The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-01
Would War of Conquest With Mexico Enhance Our Glory7", President Asks, and 700 Diners Chorus a ' Hearty 'NO!''-Convinced People Want Peace, Will
 son Says, Laying Cards on Table.

get great many other letters. I get letters from unknown men, from hum 'ble women, from people whose names have never been heard and will never De recorded, and there Is but one prayer in all these letters: MT. Pres- 1dent, do not allow anybody to per- suade you that the people of this country want war with anybody
 Finds Many Against War
 T got off a train yesterday and as was bidding goodby to the engineer he said in an undertone, MT. Presi- dent, keep us out of Mexico,' and if one man has said that to me thou sand have said it to me as I have moved about the country. If I have opportunity to engage further in con- versation they say, Of course we know that you cannot govern the circum- stances of the case altogether and it may be necessary, but for. Gods sake do not do it unless it is necessary T am for the time being the spokesman of such people, gentlemen. I have not read history without ob- serving that the greatest forces in the world and the only permanent. forces are the moral forces..i We have the evidence of a very competent witness, namely the first Napoleon, who said that as he looked back in the last days of his life upon so much as he knew of human history. he had to re- cord the judgment that force had nev- CT accomplished anything that was permanent N
 Force win not accomplish any thing that is. permanent, I venture to say, in the great struggle which is now going on on the other side of the sea- The permanent things will be accomplished afterward when the opinion of mankind is brought to bear upon the issues, and the only thing that will hold the world steady is this same silent, insistent, all-powerful opinion of mankind Force can some times hold things steady. until opinion has time to form, but no force that was ever eterted except in response to that opinion was eyer a conquering and predominant force. ,s %f Respect Demands Reasons ''T thfnR the sentence in American history that myself am proudest of ] Is that in the introductry sentences of the Declaration of Independence, where the writers say that due re- spect for the opinion ef mankind de- Enlands that they state the reasons tor what they are about to do II venture to say that a. decent respect for the opinion of mankind demanded that those, who started the present Euro pean War should have stated their reasons, but they did not paysany heed to: the opinion of mankind and the | reckoning will come when the settle | ment comes.
 ''So. gentlemen, T. am willing, no | matter what my personal fortunes may be, Ito play, for the verdict of mankind Personally. it will be a matter of indifference to me what the 1 verdict of the 7th of November is, provided feel my degree of confi-
 dence that when later jury sits, I shall get their judgment in my favor. Not in my favor personally-what diff
 ference does that make ?-but in my
 favor as an honest and conscientious | spokesman of a great Nation.
 There are some gentlemen who are
 under the ,de1usion that the power of
 a nation comes from the top. Ii
 does not; it comes from the bottom
 The power and virtue of the tree does
 not come from the blossom and the
 fruit down into the roots, but it comes from the roots in the obscure passages
 of the earth where the power is de-
 rived which displayes itself in the
 blossom and the fruit; and I know that among the silent, speeches.
 masses of the American people is
 slowly coming up the great sap ot
 moral purpose and love of justice and reverence for humanity which consti. h0 Ivy wis nd icfiv <;<x
 of the American people,
 Look for your rulers of the fu-
 ture! Can you pick out the families | you pick out the localities that are go-
 ing to produce them?
 I Future Brings Its Rulers.
 Il You have heard wha thas jus been said about Abraham Lincoln. |
 is singular how touching every refer.
 ence to Abraham Lincoln is. It al
 ways makes you feel that you wisI you had been there to help him i1
 some fashion to fight the battles tha he was fighting sometimes almos
 alone. Could you have predicted, fl } you had seen Abraham Lncoln's birtf
 and boyhood, where that great rulins figure of the world vas going to spring l from?
 T have presided over a university but I never deceived myself by sup posing that by university processe
 you were producing the ruling force
 of the world. I knew that all that ;
 university could do if it knew it's busi ness was to interpret the moral force of the world and let the young me, who sat under it's influence know tn very truth of truths about where i came from, and that no man coulc produce it unless he felt in his bloo, every corpuscle spring into delighte, which have lifted men slow. or. hoy slowly, up the arduous grades tha have resisted progress since the worl,
 began.
 "So, gentlemen, have not com
 here tonight to do anything but t, remind you that you do not constitut the United States; that I do not con stitute the United States; that it i something bigger and greater and fine1
 than any of us; that 1t was born il
 an ideal and only by pursuing an idea , in the face. of every adverse circum
 stances will it continue to deserve tn beloved name which we love and fo ,, which we are ready to die, the nam , America
 A Eager Answers and Applause. Time and again as the Presiden
 spoke he was interrupted by applause
 To the questions that he put the diner