Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-09-28

this war. | have simply responded to
them with such vision as | could COM
Mand. But I have responded gladly
ard with resolution that has grown
warmer and more confident as the is
sues have grown clearer and clearer
1t is now plain tina. they are issues
which no man can pervert unless II be
wilfully. I am bound to fight for them
and happy to fight for them. as time
and circumstances have revealed them
10 me as 10 all the world. our enthu-
siasm for them grows more and more
irresistible as they stand out in more
and more vivid and unmistakable out
line. And the forces that fight for
'ncnI draw into closer and closer ar
ray. organize their millions into more
and more unconQuerable might, as they
become more and more distinct 10 the
thought and purpose OF the peoples en-
gagged 1t is the popularity of this
great nation that while statesmen have
seemed 10 cast about for definitions of
their purpose and have sometimes
seemed to sniff their ground and their
point Of view, the thought OF the mass
OF men. whom statesmen are supposed
TO Instruct and lead, has grown more
and more unc!ouded. more and more un-
certain OF what II is that they are
fighting for. National purposes have
fallen more and more into the back
ground and the common purpose OF en-
lightencd mankind has taken their
place. The counsels of plain men have
become on all hands more simple and
strafghtforward and more unified than
the counsels OF sophisticated men of
affairs who still retain the impression
that they are playing a game OF pow
er and playing for high stakes. That
is why have said that this is peo-
PIE war. not statesman's. Statesmen
must follow the clarified common
thought or be broken.
PEOPLE CALL on LEADERS
TO LEARN REAL ISSUES
I take that to the significance OF
the fact that assemblies and associa-
lions OF many kinds. made up OF plain
work aday people, have demanded al
most every time they came together,
and are still demanding, that the lead
ers o. their governments declare 10
them plainly what ii is. exactly what
and what they think the items OF the
final settlement should be. They are
not yet satisfied with what they have
heen Gold. They still seem to fear that
they are getting what they ask for
only III statesmen's terms: only in the
terms OF territorial arrangements and
The divisions of power and not in terms
of broad-v!sion justice and mercy and
peace and the satisfaction Of those
deep-seated longinSs of oppressed and
distracted men and women and en-
shaved peoples that seem to them the
only things worth lighting war for
that engulfs the world. Perhaps states
men have not already recognized this
changed aspect OF the whole world Of
policy and action. Perhaps they have
not always spoken in direct reply 10
the questions asked because they did
no; know how searching those Ques-
tions were and what sort of answers
they demanded.
WILL SPEAK PLAINLY SO
THAT ALI MAY UNDERSTAND
But !. tor one am glad 20 at.em5t
~" ;,nswer, as%iA ard gain in m,
clearer that my one thought is 10
satisfy those who struggle i'll the
ranks and are, perhaps above nil
others, entitled TO reply whose mean
ing no one can have any excuse for
misunderstanding, If he understands
the language in which il is spoken or
car get some one TO translate II cor
the leaders OF the governments with
which we are associated will peak.
ns they h'Nc 1Sion. ms plainly az
i.uvo ii; to sreah. nope tina,
they hipk | am in any degree mis-
taken in my interpretation of those
issues involved or in my purpose with
regard TO the means by which a salts
factory settlement OF these issues may
ba ont: inea. Unity of purpose and OF
counsel are as imperatively necessary
mand in the battle field. and with per-
feet unity of purpose and counsel VIII
come assurances OF complete victory.
1t can be had in no other way. Peace
drives" can he effectively utilized ana
silenccd only by showing that every
victory of the nations associates
against Germany brings the nations
nearer to the sort of peace which will
bring security and reinsurance to all
peoples and make the recurrence Of
another struggle Of pitilcss force ana
bioodshcd forever impossible, and that
nothing else can. Germany is constant
ly intimatinE the terms" she will ac-
cept; and always finds that the world
does not want terms. 1t wishes tie
It,