New Britain herald., 1916-02-28
PRESIDENT REPLIES
 TO CAPITAL CRITICS
Says Gossip in Cloak Rooms in Congress Has Little Influence

Washington, Feb. 2S.-In q short speech delivered just before the con- * clusion of the Gridiron Club dinner here Saturday night President Wilson discussed the duty of the United States in connection with the war i'll Europe, and inferentially answered some of his critics. He made what was taken to be reply to the element in Congress which attempted last week to force him to modify his attl- tude in dealing with Germany in the armed ship issue by saying bluntly that he preferred to know what the people throughout the country were thinking rather than what was being said in Congressional Cloakrooms. He made what amounted to an answer to the allegations that his course in the German submarine issue was actuated by political expediency, de- claring that America should keep out of the war at the sacrifice of every thing except humanity and justice.
 It was a peace speech with ring In it. It was an intimate talk, not intended for publication. One of the two rules of the Gridiron Club is that reporters are never present. to record the speeches of guests, an in ducement to freedom of language of which most of those who have ad- dressed this organization of Washing ton newspaper correspondents have taken advantage. The presidents speech created such an impression however, that arrangements were made for it's publication. In giving out copies of the speech to the press the White House attached to it this note:
 So many requests from those at tending the dinner that the presidents address be published have been re- ceived at the White House that both the president and the Gridron Club have consented to it's publication"
 President Wilson was cheered wild ly when he concluded his remarks at the dinner; the club members and &heir guests were on their feet way ing napkins and cheering. So pro- l longed was the demonstration that | twice the president felt constrained | to rise and bow his acknowledg- l ments. The greatest outburst of ap- proval in the course of the speech 1 came when the president declared that i; America ought to keep out of the |
  except her sense of humanity and jus tice upon which the history and char Rcter of the country were founded. The presidents address follows:
 Principle, Not Expediency.
 T have very little to say tonight, except to express my warm aprecia- tion of the invariable courtesy of this club, and of the reception you have so generously accorded me. I find that l. am seldom tempted to say anything nowadays unless somebody starts something and tonight nobody has started anything.
 ''Y our talk, MT. Postmaster, has been great deal about candidacy for the presidency. It is not a new feel ing on my part, but one which I en- certain with a greater intensity than fsrmerly, that man who seeks the presidency of the United States for anything that it will bring to him is an audacious fool. The responsibil- ties of the office ought to sober man even before be approaches it. One of the difficulties of the office seldom appreciated, I dare say, is that 1t Is very difficult to think while so many people are talking, and par
 
 talking in way that obscures coun- s9l, and is entirely off the point
 The point in national affairs, gen tlemen, never lies along the lines of l expedlency. It always rests in the field of principle, The United States was not founded upon any principle of expediency; it was founded upon profound principle of human lib- egty and, of humanity, and whenever 1t bases it's policy upon any other | foundations than those it builds on the sand and not upon solid rock
 Tt seems to me that the most en- 1 Tightening thing a man can do is , vice president said tonight. He com 1 plained that he found men, who, l when their attention was called to the l signs of Spring, did not see the blue | heaven, did not see the movement of l the free clouds, did not think of the l but thought only of some imm ediate 1 and pressing piece of business. It l seems to me that if you do not think l Of the things that lie beyond and away from and disconnected from this 1 scene in which we attempt to think and conclude, you will inevitably be Ted astray.
 CloakroOm Gossips. T would a great deal rather know l what they are talking about around !