Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1920-10-01

ana S"i'ale committee on foreign rela-
lions, raised he question by stating
Hypothetical case precisely analo-
gOus 10 thai wt'cu J have Denoted
and then ii0t'rrd whf. her we toiobf
not rightfully be regarded as a perfi-
dious people If We should fail to con
tribute an armed force il called to do
50 Tie President first replied, as |
thought somewhat evasively, that we
would be pur own judges as to whether
we were obliged in those elrcunl-
stances to act in that way or not.
Pressed further, however in response
10 a query Incorporating the assump-
ton that the case provided for and pre-
/ scribed had arisen and that the ex.
traneous attack did exist precisely as
it does exist today in Poland. the
I president admitted specifically that we
would be untrue if we did not keep
our word
"Replying further to Il question
which perhaps ought not 10 have con
sidered necessary, the President de
/ nounced a moral obligation of course,
superior to a legal obligation and of
a greater binding force.
What, then, becomes of the argu-
ment that Congress, not The President,
in this instance at any rate, might
keep us out of war; Technically, Of
course, it could do so. Morally, with
equal certainty. it could not do so nor
would it ever do so The American
people would never permit a repudiq-
lion Of Il debt Of honor.
Am 1 not right, my countrymen, in
saying that We needed only the out
break Of war between Poland and Rus
s'a To make us realize at least one Of
the things which, in the words of Sec
rotary Lansing, We would have been
let in for, but for the restraining
hands of the Senate, and to fetch home
to Us the danger of committing our
country in advance to causes that we
know not of.
zone can have no quarrel with those
who have convinced themselves that
our underlying purpose in entering the
great conflict was to create League
ever, that no such intent was official I
ly acclaimed, no allusiOn, nor even /
suggestion to that effect appeared in |
the joint resolution of Congress which |
declared the existence of a state of |
war between this country and Ger
many For myself / left no room for |
doubt of the motives which led me to |
I,o
ton 1t so happened that l made the
speech upon the war resolu-
ton, from my place in the Senate, on !
the night of April 4, 1917. These were
my own words at that time: L want 1t |
known to the people of my state and |
to the nation that 1 am voting for war |
tonight for the maintenance of just ,
American rights, which is the first es-
sential to the preservation of the soul |
Of this republic
81 vote for this joint resolution TO
make war, not q war thrust upon US,
if l could choose the language of the
but a war declared in re-
sponse to affronts, war that will at
east put soul into our American life,
4 war not for the cause of the Allies
IF Europe, a war not for France, beau
iful as the sentiment may be in re-
irving at least our gratitude to the
French people; not precisely war for
worthy and inspiring as
hat would be, but a war that speaks
or the majesty of a people properly
governed, who finally are brought to
he crucial test where they are re-
olved to get together and wage a con-
lict for the maintenance of their
lights and the preservation of their
ovenant inherited from their fathers.
1--WE have given to the world the
pectacle of a great nation that could
lake war without selfish intent. We {
nsheathed the sword some eighteen {
ears ago for the first time in the his /
Dry of the world, in the name of hui t
lanity, and we gave proof to the world e
t that time of an unselfish nation. d
ow, whether it is the fate, or fortune, b
r travail Of destiny, it has come to US V
unsheathe the sword again, not il
lone for humanity's sake-though d
lat splendid inspiration will be in Il
)lVed-but to unSheathe the sword
yainst a great power in the mainte- f,
lnce of the rights of the republic, of "
lie maintenance which viii give to US "
new guaranty of nationality. That p
lie great thing, and l want it known,
+. President and senators, that this h
the impelling thought for me for D
le. when l cast my vote? is
1T is for that same guaranty of ii
ltionality' that l stand today and re
all not continue TO stand lnflexible on
long as l shall be permitted to A
e. The independence of our great W
public is to me a priceless and sacred a
heritance. Time was when an Amer az
IN did not hesitate to proclaim him w
If a patriot To do so now, / am W,
* aware is sometimes TO invite the DIT
GERS of cyuicism, but why should ad
~ 4,..,o A,,,o,..ron not no FREQ IN say. a..