Middletown transcript., 1917-03-10

augural address was as follows:
My Fellow-citizens:
The four years which have elapsed
since last stood in this place have
been crowded with counsel and action
Of the most vital interest and conse-
Quence. Perhaps no equal period in
our history has been so fruitful Of
important reforms in our economic
and industrial life or SO full Of sig
nificant changes in the spirit and pur-
pose Of our political action. We have
sought very thoughtfully to set our
house in order, correct the grosser
errors and abuses Of our industrial
life. liberate and quicken the processes
Of our national genius and energy and
lift our politics to broader view Of
the peoples essential interests. 1t is
record Of singular variety and singu-
lar distinction. But I shall not at
tempt to review 1t. It speaks for it.
self and will be Of increasing influence
as the years go by. This is not the
time for retrospect. It Is time, rather,
to speak our thoughts and purposes
concerning the present and the i'm
mediate future.
Although we have centered counsel
and action with such unusual concen-
tration and success upon the great
problems Of domestic legislation to
which we addressed ourselves four
years ago, other matters have more
and more forced themselves upon our
attention, matters lying outside our
own life as a nation and over which
we had no control, but which. despite
our wish to keep free Of them, have
drawn us more and more irresistibly
Into their own current and influence.
Have Hit the Whole World.
It has been impossible to avoid them
They have affected the life Of the
whole world. They have shaken men
everywhere with a passion and an ap-
prehension they never knew before. 1t
has been hard to preserve calm counsel
while the thought Of our own people
swayed this way and that under their
influence. We are q composite and
cosmopolitan people. We are Of the
blood Of all the nations that are at
war. The currents Of our thoughts,
as well a. the currents Of our trade,
run quick at all seasons back and forth
between US and them.
The war inevitably set Its mark from
the first alike upon our minds, our
{nduefriac nrr nonr arco o,,r pn1{ffoo
and our social action. To be indiffer
ent to 1t or Independent Of it was out
Of the question. And yet all the while
we have been conscious that we were
not part Of It. In that consciousness,
despite many divisions, we have drawn
closer together. We have been deeply
wronged upon the seas, but we have
not wished to wrong or injure in re-
turn; have retained throughout the
consciousness Of standing in some sort
apart, intent upon an interest that
transcribed the immediate issues Of
the war itself. As some Of the injuries
done US have become intolerable we
have still been clear that we wished
nothing for ourselves that we were not
ready to demand for al mankind-fair
dealing, justice, the freedom to live
and be at ease against organized
wrong.
Stand Firm In Armed Neutrality.
It is this spirit and with this thought
that we have grown moro and more
aware, more and more certain that
the part we wished to play was the
| part of those who mean to vindicate
and fortify peace. We have been
| obliged to arm ourselves to make good
our claim to a certain minimum of
right and Of freedom Of action. We
stand firm in armed neutrality since
1t seems that in no other way we can