Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-10-27
WORLD MORAL FORCE
UP TO U. S., PRESIDENT
TELLS PRO.LEAGUERS
TEXT OF SPEECH
BY MR.. WILSON
TO REPUBLICANS

TO REPUBLICANS
The text of President Wilson's ad
dress to the delegation Of pre-
league republicans follows:
My Fellow Countrymen:
1t is to be feared that the su-
preme issue presented for your
consideration in the present cam
paign is growing more obscure
rather than clearer by reason of
the many arbitrary turns the dis
cuSsion of it has taken. The ed
itors and publishers of the coun-
try would render a great service
If they would publish the full text
of the covenant of the league of
nations, because, having read that
text, you would be able to judge
for yourselves great many
things in which you are now in
danger of being misled. ! hope
sincerely that it will be very
entire. 1t is with a desire to re-
clarity the issue and to assist
your judgment that 1 take the lib
erty of stating again the case
submitted to you in as simple
terms as possible.
Reviews Entry Into War.
Three years ago it was my duty
to summon you to the concert of
the world in meeting and ending
the most sinister peril that had
ever been developed in the ire
sponsible politics of the old world.
Your response to that call really
settled the fortunes of war. You
will remember that the morale OF
the German people broke down
long before the strength OF the
German armies was broken. That
was obviously because they felt
that a great moral force which
they could not look in the face
had come into the contest. and
that henceforth all their profess
sions of right were discredited and
they were unable to pretend that
their continuation of the war was
that had violated every principle
of right and every consideration of
humanity.
War In Vain without League.
1t is my privilege to summon you
now to the concert of peace and
the completion of the great moral
achievement on your part which
the war represented, and in the
presence of which the world found
a reinsurance and a recovery OF
force which it could have expert
enced in no other way. We en-
tered the war, as you remember.
not merely to beat Germany. but
to end the possibility of the re-
newal OF such iniQuitous schemes
as Germany entertained. The war
away, unless we complete the
work we then began, and / ask
you to considef that there is only
one way to assure the world OF
peace; that IL by making 1t SO dan
gerous to break the peace that no
other nation will have the audacity
to attempt 1t. We should not be
deceived into supposing that i'm
perialistic schemes ended with the
defeat of Germany, or that Ger
many is the only nation that en-
tertained such schemes, or was
moved by sinister ambitions and
long-standing jealousies to attack
the very structure of civilization.
There are other nations which are
likely to be powerfully moved or
are alread, moved by commercial
jealousy, by the desire to DOM
mate and to have their own way in
politics and in enterprise. and it
is necessary to check them and to
apprise them that the world will
be united against them as it was
against Germany il they attempt
any similar thing.
Guarantee Of Peaceful Future.
The mothers and sisters and
wives of the country know the
sacrifice Of war. They will feel
that we have misled them and
compelled them to make an en-
tirely unnecessary sacrifice of their
beloved ones if we do not make it
as certain as it can be made that
no similar sacrifice will be de-
manded of mothers and sisters and
wives in the future. This duty is
SO. plain that it seems to me to
constitute primary demand upon
the conscience of every one of us.
1t is 'inconceivable to most of us
that any men should have been SO
false or so heartless as to declare
that the women of the country
would again have to suffer the in
tolerable burden and privation of
war if the league of nations were
adopted. The league of nations is
the well considered effort of the
whole group of nations who were
opposed to Germany to secure
themselves and the rest of man
kind against a repetition of the
war. 1t will have back of it the
watchfulness and material force of
all these nations. and is such
guarantee of a peaceful future as
no well informed man can uues-
tion who does not doubt the whole
spirit with which the war was con-
Quoted against Germany The
great moral influence of the United
States will be absolutely thrown
away if we do not complete the
task which our soldiers and sailors
so heroically undertook to execute.
Article x 4 Safeguard.
One thing ought to be said, and
said very clearly, about article x
of the covenant of the league of
nations. 1t Is the specific pledge of
the members of the league that
they will unite to resist exactly
tempted, no matter who attempts
them in the future. 1t is as exact
a definition as could be given in
general terms of the outrage which
Germany would have committed
If it could. Germany violated the
territorial integrity of her neigh
bors and f1outed their political in
dependence in order to aggran-
dize herself, and almost every war
of history has originated in such
designs. 1t is significant that the
nations of the world should have
at last combined to define the gen.
eral cause of war and to exercise
such concert as may be necessary
to prevent such methods. Article
x, therefore, is the specific redemp-
ton of the pledge which the free
governments Of the world gave to
their people when they entered
the war. They promised their peo-
pie not only that Germany would
be prevented from carrying out
her plot, but that. the world would
be safeguarded in the future from
similar designs. We have now to
choose whether we will make good
or quit. We have Joined issue, and
the issue is between the spirit and
purpose of the United States and
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