Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1916-04-28
PREPAREDNESS
URGED BY 7. R. .
At A BANQUET
Timidity and Weakness Invite
War Instead of Averting IT,
Says Colonel.
ABHORS A WANTON
AND UNJUST CONFLICT

|
paredness upon large number Of
Methodists gathered tonight at the
annual banquet of the Methods So
cial Union Of New York and referred
to the latest phases of the relations
with Germany and Mexico as show
ing that "timidity and weakness in
vite war, instead of avertng it,
81 have a right to speak to you
| for peace said the Colonel in de
claring that he abhOrred Wanton
and unjust war. 81 was president
seven and a-half years. This nation
during all that time never for one
moment permitted any power tc
wrong this country or to wrong Am
orleans either in their person or prop
erty or to make us recreant to our
duty to others; and yet during those
seven and a-llaif years not one shot
was fired by any man in American
uniform against any foreign foe, and
not one American man, woman O.!
child was slain by representatives OF
any foreign nation.
Circuit Riders.
"If those old Methodist circuit rid
ers who spread Methodism had con
sidered peace the chief of all earthl!
goods they would never have gone
| west of the Allghenies. If Peter Cart
| wright and his fellows had feared tC
! face trouble, if their zeal for the
faith had been less than their dreat
of disturbance, there would not have
been single Methodist church west
of the Alleshenies. They believed ir
keeping the peace. But they believed
even more in keeping the faith. They
| strove for the peace that comes
through righteousness. They were
not only good Methodists, good Chris
tians, but they were sound, stalwart
American patriots. They knew that
there is a peace which is the peace
| Of cowardice; and that the peace Of
cowardice becomes in the end the
peace of death. They knew that
| the peace which comes through the
| abandonment of duty, through shrink
ing back when the forces of evil ad
| vance, through putting ease and ma
terial we'll being and soft sentiment
| pleasant duty may mean, and in al
| probability will mean, the loss O
everything that makes life livable tC
| honorable men and upright women
Through HeIpIessness.
China has sought peace through
helplessness, through refusal to pre-
| pare. through inability to hold hel
| own, and China now sees half her ter
| ritory in the possession of alien pow
hny CT 01
| in the territory which she retains:
and is a menace instead of an aiG
to all cause of world peace. 1t is
| OF course, true that trained strength
| in either men or nations may be al
instrument for wrong doing; but thi:
is merely to say what is true of every
| other attribute, what is just as true
OF oraorcal power, of legal ability, O
business ability, of trained and edu
Gated brain in any profession. Blu
we do not pray that our sons should
be either fools or weaklings in order
| that they may be saved from Tho
| temptations incident to he possession
of courage and intelligence an(
strength. On the contrary, we pra!
that they shall be strong and brave
and wise; and we strive to implant
| in them that spiri Of service to Cos
| above through the service of man OF
this earth which shall make them us,
their strength of body and of min(
Alright. And all this should be JUS
as true of nation as of man.
| In Mexico.
| 1--WE are at the moment engaged il
a little war in Mexico, a futile little
war which may at any time burst ou'
into general blaze, which cannot
possibly result in any real settlement
of the situation. We are so engaged
| because our nation failed to do its
duty from the outset in Mexican ma
ters, failed repeatedly and continu
ously. early hundred Americans
some of them women and children
some of them soldiers of the United
States, were killed or wounded Or
American soil by MeXicans on differ
ent occasions before the raid at Co
lumbus took place. If, the very first
time such an incident occurred We
had acted with instant decision anC
crossed the border. not within two OF
three days, but 80 minutes after
wards, and inflicted immediate pun
ishment on the offenders, there would
never have been a repetition of the
offense. Certain foolish pacifsts al
! home would undoubtedly have beer
lackadaisical over the action, but il
would have saved hundreds of lives
after years of these experience.
in Mexico and repeated killings OF
our people in our own territory along
the border, our preparedness is such
that this mighty nation has not beer
able to grapple efficiently with the
situation created by the raid of a ban
dit chief who had been beaten by his
fellow bandit chiefs when they quar-
relied among themselves. In any
event preparation could not possibl,
have produced more trouble than has
been produced in Mexico b. the pol
icy this nation has actually pursued
Regarding Germany.
so it is as regards Germany. Four
teen months have gone by since as G
nation we informed Germany that we
would hold her to strict account
ability if she did what she said she
would do as regards submarine war
fare. Germany did not believe tina.
we meant what we said and for Il
months our actions showed that We
did not mean what we said and strict
accountability turned into IA months