New Britain herald., 1918-05-30

leave these as really one huge empire. | The population of these four countries plus the populations of Russian re- gions recently annexed by Germany is over two hundred millions. This population would be directed and dominated by the able, powerful and utterly brutal and interruptions Ger man governing class, which the very fact of the peace would put in the saddle: and the huge empire thus dominated and directed would be- come a greater menace to the free peoples than anything known for the last thousand years.
 Short-sighted people will say that this power would only menace Asia, and, therefore, that We need feel no concern about it. There could be no error greater or more lamentable
 Twenty years hence, by mere mass and growth, Germany would doml-
 nate the Western European powers
 that have now fought her. This
 would mean that the United States
 would be left as her victim.
 In the first place she would at once
 trample the Monroe Doctrine under
 foot, and treat Tropical and South
 Temperate America as her fields for
 exploitation, domination and con-
 quest. In the next place she
 would surely trample this coun-
 try under foot and bleed us
 white, doing to us on a gigantic scale
 what she has done to Belgium. If
 such a, peace as is above described
 were at this time made, the United
 States could by no possibility escape
 the fate of Belgium and of the Rus
 sian territories annexed by Germany,
 unless we ourselves became power
 full militarist state with every demo-
 cratic principle subordinated to the
 one necessity of turning thls hatloil
 into huge armed camp do not
 mean an armed nation, as SWltzerlahd
 is armed and as I believe this coun-
 try ought to be armed; l mean na-
 tion whose sons, every one or thehi'
 would have to serve from three to
 five years in the army, and whose
 whole activities, external and internal,
 would be conditioned by the one fact
 of the necessity of making head, single-handed, against Germany.
 very strongly believe that never
 again should we be caught unprepared
 as we have been caught unprepared
 this time I believe that all our
 young men should be trained to arms
 as the Swiss are trained. But would regard it as an unspeakable calamity for this nation to have to turn it's whole energies into the klnd of exaggerated militarism which under such circumstances would alone avail for self defense.
 The military power of Germany must be brought low. The subject nations of Austria, the Balkans, and Western Asia must be freed. We ought not to refrain an hour longer from going to war with Turkey and Bulgaria. They are part of Ger
 many's military strength They rep resent some of the most cruel tyr armies over subject peoples for which Germany stands. It is idle for us to pretend sympathy with the Ar menians unless we war on Turkey, which, with Germany's assent, has
 well nigh crushed the Armenians out of existence.
 When President Wilson stated that this war was waged to make democ- racy safe throughout the world, he properly and definitely committed 1 the Am erican people to the principles above enunciated; and for the Ameri- can people to accept less than their l president has thus announced that he would insist upon would be un- I worthy. The president has also said that "there is therefore, but l one response possible from us: Force force to the utm ost-force without stint or limit-the righteous and tri- umphant force which shall make right the law of the world and cast every selfish dominion down in the dust" The American people must l support President Wilson -unf1inch- | ingly in the stand to which he is 1 thus committed, and must resolutely 1 refuse to. accept any other position. l We must guard against any slacken- 1 ing of effort. We must refuse to ac- cept any premature peace or any 1 peace other than the peace of over
 whelming victory.
 We must secure such complete ] freedom for the peoples of Central 1 Europe and Western Asia as will 1 shatter forever the threat of German | world domination. Our honorable 1 obligations to our Allies, our loyalty l to our own national principles the l need to protect our American neigh 1 bors, and need to defend our own l land and people, and our hopes for 1 the peace and happiness of our chill | dren's children, all forbid us to ac- l cept an ignoble and inconclusive l peace.
 THEODORE ROOSEVELT ; ;IXTnTInTnIlT lnEIVT