Daily Kennebec journal., 1916-02-01
Address at Chicago

Address at Chicago
President Wilson's address at Chi
cago follows in part:
"A year ago when the war IN Eu-
rope had been six months in prog
ress, l take it it would have seemed
incredible to all Of US that the storm
should have continued to gather IN
intensity instead Of spending It's
force But that six months was mere
ly the beginning Of the struggle. An
other year has been added and now
no man can competently say "hether
the United States will be drawn into
the struggle or not.
The circumstances Of the day are
so extraordinary that perhaps 1t IS not
prudent for a man upon whom the
responsibilities of affairs are laid TO
know too particularly the details or
what are happening
The trouble with a great many OF
cur fellow citizens is that they let
their ina sinations become so engaged
in this terrible affair that they can
not look upon it as those should VINO
wish TO keep a cool head and detach'
ed Judgment It is not wise Tor us 10
let our thoughts become so deeply IN
volved that we cannot think Separ-
ately. must admit to you very frank
Is that have been careful to refrain
from reading the details in the news
paper reports I have wished TO see
the thi ng and realize it only in its
large aspects and to keep my
thoughts concentrated upon America,
~;~ nd
tasks and her tasks have been very
difficult. They have not been merely
negative
America only Audience
Have you not realized how all the
world seems to have been constantly
conscious from the beginning of this
struggle that America was so to say.
the only audience before whom this
terrible plot was being worked out?
How everybody engaged in the strug-
gle has seemed to turn to America for
the moral judgments concerning it:
How each side in the titanic struggle
has appealed to us to judge their en-
emies in the wrong? How there has
been no tragical turn in the course OF
events that America has not been
called on Sfor some sort of protest or
expression Of judgment? And SO those
of us who are charged with the re-
sponsibiltty Of affairs have realized
very intensely that there was a GER
tain sense in which America was look
ed to keep even the balance Of the
worlds thought. But she was called
upon to do something very much more
than that, even profoundly difficult II
not impossible. though that be. She
was called upon to assert. in times or
war, the standards Of times OF peace.
There is an old saying that the laws
are silent in the presence of war. Yes,
mot only the civil laws of individual
nations. but also apparently the law
that governs the relation of nations
with one another must at times rall
silent and look on in dumb impotence.
'And yet It has been assumed through
out this struggle that the great prin-
ciples OF International law and OF inter-
national commity had not been suspend
ed and the United States as the greatest
and most powerful of the disengaged ma
lions has been looked to to hold high best
standards which should govern the rele-
tionship OF nations to each other.
Misjudged Abroad
II know that on the other side of the
water there has been a great deal of cruel
misjudgment with regard to the reasons
why America has remained neutral
Those who look at US at a distance do no,
feel the strong pulses Of ideal principle
that are in us. They do not feel the
conviction Of America that her mission
is a mission of peace and that righteous
ness cannot be maintained as standard
in the midst of arms. They do not real
ize that back of all our energy, by whicf
We have built up great material wealth
and created great material power. W.
are a body of idealists much more read,
to lay down our lives for thought thar
for dollar.
II supposed some of them think tha
we are holding off because we can mak'
money while the others are dying; th'
most cruel misunderstanding that an.
nation has ever had to face: so wrong
that it seems almost useless to try t.
correct it, because it shows that the yer!
fundamentals of our life are not com
pretended and understood.
II need no tell my fellow citizens tina
we have not held off from this struggle
from motives of self-interest, unless i
be considered self-nterest to maintain
our position as the trustees of the mora
Judgments of the world. We have be
leved, and l believe. that we can serv'
even the nations at war better by re
naming at peace and holding off from
this contest than we could possibly serv'
them in any other way.
Your interests, your sympathies, you
affections may be engaged on the on
side or the other, but no matter whicl
side they are engaged on, your duty t
your affections In this matter is to stan'
off and not let this nation be drawn int
war.
Somebody Ready to Repair
Somebody must keep the great stapl
foundations Of the life Of nations un
touched and undisturbed; somebody mus
keen the great economic processes of th'
world of business alive; somebody mus
seen to it that he stand ready to repai
the enormous damage and the incalcula
BILE losses which will ensue from this wa
and which It is hardly credible could b.
repaired if every great nation in th'
world wera drawn into the contest Ant