The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-09-28
PRESIDENT WILSON'S SPEECH
Five Principles as Practical Program Terms.

New York, Sept 2s.-The price of
peace will be impartial Justice to all
nations, the fundamentally indispen-
sable to secure it is a league of ma
lions formed, not before or after, but
at the peace conference; and Germany,
as a member. will have to redeem her
character. not by what hap ms at the
peace table, but by what follows"
This was President Wilson's answer
given last night before an enthusiastic
and wildly cheering audience of fourth
liberty loan workers here, to the re-
cent peace talk from the central pow
ers, altho he did not refer specifically
to the utteranoes of enemy leaders.
Peace was not question, declared
the president, of coming to terms"
for I'VE cannot come to terms with
them," as they have made it impossi-
ble.' Peace must be guaranteed, for
there will be parties to the peace
whose promises have proved untrust-
worthy, and means must be found in
connection withth peace settlement to
remove that -source OF insecurity" at
, would be folly to leave the guarantee
to the subsequent voluntary action OF
the governments we have seen destroy
Russia and deceive Rumania," con-
tinued the president.
The Speech in Full.
The text of President wilson's ad
|
my Fellow Citizens: am not
| here to promote the loan. That will
| be done-ably and enthusiastically
done-by the hundreds of thousands
Of loyal and tireless, men and women
| who have undertaken to present it to
out the country; and I have not the
| least doubt of their complete sue
| cess; for 1 know their spirit and
the spirit of the country. My con-
1 l.
thoughtful and experienced co-opera-
| ton of the bankers here and every
| where, who are lending their invalu-
able aid and guidance. 1 have come
rather to seek an opportunity to pre-
sent to you some thoughts which 1
| trust will serve to give you, in per-
! haps fuller measure than before, a
| vivid sense of the great issues in
| volved, in order that you may appre-
ciate and accept with added enthusi-
| asm the grave significance of the duty
| of supporting the government by your
| men and your means to the utmost
point of sacrifice and self denial. - No
| man. or woman who has really taken
in what this war means can hesitate to
give to the very limit of what they
have; and it is my mission here to-
| night to try to make 1t clear once
| more what the war really means.
You will need no<other stimulation or
reminder of your duty.
| War for the Topic.
eat every turn of the war We gain
fresh consciousness of what We. are
to accomplish by it. When our hopes
think more definitely than before of
the issues that hang upon 1t, and OF
the purposes which must be realized
by means of it. For it has positive
and well defined purposes which we
did not determine and which we can
| oil etc mr. u
: created them; no statesman or assem-
bly, can alter them. They have arisen
out of the very nature and circum-
stances of the war. The most that
statesmen or assemblies can do is to
carry them out or be false to them
They were, perhaps, not clear at the
outset; 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 mankind has
been substituted for the particular
purposes of individual states. Indi
vidual statesmen may have started the
conflict, but neither they nor theil
opponents can stop it as they please
, 1t has become a peoples war. ant
! peoples of all sorts and races, Of every
degree of power and variety of for
, tune. are involved in its sweeping
processes of change and settlement
} We came into 1t when its character
had become fully defined and it wal
! plain that no nation could stand apaf
, OF be Indifferent to its outcome. 1t
Z challenge drove to the heart of every
/ thing we cared for and lived for. Ou
brothers from many lands, as well al
!: our own murdered dead under thu
I sea, were calling to US, and we re
: sponded, fiercely and of course.
THE air was clear about US. W.
4 saw things in their full, convincin:
PROPORTIONS as thew were: and we hay,
seen them with steady eyes and un
!, changing comprehension ever since
+ We accepted the issues of the war a
facts, not Is any group of men eithe
' here or elsewhere had defined them
r and We can accept no outcome which
does not squafely meet and settl
theU1. Those issues are these:
Shall the military power of any ma
ton or group of nations be suffered t
determine the fortunes people
over whom they have no right to rul
except the right of force?
People Shall Rule.
t "Shall strong nations be free t
| wrong weak nations and make Their
subject to their purpose and interest
{ Shall peoples be ruled and domi
n mated, even in their own internal at
y fairs. by arbitrary and irresponsible
t force. or by their own will an
= choice?
4 shall there be a common standar
|. of right and privilege for all nation,
or shall the strong do as they will an
r the weak suffer without redress?
: "ShaIl the assertion of right be har
hazard and by casual alliance. or sha
there be a common concert to oblig
the observance of common rights?
mo man, no group of men, chos
these to be the issues of the struggl'
J They are the issues Of It; and the