East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1916-06-14
EIGHT PAGES

declaration war has become sea OF
trouble upon which nations embark
only from self-wll from self-interest
or the necessity Of geographical posi-
ton. of financial obligation or polite
cal alliance,
Neutrality Is the policy which has
kept us at peace while Europe has
been driving the nails Of war through
the hands and feet Of erucified au-
manity.
1t has banished conquest from our
program OF national greatness and has
made us find our destiny at home. II
has forced us TO build on the brawn Of
our sons and the energy Of our daugh-
ters rather than upon the tears OF
conquered women and the blood OF
conquered men. 1t has made us seek
treasure in our harvests. wealth In our
fields by staying our hands from
wars blood stained pot OF gold It
has been the flaming sword which for
/ bade us to devastate the Eden Of 9TH
ers ana compelled us TO make an
( Eden Of our own 1t has freed US
from the paralyzing touch Of Europe'a
balance of power leaving to Europe
the things that are Europe's and pre-
serving for America the independ-
ence, the peace and the happiness that
row are hers
| As result of this policy America
stands serene and confident, mighty
and proud, a temple OF peace and lib
crty in world aflame. a sanctuary
where the lamp Of civilization burns
clear and strong, q living breathing
monument to the craftsmanship Of the
great Americans who kept il free from
4 the menace of European war,
/ Wealth has come to us, power has
come to us, but better than wealth or
power we have maintained for our
selves and for our children nation
dedicated to the ideals OF peace rather
than to the gospel of selfishness ami
4 slaughter.
The praises OF this policy are not
written in the ruins of American
homes. not in the wreck Of American
industries. not in the mourning OF AM
erican families, they are found in the
myriad evidences Or prosperity and
1 plenty that make this contented
land From every whirling spindle In
I America, from every factory wheel
that turns, from every growing thing
| that brcathes It's prayer OF plenty to the
skies from every quiet school, from
every peaceful home goes up a song
OF praise, a paean or Thanksgiving To
hymn q nations tribute. TO the states
manshlp that has brought these things
to pass
Neutral Rights Asserted and Main.
tanned As Never Before.
No American who knows the facts
can honestly oppose or crlticise the
policy Of neutrality wnich the present
/ democratic administration has pur-
sued. Driven from this position. by
the logic Of our history and the les
son OF our prosperity, carpers and de-
famers rush to the opposite extreme
and assert that this policy has not
the present administration
/ Standing here with the eyes NJ the
nation upon this convention, with the
cold light OF reason the piercing
shafts Of logic streaming upon all
that We may say or do. | declare. with
\ fact as my proof that the neutral
rights OF American ruizens have new
er been so vigorously asserted or so
successfully maintained as they have
been asserted and maintained by the
the present war.
I Americas doctrine OF neutrality
/ never meant that this nation must
rush head long into war at the first
/ invasion Of its neutral rights. Neu-
trality Is not a halr-triggered policy
that explodes in viofence at the first
assault II is "A policy that has prov
ed successful because It has always
been asserted through negotiation
rather than through force, through di-
/ plomacy rather than by an appeal to
arms. This does not mean that Am
erica will not resort to war when all
/ other means Of protecting lts neutral
rights have failed. hut II does mean
that America will exhaust every
/ peaceful means Of protecting those
rights before It takes the step from
which there is no appeal. Just as in
/ domestic affairs the penal statutes
cannot wholly SUPPRESS crime. SO in
foreign affairs the law Of neutrality
cannot entirely prevent the breach Of
neutral rights. There has scarcely
been a war since the principle Of neu-
/ trality was embodied in international
law, in which some neutral citizens
have not been killed. in which SOME
neutral trade has not been interfered
with.
A judicial review OF relative values.
a dictinction between honor and sem
/ sitiveness a consideration Of life as
well as property, a proper equation Of
| conditions and circumstances are ele-
ments Of neutrality's law.
one hundred and twenty years ago
when Europe went mad with war as 1t
las gone mad today Jefferson pointed
to the north star of our policy OF neu-
trality when he said "in the present
maniac state Of Europe we should
not estimate the point of honor by the
ordinary scale The reasoning which
made this a sound rule in "the maniac
state Of Europe in Jefferson's day
makes 1t an equally strong rule. in
the maniac state OF Europe today.
This nation, let us never forget, has
always remembered that neutrality Is
a policy which is asserted against ma
/ tions at war, aganst nations inflamed