The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1916-10-27

of nations, and that the only thing
ever fought for is the sommon rights
of humanity fss
"A great many men are complaining
that we are not fighting now in order
to get something - not something
spiritual, not right, not something
We could be proud of, but something
We could possess and take advantages
Of and trade on and profit by They
are complaining that the government
or the United States has not the spirit
OF other governments which is to put
the force. the army and navy, of that
government behind investments in
Foreign countries. Just so certainly
as You do that, you join this chaos of
competing and hostile ambitions.
What Started the War;
Have You ever heard what started
the present war? If you have, wish
you would publish it, because nobody
else has. So far as can get there,
nothing In particular started it, but
everything in general. There had been
growing up in Europe a mutual
suspicion. an interchange Of conjec-
lures about what this government and
that government was going to do, an
interlacing of alliances and UNDER
standings. complex web of intrigue
and spying, that presently was sure to
entangle the whole Of the family Of
mankind on that side of the water In
Its meshes. Now, revive that after
this war is over and sooner or later
you will have just such another war,
and this is the last war of the kind, or
of any kind, that involves the world
that the United States can keep out
OF
i say that because / believe that
the business of neutrality is over, not
because / want it to be over, but I
mean this, that war now has such a
scale that the position of neutrals
sooner or later becomes intolerable.
Just as neutrality would be intoierable
to me If lived in community where
everybody had to assert his own rights
by force and I had to go around
among my neighbors and say Here,
this cannot last any longer: let us get
together and see that nobody disturbs
the peace any more That is what So
ciety Is, and we have not yet society
Of nations.
A Society Of Nations.
We must have a society Of nations:
not suddenly, not by insistence, not by
any hostile emphasis upon the de-
mand, but by the demonstrations Of
the need of the times, nations of the
world must get together and say, Mo-
Dody can hereafter be neutral as
respects the disturbance of the worlds
peace FOR an object which the worlds
opinion cannot sanction The worlds
peace ought to be disturbed If the
fundamental rights Of humanity are
invaded, but it ought not to be dis
turbed for any other thing that / can
think OF, and America was established
In order to indicate, at any date in
one government, the Fundamental
rights OF man. America must hereafter
be ready as a member Of the family OF
nations to exert her whole force,
moral and physical to the assertion
OF those rights throughout the round
globe.
That is the reason that we are SO
much interested now in the establish
ment Of unity Of spirit in the United
States We must all be the same kind
OF Americans in order that we may
do the same kind of American things.
Ine problem Is spiritual problem, it
10 problem which can be solved only
by the heart can be solved only by
these fne emotions which are, after
all. the masters OF action.
The exceptional man is generally
too much in love with himself, for
one thing, and generally knows more
tnan 1t is lawful under divine law
Tor any man to know, whereas the
average man is ready to learn, he is
ready to take as well as to give, he has
been In the bitter struggle of life, he
does not expect TO live luxuriously: ha
knows that life is struggle, and the
best that he can manage is to get
square deal.
So that In struggling in the pres
ent and in planning for the future, my
moral 5is let us see to ii that America
as a whole and every American that
constitutes America as one of the
fractions, is shot through with that
spirit of human sympathy which is
the only spirit of true enterprise"