The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1916-12-23
? NOT ENCOURAGING.

WI I. - NOJ EVIVOVN<asN0s
Bitter comments from the British
press merely confirm the fact that
the way of the peacemaker is hard.
President Wilson, through Secretary
Lansing, has entered vigorous dis
claimer that he intends to place him.
self, as the head of the most power
full neutral, in the position Of an ar.
bitrator.
The language of the note unfOr.
tunately stirs up resentment in the
hearts of the Britons when, probably,
the only intent of the president was
to emphasize that in his judgment the
time had come for the warning ma
lions Of Europe to raise the voice of
reason above the din Of arms.
r: President Wilson is in possession
OF facts necessarily in times as these
denied the public Unless he has suf-
hcient grounds upon which to base
these words Of his note, President
Wilson has swept aside all tradi-
tions and proposes that the United
States shall no longer maintain a
traditional isolation:
''In the measures to be taken to
secure the future peace of the
world, the people and the govern
ment Of the United States are as
vitality and as directly interested
as the governments now at war.
Their interest, moreover, in the
means to be adopted to relieve
the smaller and weaker peoples
of the world of the perils of
wrong and violence is as quick
and ardent as that of any other
people or government
This is a sweeping statement and
lifts us completely out Of the sphere
in which our forefathers insisted our
guarantees Of peace and happiness
alone were secure-removed from en-
tangling European alliances.
Contrast the words of President
Wilson with these from Washington's
farewell address: f"
"Our detached and distant situa-
ton invites and enables US to pursue
different course. If we remain one
people under an efficient government,
the period is not far off when we may
defy material injury from external
annoyance; when we may take an
attitude as will cause the neutrality,
we may at any time resolve upon, to
be scrupulously respected; when bel.
ligerent nations, under the impossi.
bility of making acquisitions upon us,
will not lightly hazard the giving us
provOcation; when we may choose
peace or war. as our interest, guided
by justice shall counsel.
why forego the advantages of so
peculiar a situation? Why quit our
own to stand upon foreign ground?
Why by Intervening our destiny
with that Of any part of Europe, en-
tangle our peace and prosperity in
the tolls of European ambition, rival.
ship, humor and caprice?"
II President Wilson's message is
to insist that our rights as a neutral
be more scrupulously obeyed as the
war continues, the nation can but say
amen. But on the other hand, il the
object of the note is to force media
ton upon nations not inviting arbi.
tration, then are we not departing
from traditional policy that tends to
Intervene our destiny with that Of
Europe?
The note unfortunately leaves the
nation in the dark. Until the mirage
lifts, and President Wilson puts the
entire situation before the nation our
patriotism demands that the verdict
be withheld. The move is one of
tremendous importance to the nation.
It cannot be dismissed lightly or cor.
rectly estimated, in view of the mea-
ger facts given to the public upon
which the rather astounding note was