East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1916-06-14

dents the republican party ever gave
this nation.
Do the critics Of the present admin
lstrauon believe thar Lincoln should
have risked national disaster by US
ing the sword rather than the pen in
pressing the Alabama claims? Are
they willing to brand Grant as cow
ard because he kept US at peace with
Spain?
Yet no incident Of the present war
shows so gross a violation Of our neu-
tral rights as England's action in
building a navy TO prey upon our
commerce, no submarine attack sur
passes in horror the butchery OF Am
erican citizens by that Spanish firing
squad in Santiago when Grant was in
the presidential chair.
In this as in all the other big ques.
tions of life the more we understand
the past, the better we shall judge the
present. Where it took ten years to
secure inadequate compensation for
the Alabama claim, the present ad-
ministration has already secured in
the case Of a single claimant, repara-
tion greater than all the Alabama
claims combined. Where. in other ad-
mlnistrations during the great foreign
wars, the American flag was merely
an invitation to plumber, today that
flag is the best protection Of all who
desire TO be safe upon the seas.
Where Washington vainly pleaded
for recognition of our neutral rights
where Jefferson sought in vain to
protect our shipping, where Lincoln
failed TO gain US the freedom Of the
seas, the man who now sits in the
presidential chair has secured from
every warning power from every EN-
pire under the sun, the formal and
definite assurance that the neutral
rights Of America shall be respected
and observed
We challenge our critics to deny a
single fact in the record. We defy
them to show single point at which
the helmsman who has safely pilOted
us through Europe's storm has depart
ed from the course laid down by those
who established Americas foreign pol
icy
The Declaration of Independence Con-
firms the Policy OF Negotiation.
ITO maintain our national honor
by peace If we can, by war If we
/ ct fg Nhn aF fhn rrngfdnnf
of the United States.
But before submitting to the chance
and misery of war. true statesman
that he it, he proposes to put the rea-
son and justice of negotiation to the
test. If they are as patriotic as they
pretend those who censure this policy
of negotiation may blush from shame
to learn that they censure the policy
pursued by the signers of the declar-
| ton Of independence.
In the document which made us
/ free John Hancock and Benjamin
Franklin and Charles Carroll and all
the other signers declare q quote their
exact Words, they declare they ZAP
pealed," they declare they "conjured, >
they declare they warned" they de-
clare they reminded England of our
wrongs before We went to war.
Anyone can disparage diplomatic
procedure. but only men of patience
and principle can successfully conduct
1 it.
Just as Rufus King criticised Wash
! ingtons negotiations with France in
/ the Genet affair, just as the members
of John Adams own cabinet criticised
his negotiations which averted war
with France just as Horace Greeley
criticised Lincoln; so for personal and
political purposes men whose ambi.
tions outrun their sense of justice crit
icise the negotiations of the pres
dent today.
A Policy That satisfies.
But, say our critics, this policy sat
isfies no one
They mean it does not satisfy those
who would map out a new and un-
tried course for this nation to pursue,
but they forget it does satisfy those
who believe the United states should
! live up to the principles it has pro-
/ fessed for a century and more.
Chief Justice White Of the United
/ States supreme court says this policy
has given America the greatest diplo-
matte victory of the past generation
MaXimilian Harden, Germany's noted
editor, says that never once has this
republic violated its neutrality" and
/ Gilbert X. Chesterton. the famous
English journalist, says. 'it is the duty
Of the president of the United States
to protect the interests Of the people
of the United Staes," that "he can't
dip his country into hell just to show
the world he has a keen sense of be-
ing an individual saviour"
This policy may not satisfy those
who revel in destruction and find
pleasure in despair. 1t may not salts
fy the fire-eater or the swashbuckler
But it does satisfy those who worship
at the altar of the God of Peace II
does satisfy the mothers OF the land
at whose hearth ana fireside no jim
goistic war has placed an empty chair
1t does satisfy the daughters of this
land from whom bluster and brag has
sent no loving brother TO the dissolu-
ton of the grave. 1t does satisfy the
fathers of this land and the sons OF
this land who will fight for our flag
and die for our flag when Reason
primes the rifle, when Honor draws
the sword, when Justice breathes q
blessing on the standards they uphold
And whom, We ask, will the policy
cf our opponents sa,fsfy. and for how