Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 96, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 March 1916 — PEACE WITH HONOR. [ARTICLE]

PEACE WITH HONOR.

President Wibonks open letter ot Feb. 24, 1916, to S< n itbr Stone will assuredly find a place in ail collections of vital nation;: 1 dm m.i nt*. Ai a crisis of national welfare and for national honor the republics chief magistrate has drawn with the clear, ness of the l:ghfning>> fla h through the midnight skies the line of patriotic duty. • The German govy. n men is have attempted while war i ■ in progress to <i.;sr- g.ird and alter the principles upon which all civilized nations have agreed lor the mitigation of the horrors and sufferings of war. That, as the President uays. "no nation, no group of nations, has the right” to do. They may attempt it; they may attempt to deprive humanity of the rule of law; it does not consist with our honor to yield, no matter what the cost. We desire amity with them, but we do not fear their hostility. The President speaks for every American in whom the American soul is not dead or dying when he says: I cannot consent to any abridgment of the rights, of American citizens. The honor and self-re-spect of the nation are involved. We covet peace and shall pre- . serve it at any cost but the loss of honbr. To forbid our people to exercise their rights for fear "we might be called upon to vindicate them would be a deep humiliation indeed. It would be an acquiescence in the violation of the rights of mankind everywhere. It would be a deliberate abdication of our proud position as spokesman even ; amidst the turmoil of war for thd law and the right. » ♦ ♦ What we are contending for is of the very essence of the things that have made America a sovereign nation. She cannot yield them without conceding her own impotency and making virtual surrender O f her independent position among the nations of the wohd. : Woodrow Wilson has voiced the soul of the American people—the deep and resolute soul that lies un-

der all the surface storms of faction and that rises in mighty flood to overwhelm the trimmers of sails of profit and of personal prudence to their gusty flaws. He has touched with the finger of living light the American soul. Under that touch it does not pause to weigh and balance gains and losses.

The American people desire peace, but not the peace that comes as a mourner for dear ones wasted and honor lost. The American soul knows that there are calamities ev n worse than war. The American people know that their President has done all for peace in these evil days, and having done all yet stands for peace. Upon his summons they stand with their President for pea’ce, but only for peace with honor' Chicago Herald.