The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-02-02


| ton of the country More than 10000
| enthusiastic men and women damned
their way into the Coliseum and wait
| ed for the President two hours, the
biggest audience of the present trip.
Twice that number thronged the
STREETS clamoring for adm ssion. The
i people, hardy Americans without a
sign of the hyphep in their makeup,
had come, many of them, from miles
| around, equipped with American
flags with which to wave a salute.
| Deeply affected by q, demonstration
| of this kind in state i'll which he
had been told that his program of
preparedness would meet with the
bitterest opposition, the President
| spoke with the utmost frankness. He
/ said that he intended no indammatory
utterances, but simply wanted to
state the facts and that he accepted
| the pIaudits of the throng as their
! promise to back him up. These state
ments met with hearty response.
- None of you would want me to
| forget the honor of the country for
| peace I can see that he said, and
| there were cries of NOT from many
parts of the big hallh
Mere Messages, or Action?
whenever international law is
violated by one or the other OF the
IbeIligerents. the President said,
L
voice of protest on instistence. DO
YOU want the situation to be such
that all the President can do IS TO
| write messages and utter words OF
protest? If these breaches of inter-
national law, which are in daily dan
Ger Of occurring. should touch the
yery honor of the United States, do
YOU wish to do nothing about.it Do
YOU wish to have all the world say
that the flag of the United States.
can be stained with 1mpunfty? why
to ask the question is to answer II.
81 know there is not man or
woman within the hearing of my
voice who would wish peace at the
expense of the honor of the United
States 4
The President reiterated that he had
been daily charged to keep the Acoun-
try out of war and also to uphold IT'S
honor fF
| land many a night, when it has
seemed impossible for me to sleep, ne
said, because Of the apparently mex
tricable difficulties into which our m m
ternationaI relations were drifting 4
have said to myself, Il wonder II the
people of the United States fully know
what that mandate means to ne!.
And then sleep has come, because i
knew that there was not a community
in America that would not stand be-
hind me in maintaining the honor OF
the United States.
ssrhe difficalty of keeping America
at peace during this titanic struggle
across the sea cannot be disclosed
now-perhaps it never can be d1s-
cIosed-how anxious and how difficult
this task had been. But my heart has
bene in it. have not grudged a sin
gle burden. that has been placed upon
me with that end in view. For know
that not only my own heart but the
heart of all America was in the cause
of peace
To these statements the CROWD gave
a hearty response
Partisan Politics Forgotten.
The President prefaeed his remarks
by saying that he was here on no po-
1iticaI mission, and that he sought the
support of Republicans and Democrats
alike for preparedness.
when the safety of the country is
at stake he said thank God that
partisan policies are forgotten. mere
~ want to tell you that the men who
say that we should prepare and pre-
pare Immediately are telling the sober
truth think you will agree that no
one in in position to know the truth
about it better than T.
There are actually men in America
who are preaching war, the President
declared, men who want the United
States to have changing alliances
abroad He said he did not think they
declared to be for peace.
He added that others went further
than he in advocating peace.
s'"They preach the doctrine of peace
at any price, he added. Men in the
audience cried Never! Never!'' He
said these men who will have peace at
any price did not know the circuIn-
stances of the world.
america cannot be an ostrich, with
its head in the sand,'' he said.
-
this war had no other result, it would
ereate International tribunal to set
tie questions which cause war.
His declaration that he had found
the people Of the Middle West for pre-
paredneSS drew long applause.
Some one who does not know our
fellow citizens well as he ought to
know them, told me there was a GER
tain degree of Indifference and leth-
argy in the Middle West with regard
to the defense of the nation he de-
clared. ct said did not believe it,
but was going out to see. I have seen
what I expected to see-great bodies
of serious men and women: coming tor
gether to show their interest in the
object of my visit
His Tribute to the Flag
The President closed with a tribute
to the American flag.
LAS I look at that flag he said, F'I
seem to see many characters upon it
which are not visible to the physical
eye. There seem to move ghostly
visions of devoted men who looking
to that flag thought only of liberty
of the rights Of mankind, of the mis-
sion of America to show the way Ito
the world for the realization of those
rights. And every grave and every
brave man in the country would seem
to have upon itSthe coIors of the flag
if he were a true American=wouId
seem to have on it that stain of red
which means the true pulse of blood;
that patch of pure white, which
means the peace of the soul And