The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-03-10
Time is MowFor Patriotism in Gov
eminent
SAYS ADMINISTRATION is UNFIT
Would Stir Americans to Realize
That Crisis In Nations History 10
at Hand.

at Trinidad, British West Indies, in a
statement given out yesterday through
the New York Evening Mail. emphati
cally declines to be candidate In the
primaries of Massachusetts or of any
other state. The statement is as fol.
lows.
II am deeply sensible OF the honor
conferred on me and of the good will
shown me by the gentlemen who have
announced themselves as delegates to
be elected in my interest in the Mas
sachusetts presidential primary. New
ertheless, must request, and ! now
do request and insist, that my name
be not brought into the Massachusetts
primaries, and emphatically decline
to be a candidate in the primaries of
that or of any other state. Months
ago / formally notified the authori-
ties of Nebraska, Minnesota and Mich
igan to this effect.
Il do not wish the nomination. !
am not in the least interested in the
political fortunes either of myself or
any other man. am interested in
awakening my fellow-countrymen to
the need of facing unpleasant facts.
| am interested in triumph of the
great principles for which with all my
heart and soul have striven and
shall continue to strive.
II will not enter into any fight for
the nomination and will not permit
any factional fight to be made In my
behalf. Indeed. | will go further and
say that II would be mistake to
nominate me unless the country has
in its mood something of the heroic
unless 1t feels not only devotion to
ideals but the purpose measurably tt
realize those ideals in action.
This is one of those rare times
which come only at long intervals in
a nations history, where the action
taken determines the basis of the life
of the generations that follow. Such
times were those from 1776' to 1883,
in the days of Washington, land from
1858 to 1865, In the days of Lincoln !
~ 1T is for us of today 10 grhpple
with the tremendous national and in
ternational problems of our own hour
in the spirit and with the ability
shown by those who upheld the hands
Of Washington and Lincoln. Wheth,
er we do or do not accomplish this
feat will largely depend on the action
taken at the republican and progress
sive national convention next June.
Nothing is to be hoped from the
present administration, and the strug-
giles between the president and his
party leaders in Congress are today
merely struggles as to whether the
nation shall see its governmental rep
resentatives adopt an attitude of a
little more or little less hypocrisy
and follow policy Of slightly greater
or slightly less baseness. All that they
offer us Is a choice between degrees
Of hypocrisy and degrees of infamy.
June is long way Off Man
things may occur between now and
then. 1t is utterly impossible to say
now with any degree of certainty
who should be nominated at Chicago
The crying. the vital need now tsethat {
the men who next June assemble at
Chicago from the 4S states and min
gle the view Of the entire country
shall act with the sane and lofty de-
vOtion to the interest of our nation
as a whole which was shown by tho.
original Continental Congress. They
should approach their task unham.
pered by any pledge except to bring
to its accomplishment every ounce o,
courage, intelligence and integrity
they possess. /.