The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-06-16
WESTCOTT'S TRIBUTE TO
WILSON IN NOMINATING
SPEECH BEFORE CONVENTION
(Continued from Page Id

ton. Speculation willis in the blaze
of truth. Abusive phraseology shriv-
els before the relentless fact. Hon
esty is the commanding quality OF a
free and patriotic American.
What are the realities that face us?
In Mexico exist the potentialities of
civilization. In her Wealth. her his
tory. her schools. her religion, her
needs. her very suffering and patriot
ism lie the indestructible seeds of
progress. To have conquered Mexico
would have seated death at the Amer
lean Preside. 1t would have de-
stroyed our prosperity and added
hundreds of millions of taxation to the
burden of the nation. It would have
planted distrust and hatred of the
United States in every South Ameri-
can republic. IT would have forfeited
the respect Of the world. It would
have substituted the tenets of Imper-
ialism for the principles of American
ism. 1t would have prostituted the
bravery and patriotism of American
arms to the greed and avarice of con-
cessionaries. 1t would have robbed
the United States of the grandeur of
her mission amongst the nations of
the earth. 1t would have made might
right and repudiated the doctrines OF
Christianity. 1t would have ignored
the fundamental conceptions of moral
progress and denied the right of If
teen millions of people to govern
themselves. Ambition and greed we're
prepared to sacrifice America and all
tint Amearica stands for, in order to
acquire the ealth of Mexico. The d.
plomacy of "watchful waiting avert.
ed these calamities and preserved in
their original purity the principles of
American freedom and justice.
i"Watchful waiting" repudiated the
brutal dictum of science that the weak
must go down before the strong Help
Mexico lest, over her bloody grave
are sown the dragons teeth of our
own destruction.
| War with any European nation
would have set the world affame and
stopped the march OF progress for a
century. Would anyone have had 1t
so in order to affirm "virile Ameri-
canism"? Is "virile Americanism"
bloodshed, destruction, the horrors of
war and its uncertainties? The sub
stance of civilization is the arts, the
sciences, literature. philosophy, indus
! try, the domestic virtues, freedom, re-
ligion and peace. But this is the sub
stance of American nationalism. This
+, is the virility of Americanism. It
knows no national boundaries. 1t yet
lives in the trenches and broken
homes of Europe and pervades its
very thrones. Therefore, America
lives in the trenches and broken
homes of Europe and its thrones. The
stupendous confiagation is consuming
the errors of statesmen and dynasties;
1t is not consuming the substance of
civilization. Civilization is a unity.
War with Europe would have cut
asunder the moral forces that bind
the nations and left an age of dark.
ness, anarchy and despair. Standing
on the immutable foundations of such
Americanism, the schoolmaster and
statesman, with consummate skill, a
skill that commands the admiration OF
the world, direct the forces of civil.
cation, not with arms. but with reason
and moral pressure against the ex-
feesses of a belligerent world. With
preternatural poise and clearness OF
vision, he is plotting America through
/ the rushing storm. Who can deny the
existence of moral design in the uni
verse? Who now can question its
fulfillment? Who now can close his
eyes to the destiny of democracy to
make the principles Of civilization
dominant. to bring the warning ma.
lions of the earth together in lasting
peace? The passions of men die.
The truth ives. America has called
to Europe; Europe is responding in
terms. of revitalized civilization. The
sublimest picture in civil history is
that of a plain American citizen man
oeuvring with the weapons of reason
and humanity against tn enavies and
armies of the contending nations, and
bringing them in accord with the
principles of international law. The
American standard of peace and jus
tice now floats on the sea. 1t is un-
| furling over the trenches of the strug-
Cling nations. From the vantage
ground of imperishable Americanism
the matchless craft of a real pacifist
has not only avoided all war, but is
leading the world into the ways of
peace. What is peace but the asser-
ton of moral progress? What is the
assertion of moral progress but the
indestructible civilization of Europe
and America? From the smouIdering
ruins of a thousand cities, over the
graves OF millions of brave men, out
of the blackness of the battle smoke,
arising from the obscurities of nation
al r,aSeions already the naonles of the
earth recognize the dim outlines,
growing ever more distinct. of the