The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-03-01

It was grave indeed in the visible and foreseeable circumstances of the time. But it has become graver still during the years which have followed, In which we have witnessed the en- 1argement of the area of the war until it has involved, directly and indirect ly, the vast majority of the population of the world; cruelhes unheard of and undreamt of, which have been introduced into it's conduct; the con- stantly growing embitterment of in- ternationaI animosities; the draining away and drying up of the vital re- sources, human and material, of the future; the accumulation of burdens which will mortgage the potential wealth and the free development of posterity for generations to come.
 We have seen the sufferings and desolations, which have still to be re- dressed and recompensed, of the small countries-Belgium, Serbia, Ruman1s whose protection was one of oul primary purposes.
 We have seen our great Ally Rus sia, who bore manfully so much o1 the stress and brunt of the early struggles, throwing off the letters o1 despotism, only to exchange them, SC far for the paralysis of impotence an( anarchy.
 Heavy indeed is tne accountability of any man whose hands had a par dn lighting the fire which has heated this caldron with it's internal brew
 No Peace With Dishonor
 It was not of our seeking. w might have held aloof on the pleS that our obligation to Belgium wa! a joint and not several obligation and folded our hands while the Ger man armies found their way acros Belgian territory for their long-medi tated spring upon France. In other words, we could have hal peace-for ourselves at the price, i not 8 chicanery, at least of dishonor We held that peace-the most price less of human blessings-was no worth such a price.
 I have often gone over in memor those momentous days at the end o July and beginning of August, 1914 when history will record that the for tunes of freedom, and indeed the fat of civilization hung in the balance say deliberately that, with all tn knowledge we now have of the the unimagined horrors of a world-wid war, if I had to live the time owe again should take the same decision Has II been, is it, worth while some people will ask.
 It is certainly a question that wi be put by history.
 My answer is without doubt or he: itation, yes, subject only to one COT dition, that the war ends in a peaC which secures the attainment of oI original purposes and which contain in itself the safeguards of it's ow permanence.
 Such a peace, as have said mo- than once, has become the supren and dominating need of the worl and there is no greater enemy of tl human race at this moment than u man, if there be such a man, who word or act makes it more difficJ to achieve.
 As to these purposes, have in tv speeches this autumn at Leeds al Liverpool, set out in positive and co crete form what conceive them be. I have nothing to take away fro what I then said, and I am glad observe that President Wilson in l recent address to congress arrives very nearly the same route practice ly at the same conclusion. It m therefore be of advantage, if witho either repeating or qualifying what have said before, I say somethi of what, in my view, our war a peace aims are not.
 Here I must interject one or U words to make to the common sto of knowledge, of research of inve ton, of material and intellectual ] source.
 But if there is to be a peace, a r peace, an enduring pact, it must something more than paper doc ment written in ink and sealed W wax
 It must rest upon authentic prt that the German people are as req as we are to set up the rule of co mon and equal right, as not only tet nically sovereign, but, as in fact, means of appropriate and effect sanctions the controlling authority the world.
 Freedom of the Seasr
 Another. and an equally radi