Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-03-15
TIRESIDE TALKS OF MORE VALUE
THANCONGRESS P-WlLSON

are thinking about and yearning for
than hear any Of the vociferous proc
lamations of policy which it is 80 easy
to hear and so easy to read by picking
up any scrap of printed paper. There
is only one way to hear these things
and that is constantly to go back to
the fountains of American action.
These fountains are not to be found in
any recently discovered sources.
"Sen. Harding, was saying just now
that we ought to try when. We are a
hundred million strong to act in. the
same simplicity of principle that our
forefathers acted whell we were three
million strong. / heard somebody say
i do not know the exact statistics
that the present population of the
United States is 03,00e, 900. ;-a
Everything for an Idea.
IF there are 100000 thinking the
same things that that original 3,000,-
900 thought, the hundred million will
be- saved for ian illustrious future.
They were ready to stand everything
for an idea, and that idea was not ex-
pediency but justice.
And the infinite difficulty of public
affairs, gentlemen, Is not to discover
the signs of the heavens and direction
of the wind, but to square the things
you do by the not simple but compli-
Gated standards of justice. Justice
has nothing to do with expediency.
Justice has nothing to do with any
temporary standard whatever. 1t is
rooted and grounded in the fundamen-
tai instincts of humanity 80
America ought to keep out 81 this
war. She ought to keep out of this
war at the sacrifice of everything ex-
cept this single thing upon which her
character and history are founded, her
sense of humanity and justice. If she
sacrifices that, she has ceased to be
America, she has ceased to entertain
and to love the traditions which have
made us proud to be Americans, and
when we go about seeking safety at
the expense of humanity, then /, for
one, will believe that / have always
been mistaken in what | have con,
ceiVed to be the spirit of American
history. g.: Il.
Long Measurements. -
You never can tell your direction
6ACSpIr ny IO1S measurements 1Ou-
can not establish a line by two posts;
you have got to have three at least to
know whether they are straight with
anything, and the longer your line the
more certain your measurement.
There is only one way in which to
determine how the future of the Unit
ed States is going to be projected and
that is by looking back and seeing
which way the lines ran which led up
to the present moment of power and
of opportunity. There is no doubt
about that -. ~.
? There is no question what the roll
honor consists of the names of men
who have squared their conduct by
ideals of duty. There is no one else
upon the roster; there is no one else
whose name we care to remember
when one measures things upon a ma.
tional scale. wish that whenever an
impulse of Impotence comes upon us,
whenever an impulse to settle thing
some short way tempts US, we might
close the door and take down some old
stories Of what American idealists and
statesmen did in the past and not let
any counsel in that does not sound in
the authentic voice of American ira
dition.
Not Rash Or cowardTy.
Then we shall be certain what the
lines of the future are, because we
shall know we are steering by the
lines of the past. We shall know that
no temporary convenience. no tempo
raray expedieney will lead us either
TO be rash. or to be cowaEdly. / would
be. just as much ashamed to be rash