South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-09-28

thousands OF loyal and tlreleSS men
and women who have undertaken TO
present II TO you and 10 our fellow
citizens throughout the country; and
7 have not the least doubt OF their
complete success: for I know their
spirit and the spirit OF the country.
Ny confidence is confirmed. too. by
the thoughtful and experienced CO.
operation OF the bankers here and
everywhere, who are lending their
invaluable aid and guidance. ! have
come. rather. to seek an opportunity
20 present to you some thoughts
which ! trust will serve 10 give you
i'm perhaps fuller measure than be-
fore a vivid sense OF the great issues
involved in order that you may APP
preciate and accept with added en-
thusiasm the grave significance OF
the duty Of supporting the govern
ment by your men and your means
20 the utmost point of sacrifice and
self denial. 20 man or woman who
has really taken in what this war
means can hesitate 20 give TO the
very limit of what they have: and
II is my mission here tonight TO try
70 make il clear once more. what
the war really means. You will need
no other stimulation or reminder Of
your duty
AT every turn OF the war we gain
fresh consciousness of what we
mean to accomplish by il. When
our hope and expectations are most
excited, we think more definitely
than before of the issues that hang
upon it and of the purposes which
must he realized by means Of it. For
il has positive and well defined pur-
poses which we did not determine
and which we cannot alter No
statesman or assembly created them;
no statesman or assembly can alter
them. they have arisen out of the
very nature and circumstances of
the war. The most that statesmen
or assemblies can do is TO carry
them out or be false 10 them. They
were perhaps not clear at the out
set: but they are clear now. The
war has lasted more than four years
and the whole world has been drawn
into IT, The common will of man
kind has been substituted for the
particular purposes OF individual
states.
Not Up TO Statesmen.
individual statesmen may have
started the conflict but neither they
nor their opponents can stop il as
they please. It has become a peo-
ple's war and peoples Of all sorts
and races. of every degree of power
and variety of fortune are involved
i'm its sweeping processes of change
and settlement. We came into il
when it's character had become fully
defined and it was plain that no ma
ton could stand apart or be indiffer-
ent to it's outcome. It's challenge
drove TO the heart of everything we
ers from many lands as well as our
own murdered dead under the sea
were calling to us. and we responded,
fiercely and of course.
The air was clear about us. We
saw things in their full convincing
proportions as they were; and we
have seen them with steady eyes
and unchanging comprehension ever
since We accepted the issues of the
men either here or elsewhere had
defined them. and we can accept no
outcome which does not squarely
meet and settle them. Those issues
/ are these:
Shall the military power OF any
nation or group OF nations be suf-
fered 70 determine the fortunes of
peoples over whom they have no
right to rule. except the right Of
( force?
Shall strong nations be free to
them subject TO their purpose and
interest?
Shall peoples be ruled and dom
/ mated, even IN their own internal
affairs. by arbitrary and irrespons-
ible force or by their own will and
choice?
Shall there be a common stand
ard of right and privilege for all
/ peoples and nations or shall the
strong do as they will and the weak
suffer without redress?
/ Shall the assertion Of right be
haphazard and by casual alliance o.
shall there be a common concert 20
oblige the observance of common
rights?
Must Respect Weak.
no man, no group Of men, chose
/ these to be the issues OF the strug-
gle. They are the issues OF it, and
they must he settled-by no ar
rangement or compromise or ad-
/ justment Of interests, but definitely
and once for all and with a full and
unequivocal acceptance OF the
principle that the interest OF the
weakest is as sacred as the interest
/ OF the strongest.
This is what we mean when We
speak Of a permanent peace, if We
speak sincerely. inteiligently and
with a real knowledge and compre-
hension OF the matter we deal with.
We are all agreed that there
can be no peace obtained by any
kind Of bargain or compromise with