American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1917-04-05

IleQLS are instituted aiming ultns duu
derive their just powers from the con- /
sent Of the governed.
And If we enter this war it will not .
be so much because American citi-
zens have been murdered or because
we have been ordered from the seven
seas, for we would not send our boys
into battle if We could with honor
keep them out for all the commerce
of the world; and the offering Of those
bows in battle or the killing of mil
lion Of the enemy will not bring back
the breath of life even to one Of the
children who went down with the Lusi-
tania: but fundamentally we will en-
ter the war because that high degree
of individual liberty, toward which the
world has been striving for 5000 years,
which was bought by the blood OF our
fathers, and established for the first
time upon the earth under the stars
and stripes, is endangered.
We as individuals amount to very
little in the eternal scheme Of things.
We come into the world with our way
prepaid by the sufferings Of our moth
ers, and for a brief space enjoy the
blessings of peace and liberty provid-
ded and paid for by the struggles, pri-
vations and sacrifices of our fore
fathers, and then we vanish hence
and though God may mark our fall,
the world notes it but little and goes
on in the same old way without US.
We. as individuals, are but infinitesi-
NAL pawns whereby God is seeking
TO work out the salvation Of the world,
and bring about that millennium when
all nations can fearlessly lay down
their arms in an abiding peace, and
where men will be governed by no law
save that of brotherly love alone.
And if we do not acknowledge the
debt we owe for our existence here
and by our upright lives in time of
peace and our heroic sacrifice in time
of war. help along toward that high
goal, it is better that we had not liy-
ed at all.
AS our parents prepaid our way into
the world with the clammy sweat of
torture and of years of toll, so are We
called to prepay the way of our chill
dren. AS we have lived and enjoyed
the blessings OF lives within a civili
zation paid for by the wars and
struggles of 5000 years; as we have
lived and enjoyed the blessings OF lib
erty paid for by the precious red blood
spilled from Lexington to Yorktown
and from Sumpter to Richmond; so
now out of the future comes the call
/ for us to pay for our posterity the
price that will perpetuate that peace
and liberty and keep the world still
upon her course toward that millen-
ium.
Last night before congress our pres
ident delivered a message, prepared
from his knowledge OF the trend OF
things for the last few years, and pre-
pared only after days Of prayer when
with every fibre of his being he was
suppncating divine guidance in its
preparation. Let US hope that he
caught the voice of God and correctly
interpreted our duty. He said in part:
There is one choice We cannot
make, We are incapable of making
We will not choose the path of sub
mission and suffer the most sacred
rights of our nation and our people
TO be ignored or violated. The wrongs
against which We now array our
selves are not common wrongs; they
cut to the very roots of human life
While we do these things, these deep
ly momentous things, let us be very
clear, and make very clear to all the
world what our motives and our OBJ
jects are. My own thought has MOI
been driven from its habitual and nor
NAL course by the unhappy events o.
: the last two months and l do not be
: lieve that the thought of the natioI
: has been altered or clouded by them
Our object now, as then, is to vindi
cate the principles of peace and jus
tice in the life of the world as agains
selfish and autocratic power and u
set up amongst the really free an,
: self governed peoples OF the worl,
such concert of purpose and of ac
ton as viii henceforth insure the OBJ
servance of those principles.
We have no selfish ends to serve
We desire no conquest, no dominion
: We seek no indemnities for ourselves
4 no material compensation for the sac
ritice we shall freely make. We ar
but one of the champions of the right
. of mankind. We shall be satisfe
when those rights have been as Sc
4 cure as the faith and the freedom c
the nations can make them.
!, We shall fight for the things whic
: we have always carried nearest GU
. hearts-for democracy, for the righ
, of those who submit to authority {
y have a voice in their own govern
! ments. for the rights and liberties {
:, small nations, for universal domir
= ion of right by such a concert OF fire
y people as shall bring peace and safet
= to all nations and make the world i
= self at last free. To such task "
y can dedicate our lives and our fol
= tunes, everything that We are an
everything that We have, with th
L pride of those who know that the da
has come when America is privilege
=, =, to spend her blood and he might fC
:. the principles that gave her birth an
= happiness and the peace which 81