New Britain herald., 1917-01-23
ROOSEVELT BITTER
 IN PRONUNCIATION
Declares Wilson's Speech Is Off,
 set by Stand Oh Belgium

Oyster Bay, IN. Y., Jan. 23.-Label- ing President Wilson's address as ga Grandiloquent promise made in an att tempt to conceal the pitiful ignominy and shirking of the present admins tration.' Theodore Roosevelt last night took issue with the peace argu- ment voiced before the senate.
 The colonel bitterly announced that until an emphatic stand was taken by the American government on the Bel gian deportations any statement about our stand for righteousness-the nebulous future is both ridiculous and insincere." He said.
 "It is we'll to remember, however, that unless the words of our govern ment in this matter are to be accept ed as the idlest and most empty of all idle and empty words, we must re- member two or three plain bits of homely fact.
 "The first is, that it is worthless tc make promises about the future unless in the present we keep these we have already made. Unless this government is prepared at this mo- l regards such a hideous outrage as the deportation of the men and women of northern France and Belgium, it is both ridiculous and insincere for lis to mouth about standing for right eousness in the nebulous future.
 Moreover, unless this government can bring the peace of justice to Mex ico, it had better not talk about se- curing the peace of justice through out the world.
 AS regards freedom of the seas, the most important element in it is freedom from murder, and until this government has taken an effective stand to prevent the under of it's citi- zens by submarines on the high seas it makes itself an object of derision by speaking for the freedom of the seas. Interfering with life is worse than interfering with property.
 Belgium and Bunker Hill.
 ''As for the statement there can be no real peace with victory, so far as Belgium Is concerned, the statement stands on a par with a similar state ment, had there been such. after Bunker Hill and Lexington, that there could be no real peace if victory came to the forces of General Washington. If the men of Bunker Hill were right, then the Belgians have been right, and to say that the victory of the op- pressed people struggling for free- dom is incompatible with peace de- serves no more consideration in one case than in the other. .s.e,
 If President, Wilson's statement had been made by the Emperor Napo- leon III, or by Lord John Russell in 1864, I doubt if it would have won any very enthusiastic support from Abraham Lincoln although 1t would have been applauded by the pacifists.
 "As for the limiting of armies, we will do well to remember, before we ask powerful nations to limit their armies, that so long as we keep our selves nearly on a level of military strength with China our words will not carry much weight. If this nation would adopt the principle ow univer- sal military training and military ser vice it would secure an army which would adopt the principle of univer- for offense but would be very effect
 i've for defense.
 "If our foreign policy was conduct ed as it was when our battle fleet was making it's trip around the world. in 1908. our voice would now be and would have been potent for both peace and righteousness. During the last few years our government has shown itself powerless to protect the lives of American men, women and children on the high seas and in Mex ico, and powerless to protect the honor of American women in Mexico. When we have learned to do our duty in such an elementary matter; when we have learned to keep the promises we have made on behalf of weak nations; when we have shown willingness to give proof of courage, foresight strength, and willingness to undertake services and make sacri- l fees for high causes in the present, we shall command greater respect in l the world than we do at this mo- i ment.
 we shall not command such re- 1 spect so long as our government ! seeks to conceal the pitiful ignominy
 and the pitiful shirking of duty to-
 ward itself and toward others, so
 evident in its conduct in recent years, ] by making grandiloquent promises,
 which there is nothing in its past
 records to indicate that it would ser iously attempt to keep