Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1917-03-08
WILSON APPEALS
FOR j. S. UNITY N
INAUGURAL TALK
PRESIDENT SAYS AMERICA MUST
STAND FOR PEAcE--AssERTs
AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE
NOV WORLD CITIZENS"
SOUNDS NEW DOCTRINE
OF iNTERNATiONALISM


Ing Against intrigue to Break
Harmony Of PsopIe--stands
Firm In Armed Neutrality,
Washington, March 6.-Preident
Wilson's second inaugural address de.
livered before great crowd In Wash.
ington, was as follows:
MY fellow.citixens: 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 consequences. Perhaps
no equal period In our history has
been 30 fruitful Of important reforms
In our economic and Industrial life or
% full Of significant changes In tho
spirit and purpose of our political &C.
ton.
Not the Time to Look Back.
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 broad.
or view of the peoples essential In.
terests. II H. record of singular va.
shall not attempt to review It. II
speaks for itself and will be OF increas.
| ing Influence as the years 60 by. This
| is not the time for retrospect. Ii is
time, rather, to speak our thoughts
| aud purposes concerning the present
and immediate future.
Other Matters lntrude.
Although we have eentered coun.
| cn1 nj ,,,tth
centration 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 10 control. but which,
despite our wish TO keep free of them,
have drawn us more and more IRE
| sistibly into their own current and
influence.
Whole World Affected.
1T has been impossible to avoid
them. They have affected the life OF
the whole world. They have shaken
men everywhere with passion and
an apprehension they never knew be.
| fore, 1t has been hard to preserve
calm counsel when the thought OF our
own people swayed this way and that
under their influence. We are com.
posite and cosmopolitan people We
are of the blood of all the nations that
are at war, The currents of our
thoughts as well rs 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 indus
tries, our commerce, our politics and
our social action. To be Indifferent
to II or independent of II was out OF
the question.
Wronoed Upon Seas.
And yet all the while We have
been conscious that We were not part
Of It. In that consciousness, despite
many divisions, we have drawn closer
together. We have been deeply wrong
ed upon the seas, but we have not
wished to wrong on injure in return:
we have retained throughout the con.
seriousness of standing in some sort
apart, intent upon an interest that
transcribed the immediate Issues OF
the war. As some OF the injuries done
MS have become mtolerhale. we still
have been clear that we wished moth.
Ing for ourselves that we were not
ready to demand for all, the freedom to
live and to be at ease against organ.
ixed wrong. @
Stand Firm I'm Armed Neutrality.
1T liz i'm this pirit and with this
thought that we have grown more and
more awake. more and more certain
that the part We wished to play was
the part OF those who mean to vmdi.
cate and fertify peace. We have been
obliged TO arm ourselves to make good
our claim TO certain minimum OF
right and OF freedom OF action. We
stand Arm In armed neutrality, since
" seems that In no way We can dem
onstrate what II Is We Insist upon ana
csanot forego,
Neither Conquest Nor Adv lstane.
We may even be drawn on. hy CIR
camstances, not by our own purposes
or desire, TO more active assertion
OF cur rights ~ we see them and a
more immediate association with the
great struggle itself But nothing
VIII alter our thought or cur purpose.
They are too clear to be ohscurcd,
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