Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1917-01-31


eminent ever since the days wheI. they
set up new nation In the high and
honorable hope that 1t might In all
that 1t was and did show mankind the
way to liberty.
They cannot in honor withhold the
service to which they are now about
to be challenged. They do not wish to
withhold 1t. But they owe 1t to them
selves and to the other nations of the
world TO state the conditions under
which they viii feel free to render IT,
Cannot Be Long Postponed.
THAT service Is nothing less than
this-to add their authority and their
power to the authority and force of
other nations to guarantee peace and
Justice throughout the world. Such a
settlement cannot now be long post
poned. 1t is right that before it comes
this government should frankly form
ulate the conditions upon which 1t
would feel justified in asking our peo-
pie to approve its formal and solemn
adherence to league for peace. am
here to attempt to State those condi-
lions.
The present war must first be end
ed; but we owe it to candor and to
just regard for the opinion of mankind
to say that so far as our participation
in guarantees of future peace is con-
cerned 1t makes great deal of differ
ence in what way and upon what terms
it is ended. The treaties and agree
ments which bring it to an end must
embody terms which will create a
peace that is worth guaranteeing and
preserving, a peace that will win the
approval of mankind; not merely
peace that will serve the several inter-
ests and immediate aims of the nations
engaged.
I'VE shall have no voice in determin-
ing what those terms shall be. but we
shall, i feel sure, have a voice in de-
termining whether they shall be made
lasting or not by the guarantees of
universal covenant and our judgment
upon what is fundamental and essen
tial as condition precedent to per-
manency should be spoken now, not
afterward when it may be too late.
NO covenant of cooperative peace
that does not include the peoples of
the new world can suffice TO keep the
future safe against war, and yet there
is only one sort of peace that the peO-
pies of America could Join in guaran-
teeing.
''The elements of that peace must be
elements that engage the confidence
and satisfy the principles of the Amer
lean governments. elements consistent
with their political faith and the prac-
teal convictions which the peoples OF
America have once for all embraced
and undertaken TO defend.
Sea Paths Must Be Free.
"And the paths of the sea must alike,
in law and in fact, be free. The free
dom of the seas Is the sine qua non
of peace, equality and cooperation. No
doubt a somewhat radical recOnsidera-
ton of many of the rules of interna-
tional practice hitherto sought to be es-
tablished may be necessary in order to
make the seas indeed free and COM
mon in practically all circumstances
for the use of mankind, but the mo-
tive for such changes is convincing
and compelling. There can be no trust
or intimacy between the peoples of the
world without them. The free, con-
slant. unthreatened intercourse of ma
tons is an essential part of the proc
ess of peace and of development. 1t
need not be difficult to define or to Sc
cure the freedom of the seas, If the
governments of the world sincerely de-
sire to come to an agreement concern
ing 1t.
at is a problem closely connected
with the. limitation of naval arma-
ments and the cooperation of the ma
vies Of the world in keeping the seas
at once free and safe. And the ques-
ton of limiting naval ornaments opens
the wider and perhaps more difficult
question of the limitation of armies
and of all progress Of military prePara-
ton.
Questions Must Be Faced.
"Dificult and delicate as these ques-
lions are, they must be faced with the
utmost AMOR anu ueClueu III Il epllt
of real accommodation If peace is to
come with healing in its wings and
come to stay. Peace cannot be had
without concession and sacrifice.
There can be no sense of safety and
equality among the nations If great
preponderating ornaments, are hence
forth to continue here and there to be
built ND and maintained. The states
men of the world must plan for peace
and nations must adjust and accommo-
date their policy to 1t as they have
MANNED for war and made ready for
nitiless contest and rivalry. The ques-
tion of ornaments, whether on land or
sea is the most Immediately and in
tensely practical question connected
with the future fortunes of nations and
of mankind.
Speaks Without Reserve.
So have spoken upon these great mat
tors without reserve and with the ut
most explicitness because it has
saaned TO me to he necessary If the
worlds yearning desire for peace was