The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-02-25
PURE AMERICANISM
In ELOQUENT PLEA
BY SENATOR BORAH
Great Oratorical Effort
Holds the Senate
Spellbound
HEARERS THRILLED
| ~
HEARERS THRILLED
Senator Smoot Says Spirit of it Was
True Americanism and Great
Speech



William E. Borah, of Idaho, one
of the two republican members of
the Foreign Relations Committee,
who have declined President Wilson's
invitation to hear his explanation of
the League of Nations at the White
House dinner tomorrow, held the
Senate spellbound Friday by one of
the most successful oratorical efforts
witnessed in Washington in recent
years. Whatever may have been the
effect of his speech upon the
opinion of his fellow Senator's, there
was no doubt that friend and foe
alike appreciated his ringing plea for
pure and unadulterated Americanism.
When he had taken his seat after
speaking against the League of Ma
tions for one hour and ten minutes,
the unusual spectacle was presented
of the suspension of business in the
Senate for nearly five minutes, during
which Senators on both sides of the
chambe crowded around him to offer
their congratulations. The enthusi-
astic applause from the galleries
would have lasted much longer had
not Vice President Marshall, follow
ing the Senate rules, stopped u it at
once.
Senator Borah's speech reached it's
climax when, after a glowing tribute
to the memory of Theodore Roose-
velt, through whose life, he said,
"Americanism ran like "a golden
cord" he declared:
"In a single line I can state my
position THAT there is not a sup
ernational tribunal or a supernat-
ional government which can be Great
ed or devised by the witness of man
so well calculated to take care of this
republic as the conscience and the
wisdom of the 1OO,O00,OO0 people to
whom the loving God has entrusted
its keeping and its destiny.
When he had finished his speech,
which he made without notes, and the
congratulations were over, Senator
Smoot, of Utah, who seldom INDUCES
in remarks of that kind, broke the
stiffness by addressing the chair and
saying
"Mr. President, we have just lis
tened to one of the greatest speeches
have ever heard. I wish every
word of it could go into every home
in our country. The spirit of it was
Americanism."
This showed where Senator Smoot
stood on the question.
Senator Borah's effort was the first
gun in the speech making campaign
which he and other opponents of the
league are going to make throughout
the country after the adjournment OF
| Congress on March a, when it is pro-
| posed to answer the arguments OF
President Wilson and William H
| Taft, chief advocates of the league.
| Here are some of the striking SEN
tences from the speech of Senator
William E.. Borah, of Idaho, against
| the League of Nations:-
"There is not supernatural gov
ernment that can be devised by the
/ wit of man so well calculated to take
care of this republic as the con-
science and the wisdom of 100000
900 people to whom the loving God
has entrusted it's keeping and its des-
tiny"
"In this hour of broken faiths and
crumbling governments, when dis
order and chaos prevail, let us take
our stand upon the side of orderly lib
erty, of constitutional government, OF
| nationalism. Let us take our stand
beside Washington and Jefferson and
Jackson and Lincoln
eve are now proposing what, to
| my mind, is the most radical depart
ure from our policies ever proposed
since our government was estab-
Hshed."
Certainly questions of this kind
ought to be submitted to a plebiscite
or to vote of the people of the
country"
"The mere reading of the consti-
tuition of league will convince any
reasonable mind. It seems to me. that
the policies of Washington and Mon
roe must depart if it is adopted"
"This constit ntion of the League
of Nations is the greatest triumph for
English diplomacy in three centuries
of English diplomatic life"