Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-02-03
Denies America Is Selfish.

tude of ours.
Denies America Is Selfish.
81 resent the suggestion that we have
been selfish desiring merely to make
money. What would happen if there
were no great nation disengaged from
this terrible struggle? What would
happen if every nation were consum-
ing it's substance in war? What would
happen if no nation stood ready to as
sist the world with it's finances and to
supply it with its food? We are more
now to the nations at
war by the maintenance of our peace
than We could possibly be to either side
If we engaged in The war; and, there
fore. there is a moral obligation laid
upon US to keep out of the war il pos
sible. But by the same token there is a
moral obligation laid upon US to keep
free the courses of our commerce and
of our finance, and l believe that
America stands ready to vindicate
those rights.
But there are rights higher than
either of those, higher than the rights
OF individual Americans OUTSIDE of
America. higher and greater than the
rights of trade and of commerce. RI
mean the rights of mankind. We have
made ourselves the guarantors of the
rights of national sovereignty and of
popular sovereignty on this side of the
water in both continents in the west
ern hemisphere. You would be ashamed,
as / would be ashamed, to withdra W
one inch from that handsome guaran-
tee, for it is handsome one.
q. s. Has Nothing to Gain.
For we have nothing to make by it,
unless it be that we are to make friend
ships by it, and friendships are the best
usury of any sort of business. So far
as dollars and cents and material ad-
vantage are concerned. we have moth
ing to make by the Monroe doctrine
We have nothing to make. by allying
ourselves with the other nations of the
western hemisphere in order to to
it that no man from outside, no gov
ernment from outside, no nation from
outside attempts to assert any kind of
sovereignty or undue influence over the
peoples of this continent.
America knows that the only thing
that sustains the Monroe doctrine and
all the differences that flow from ii is
her own moral and physical force. The
Monroe doctrine is not part of inter
national law. The Monroe doctrine
has never been formally accepted by
any international agreement. The
Monroe doctrine merely rests upon the
statement of the United States that if
cartain things happen, she will do cer-
fain things. So. nothing sustains the
honor of the United States in respect
of these long cherished and Iong-ad-
mired promises except her own moral
and physical force.
Independence for Philippines.
do you know what has interfered
more than anything else with the
peaceful relations of the United States
with the rest of the world? The credu-
lity of the rest of the world when we
have made statements of our sincere
unselfshness in these matters. The
greatest surprise the world ever had.
speaking. was when the
United States withdrew from Cuba. We
said, We are fighting this thing for the
sake of the Cubans, and when it is
over we are going to turn Cuba over
to her own people. and statesmen in
every capital in Europe smiled behind
their hands.
",rhey said. What? That great. rich
island. lying directly south of the foot
of your own Florida. Plant your flag
there and then haul it down" Ameri
cans said. We will never raise the flag
of the United States anywhere and
then haul it down. And then, when
the American people saw that the time
had come when her promises were to
be fulfilled, down came that futtering
emblem of our sovereignty. and we
were more honored in its lowering than
we had been in its hosting. The Amer
lean people feel the same way about
the Philippines, though the rest of the
world does not yet believe il. We are
trustees for the Filipino people. and
lust soon as we feel that they can
take care Of their own affairs, without
our direct interference and protection,
the flag again will be honored by the
fulfllment of a promise.
Flag of Honor, Not Advantage.
That flag stands for honor, not for
advantage. That flag stands for the
rights of mankind. no matter where
they be, no matter what their ante
cedents, no matter what their race; it
stands for the absolute right of po-
iiticaI liberty and free and self-govern-
ment and wherever IL stands to the
contrary American traditions have be-