Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-01-11

into your minds; but there is one
ming that you are called upon to ex-
erciss tor the great state OF Maine
an exceedingly important function q
junction wnich free men are proud
to exercise. There il often q sneer
and q teer among those VINO ought
TO know better against the politician.
A politician Is q man or woman VINO
takes interest In the administration
Of the affairs OF his or her country.
who desires to see 1t well governed
who ought to desire to see it well
governed. The only difference that
know Of between . politician and q
statesman IL that the politician Is
still alive and the statesman 10 dead.
(Laughter.) There IL no great man
Of the past who took an interest in
public AFFAIRS who did not receive the
utmost castigation through his life
time. George Washington was ac-
cused Of stealing. five thousand dol
lars Of publjc money; George WASH
ington. the idol Of his people! John
Jay, the first chief Justice Of this
great American Union. of whom 1t
was said later on that when the man
tie Of justice touched his shoulders.
it touched nothing less spotless than
itself, was cursed from one end OF
this nation to the other in 1894. He
was burned in efIigy and he lost the
presidency. Of the United States.
which was the great object OF his
existence. because it was said that
he. John Jay. man Of that standing,
had sold himself. had sold his coun-
try to Britain. Everybody knows how
Abraham Lincoln was castigated: and
an etofonnan nf
the past. 1t ought to be matter Of
pride for a person to be q legislator:
il ought to be a matter OF pride for
person to be a politician Of that
class, the politician who grows into
the statesmen.
But l did not come here to lecture.
but rather to speak Of the common
! interests which we people have. Some
years ago there was formed under the
auspices OF President Taft. he becom-
| ing the first honorary president, the
American Society for the Judicial Set
Element Of International Disputes.
the object of which was to put an
| end to war. and to determine broad
! international relationships by means
OF arbitration if diplomacy failed. l
had the honor Of being an early MEM
Der Of that association. We had
many meetings, and we were called
upon in matters of international re-
lutions between the United States on
the one hand and Britain on the 9TH
er. Except for the deplorable war of
1872, since 1888, when the independ-
ence Of the United States was &C.
knowledged by Britain, there have
| never been any serious disputes be-
tween these great nations. There
may have been quarrels. as there are
family disputes and quarrels, with
which nobody else has had anything
to do, and which we settled on proper
| terms, except. as 1 say, the unneces-
| sary and useless war of 1912. Twenty
three matters have been determined
! by arbitration between the United
States on the one hand and Canada
or Britain on the other. three of them
| involving the boundary of Maine. In
| the Senate, few moments ago, i
told them about three arbitratiofls
whereby the northeastern and north
| ern boundaries of Maine were deter
mined by peacable means. any one of
which might have caused war be-
tween these two great peoples.
Inere are only TWO theories Of in
ternational relationship. One is the
| theory of the autocrat. and Woodrow
Wilson never said truer word than
that autocracy cannot be trusted to
keep the faith. One is the method OF
| the autocrat. that might is right /
can; therefore. ! will" The other is
| the method of the democrat-"right
Is right" to be followed in the light
| of wisdom. as your people and mine
have followed from the beginning.
Now, then. members of the house
of Representatives of the state of
Maine. Britain occupies one-fourth OF
the worlds surface. and has more
| than one-fourth of all the inha bitants
| OF the world; and when say Britain,
l mean, not England, but the British
commonwealth. composed of q num-
Der OF free nations. of which mine is
| one. She herself keeps peace over
| one-fourth of the world. The United
States has somewhat less territory.
The United States is keeping peace
throughout the whole length and
breadth of this magnificent center of
the North American continent from
the Rio Grande to the st. Lawrence.
Ihese two nations together are keep
ing peace in at least one third of the
whole surface of the world-among
one-third of the inhabitants of the
world. 1t is their function to keen
peace Tor the rest Of the world. 1t
IS idle to look to any other nation.
france cannot do it. France is
watching the Rhine constantly. Italy
cannot do it. the northern nations
cannot do it. neither can Greece or
Austria. The smaller nations of Ell
rope are OF no account in this respect.
(rermAnV cannot no
erations to take the lead in ciyiliza-
ton because her viewpoint is not
ours. her idea of peace being the
peace of force. The peace we Eng
llsh- speaking people look forward to
is the peace of persuasion, the peace
OF justice. the peace of righteousness.
The civilization of, the world rests
upon the English-spcaking people to-
DAY, and they are the only people who
can heal the world. and the civiliza-
ton which we together offer is the
only thing worth living for. Those
Maine farmers who stood in the en-
pattled line at Concord, a line uneven
indeed, owing to the drill sergeant
put whose strong and valiant hearts
urea the shot that was heard around
the world, stood there not only for
the thirteen Colonies, not only for
the thirteen States which were to fol-
low the Colonies. and the forty-nine
states which were to succeed them
out for Canada and Australia and
New Zealand and south Africa. nav
for England herself, and Ali thu,
makes the British Empire, the British
commonwealth worth while SoIs
government. freedom. liberty to gov
eTh ourselves according to our own
way-that Is our civilization. ana
that civilization d.c,~a go