Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1917-01-26
WILSON PROPOSES
WORLDWIDE PEACE
Urges Country to Abandon Policy
and EnterWorId-Peace League
Believes That There Is a Great Part
for America to Play When Present
War Is Settled.

Whether the United States shall en-
ter world peace league, and thereby
abandon its traditional policy of isola-
ton and no entangling alliances, was
laid squarely before congress and the
country Monday by President Wilson
in a personal address to the senate.
For the first time in more than
hundred years a president of he United
States appeared in the senate chamber
to discuss the nations foreign rela-
tions. The effect was to leave con-
gress, all official quarters and the for
eign diplomats amazed and bewildered.
Immediately there arose a sharp
division of opinion over the propriety
as well as the substance of the Presi-
dent s proposal.
In the peroration of his speech the
President said:
I am proposing, as it were, that the
nations shall with one accord adopt
the doctrine of President Monroe as
the doctrine of the world: That no ma
ton shall seek to extend its policy over
any other nation or people, but that
every people be left free to determine
its own policy, its own way of develop
ment. unhindercd, unthreatened, un-
afraid, the little along with the great
and powerful.
l am proposing that all nations
thenceforth avoid entangling alliances
which would draw them into COMPETE
tons of power, catch them in a net Of
intrigue and set forth rivalry and dis
turb their own affairs with influences in
| truded from without, There is no en-
tangling alliance in a concert of power.
When all unite to act in the same sense
and with the same purpose, all act in
the common interest and are free to
live their own lives under common
protection.
: l am proposing government by the
consent of the governed; that freedom
of the seas which in international con-
ference after conference representa-
tives of the United States have argued
with the eloquence of those who are
the convinced disciples of liberty; and
that moderation of ornaments which
. makes of armies and navies a power
for order merely, not an instrument Of
aggression of selfish violence.
These are American principles, Amer
lean policies. We can stand for no
others. And they are also the prin-
ciples and policies of forward looking
modern ration. of every enliphened
community. They are the principles Of
mankind and must prevail.
Later, as o part of his discussion, he
added
Every sane and thoughtful man takes
it for granted that peace must he fol-
lowed by some definite concert of pow.
err which will make it virtually impos-
sible that nuv Such cotnstrOphe shOuld
ever overwhelm us again.
1t is inconceivable that the United
States should take no part in this great
enterprise. They cannot withhold the
service to which thew are now about
to be challenged That service is moth
ing less than this-to add their au-
ity and force of other nations to guar
antee peace and justice Throughout the
world.
Such a settlement cannot long be
POSTPONED: it is right that before it
comes this government should formu-
late the conditions upon which it would
feel justified in asking our people to
approve its formal adherence to O
leaGue of peace.
: The present war must first be ended
The treaties and agreements that bring
it to an end must embodv terms which
will create a peace that is worth guar,
anteeing and preserving.
l We shall have no voice in determine
ing what the terms of peace shall be
but we shall have a voice in determin
2 ing whether they shall be made lasting
e by the guarantees of universal Gov
1 enant.