Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 102, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1915 — THE PRESIDENT’S COUNSEL. [ARTICLE]

THE PRESIDENT’S COUNSEL.

| In an address yesterday before -the Baltimore conference of the -Methodist Episcopal Church South, President Wilson said: Wars will never have any ending until men cease to hate one another; cease to be jealous of one another; get that feeling of reality in the brotherhood of man which is the only bond that can make us think , justly of one another and act right- • eously before God * * * * ► One can only conclude from these l words that Mr. Wilson’s faith in ► machinery is not great. It can do ► something, but there can be doubt ' that there will be war as long as the ► spirit that prompts it survives. And ► it was of the final disappearance of l war as an institution that the Presi- ► dent was thinking. Construed, thus, £ there can be no question of the L truth of his statement. The problem r is fundamentally not political, but ► moral and religious. We believe that t those who are today working for | peace through machinery are themL selves prompted by the right spirit. £ Therefore, it follows that all who ► are trying lo prevent War by new £ political adjustments are doing

something—pehaps much—to spread abroad that spirit that is one day to end war. So everything works together. The pdace of which the President speaks is' not mere absence of war, but helpful co-operation among people who trust one another. It is not a negative, but rather a positive and aggressive thing. Of course, Mr. Wilson had something to say of our attitude toward the present war. His words are so wise that we set them out in full: There are a great many people—not so many that they give me any particular concern—but nevertheless a great many people who, in the language of the day, are trying hard to “rock the boat.” The boat is too big for them to rock. ; They are of such light material that they can not rock it very much, but they are going through the motions, and it is just as well for,, them to look around once in a while and see the great, steadfast body of self-possess-ed Americans not to be hurried into an unconsidered line of action. It is sure that when you are right you can be calm; it is sure that when the quarrel is none of yours you can be impartial, and It, is sure that the men who spend their passion most will move the body politic least, and that the reaction will not be upon the great body of American citizens, but upon themselves. The President’s trust in his fellow countrymen is not misplaced. They have from the beginning been

with him in his wise efforts to maintain’absolute neutrality, and to hold this nation true to its duty, not only to its own citizens, but to the world. And as he has confidence in them, so they have confidence in him. As he says, we have some unhappy people who have allowed themselves to become excited and. irritated. But on the whole the situation could hardly be better. There are a few men who, though they profess that they do not wish this country to become involved in the war, nevertheless feel—or pretend to-—that we can not keep out of it. That sort of talk is most ill-advised. For there is a psychology in war, and if we ever get to thinking that our involvement is inevitable, it is pretty certain that it will come. But our people as a whole have no sympathy with that view. It is they who compose “the great, steadfast body of self-possessed Americans.” It is on these that the President relies. And well may he do so.—lndianapolis News.