The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-09-02

operation. Much of the politics of the world in the years to come will de- pend upon their relationships with one another. It is a barren and pro- vincial statesmanship that loses sight of such things!
 "The future, the immediate future. will bring us squarely face to face with many great and eXacting prob lems which will search us through and through whether we be able and ready to play the part in the world that we mean to play. It will not bring us into their presence slowly, gently, with ceremonious introduce tion, but suddenly and at once, the moment the war in Europe is over. They will be new problems, most of them; many will be old problems in a new setting and with new elements which we have never dealt with or reckoned the force and meaning of before. They will require for their solution new thinking, fresh courage and resourcefulness. and in some mat ters radical reconsiderations of poli- cy. We must be ready to mobilize our resources alike of brains and of materials.
 "It is not a future to be afraid of. It is rather, a future to stimulate and excite us to the display of the best powers that are in us. We may en- ter it with confidence when we are sure that we understand it,-and we have provided ourselves already with the means of understanding it.
 Look first at what it will be neces- sary that the nations of the world should do to make the days to come tolerable and fit to live and work in; and then look at our part in what is to follow and our own duty of pre- paration. For we must be prepared both in resources and in policy. There must be a just and settled peace. and we here in America must contribute the full force of our en- thusiasm and of our authority as a nation to the organization of that peace upon worldwide foundations that cannot easily be shaken. No nation should be forced to take sides in any quarrel in which it's own honor and integrity and the fortunes of its own people are not involved; but no nation can any longer remain neutral as against any wilful disturbance of the peace of the world. The effects
 
 the areas of battle. No nation stands wholly apart in interest: when the life and interests of all nations are thrown into confusion and peril. If hopeful and generous enterprise is to be re- newed, if the healing and helpful arts of life are indeed to be revived when peace comes again, a new atmosphere of justice and friendship must be generated by means the world has never tried before. The nations of the world must unite in joint guarantees that whatever is done to disturb the whole worlds life must first be tested in the court of the whole worlds opinion before it is attempted.
 'These are the new foundations the world must build for itself, and we must play our part in the reconstruc- ton, generously and without too much thought of our separate interests. We must make ourselves ready to play it intelligently. vigorously and well.
 "One of the contributions we must make to the worlds peace is this: We must see to it that the people in our insular possessions are treated in their own lands as we would treat them here, and make the rule of the United States mean the same thing every where,-the same justice, the same consideration for the essential rights of men.
 Besides contributing our ungrudg- ing moral and practical support to the establishment of peace throughout the world we must actively and intelli- gently prepare ourselves to do our full service in the trade and industry which are to sustain and develop the life of the nations in the days to come.
 we have already been provident in this great matter and supplied our selves with the instrumentalities of prompt adjustment. We have created, in the Federal Trade Commission, a means of inquiry and of accommoda- tion in the field of commerce which ought both to coordinate the enter prises of our traders and manufactur- CTS and to remove the barriers of mis- understanding and of a too technical interpretation of the law. In the new Tariff Commission we have added an- other instrumentality of observation and adjustment which promises to be immediately serviceable. The Trade Commission substitutes counsel and accommodation for the harsher pro- cesses of legal restraint, and the Tariff Commission ought to substitute facts for prejudices and theories. Our eX- porters have for some time had the advantage of worKins I'll the new light thrown upon foreign markets and op- portunities of trade by the intelligent inquiries and activities of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce which the Democratic Congress so wisely created in 1912. The Tariff Commission completes the machinery by which we shall be enabled to open up our legislative policy to the facts as they develop.
 We can no longer indulge our tra- ditional provincialism. We are to play leading part in the world drama whether we wish it or not. We shall lend, not borrow; act for ourselves, not initiate or follow; organize and initiate, not peep about merely tc see where we may get in.
 We have already formulated and agreed upon a policy of law which will explicitly remove the ban now supposed to rest upon cooperation amongst our exporters in seeking and securing their proper place in the markets of the world. The field will be free, the instrumentalities at hand. It will only remain for the masters Of enterprise amongst us to act in ener- getic concert, and for the government of the United States to insist upon the maintenance throughout the