Iditarod pioneer., 1916-01-29
WHAT PRESIDENT SAID
 ABOUT ALIEN CONSPERACIES
(From the Presidents Message)

There are citizens of the United States, l blush to admit, born lnder other flags but welcomed under our generous naturalization laws to the full freedom and opportunity of America, who have poured the poison ot disloyalty into the very arteries of our na- tional life; who have sought to bring the authority and good name of our govern mept into contempt to destroy our indus tries wherever they thought 1t effective for their vindictive purposes to strike at them, and to debase our politics to the uses of foreign intrigue.
 Their number IS not great as compared with the whole number of those sturdy hosts by which our nation has been enriched in recent generations out of virlle foreign stocks; but it is great enough to have brought deep disgrace upon us and to nave made it necessary that we should promptly make use of processes of law by which we may be purged of their corrupt dlstempers
 America never witnessed anything like th'I before. It never dreamed it possible that men drawn out of great free stocks such as supplied some of the best and strongest ele- ments of that little but now heroic, nation that in high day of old staked its very life to free itself from every entanglement that had darkened the fortunes ot the older nations and set up a new standard herc- that men of such origins and such free choices of allegiance would ever turn Tn malign reaction against the government and peonle who had welcomed and nurtured them and seek to make this proud country once more hotbed of European passion. A little while ago such a thing would have seemed incredible. Because 1t was lncredl- !le we made no preparation tor It. we would have been almost ashamed to pre- pare for it, as if we were suspicious of our selves. our own comrades and nelghbors! But the ugly and incredible thing has ac- tuaIly come about and we are without ade- ouate federal laws to deal with it. l urge YOU to enact such laws at the earliest pos sible moment and feel that in dolng so am urging you to do nothing less than save the honor and self-respect of the nation. Such creatures of passion, hsloyalty ana anarchy must be crushed out. They are not many, but they are infinitely malignant, and the hand of our power should close over them at once They have formed plots to destroy property, they have entered into conspiracies against the neutrality of the government, they have sought to pry into every confidential transaction ot the gov ernment in order to serve interests alien 10 OUT own It is possible to deal with these things very effectively. l need not suggest the terms in which they may be dealt With
 I wish that it could be said that only a few men, misled by mistaken sentiments of allepiance to the governments under which l nf turbing the self-rossesson and mlsrepresent- ing the temper and principles Of the country during these days of terrible war, when II would seem that every man who was truly an American would instinctively make It hls duty and his pride to keep the scales of
 judgment even and prove himself partl- san of no nation but his own. But It can not. There are some men among us, and
 many resident abroad, who, though born and bred in the United States and ealing themselves Americans, have so forgotten themselves and their honor as citizens as to put their passionate sympathy with one or the other side in this great European conflict above their regard for the peace and dignity of the United States. They also preach and practice disloyalty. No laws, l suppose, can TeaCu lIuptIoLo oi SAiS Ai-A1-- and heart; but I should not speak of others without also speaking of these, and ex, pressing the even deeper humiliation and scorn which every self-possessed and thoughtfully patriotic American must feel when he thinks of them and of the dls- credit they are daily bringing upon us.
 While we speak of the preparation of the nation to make sure of her security and her effective power we must not fall into the patent error of supposing that her real strength comes from armaments and mere safeguards of written law. It comes, ot course, from her people, their energy, their success in their undertakings, their free op. portunitv to use the natural resources ot our great home land and of the lands out side our continental borders which look to us for protection, for encouragement and for assistance in their development; from the organization and freedom and vitality of our economic life. The domestic ques
 tions which engaged the attention of the last congress are more vital to the nation in this it's time of test than at any other time. We cannot adequately make ready for any trial of our strength unless we wisely and promptly direct the force Of our laws into these all-important fields of