Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-02-01
Rulers; Not People; Brought on War
In Europe, President Tells Chicago
Audience in Preparedness Speech

| The President was given an ovation
at the Chicago meeting last night and
his speech. which follows. was fire.
quently interrupted by prolonged
cheers:
Mr.. Chairman and fellow citizens:
| You put me under a great obligation
to you by the generosity of your re-
! ccption. And am quite aware that
it is largely because you know how
DESTROYS I am to speak to you with
the utmost frankness upon some of the
most essential issues OF our national
| life.
The Constitution of the United States
explicitly lays upon the President the
duty of reporting at the beginning of
each annual session of Congress to the
representatives of the people concern
| ing the state of the Union. And it
seems to me that it is very natural
| inference from that command that the
| President should. from time to time,
| when unusual circumstances arise,
make his report, so far as it is possible
| for him to do so, directly to the peo-
pie themselves.
at is with that conception in view
! that l have taken the liberty of coming
| to you tonight. l have not permitted
myself the privilege of leaving my
duties at Washington very often. be-
cause they have been very exacting
| and very anxious duties. and there is a
| very clear sense in which it is my duty
| to be constantly there and constantly
| watchful of the changing circum-
stances of the day. But | thought that
you would feel me justified in the I'M
| usual circumstances of the time if ]
left my duties there for a little while
and came to explain few matters to
you.
"A year ago when the war in Europe
had been SIX months in progress. ! take
| 1t, II would have seemed incredible to
all of US that the storm should have
continued to gather in intensity in
stead of spending it's force. L suppose
that twelve months ago no one could
have predicted the extraordinary way
| in which the intensity of the struggle
has increased from month to month.
and the difficulties involved by reason
| of that war have increased beyond all
calcula lions. A year ago it did seem
as If America might rest secure with
out any great anxiety and take it for
granted that she would not be drawn
into this maelstrom. But six months
ago was merely the beginning of the
struggle. Another year has been added
and now no man can competently say
W
drawn into the struggle or not. There
fore, it is absolutely necessary that
we should take counsel together as to
what is necessary that we should do
The circumstances of the day are
| SO extraordinary that perhaps it is not
prudent for a man upon whom the re-
| sponsibilities of affairs are laid to
| know too particularly the details of
what are happening.
| Americas Tasks Difficult
THE trouble with a great many of
our fellow -citiZens is that they let their
| imaGinations become SO engaged in this
terrible affair that they cannot look
upon it as those should who wish to
keep cool head and detached judg-
| ment. So many men on this side of the
water are seeing red that you seem to
see In their thoughts the reflection of
the blood that is bein gspent so copious-
ly on the other side of the sea 1t is
not wise for us to let our thoughts be-
| come so deeply involved that we can
| not think separately. | must admit to
| you very frankly that | have been
careful to refrain from reading the de-
tails in the newspaper reports. l have
| wished to see the thing and realize it
| only in its large aspects, and to keep
my thoughts concentrated upon Amer
| circumstances
her tasks-and her tasks have been
| very difficult. They have not been
| merely negative.
| Have you not realized how all the
world seems to have been constantly
| conscious from the beginning of this
| struggle that Americae was, so to say,
| the only audience before whom this ter
| rfble plot was being worked out? How
everybody engaged in the struggle mas
seemed to turn to America for the
moral judgments concerning it? How
each side in the titanic struggle has
appealed to us to judge their enemies
in the wrong? How there has been no
| tragical turn in the course of events
that America has not been called on
for some sort of protest or expression
of Judgment?
And SO those of US who are charged
| with the responsibility of affairs have
| realized very intensely that there was a
certain sense in which America was
looked to to keep ever the balance OF
| the worlds thought. But she was call
! ed upon to do something very much
more than that, even profoundly diff
cult, IL not impossible, though that be.
She was called upon to assert. in times
of war, the standards of times Of peace.
| There is AN old saying that the laws
are silent in the presence of war. Yes:
not only the civil laws of individual
nations but also. apparently. the law
| that governs the relation OF nations
with one another must at times fall
| silent and look on in dumb impo-
tence.
And yet it has been assumed
Throughout this struggle that the
great principles of international law
and of international comfy had not
| been suspended and the United States.
as the greatest and most powerful of
| the disengaged nations. has been
looked to hold high the standards
which should govern the relationship
| OF. nations to each Others
Americans Are Idealists.
II know that on the other side of the
water there has been a great deal of
cruel misjudgment with regard to the
| reasons why America has remained
neutral. Those who look at us at a
distance, my fellow citizens, do not
feel the strong pulse of ideal prin-
ciples that are mus. They do not
feel the conviction of America that her
mission is a mission of peace and that
| righteousness cannot be maintained as
a standard in the midst, of arms. They
do not realize that back of all our
energy, by which we have built up
great material wealth and created
of idealists. much more ready to lay
down our lives for a thought than for
| a dollar
II suppose some of them think that
we are holding off because we can
make money while others are dying
the most cruel misunderstanding that
any nation has ever had to face. SO