Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-03-06

| which cannot be realized in it's per-
fection, and yet I have felt besides
us tragedy, it's compulsion, its com
pulsion upon every living man to OK
crcise every influence that he has
to the utmost to see that as little ~
possible of that hope is disappointed
because IT men cannot now, after this
| agony of bloody sweat, como to their
self possession and see how to rcgu-
late the affairs of the world, we will
sink back into period of struggle
in which there will be no hope, and
therefore no mercy. There can be no
mercy where there is no hope, for
| why should you spare another If you
cannot eXpctc TO perish Why should
you be pitiful If you can get no pity?
why should you be just if, upon every
hand you are put upon?
WHERE THE CRITICS ARE BLIND.
| There is another thing which |
think the critics of this covenant have
not observed. They not only have not
| observed the temper of the world. but
| they have not even observed the tenn
per of THOSE splendid boys in khaki
that they sent across the seas. l. have
! had the proud consciousness of the
| reflected glory of those boys. be-
cause the constitution made me their
taught me some lessons When we
went into the war, we went into it
on the basis of declarations which; 1t
was my privilege to utter, because ]
| believe them to be an Interpretation
| of the purpose and thought or the
people of the United States.
And those boys went over there with
,he feeling that they were sacredly bound
to the realization of those ideals that
| they were not only going over there to
heat Germany; they were not going over
| there merely with resentment in their
| hearts against a particular outlaw ma
| ton; but that they were crossing these
5000 miles Of sea in order to show 10
Europe that the United States, when it
became necessary, would go anywhere
where the rights Of mankind We're threat
| ened.
| They would not sit still in the trenches.
| They would not be restrained by the
| prudence of experienced continental COM
manders. They thought they had come
over there to do a particuar thing. and
! they were going to do it and do it at
| once. And just as soon as that rush of
| spirit as well as rush Of body came in
| contact with the lines of the enemy, they
| began to break, and they continued to
! break until the end They continued to
| break. my fellow citizens. not merely
| because Of the physical force of those
| lusty youngsters. but because of the
| irresistible spiritual force of the armies
Of the United States 1t was that they
| felt. 1t was that that awed them. 1t
| was that that made them feel, if these
| youngsters ever got a foothold, they
| could never be dislodged and therefore
every foot of ground that they won was
permanently won for the liberty of man
| kind.
WILL FIGHT TO THE END
! And do you suppose that having felt
| that crusading spirit of these youngsters,
who went over, there not to glorify
| America but to serve their fellow men.
l am going to permit myself for one
moment to sacken in my effort to be
worthy of them and their cause. What
| | said at the opening said with a deeper
! meaning than perhaps you have caught;
! | do mean not to come back until it is
| over over there and it must not be over
| until the nations of the world are assured
| OF hte permanency of peace.
| Gentlemen on this side of the water
would be very much profited by getting
| into communication with some gentle
men on the other side of the water. We
| the experienced statesmen of the
European nations are an unusually hard
heaued set OF men, by which we generally
mean, although we do not admit it, that
they are n DIT cynical; that they say:
! Inns IL very practlcai world by which
you anyways mean lhat IL is not an ideal
| worlu' that thcy 40 not believe that
| thlhsS can DE settled upon an ideal basis.
wen never came INTO lhtlnate contact
mat way 'hey are not mat way now.
i"es nave peeh supuueo' II mat was
once 'hef temper by the awful
''sI''noa"ce Vi recent events ana inc
awful Importance ol what Is TO ehsue;
anu '''e'e 10 ho' oi'e Vi them win whom
| nav 'oine III contact VINO "oes not
,'Vi '"'' ne 'ai'''o' III conscience return
" no peope I'm 10 uH'c'S ne mas
'"' "'o o.''o9' " w So'le'i'l'B more
wa" "ttaeh MS name 10 treaty OF
,,,'.'. NV y, 'an !" VIC Conference
,U nc. VIC i'''! VI pu"ce III 'seii
| q" WI '"i' mas '"'u
'.'' No"',"". suppo'. anu energy
s,i;o, 80 " s"l'iNa''o's su', '' 10 sup
w s"' Va
| MANI WE'RE ShEPIlCAl'
| And men who, when / first went over
| there were skeptcal of the possibility
of forming league Of nations, admitted
! that if we could but form il. if would
be an invaluable fundamentally through
which to secure the operation of the vari-
GUS parts OF the treaty and when that