The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1916-01-30
WILSON'S SPEECH
AT CLEVELAND
CONTINUED from page H.

to do, and 1t seemed to me not onl,
my privilege but my duty, to go on,
and inform my fellow countrymen
just what / understand the present
situation to be.
what are the elements OF the
case? In the first place, and most
obviously, two-thirds OF the world are
at war. 1t is not merely a European
, struggle; nations in the orient have
become involved, as well as nations
in the west and everywhere there
seems to be creeping even upon the
nations disengaged. the spirit and the
threat Of war. All the world outside
| of America is on fire. Do you won.
! or from the situation? Do you won.
der that there is 9 great reaction
against war? Do you wonder that the
passion for peace grows stronger as
| the spectacle grows more tremend-
| GUS and more overwhelming? And do
you wonder, on the other hand, that
| mems sym pathies become deeply en-
| gagged on the one side or the other?
| For no small things are happening.
This is struggle which will deter
mine the history Of the world, l dare
say, for more than a century to come.
The world will never be the same
again after this war is over. The
change may be for veal or it may be
for woe, but it will be fundamental
and tremendous.
And, in the meantime, we, the
people of the United States, are the
one great disengaged power, the one
neutral power, finding it a little diff
cult to be neutral, because like men
everywhere else, we are human: we
have deep passions of mankind in US;
we have sympathies that are as easily
stirred as the sympathies of any 9TH
er people. We have interests which
we see being drawn slowly into the
malestrom Of this tremendous up
heaval. 1t is very difficult for US to
hold off and look with cool Judgment
upon such tremendous matters. And
yet, we have held off. 1t has not been
easy for the government at Washing
ton to avoid the entanglements which
seemed to beset 1t on every side. It
has needed great deal OF watchful-
ness and an unrem;tting patience to
do so. but all the while no American
could fail to be aware that America
did not wish to become engaged, that
she wished to hold apart, not because
she did not see the issues of the strug-
gle, but because she thought her
duties to be duties Of peace and of
separate action. And all the while
the nations themselves that were en-
gagged. seemed to be looking to us for
some sort of action not hostile in
character. but sympathetic in char
acter. Hardly a single thing has oc-
Cured in Europe which has in any
degree shocked the sensibilities Of
mankind, that the government OF the
United States has not been called up
on by the one side or the other, to
protest and intervene with its moral
influence, II not with its physical
force. So that it Is as II we were the
great audience before whom this stu
and We are asked to comment upon
the turns and crisises Of the plot.
And not only are we the audience and
tie be the umpire, SO far as
the opinion of the world Is concerned,
but all the while our own life touches
these matters at many points Of vital
contact. The United States is trying
to keep UP the processes OF peaceful
commerce while all the world is at
war and while all the world is in need
of the essential things which the
United States produces and yet by
an oversight for which it is difficult |
to forgive ourselves, we did not pro- |
vide ourselves when there was prop !
er peace and opportunity. with j
marine by means Of which |
We could carry the commerce OF the
world without the interference Of mo- |
tiyes OF other nations which might be
engaged in controversy not our own. !
And so the carrying trade of the
world is for the most part, in the
hands Of the nations now embroiled
in this great struggle. Americans
have gone to all quarters OF the
world, in every part OF it, and every
one Of these men. when his affairs
touch the regions that are on fire, Is
our ward, and we must see to his
rights and that they are respected.
DO you not see how all the sensi.
tive places of our life touch these
great disturbances? Now IN the midst
of that, what is it that We are called
upon to do as a nation? I suppose
that from the first, America has had
one peculiar and particular mission in
the world. Other nations have grown
rich, my fellow citizens, other ma
tons have been as resourceful as we
in material resources IN comparison
with the other nations Of the world:
other nations have built up empires
and exercised dominion-we are not
peculiar in any of these things: but
we are peculiar in this. that from the
first we have dedicated our force to
the service Of justice and righteous
ness and peace We have said: Our
chief interest lies not in the rights OF
but in the rights of men:
our chief interest is in the spirits Of
men, that they might be free; that
they might enjoy their lives unmo-
Tested so long as they observed the
Just rules Of the game. that they
might deal with their fellow men
with their heads erect, the subjects
and servants OF no man, but the
servants only of the principles upon