The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1916-07-04

: !}..tien - :a..e care o: its honor AMI
.. its iEstitujioas Why debate anv
part OF taar. except the detail, except
j the plan itself, which is always debat-
able?
"Of course it is the duty of the
government, which it will never over
look, to defend the territory and peo-
pie of this country. 1t goes without
saying that it is the duty of the ad-
ministration to have constantly IN
mind with the utmost sensitiveness
every point of national honor
| "But, gentlemen, after you have
said and accepted these obvious
things, your programme of action is
still to be formed. When will yol
act, and how will you act?
"The easiest thing is to strike. The
brutal thing is the impulsive thing.
No man has to think before he takes
aggressive action, but before man
really conserves the honor by realiz-
ing the ideals of the nation he has
! to think exactly what he will do and
how he will do it.
No Glory in Conquest.
do you think the glory of America
would be enhanced by war of con-
quest in Mexico? Do you think that
any act OF violence by a powerful ma
ton like this against weak neighbor
would reflect distinction upon the an
mails of the United States.
do you think that it is our duty
to carry self-defense to a point of die
tation into the affairs Of another peo-
pie? The ideals of America are writ
ten plain upon every page Of Ameri-
can history.
u want you to know how fully |
realize whose servant am. l do not
own the government of the United
States even for the time being. /
have no right in the use of it to ex-
press my own passions. l have no
right to express my own ambitions
for the development Of America if
those ambitions are not coincident
with tie ambitions Of the nation it
self.
tAnd I have constantly to remind
myself that l am not the servant OF
those who wish to enhance the value
of their Mexican investments, that /
am the servant Of the rank and file OF
the people of the United States.
81 get great many letters, my fel-
low citizens, from important and in
fuential men in this country, but |
get great many other letters. l get
| letters from unknown men, from
humble men, from people whose
names never have been heard and
never will be recorded and there is
but one prayer in all of these letters:
Do Not Want War.
"Mr. President, do not allow any
body to persuade you that the people
J of this country want war with any
body.
81 got off train yesterday and as
1 was bidding goodbye to the engi-
neer, he said in an undertone, Mr..
President, keep out of Mexico and if
one man has said that to me a thou
sand have said it to me as l have
moved about the country.
"If have opportunity to engage
them further in conversation, they
say, of course, we know that you can
not govern the circumstances OF the
case altogether, and it may be neces-
sary. but for Gods sake do not do 1t
unless it is necessary
81 am for the time being the spokes-
man of such people, gentlemen.
have not read history without observ-
| ing that the greatest forces in the
world and the only permanent forces
are the moral forces.
Force will not accomplish any
thing th-t is permanent 1 venture to
say, in the great struggle which is
going on on the other side of the sea-
The permanent things will be accom-
plished 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 exerted ex-
cept in response to that opinion was