Republican farmer., 1920-07-02

and they could Scdrcely cOnlTOl ta0 open manifestation of their glee when the Great Man was stricken at last. The Congress was in session for while the President lay in the White House. struggling with ter rifying illness and, at times, close to the point of death. He had been physically wounded just as surely asl were Garfield and Mckinley and Lin coin, for, it is but a difference Of degree between fanatics and partisans. The Congress, during all this period, when the whole heart of America ought to have been flowing out, in love and sympathy, did not find time, amid their bickerings, to pass one resolution of generous import or ex- tend one kindly inquiry as to the fate of the President of their own country.
 And what was his offense? Merely this-that he strove to redeem the word that America had given to the world; that he sought to save fu- ture generation from. the agony through which this generation had passed; that he had taken seriously the promises that all nations had made that they would unite at the end of the war in a compact to pre- serve the peace of the world and that he relied upon the good faith of his
 
 take, it was that he made a too gen erous estimate of mankind, that he believed that the idealiSn which had made the war a great spiritual vic tory, could be relied upon to secure the legitimate fruit of the war-the reign of universal peace.
 In one sense, it is quite 1nmaterlai what people say about the President. Nothing we can say can add or de- tract from the fame that will flow down the amending channels of his tory. Generations yet unborn will look back to this era and pay their tribute of honor to the man who led a people through troub1ous ways out of the valleys of selfishness up to the mountain tops of achievement and honor and there showed them the promised land of freedom and safety and fraternity. Whether history rec ords that they entered in or turned their back upon the vision, it is all one with him-he is immortal
 The Requirements of Honor There are men who seem to be an noyed when we suggest that Ameri- can honor is bound up III this contest, and that good faith requires that we should enter the League of Nations The whole Republican case is based upon the theory that we may, with honor, do as we please about this matter and that we have made nc promi5es which it is our duty to re- deem. Let us turn again to the rec ord.
 The Republican Party in its plat form in 1916 had declared for a world court, 'tfor the pacific settle ment of interna tional disputes" The Progressive Party in 1912 and in, 1916 had likewise declared for an arrange ment between nations to make peace permanent The Democratic. Party in 1916 had specifically declared 1T favor of the establishment of a League of Nations. The Senate itself, or August 18th. 1916, by unanimous vote, passed a measure requesting the President to take the lead in such z world movement.
 On December 18th, 1916, the Pres ident addressed an identic note to the nations at war, requesting them tt l state the terms upon which the, would deem it possible to make peace | In this note, he proposed the crea 1 ton of a League of Nations, sayin: l t'In the measures to be taken to secure the future peace of the | world, the people and govern ment of the United States are as vita11y interested as the govern l ments now at war. ** They 1 stand ready and even eager to | cooperate in the accomplish | ment of these ends when the war is over with every influence and l resource at their command" l This was four months before Amer l tca entered the war.
 To this identic note, the Centra I Powers answered evasively, but tn l Allies, in their reply dated at Paris January 10th, 1917, declared:
 l Their whole-hearted agree ment with the proposal to create League of Nations which shall 1 assure peace and justice through | out the world.
 On January 22. 1917, the presiden
 addressed thes Senate with referenc l to these replies, and said: t'In every discussion of the peac ! that must end this war, it is taken fo granted that the peace must be fol l lowed by some definite concert 0 l power which shall make it virtuall l impossible that any such catastroph shall overwhelm us again.
 | Speaking of the League of Peac
 which was to follow the war, he said | 'If the peace presently to be mad is to endure, it must be a peace mad secure by the organized major fore
 of mankind"
 Acting upon these proposals, bot
 the French and the British govern
 ments appointed committees to stud
 the problem while the war was sti
 in progress
 | On April 1917, the President de livered his famous war message t
 Congress and thrilled the heart c
 the country anew by his announce purpose to make the contest "a wa
 against war" High above all of ou
 other aims, he placed "a universe : dominion of right by such a conce,
 of free peoples shall bring peac and safety to all nations and make tn
 world itself at last free"
 Following this message. the Con gress by resolution, passed April 1917, recognized the state of war.
 On January 8, 1918, the Presiden went before Congress and set fort
 his famous Fourteen Points The 14t
 point, which is practically identdcs
 in language with the provisions C