Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 89, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1916 — PRESIDENT ENDS SPEAKING TOUR [ARTICLE]

PRESIDENT ENDS SPEAKING TOUR

Urged to Make Trip Through the* South Soon. MAKES ADDRESS AT ST. LOUIS Fifteen Thousand People Hear Exequ-t tive’s Warning to Prepare for War—lmmediate Action Urged to Avoid Disaster! St. Louis, Feb. 4.—-President Wilson; stirred an audience of lf>,ooo people t*> the Coliseum here when he solemnly warned tho people of Missouri to prepare for the upholding of American! rights and ideals. A crowd of 30,000, was outside the hall clamoring for ad* mission. The address was the final onol. he will make on his Western trip.

It 1b still undecided whether Mr.. Wilson will make another trip. Tho president's advisers are urging him to do so at once. They especially want him to swing through the southern states, where opponents of preparedness have been making a campaign. The president opened with the state* ment that he had come seeking some-l thing in the middle West and found; It. He said he had been told the mid > die West was against preparedness.* but he did not believo it.

"I knew the people of the middle West wrere just as patriotic as the rest' of the nation,” hp said. “I did not come out to learn howt you thought, but to tell you what was| going on. I came out that there may| be absolute clarification of the issues' we are now confronting.

"What is the situation? The situation is that America'is at peace with all the world and wishes to remain at peace. It Is not a shallow peace; it is a genuine peace, bused on some of! the most fundamental things of Inter-' national law.

Friend of the World. "America is at peace with all the; world because she is the friend of all! the world. The friendship is genuine. We are tho friend of all the world be-i cause we are made up of all tho world' and understand all the world. “It would tear tho heartstrings of] America to be at war with any otherl nation. ‘‘We believe we can show our friend-) ship for the world better by keeping! out of this struggle than by getting into it. Ido not misread the spirit ofj America.

“I have no indictment of any form of government One Commander May Cause War. "Suppose my neighbor’s house is oa lire and the roof is of combustible ma-j terial, it Is not my fault if the ftroj spreads. The danger Is not from! within, but from without. ■‘The commanders of submarines fan the most part are in accord with iav/ of nations, hut the act of ono commander may set the world on fire “There are cargoes of. wheat atut cotton and manufactured articles oni the sea, and every one of them may* cause trouble because they go into the zone of lire. “America has drawn no line points, no new issues, in her international relations, she has merely asserted the rights of mankind when the life of mankind is threatened in a world aflame with war. She has rested upon what is already written plain on the documents of international law.” Willing to Mal|i Allowances. "1 arp not in a critical frame of mind,” he continued. “I am ready to yield everything but the vital points. I know how in time of trouble, if we were in danger. 1 might thrust aside punctiliousness. “I am ready to make allowances for both sides.

“You know how one Set of belligerents is shut off from the rest of tbo world. Therefore, the United States is not able to express itself toward them as they would like I believe the United States is really neutral. “My fellow citizens, while we know our own purpose, it does not follow the other nations understand. “Men press forward with a sort of blind recklessness. "The peace of the world, including America, rests with the remainder of the world, and not with America. “Now, here is the choice we have; here is the alternative: “Either we shall sit still and wait for the necessity for immediate national defense to come, and then call for volunteers, who would be. for the first few months, impotent as against a trained and experienced enemy. Or, we shall adopt the-ancient American principle that the men of the country shall be ready to take care of their own government.” ' The crowd roared its approval No Speech at Indianapolis. When the president’s train reached Indianapolis for a five-minute stop a large crowd greeted him at the station. When cries were made for a speech he appeared on the platform of his car and said, "Indiana is all right,”