The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-09-20

greater America that is to be and
 know of no remedy for existing evils except to yeapp1y the processes of an- tiquity. " We have come upon days when, I suppose, it is our fate to deal with
 many of the devices of partisanship. We have come upon days when, in
 the midst of peace and plenty, and af-
 ter a record unparalleled, we find our President criticised, maligned, slan-
 dered. All this we must endure with
 equanimity. We know that after all
 had been said, no matter what our
 Republican friends may think of the
 methods adopted by the President, they are bound to applaud the results. No man can quarrel with peace and prosperity. It is idle to criticise the details of the Presidents policies, when one is obliged to commend the results. But they tell us that there are some people who are disturbed by the Mexican situation. When af- fairs were pretty bad upon the bor- der, a certain prominent Republican used to encounter me upon various occasions, denounce the President, ex- press his opinion of the people of Mex ico, and declare that it was our duty to go in and clean up that country. He expressed these sentiments with great vigor and with seeming earnest ness. Finally the day came when border raids created a critical .condi ton, and the President Following, by the way, a precedent established by MT. Taf) gave an order for the mobi- lization of the National Guard. Do you not remember how, all over this country, there was thrill like an electric shock? We saw, in minia- ture, without the horrors of blood shed. something of that which was happening in Europe.
 Our boys were called out. Our boys were marching through the streets to the souHd of the drum and fife; our boys were going to the camp-to the border--and no one knew how much farther or. indeed. into what dangers. And as I stood watching one of these bands of brave young men, my Republican friend. who had been so keen to go into Mex leo and clean up the country, touched me on the shoulder and I saw that his face was white, and he said: My God, we must keep out of this war" l asked him why he had changed his mind and finally he confessed that his favorite nephew was going out with the Guard.
 If those who insist upon the ar bhrament of war were those who suf- fered by it, there would be more justice in that form of settling inter- national disputes. But now, thanks again to the leadership of President Wilson, there is sitting at New Lon- don, in our own State, commission of statesmen, who are considering these difficulties with Mexico, and the prospects are that their deliberations will result in the re-establishment of normal conditions. Already our boys are beginning to move towards home.
 If all goes well-and what true Amer ican could wish otherwise-they will all come back-not like the boys from the trenches in Europe-maimed, blinded, mere wrecks and relics of hu- manity, creeping brokenly home-but sun-tanned and vigorous, the better for their outing, safe and sound to peaceful American homes.
 I may be wrong about it-I may have entirely missed the spirit of institutions, but I think that it is much finer and more splendid thing to win victory by the processes of peace, than by the bru- talities of war.
 There are some people who do not | seem conscious of the underlying pur- pose of the, policies of the President. These are people who see only the | surface of things These are the | partially civilized people who recog- | nize only the standards of force and | admire no diplomacy except the dip- | lomacy of the old world. They have i forgotten what America means to the the President has not for gotten. .,
 This country was not founded as an Empire. This country was not founded to be built up into a great autocratic military power. preying up- on people weaker than ourselves; this country was not founded for the pur- pose of of following the ideals of Flu rope. America was the embodiment 1f a much finer ideal. The fathers
 intended that this should be a land