The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-12-02
DECLARES
TRIP ABROAD IS
PARAMOUNT DUTY
CONTINUED From First Page.)

we can say that we are the kinsmen
of such.
triumph for which every sacrifice was
made 1t has come, come in its COM
pleteness, and with the pride and in
SEPARATION Of these days OF achieVement
quick within us we turn TO the tasks oil
peace again-a peace secure against the
violence of irresponsible monarchs and
ambitious military. lotteries and made
ready for a new order, for new founda-
tons Of justice and fair dealing.
1--WE are about to give order and or
g~anization to this peace, not only for
ourselves, but for the other peoples OF
the world as well. so far as they will
suffer us to serve them. 1t is inter-
national justice that we seek, not do
nestle safety merely. Our thoughts
have dwelt Of late upon Europe, upon
Asia, upon the near and the far east,
very little upon the acts Of peace and
accommodation that wait to be per-
formed at our own doors. While we
are adjusting our relations with the
rest of the world, is 1t not Of capital
Importance that we should clear away
all grounds of misunderstanding with
our immediate neighbors and give proof
Of the friendship we really feel?
Urges Treaty.
II hope that the members of the
enate will permit me to speak once
of the unratified treaty of friendship
and adjustment with the republic of
Colombia. | very earnestly urge p
them an early n favorable action
upon that vital matter. | believe that
they will feel with me, that the stage
of affairs is now set for such action
as will be not only just, but generous,
and in the spirit of the new age upon
which we have so happily entered.
80 far as our domestic affairs are
concerned, the problem of our return
to peace is a problem Of economic and
industrial ~readjustment. That problem
is less serious for US than it may turn
out to be for the nations which have
suffered the disarrangements and the
losses Of war longer than we. Our peo-
and led. They know their wi bust
ness, are quick and resourceful at ev-
cry readjustment, definite in purpose
and self-reliant in action. Any leading
strings we might seek to put them in
would speedily become hopelessly tan
gled because they would pay 10 at
tention to them and go their own way,
All that we can do as their legislative
and executive servants Is to mediate
the process of change here. there and
elsewhere, as we may.
II have heard much counsel as to
the plans hat should be formed and
personally conducted to a happy con-
summation, but from no quarter have
| seen any general scheme Of recon
struCtion'N emerge which l thought it
likely we could force our spirited bust
ness men and self-reliant laborers to
accept with due pliancy and obedience.
Nv lille the wal lasted we set up
many agencies by which to direct the
industries of the country In the services
ii was necessary for them to render, by
which to make sure of an abundant
supply Of the materials needed, by
which to check undertakings that could
for the time be dispensed with and
stimulate those that were most serv-
iceable in war, by which to gain for
the purchasing departments of the gov
rnmen a certain control over the
prices of essential articles and ma
~terials, by which to restrain trade with
alien enemies, make the most of the
financial transactions, both public and
private, so that there would be no un-
necessary conflict or confusion-by
which, in short, to put every material
energy of the country into harness TO
draw the common load and make OF us
one team in the accomplishment Of a
great task. But the momen we knew
the armistice to have been signed we
took the harness off. Raw materials
upo which the government had kept
its hand for fear there should not be
enough for the industries that supplied
the armies have been released and put
into the general market again, Great
Industrial plants, whose whole output
n machinery had beer taken over
for the uses of the government, khave
been set free to return to he uses to
which they were put before the war.
1t has not been possible to remove so
readily or so quickly the control OF
foodstuffs and of shipping, because the
world has still to be fed from our
granaries, and the ship are still needed
to send supplies to our men overseas
and to bring the men back as fast as
the disturbed conditions on the other
side of the water permit; but even
there restraints are being relaxed as
much as possible and more and more
as the weeks go by.
More knowledge.
Never before have there been
agencies in existence in this country
which knew so much OF the field OF
supply, Of labor and OF industry as the
war Industries board, the war trade
board, the labor department, the food
administration and the fuel administra-
ton nave known since their labors be-
came thoroughly systematized and they
have not been isolated agencies; they
have been directed by men who repre-
sented the permanent departments OF
the government and so have been the
centers OF unified and cooperative
action.
1T has been the policy of the execu-
tive. therefore. since the armistice was
assured (Which is in effect a complete