Daily Kennebec journal., 1918-06-01
GOV. M|LL|KEN'S
Speech May II at Con-
ference of Governors

Following is a stenographic report
of the speech delivered on May I
last at independence hall, fhllauei-
mia, by Governor Carl E. Mllllheh u
Maine before the conference OF Hof
ernors held in connection "lth 'he
convention of the League 10 Enforce
Peace. The governors in attendance
were: John G.. Townsend Of Deia-
ware: Carl E. Milliken Of Name
Samuel w Mccall Of Massachusetts
Thomas w. Beckett of North caro-
lima; James NJ. Cox of Ohio; NJ. y.
Brumbaugh of Pennsylvania; Richard
l. Manning of South Carolina, West
moreland L. Davis of Virginia;
Ernest Lister of Washington; and
John L. Cornwell of West Virginia.
Former President VIM. H. Taft pre-
sided by virtue of his service as gov
ernor of the Philippines and called
upon all the governors for speeches.
Governor Milliken said:
Certainly he would be a bold and
presumptuous spirit indeed who, aft
er the wonderful eloquence of all this
program, both here and in the other
sessions OF the Academy of Music,
would undertake to praise in any new
way any OF the purposes Of this gath
ering or the purposes of America in
this war.
The suggestion regarding Paul
Jones coming from my friend, the
Governor of North Carolina. is exact
ly in point. | happen to recall here
that the ship upon which that in
trepid admiral sailed. upon which he
raised the first Stars and Stripes ever
flung to the breeze on a warship, and
from whose deck he received the first
salute ever given to that flag by
foreign power was built up in Maine.
That was quite typical of the sit
uation. We are all in accord. We
are all in this war, and | take it, Mr..
Chairman, that what has been asked
of us is merely, if you please, touch
of local color from different sections
of the country. There is no diversity
Of views, there is no difference of
opinion. The only interest that could
come from such touches of local color
would be perhaps to show the differ
ent angles from which we have seen
and have come to see the same great
truth.
In the East, we see the sun earlier
in the morning, apd sometimes other
things dawn upon US early. And |
rather think that this great truth
which this magnificent convention
has assembled to promulgate and to
intensity in the public opinion of
America cid dawn upon us rather
early in New England. 1t may be be
cause our shores look out upon the
broad Atlantic. so long the highway
of peaceful commerce. and now the
possible path of the invader 1t may
be because of the heritage that is
ours, that we have in our veins the
blood of the men who came across so
many years ago and landed at Ply
mouth Rock and the various points
along the Atlantic coast 1t may be
because the tang of the sea has al
ways been in our blood from the time
when the first ship built upon Ameri-
can soil vas built in Maine. the very
year that the jamestown Colony was
founded. Ever since then we have
had to do with ships, and our busi-
ness has been largely that Of those
who so dt wn to the sea in ships.
And. slngularly enough. the first vic
tim of the policy of the German gov
ernment in the war before America
entered it vas the ship William +.
Frye, built and owned in Bath, Maine.
1t may be because of that heritage
of ours that we saw clearly. earlier
than was perhaps seen in other see
ttons of the country even. just what
the affront vas that Germany had
offered to the sense of justice of man
kind when she refused the free path
way of the seas to the neutral and
peaceful commerce of the world It
is not so very important when we ar
rived at this great conclusion, or by
what avenue we came, and it is not
even the whole of the story to say.
as we can say, and as the spirit of
this convention has said with such
Impressive emphasis, that we are in
this war to stay through.
The chairman Of this convention,
with his customary statesmanlike ad-
vice. and his uneering accuracy Of
judgment has laid his finger. and
those with him have seen the danger
point for America in this crisis. We
arc in no danger of submitting to
military defeat We arc in no danger
of having that alternative thrust
upon us. Our danger is that we may
think we have won, when in fact we
man Abbott pointed out with such
impressive clearness last night. we
are not engaged in a war in the true
sense at all, and what is important.
what is vitally necessary is that the
whole people Of America should do
some clear. straight forward thinking
upon that proposition.
the time may come soon when the
suggestion will be made that the time
has come to consider bargaining for
boundaries or frontiers or terms upon
which peace should be concluded. and
then we need to remember that there
car be no bargaining, for in the pres
ent state OF affairs there is no re-
sponsible authority upon the other
side with which to bargain. 1t is not
a question of frontiers or of bound
aries or of what shall be given or
taken. or of terms of peace, couched
in the ordinary phrases and terms in
which peace treaties have been made.
1t is question merely of stamping
out from the world an autocratic,
despotic and brutal ambition which
cannot live in the world with t,,e