The sun., 1917-03-06

My Fellow Citizens The four years
which have elapsed since last I stood
in this place have been crowded with
counsel and action Of the most vital
interest and consequence. Perhaps no
equal period in our history has been
so fruitful Of important reforms In our
economic and industrial life or so full
of significant changes in the spirit
and purpose OF our political action.
We 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 n
broader view Of tho peoples essential
interests.
It is a record Of singular variety
and singular distinction. But I shall
not attempt to review It, It speaks
for itself and will be Of increasing
influence as the years go by. This is
not the time for retrospect. 1t Is
time. rather. to speak our thoughts
and purposes concerning the present
and the immediate future.
Although we have centred counsel
and action with such unusual concen-
tration and success upon the great
problems Of domestic legislation TO
which We addressed ourselves four
years ago. other matters have more
and more forced themselves upon our
attention. matters lying outside our
own life as nation and over which
we had no control, 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
fhAm They haVa affarfal fha NJ
the whole world. They have shaken
men everywhere with a passion and
an apprehension they never knew be-
fore. 1t has been hard to preserve
calm counsel while the thought OF
our own people swayed this way and
that under their influence.
wars Impress on Country.
We arc q composite and cosmopoli.
tan people. We are Of the blood of
all the nations that are at war. The
currents OF our thoughts as well a.
the currents OF our trade run quick
at all seasons back and forth between
us and them. The war Inevitably 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 II
WAS out OF tne question.
And yet all the while We have been
conscious that we were not part OF II.
In that consciousness, despite many
divisions. We have drawn closer to-
gether. We have been deeply wronged
upon the seas, but we have not wished
10 wrong or injure in return: have re-
tained throughout the consciousness
OF standing in some sort apart, intent
upon an interest that transcribed the
immediate uses Of the war itself. As
some OF the injuries done us have be-
come intolerable We have still been
clear that We wished nothing for our
selves that We were not ready to de-
mand for all mankind-fair dealing,
Justice. the freedom to live and be at
ease against organized wrong.
1t is In this spirit and with this
thought that we have grown more
and more aware. moro and moro GER
tain that the part We wished to play
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 action.
We stand firm in armed neutrality.
since It seems that in no other way
we can demonstrate what II Is We In
sist upon and cannot forego.
May he Forced Into War.
We may even he drawn on by cir
cumstances. not by our own purpose
or desire, to a more active assertion OF
our rights az We zee them and a more
immediate association with the great
struggle itself. But nothing will alter
our thoughts or our purpose. They
are too clear to be obscured. They
are too deeply rooted in the principles
of our national life to be altered. We
desire neither conquest nor advantage.
We wish nothing that can be had
only at tho cost of another people.
We have always professed unseltlsh-
ness and we covet the opportunity to
prove that our professions are sincere
There are many things still to do
at homo to clarity our own politics
and give now vitality to the industrial
processes OF our own life. and we
shall do them as time and opportunity
serve: but We realize that the great
est things that remain to he done
must be done with the whole world
tor stage and in Coopcra ion with the
wide and universa! forces of mankind.
and we are making our spirits ready
for those things. They will follow In
the immedi1t, wake OF the war it.
self and will set civilization UP again.
We are provinciais no longer