sympathies and interests and
duties which bid them stand together
There was a time in the early days
of our own great nation and of the
republics fighting their way to indie
pendence in Central and South Amer.
ica when the government of the Uni
ted States looked upon itself as in
some sort the guardian of the repuh,
lies to the south of her as against any
encroachments or efforts at political
control from the other side of the
water; felt it its duty to play the part
even without invitation from them !;
and I think that we can claim that
the task was undertaken with a true
and disinterested enthusiasm for the
freedom of the Americas and the un-
molested self government of her inde,
nendent peoples. But it was always
difficult to maintain such a role with.