The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1916-02-11
WILSON CONVINCED
CAUSE WILL WIN
ENDS SPEAKING TOUR AT ST.
LOUIS AND RETURNS TO
THE CAPITAL.
Believes He Has Explained Why He
Considers Immediate Preparedness
Imperative, and That He Has
Won Many Converts.


st. Louis.-President Wilson finish
ed his speaking tour in st. Louis on
Thursday and expressed the convic-
ton that his mission had succeeded
beyond his greatest hopes.
President Wilson's advisers believe
he has explained clearly why he con-
siders immediate preparedness imper-
ative, has won many converts to the
movement and his given new impetus
to discussion of the cause.
From the sympathetic attitude OF
most OF his audiences, from the enthu-
siasm his every appearance in public
has evoked, from the huge crowds
which have greeted him, they have
drawn the conclusion that the people
overwhelmingly support his plans-at
least in the middle west
President Wilson on Thursday told
an audience of $4,000, cheering tu-
multuously at his feet, that the Unit
ed States should have the greatest
navy in the world.
Il believe the navy OF the United
States should be incomparably the
greatest in the world" he said.
The president declared that subma,
rine commanders abroad have instruc-
tions which for the most part con-
form with international law, but that
the act of one commander might set
the world afire, including America.
Upon the ocean there are hundreds
Of cargoes Of American goods" he
said, cotton, grain and all the boun-
| tiful supplies America is sending out
to the world-and any one of those
cargoes, any one of those ships may
be the point of contact that will bring
America into the war;
| For the first time during the tour
the president told of how one set of
belligerents was cut of from the
world. He said this kept the United
States from helping them as it would
like. He made the statement in try
ing to show that the United States
was really neutral.
The president opened with the
statement that he had come seeking
something in the middle west and
found it," He said he had been told
the middle west was against prepared
ness, but did not believe it.
President Wilson visited Kansas
City and Topeka on February Q, in his
| journey across the country for the
purpose of explaining his prepared
ness program to the people.
At Topeka, the president asserted
the right Of Americans to travel
abroad, and their right to send food,
| cotton and manufactured products to
peaceful populations "in open neutral
markets" and wherever the condi-
tions of war make it possible to do so
under the ordinary rules of interna-
tional law"
1T may be necessary to use the
| force of the United States to vindicate
the rights of American citizens to en-
~ the protection of international
law" he declared emphatically. He
urged the support of the people of
Kansas in preparing that force for
use, if necessary.
In his address at Kansas City, Pres
.ident Wilson demanded that steps be
taken during the present month to
back him up in defending American
lives and commerce abroad His de-
mand met with shouts and applause
from an audience of 10000 persons
who waved American flags, leaped to
their seats and cheered.
At Des Moines, Iowa, on February 1,
the president dealt with the futility
Of messages and words of protest to
meet breaches of international law.
do you want the situation to be
such that all the president can do is
to write messages and utter words of
protest?" he asked, in advocating
preparedness before the largest audi
ence of his present trip.
Why, to ask that question is to
answer it," he said.
Whenever international law is vio-
lated by one or the other belliger
ents," the president said, America
was called upon to register a voice
Of protest, of insistence'"
There are actually men in America
who are preaching war, the president
declared; men who want the United
States to have entangling alliances
abroad. He said he did ont think they
spoke the voice of America, which he
declared to be for peace.
He added that others go further
than he, in advocating peace: They
preach the doctrine of peace at any
price" he said, while men in the
audience called Never, never" He
said these men did not know the cir
cumstances OF the world
America cannot be an ostrich with
Its head in the sand" he said.