Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-03-06
President Wilson'S
Inaugural Address

Washington, March 5.-Prcsident
Wilson'S inaugural address was as fol-
lows:
INV fellow citizens: The four years
which have elapsed since last / stood
in this place have been crowded with
counsel and action Of the most vital
interest and consequence. Perhaps no
eo,;al period in our history has been
50 fruitful of important reforms in our
economic and industrial life or SO full
If significant change in the spirit and
nurnose of our political action. We
have sought very thoughtfully to set
orr house in order, correct the grosser
errors and abuses Of our industrial
1ife liberatc and quicken the process of
orr national genius and energy and lift
o,,r notifies to a broader view Of the
neople's essential interests. 1t Is rec
ord re- singular variety and singular
distinction. But l shall not attempt to
,o,;ou. il II sreaks for itself and will
he of increasing influence as the years
go bv. This is not the time TOT retro-
spect It is time rather to speak our
thoughts and purposes concerning the
present and the immediate future.
Drawn Into Current
Although we have centered counsel
and action with such unusual concen-
tration and success upon the great
nrohlems of legislation to which we
addressed ourselves four years ago,
other matters have a more and more
forced themselves upon our attention,
matters lying outside our own life and
nation 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
m apprehension they never knew be-
fore 1t has been hard to preserve calm
counsel while the thought of our own
people sWaycd this way and that UNI
dor their inhuerco. We are n composite
and cosmopolitan people. We are of the
flood Of all the nations that are at
war The currents of our thoughts as
VOL as the currents Of our trade run
rrick ut All seasons back and forth be-
tween us and them. The war inevta-
llr set its mark from the first alike
iron our minds our industries. our
commerce. our politics and our social
.,rtion. To no Indifferent to it. or indie
rordort uf il. VAS out Of the question.
And yet all the while we have been
conscious that we were not part of it
Iu that consciousness. despite many di-
Visions. we have drawn closer together
We Lave been de ply wroEged upon the
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dom to live and be at ease against or
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,iyh.s ne we co. tbem and n moro i'm
mediate association with tbe great
struggle itself Eut nothing will alter
,rr tbouplt or nur nurnosc They arc
foo clear to no obscured They ore too
DENLY rooted in the principles of our
r,tinnaI lifa m no a1terad Iva dosire
neither conquest nor advantage. we
the cost of another peoplc. We always
profess unsclfsh purpose and we covet
the opportunity to prove that our pro-
LESSONS are sincere.
'"'"ss " ~ e. ''o"'e
There are many things still to do
ut home. to clarity our own politics and
add new vitality to the industrial pro-
cesses of our own life, and we shall do
them as time and opportunity serve;
but we realize that the greatest things
that remain to be done must be done