Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1916-04-28
WILSON DIPLOMACY

The following is from a recent
speech of Governor Glyn of New
York, and makes good reading;
"Mr Root finds fault with Presi-
dent Wilson for changing his mind.
All men, including Mr.. Root, change
their minds now and then. If they
did not, life would be stagnation in
stead of progression.
1.-THE instructions which Mr.. Root
as Secretary of State handed to our
representatives at the Hague and his
words at Carnegie Hall on Pelgium
show that sorhetimes Mr. Root
sometimes changes his mind. The
expressions of Mr. Root at Carnegie
Hall on Mexico, compared with his
speech on our relations with the
southern Republics during his South
American tour as Secretary of State,
again show that sometimes Mr.. Root
changes his mind He once thought
Mr.. Root the only one of his kind,
but when they broke he still thought
Mr.. Root the only one of his kind,
but quite another kind.
"But in this Mr.. Root and Mr..
Roosevelt and President Wilson keep
good company.
''In 1875 George Washington was
opposed to a war for independence;
in 1776 he said that a war for inde-
pendence was the only thing that
could save us. Benjamin Franklin
thought we should not come to terms
of peace with England in the Revo-
Iutionary War unless we got Canada,
but he changed his mind before the
treaty was signed. When Thomas
jefferson bought the Louisiana tract
he reversed the position he formerly
maintained as strict construction
list of the Constitution. Before he
became President Thomas Jefferson
was opposed to the use of Federal
money for internal improvement,
but as President he sent a message to
Congress advocating the use of pub
lie money to improve our rivers and
harbors. For a long while Abraham
Lincoln resisted the idea of the eman-
cipation of the slaves. He revoked
the orders of some of his generals
emancipating slaves within the limits
of their command, and he struck
from the annual report of the Secre-
tary of War a paragraph advocating
the adoption of this policy. Yet when
the need was pressing and the hour
ripe Abraham Lincoln did issue the
emancipation proclamation. These
examples may have no direct bearing
upon the issues of the hour, but they
do show the pettiness of criticism
running through Mr.. Roots speech.
president Wilson has only shak-
en- his finger; when he has to shake
his fist the world will find it mailed.
"Mr. Root says no man should
draw a pistol who does not shoot, and
that a government should not shake
its fist first and its finger afterward
Like most epigrams containing the
wisdom of the world in capsule form,
epigrams are partly true and partly
false. Many fight with a bully has
been averted by shaking first the
fist of strength and then pointing the
finger of reason; many a necessity
for shooting has been averted by
pulling a pistol The experiences Of
everyday life and the history of di-
plomacy disclose these truths.
but if Mr.. Root means TO apply
these epigrams to President Wilson
he has made an unhappy application
of his trick of speech. President Will
son has only shaken his finger thus
far; If necessity compels, though, he
can shake his fist and the world win
find it mailed. Despite Mr.. Roots
glittering epigrams, President Wilson
is following and will continue to fol-
low the policy pursued under similar
circumstances by the most illustrious