The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-05-17
SOMETIMES NECESSARY TO KNOCK MAN DOWN TO GET HIS RESPECT,
 PRESIDENT SAYS TO PRESS CLUB

That is what is the matter with them; | they are not even staying where they l were. They are sinking further and l further back in what will some time comfortably close over their heads as 1 the black waters of oblivion. I some times imagine. that I see their heads ] going down, and I am not inclined even to throw them 8 life preserver. l vet I have matched my experi- ences with my anticipations, I, of course, have been aware that was l taken by surprise because of the prominence of many things. to which I had not looked forward. When we are dealing with domestic affairs, gen tlemen, are dealing with things that to us as Americans are more or less ca1cu1abIe. There is a singular variety among our citizenship, it is true, a greater variety even than I had anticipated; but, after all, we are all steeped in the same atmosphere, we are all surrounded by the same en- lvirOnment, we are all more or less af- fected by the same traditions, and. moreover, we are, working out some thing that has to be worked out among ourselves, and the elements are there to be dealt with at first hand. | But when the fortunes of your own country are, to say, subject to the lincaIcu1ab ble winds of passion that are | blowing through other parts of the world, then the strain is of a singular and unprecedented kind, because you do not know by what turn of the wheel of fortune the control of things is going to be taken out of your hand. It makes no difference how deep the passion of the nation lies, that pas sion may be 7oVerborne by the rush of fortune in circumstances like those which now exist that you feel the sort of had almost said resentment that a man feels when his own affairs are not. within his own hands. You can imagine the strain upon the feeling of any man who is trying to interpret the spirit of his country when he feels that that spirit cannot have it's own way beyond a certain point. And one of the greatest points of strain upon me, if I may be permitted to point it Tout, was this:
 America for Peace
 '"Theres are two reasons why the l chief wish of America<1s for peace One is that they love peace and, have nothing to do with the present quar- rel; and the other is that they believe the present quarrel has carried those I engaged in it so far that they can not be held to ordinary standards of responsibility, and that, therefore, as some men have expressed it to me, since the rest of the world is mad, why should we not simply refuse to have anything to do with the rest of the world in the ordinary channels of actions? Why not let the storm l pass, and then, when it is all overy have the -reckonfngs?
 Knowing that from both these two 1 points of view the passion of America hwas for peace, was, nevertheless, aware that America is one of the na- t1onS of the world, not only, but one iof. the chief nations of the world-a nation that grows more and more powerful almost in spite of herself; that grows morally more and more Influential even when she is not aware of it, and that if she is to play the part which she most covets it is neces- sary that she should act more or less from the point of view of the rest of the world. If cannot retain my moral influence over man except by occasionally knocking him down, if that is the only basis upon which he will respect me. then for the sake of his soul I have got occasionally to knock him down. 7~-T
 t'You know how we have read in isn't it Ralph Connor's stories of Western life in Canada 2-that all his sky pilots are ready for a fracas at any time, and how the ultimate sal vation of the souls of their parish toners depends upon their using their fists occasionally. If a man will not listen to you quietly in 8. seat sit on his neck and make him listen; just as I have always maintained, particu-
 
 mine, that the shortest road to boys moral sense is through his cuticle. There is a direct and, if I may be permitted to pun, a fundamental con nection between the surface of his skin and his moral consciousness You arrest his attention first in that way and then get the moral lesson conveyed to him in mi1der ways that, if he were grown up, would be the only ways you would use.
 His Task to Choose Time.
 'So say that I have been aware that in order to do the very thing that we are proudest of the ability to do, there might come aL time when we would have to do it in a way that we would prefer not to do it; and the great burden my spirits, gentle- men, has been that it has been up to me to choose when that time came. Can you imagine a thing more ca1cu- lated to keep a man awake at nights than that? Because, just because did not feel that was the whole thing and was aware that my duty was a duty of interpretation, how | could be sure that I had the right clements of information by which to interpret truly?
 ) What we are now talking about ;1 people out my way think and so. } Now, I know perfectly we'll that you have not talked with all the people out your way. I find that out again and again. And so you are taken by