News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1917-03-14

most vital interest and consequence
Perhaps no equal period in our his
tory has been so fruitful of important
reforms in our economic and indus
trial life or so full of significant
changes in the spirit and purpose OF
our political action.
I'VE have sought very thoughtfully
to set our house in order, correct the
grosser errors and abuses of our IN
dustrial life, liberate and quicken the
processes of our National genius and
energy, and lift our politics to a
broader view of the peoples essential
interests. 1t is a record of singular
variety and singular distinction.
But l shall not attempt to review
it. 1t speaks for itself, and will be Of
increasing influence as the years &C
by. This is not the time for retro
spect 1t is time rather to speak ou~
thoughts and purposes concerning
the present and the immediate future.
although we have centered coun-
sci and action with such unusual
concentration and success upon the
great problems of domestic legisla-
ton to which W addressed ourselves
four years ago, other matters have
more and more forced them
selves upon our attention, matters
lying outside our own life as Ma
ton and over which we had no con-
troll, but which, despite our wish. to
keep free of them, have drawn us
more and more irresistibly into their
own current and influence.
1T 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 apprehension they never knew
before. 1t has been hard to preserve
cakn counsel while the thought OF
our own people swayed this way and
that under their influence.
1--WE are a composite and cosmo-
politan people. We are of the blood
of all the Nations that are at war
The currents of our thoughts as well
as the currents of our trade run
quick at all seasons back and forth
between us and them. The war in
evitably set its mark from the first
alike upon our minds, our industries,
our commerce, our politics and our
social action. To be Indifferent to it,
Or Independent of it, was out of the
4Jestion.
"And yet all the while we have
been conscious that we were not part
of it. In that consciousness, despite
many divisions, we have grown 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 |
of standing in some |
sort apart, intent upon an Interest |
that transcribed the immediate is
sues of the war itself.
LAS some of the injuries done us |
have become intolerable we have |
still been clear that we wished moth !
ing for ourselves that we were not |
ready to demand for all mankind
fair dealing; justice, the freedom to
live and be at ease against organized |
wrong.
at is in this spirit and with this |
thought that we have grown more |
and more aware, more and more GER
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
Lotion.
1--WE stand firm in armed neutral
ity, since it seems that in no other
way we can demonstrate what it is
we insist upon and cannot forego.
1--WE may even be drawn on, by
not by our own pur-
pose or desire, to more active as
5ertion of our rights as we see themJ
and a more immediate association
with the great struggle itself.
But nothing will alter our thought
Or our purpose. They are too clear
to be Cbscured. They are too deep
y rooted in the principles of our
National life to be altered. We de-
side neither conquest nor advantage.
1--WE wish nothing that can be had
only at the cost of another people.
We always profess unselish purpose,
and we covet the opportunity to
prove that our professions are sin
cere.
There are many things still to do
1T home, to clarity our own politics
and add new vitality to the industrial
of our own life, and we
shall do them as time and opportun-
ty serve; but we realize that the
greatest things that remain to be
lone must be done with the whole
world for stage and in cooperation
With the wide and universal forces
If mankind, and we are making our
spirits ready for those things.
They will follow in the immedi-
tie wake of the war itself and will
yet civilization up again. We are
no longer. The tragical
events of the 80 months of vital fur
noil through which we have inst