Middletown transcript., 1917-03-10
WILSON SETS OUT PRINCIPLES
FOR j, s, IN PEACE AND war
"There Can Be No Turning Back---Our
Own Fortunes AS A Nation Are In
volved," Says President---Pictures
Wrongs Done u. S.

demonstrate Wuat IL AS We AAeAot oPon
and cannot forego. We may even be
drawn on, by circumstances, not by
our own purpose or desire, to a more
active assertion Of our rights as we see
them and a more immediate associa-
+ ton with the great struggle itself. But
nothing will alter our thought 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 con-
quest nor advantage. We wish moth
ing that can be had only at the cost
Of another people. We have always
professed unselnsh purpose and we
covet the opportunity to prove that
our professions are sincere.
There are many things still to do at
home to clarity our own politics and
give 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 great
est things that remain to be done must
be done with the whole world for
stage and in cooperation with the wide
and universal forces of mankind, and
we are ma.-ing our spirits ready for
those things. They will follow in the
immediate wake of the war itself and
will set civilization up again. We are
provincials no longer. The tragical
events of the months Of vital turmoil
through which we have just passed
have made us citizens of the world.
There can be no turning back. Our
own fortunes as nation are involved,
whether we would have it SO or not.
Principles OF a Liberated Mankind.
And yet we are not the less Ameri-
can on that account. We shall be the
more American if we but remain true
to the principles in which we have
been bred. They are not the princi-
pies of province or of single con-
tinent. We have known and boasted
all along that they were the principles
of liberated mankind.
These, therefore, are the things we
shall stand for, whether in war or In
peace:
That all nations are equally inter
ested in the peace of the world and in
the political stability Of free peoples
and equally responsible for their main
tenance.
That the essential principle OF
peace is the actual equality of nations
in all matters Of right or privilege.
That peace cannot securely or justly
rest upon an armed balance of power.
That governments derive all their
just powers from the consent of the
governed and that no other powers
should be supported by the common
thought, purpose or power of the fam
lily of nations.
That the seas should be equally free
and safe for the use of all peoples,
under rules set UP by common agree
ment and consent, and that, so far as
practicable, they should be accessible
to all upon equal terms.
That national ornaments should be
limited to the necessities of national
order and domestic safety.
That the community Of interest ana
of power upon which peace must
henceforth depend imposes upon each
nation the duty of seeing to it that all
influences proceeding from its own
citizens meant to encourage or assist
revolution in other states should be
sternly and effectually suppressed and
prevented.
Imperative We Stand Together.
need not argue these principles to
you, my fellow-countrymen. They are
your own, part and parcel Of your own
thinking and your own motive in af
fairs. They spring UP native amongst
us. Upon this as platform of pur
pose and of action we can stand to-
gether.
And 1t is imperative that we should
stand together. We are being forged
into new unity amidst the fires that
now blaze throughout the world. In
their ardent heat we shall, in Gods
providence. let us hope, be purged of
faction and division. purified of the
errant humors Of party and Of private
interest, and shall stand forth in the
days to come with a new dignity of ma
tional pride and spirit. Let each man
see to 1t that the dedication is in his
own heart. the high purpose of the
nation in his own mind, ruler of his
own will and desire.
stand here and have taken the high
and solemn oath to which you have
been audience because the people of
the United States have chosen me for
this august delegation OF power and
have by their gracious judgment
named me their leader in affairs.
know now what the task means.
realize to the full the responsibility
which it involves. pray God I may
be given the wisdom and the prudence
to do my duty In the true spirit of this
great people. l am their servant and
can succeed only as they sustain and
guide me by their confidence and their
counsel. The thing l shall count
upon, the thing without which neither
counsel nor action will avail, is the
unity of America-an America united
in feeling, in purpose and in its vision
of duty. of opportunity and of service.
We are to beware of all men who
would turn the tasks and the neces-
stiles Of the nation to their own private
profit or use them for the building up
dale. The others are still in quaran.
tine near Berlin.