Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-07-12
Fair Dealings Prophet
as we'll

IN addresses at Detroit on Monday. the
l President OF the United States continued to
press home OH his audiences his conviction
and insistence that in every relation of life
between communities and between nations as
well AS between individuals, honesty is the
best policy" 1t is the best policy, not only
but the one policy capable OF attaining
permanent success
AS The Times Dispatch has pointed out on
several occasions. this is the very core OF
the Presidents political creed aud the sub
stance OF the contribution he is making TO
the final solution of international problems
Force settles nothing. Repression cannot al
ways endure. Injustice, though IT profit for
a while. has its inevitable aftermath Of re-
action. If a troubled country is to he paci-
fed. it must be ultimately with the weapons
of peace even though the weapons of war
have to be used to pave the way
There is nothing visionary in this theory
unless all the experience Of mankind has
taught mankind falsely. AS individuals we
have learned to respect the rights OF our
nciGhbors. on our own account as well as on
theirs. The ancient law OF misrepresentation
we have found. works best when mixed in
reasonable proportion with the Golden Rule
Honesty is tho best policy; consideration OF
others makes for consideration by others OF
ourselves. great nation. the President
thinks. should be at least gentleman
The cynical world is surprised, not TO say
Shocked, u! MT. wilson S reiterated insist enCC
on these principles. MachavelIi and TaIley
rand and Bismarck yet the chief gods in
its diplomatic pantheon. Men who are honest
enough and fair enough in their own daily
lives erect for their countries an entirely diff
fcrent moral standard. In matters inter
national
Tho good old rule
Suflicoth them--tle simple plan
That they should take who have tho power
And they should keep who can
The trouble with that good old rule is
that II no longer works as it did in simpler
times. 1t becomes every day increasingly
harder 10 take and increasingly harder to
keep We are not going to make Mexico
healthy. wealthy and wise by beating that UNI
fortunate country over the head with club
IT in defense Of our borders and in assertion
Of our duty we march our lcgions beyond the
Rio Grande. the expedition should have an
other accent than mere repression of the
population-and while Woodrow Wilson sits
in the White House 1t will
we desire permanent peace said the
President at Detroit. "and permanent peace
can grow only in one soil That is the soil
OF actual good will. and good will ca mot come
without mutual comprehension
Is il not true? Does not the history of The
world prove it? That the ma jori,y of man
KIND continues TO reject il. in pra ctice if not
III theory. does not initiate against its cor
rectness. for the whole of mankind once held
tenaciously to the conviction that the earth
was Hat As surely the sun shines the
day is coming when the principles the Presi-
dent proclams will be the universally &C
cepted rule OF internal, ional relationship. and
in that new dispense ton Wilson will become
Il name to c0njure with