The Benson signal., 1917-01-27
lived hitherto under the power of gov
ernments devoted to a faith and pur-
pose hostile to their own.
Conditions Clearly Indispensable.

ernments devoted to a faith and pur-
pose hostile to their own.
Conditions Clearly indispensable.
speak of this not because of any
desire to exalt an abstract political
principle which has always been held
very dear by those who have sought
to build up liberty in America but for
the same reason that l have spoken
to the other conditions of peace which
seem to me clearly Indispensable be-
cause l wish frankly to uncover reali-
ties. Any peace which does not rec
ognize and accept this principle will
inevitably be upset. 1t will not rest
upon the affections or the convictions
of mankind The ferment of spirit Of
whole populations will fight constant
ly against it, and all the world will
sympathize. The world can be at
peace only if it's life is stable, and
there can be no stability where the
will Is in rebellion, where there is not
tranquility Of spirit and a sense of
justice and freedom and right.
So far as practicable, moreover,
every great people now struggling to-
wards a full development of it's re-
sources and of it's powers should be
assured a direct outlet to the great
highways of the seas. Where this can
not be done without the cessation of
territory, it can no doubt be done with
the naturalization of direct rights of
way under the general guarantee
which will assure peace itself. With
a right comfy or arrangement no ma
tion need be shut away from free
access to the open paths of the worlds
commerce.
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 somewhat radical recon
sideration of many of the rules of in
ternational practice hitherto sought to
be established may be necessary in or
der to make the seas indeed free and
common in practically all circum-
stances for the use of mankind, but
the motive for such changes is con-
vincing and compelling. There can be
no trust or intimacy between the peo-
pies of the world without them.
The free, constant, unthreatened in
tercourse of nations is an essential
part of the process Of peace and de-
velopment. 1t need not be difficult to
define or to secure the freedom of
the seas, if the governments of the
world sincerely desire to come to an
agreement concerning it,
Navies of World to Cooperate.
1t is problem closely connected
with the limitation of naval arma-
ments and the cooperation of the
navies of the world in keeping the
seas at once free and safe. And the
question of limiting naval armaments
opens the wider and perhaps more diff
ficult question of the limitation OF
armies and of all programs Of military
preparation. Difficult and delicate as
these questions are, they must be
faced with the utmost candor and de-
cided in spirit Of real accommoda-
tion if peace is to come with healing
in it's wings and come to stay. Peace
cannot be had without cessation and
sacrifice. There can be no sense of
safety and equality among the ma
tions if great preponderating arma-
continue here and there to be built up
and maintained.
Plan for Peace as for War.
The statesmen of the world must
plan for peace and nations must ad'
just and accommodate their policy to
it as they have planned for war and
made ready for pitiless contest and
rivalry. The question of ornaments,
whether on land or sea, is the most
Immediately and intensely practical
question connected with the future
fortunes of nations and Of mankind.
1 have spoken upon these great mat
ters without reserve and with the ut
most eXplicitness, because it has
seemed to me to be necessary if the
worlds yearning desire for peace was
anywhere to find free voice and ut
terance. Perhaps l am the only per-
son in high authority amongst all the
peoples of the world who is at liberty
to speak and hold nothing back l
am speaking as an individual, and yet
l am speaking also, of course, as the
responsible head of a great govern
ment, and l feel confident that l have
said what the people of the United
States would wish me to say.
May l not add that 1 hope and be.
lieve that am in effect speaking for
liberals and friends of humanity in
every nation and of every program of
liberty? / would fain believe that
am speaking for the silent mass OF
mankind everywhere, who have as yet
had no place or opportunity to speak
their real hearts out concerning the
death and ruin. they see to have come
already upon the persons and the
homes they hold most dear.
Monroe Doctrine Preached for World.
And in holding out the expectation
that the people and government of the
United States will join the other civi.
lized nations of the world in guaran-
teeing the permanence of peace upon
such terms as | have named, I speak
with the greater boldness and conf
dence because it is clear to every man
who can think that there is in this
promise no breach in either our ira.
ditions or our policy as a nation, but
a fulfillment, rather, of all that We
have professed or striven for
I am proposing, as it were, that the
nations should with one accord adopt