The Benson signal., 1916-06-03
WILSON PROPOSES TERMS TOEND WAR
President Declares u S. Is Ready to Sign Peace Agreement With
World Believes Nations Are Eagerly Awaiting Chance
End Conflict and Danish War Forever


expression to what l believe to be the
thought and purpose of the people Of
the United States in this vital matter.
''This great war that broke so sud-
denly upon the world two years ago
and which has swept within it's flame
so great a part of the civilized world
has affected us very profoundly and
we are not only at liberty, it is per-
haps our duty to speak very frankly
of it and of the great interests Of
civilization which it affects.
with it's causes and it's objects we
are not concerned. The obscure foun-
tains from which it's stupendous flood
had burst forth we are not interested
to search for Or explore. But so great
flood, spread far and wide to every
quarter of the globe, has of necessity
engulfed many a fair province Of
right that lies very near to us.
Our Own Rights Affected.
"Our own rights as a nation, the
liberties, the privileges and the prop
erty of our people have been pro-
foundly affected. We are not mere
disconnected lookers-on. The longer
the war lasts, the more deeply do we
become concerned that it should be
brought to an end and the world be
permitted to resume it's normal life
and course again.
"And when it does come to an end,
we shall be as much concerned as the
nations at war to see peace assume
an aspect of permanence, give prom
ise of days from which the anxiety
of uncertainty shall be lifted, bring
some assurance that peace and war
shall always hereafter be reckOned
part of the common interest of man
kind.
eve are participants, whether we
would Or not, in the life of the world.
The interests of all nations are our
own also. We are partners with the
rest. What affects mankind il inevi-
tably our affair as well as the affair
of the nations of Europe and of Asia.
Secret CounseIs Planned.
Zone observation on the causes of
the present war we are at liberty to
make, and to make it may throw some
light forward upon the future as we'll
as backward upon the past. 1t is
plain that this war could have come
only as it did, suddenly and out of
secret counsels, without warning to
the world, without discussion, with
out any of the deliberate movements
of counsel with which it would seem
natural to approach SO stupendous
contest.
1t is probable that if it had been
foreseen Just what would happen, just
what alliances would be formed, just
what forces arrayed against one an
other, those who brought the great
contest would have been glad to sub
stitute conference for force. n
eff we ourselves had been afforded
some opportunity to apprise the bel
ligerents of the attitude of which 1t
would be our duty to take. of the pol
icies and practices against which we
would feel bound to use all our moral
and economic strength, and in GER
tain circum stances even our physical
strength also, our own contribution to
the counsel which might have averted
the struggle would have been consid-
cred worth weighing and regarding.
New Code for Nations.
"And the lesson which the shock of
being taken by surprise in matter
so deeply vital to all the nations of
the world has made poignantly clear,
is, that the peace or the world must
henceforth depend upon a new and
more wholesome diplomacy.
"Only when the great nations of
the world have reached some sort of
agreem ent as to what they hold to be
fundamental to their common inter-
est and as to some feasible method of
acting in concert when any nation or
group of nations seeks to disturb
those fundamental things, can we
feel that civiliza tion is at last in
way of justifying it's existence and
claiming to be finally established. 1t
is clear that nations must, in the fu-
ture, be governed by the same high
code of honor that we demand of in
dividuals.
1--WE must, indeed, in the very same
breath with which we avow this con-
viction admit that we have ourselves
unon occasion in the past been offend
ers against the law of diplomacy
which we thus forecast; but our con-
viction is rot the less clear, but
rather, the more clear, on that ac-
count.
Foresees Great Change.
"But I did not come here to repeat