The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1917-01-26

Last Great Neutral.
In public utterance the president
has hitherto expressed the conviction
that the present was the last great
war in which the United States could
be a NEUTRAL that it no longer could
remain in the position of being ''nalf
| in and half out Of world affairs. In
his speech accepting his second noml-
| nation and in other public addresses
he had touched upon the same sent1-
ment which found it's full develop
ment in his address today.
"The American people, the pres
ident told the senate, "can not IN
honor withhold the service to which
they are about to be challenged"
"They owe it TO themselves" ne
said, "and to the other nations Of tn .? /,
world to state the conditions under
which they. will feel free to render it. /
l am here to attempt to state those
conditions. The present war must
first be ended, but We owe it to can t
dor and to just regard for the opln-
ion of mankind, to say that sof ra as
our participation in guarantees OF
future peace is concerned, it makes
a great deal of difference in what
way and upon what terms it Isl
ended"
While the United States would
have no voice in what those terms
/ might be, the president said, 1t
would have a voice in determining,
whether they should be made lasting
by guarantees of universal covenant.
"No covenant Of cooperative
peace" said he. that does not in
clude 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 people
of America could join in guarantee
ing. The elements of that peace
must be the elements that engage the
confidence and satisfy the principles
of the American governments, elr-
ments consistent with their political
: faith and with the practical convic
; tions which the peoples of America
, have once for all embraced and un-
dertaken TO defend"
} The New World Influence.
: From this utterance all the pres
, ident's hearers drew their common
conclusion that he was holding Out
(; to the old world warning that if II
t would command the potent influence
Of the new for the future peace OF
all, the settlement of the war must IN
volve concession and sacrifice, equal
} ity of rights, freedom of the seas and
: his own words "inviolable security OF
: life, of worship and Industrial and
social development. = to all peo
pies who have lived hitherto under
the power of governments devoted
to faith and purpose hostile to their
own
He specifically mentioned that the
statesmen of all the belligerents have
agreed that there should be unit
ed, independent and autonomous
Poland" but his words were con-
strued to apply to Alsace-Lorraine
Belgium, the Italian portions OF
Austria and the mixed nationaliti.s
of the Balkans as we'll
Some of the senators who disagreed
with the president openly referred to
this portion of his address as IAN at
tempt to parcel our Europe" and all
interference in the affairs of the East
ern hemisphere.
Nevertheless the president went ex-
haustively in that phase of the pro-
posal, saying "the world can be at
peace only if life is stable and there
can be. no stability where the will Is
in rebellion, where there is not tran
Guilty of spirit and a sense of justice,
of freedom and of right.
Dealing with the question of arma-
ments, which he declared to be "the
most immediate and intensity prac-
tical question connected with the flu
! ture fortunes of nations and Of man
kind the president declared there
could be no assurance to safety II
great ornaments were to be built up
and maintained and that difficult as
the question might be "it must be
faced with the greatest candor' and
decided in spirit of real accommo-
dation."
! Previously the president had touch
ed upon collateral po;ht when he
said:
Mere agreements may not make
peace secure. 1t will be absolutely
necessary that force be created as
a guarantor of the permanency of the
settlement, SO much greater than the
force Of any nation now engaged or
| any alliance hitherto formed or pro-
! jacted, that no nations, no probabl.
! combination of nations, could face or
withstand it. If the peace presently
to be made is to endure it must be
peace made secure by the organized
| major force of mankind"
This declaration called to the minds
of the presidents hearers the state
ment of Arthur Balfour. British for
eign minister, in his recent note which
| said an International sanction for