Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1917-01-23

and cd development. 1t need not be
difficult to define or to secure the tree
dom OF the seas if the governments of
the wo.tld sincerely desire to come to
an agree ment concerning 1t.
Limitation of Armaments.
1T is a problem closely connected
with the limitation OF naval arma-
ments AMI the cooperation OF the ma
yies of til { world in keeping the seas
at once fir &c and safe And the ques-
ton OF Uniting naval ornaments
opens the wider and perhaps more
difficult que ton oil the limitation OF
armies and ~ all programs OF military
preparation.
Difficult and delicate as these ques-
tons are thew must be faced with the
utmost cando.r and decided in spirit
of real accommodation if peace is to
come with healing in its wings and
come to stay. Peace cannot be had
without conct.s sion and sacrifice.
There can be no sense Of safety and
equality among the nations if great
preponderating ar.maments are hence
forth to continue here and there to
be built up and maintained. The
statesmen Of the world must plan for
peace and nations must adjust and
accommodate their policy to 1t as they
have planned for war and made ready
for pitiless contest and rivalry. The
question of arrnamalts, whether on
land or sea, is the Iuost Immediately
and intensely practice al question con-
nected with the future. fortunes OF ma
tions and of mankind.
| Speaks for Humanity.
Il have spoken upon these great
matters without reserve and with the
utmost explicitness because it has
seemed to me to be necessary If the
worlds yearnng desire Ter peace was
anywhere to find free voice and utter
ance. Perhaps am the only person
in high authority amongst all the peo-
Piles of the world, who is at liberty
to speak and hold nothinY back. |
am speaking as an individual and yet
| am speaking also, of courae, as the
responsible head of a great govern
ment, and feel confident that have
said what the people of the United
States would wish me to say. May |
not add that I hope and believe that
| am in effect speaking for liberals
and friends of humanity in every ma
ton and of every program Of liberty!
would fain believe that am speak
ing for the silent mass of mankind
everywhere who have as yet had no
place or opportunity to speak Their
real hearts out concerning the death
and ruin they see to have come al
ready upon the persons and the
homes they hold most dear
"And in holding out the expectation
that the people and government ot
the United States will join the other
civilized nations of the world in guar
anteeing the permanence of peace
upon such terms as | have named, |
speak with the greater boldness and
confidence, because it is clear to every
man who can think that there is in
this promise no breach in either our
traditions or our policy as a nation,
but fulhllment, rather, of all that we
have professed or striven for.
Worldwide Monroe Doctrine.
81 am proposing. as it were, that the
nations should with one accord adopt
the doctrine of President Monroe as
the doctrine of the world: That no
nation should seek to extend its policy
over any other nation or people, but
that every people should be left free
to determine its own policy. its own
way of development, unhindered, I'M
threatened, unafraid, the little along
with the great and powerful
81 am proposing that all nations
henceforth avoid entangling alliances
which would draw them into compe-
| titions of power, catch them in a net
of intrigue and selfish rivalry and dis
turb their own affairs with influences
intruded from without. There is no
entangling alliance in concert of
power. When all unite to act in the
same sense and with the same pur-
pose, all act in the common interest
and are free to live their own lives
under a common protection.
81 am proposing government by
the consent of the governed, that free
dom OF the seas, which IN lnterna-
tional conference after conference rep
resentatives of the United States have
urged with the eloquence of those
who are the convinced disciples of
liberty; and that moderation of arma
ments which makes Of armies and
navies a power for order merely, not
an instrument of aggression or of
selfish violence.
"These are American principles,
American policies. We can stand for
no others. And they are also the
principles and policies Of forward
looking men and women everywhere,
of every modern nation, Of every en-
lightened community. They are the
principles of mankind and must pre-
vail.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. llIlllllll!lI lMIlIN