Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1916-02-29
WILSON SAYS : IS
ElPED|ENcY IS
Y|[|:: R Dr.. GUIDE i
Address Before Gridiron Club Is
Given Out to Public
.tfYesterdays
KEEP oUTooF WAR
BUT PRESERVE HONOR

Washington, Feb. 27r- President
Wilston told members and guests at
Gridiron Club dinner last week Lat
America ought to keep out of the
European war at the sacrifice of ev-
erything except this single thing up
on which her character and her his.
tory are founded, her sense of hui
mainly and justice.
The address was confidential, since
the speeches at the dinners of the
Gridiron club, composed of newspa.
per correspondents, are not reported.
1t was made public tonight. however,
with the consent OF the president AMI
the club, because many of those who
heard it urged that it should go to
the country.
T. Unusual Gravity.
= The president spoke OF the nations
affairs with unusual gravity. His
hearers, including several hundred
members of congress, government Of
ficials, business men and correspond
ents, were brought to their feet cheer
ing when he concluded with these
words: 80
81 would be just as much ashamed
to be rash as would to be a cow
ard. Valor Is self-respecting. Valor
is circumspect. Valor strikes only
when it is right to strike: Valor
withholds itself from all small impi-
cations ana arrangements, and waits
for the great opportunity when the
sword will fash as if it carried the
light Of heaven upon it's blade"
The address in part follows:
II have very little to say tonight,
except to express my warm apprecia-
ton Of the invariable courtesy of this
club, and Of the reception you have
so generously accorded me. I find
that am seldom tempted to say any
thing nowadays unless somebody
starts something and tonight nobody
has started anything.
"Your talk, Mr.. POSTMASTER, has
been a great deal about candidacy for
the presidency. 1t is not new feel
ing on my part, but one which | en-
terrain with a greater intensity than
formerly, that man who seeks the
presidency of the United States for
anything that it will bring to him
is an audacious fool The response.
bilities OF the office ought to sober
man even if he approaches it. One
Of the difficulties of the efilce seldom
appreciated, Itdare say, is that it is
very difficult TO think while SO many
people are talking, and particularly
while so many people are talking in
| a way that Obscures counsel and is
entirely off the point.
Not iExpedieney.
"The point in national affairs, gen
t1emen, never lies along the lines Of
expediency. 1t always rests in the
field Of principle. The United States
was not founded upon any principle
of expediency; it was founded upor
profound principle of human liber
ty and of humanity, and whenever i
bases it's policy upon any other foun
dations than those it builds on tn,
sand and not upon solid rock.
seems to me that the most enlighten
ing thing a man can do is suggested
by something which the vice presi
dent said tonight. He complaine,
that he found men, who, when thei
attention was called to the signs o
spring, did not see the blue heaven
did not see the movement of the FREE
clouds, did not think of the grea
spaces of the quiet continent, blu
thought only of some immediate ant
pressing piece. of business,
Be Led Astray. sassla.s:ss
ut seems to me that il You do no
think of the things which tie beyon,
and away from and disconnected from
this scene in which we attempt t
think and conclude, you will inevi1
ably be led astray. l would a grea
deal rather know what they are tall
ing about around quiet firesides al
over this country than what they ar
talking about in the cloak rooms q
congress. would a great deal rathe
know what the men on the train
and By the wayside and ipsthe: shop
and on the farms are thinking abou