Arizona republican., 1919-03-12
lKnnsas Citr Starl

tKansas City Star) Let US be frank. For years we have been following rhetoric. Let us see to 1 it that We do not follow it to the hurt of the world in the peace conference. Let us make sure that we do not ac- cept fine phrases in lieu of the actual ities that really insure peace President Wilson made his keynote peace speech in Boston. Its rhetorical appeal was great But forget it's rhet- oric. Look at it's content. Mark what he really said:
 The atmosphere of that speech is the ! atmosphere of unreality. It is in the ] clouds. Its whole tone must involve l in doubt the practical possibilities of the instrument it was designed to de- fend Before this war" said the president Europe did not believe in us as she l dces now. She did not believe in us | throughout the first three years of the ! war. She seems really to have believed 1 that We were holding off because We thought we could make more by stay l ing out than by going in.
 And Europe was right. Let US con- fess it with shame. This country was ] engrossed in prosperity and money making. It wanted to keep out of the war because that was the easy and the prosperous thing to do.
 President Wilson sensed the situa- tiou. And he furnished the rhetorical Y excuses that made the national atti- tude respectable. That was the season he was reelected. file kept LIS out of war"
 It was the president who found the excuse, 'too proud to fight after the sinking of the Lusitania- l. was the president who said in an address on January s. 1915.
 Look abroad upon the troubled world. Only America at peace. Among all the great powers of the world only America saving her power for her own people! only America using her great character and her great strength in the interests of peace and of pros perity. Do you not think it likely that the world will some time turn to America and say, You were right and We were wrong. You kept your head while We lost ours
 It was the president who said in an address delivered in Washington Oc- tober IT, 1915
 Neutrality is a negative word It is word that does not express what America ought to feel America has a heart and that heart throbs with ! all sorts of intense sympathies but America has schooled it's heart to love the things that America be- lieves in and it ought to devote itself only ts the things that America be- lieTes in; and, believing that Amer ica stands apart in it's ideals. it ought not 10 allow itself to be drawn. so far as it's heart is concerned. into any body's quarrel. Not because it does not understand the quarrel. not be- cause it does not in it's head assess the merits of the controversy, but be- cause America had promised the world to stand apart and maintain certain principles of action which are ground ed in law and iustice'
 It was the president who said in Chi cago in January. 1916, a few months before the presidential election:
 'I know that on the other side ot the water there has been a great deal of cruel misjudgment with regard tc the reasons why America has remained neutral Those who look at us at q distance, my fellow citizens. do not feel the strong pulses of ideal prin- D ! clples that are in us. They do not feel the conviction of America that her mission is a mission of peace. and that righteousness can be maintained as standard in the midst of arms
 
 We have believed. and ] believe th3t we can serve the nations at wal better by remaining at peace anc holding off from this contest thar We could possibly serve them in any other way y our interest. your sym pathy, your affections may be en-
 
 but no matter which side they ar, engaged on it is your duty even tt your affections in this great affair tt stand off and not let this nation b, drawn into the war. Somebody mus keep the great stable foundations O the life of nations untouched and un. disturbed7
 And 1t was the president who said al Des Moines the next month. February 1916, with the nominating convention looming nearer.
 "On the one hand. there is a consid eraDie body Of men who are trying tt stir the very sort of excitement in thi. country upon which every true. well balanced American ought to frown There are actually men in America who are preaching war who ar, preaching the duty of the United State.
  seek entanglement in the controversies which have arisen on the other side o the water-abandon it's habituaI ant traditional policy and deliberately en gage in the conflict which is now en gulfing the rest of the world. l do no Know what the standards of citizen ship of these gentlemen may be. only know that l for one. cannot sub scribe to those standards. I believ that l more truly speak the spirit O America when l say that that spirit i a spirit of peace. Why. no voice ha. ever come to any public man nor audibly. more unmistakably, than tn voice of this great people. has com to me bearing this impressive lesson We are counting upon you to keep thi country out of war
 Superb rhetoric all of this Calcu lated to justify in our own eyes our re fusal to meet the stern obligation c duty. But how it reads today, An now We are once more assured in Bos ton that we were cruelty misunder stood in those first three years of wal although the trouble was that Europ understood us too well.
 Further. to justify our course in tn peace conference. in which we are try ing to substitute a formal documen for the substantial guarantees on whic a durable peace is built in this strivin world, we are assured that Europe di not know what she was fighting fo until We came in. The poor. delude men of France and England. who wer staying the German horde at the cost c millions of lives lost and millions C soldiers permanently disabled who ha been going through hell for three year in defense of things all men hold dea