Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 62, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 November 1916 — PEACEOR WARTHETSSUE [ARTICLE]

PEACEOR WARTHETSSUE

Speaking at Battle Creek, Mich., September 30, last, Theodore Roosevelt sale}: “I have been asked what I would b*ve done had I been President when the Lusitania was torpedoed. “I would have instantly taken possession of every German ship interned in this country and then I would have said: ‘Now we'll discuss, not what we will give, but what we will give back.’ " THAT WOULD HAVE 1 MEANT WAR! It would have been a challenge to the German nation to a trial at arms. It would have been' a violation of every principle of neutrality, and at a time, with all Europe under arms, when this country was the trustee of and the only nation capable of upholding neutral rights. The seizure itself would have been an act of war, just as the seizure of German interned ships byi Portugal was regarded as an act of war and was followed by an immediate declaration of war by Germany against Portugal.

Following the same line of war talk, speaking at Lewiston, Maine, August 31, last, Mr. Roosevelt said: “The policies of Americanism and preparedness, taken together, mean applied patriotism. There should be correlation of policy and armament. * * * America, which sprang to the succor of Cuba in 1898, has stood an idle spectator of the invasion of Belgium, the sinking of the Lusitania, the continued slaughter of our own citizens, and of the reign of anarchy, rapine and murder in Mexico.” These are the deliberate declarations of the men with whom Candidate Hughes has said, “I AM IN COMPLETE ACCORD,” and Hughes has publicly congratulated Roosevelt for what he said.

From their public statements the conclusion is inevitable that if either Roosevelt or Hughes had been President when the Army of the Kaiser invaded Belgium we would have had War with Germany; that when the Lusitania was sunk that we would have had war with Germany, and that now we would have instant war with Germany over the submarine raids in the Atlantic ocean off the Massachusetts coast. Must we not agree with President Wilson when speaking at Shadow Lawn on September 30, last, he said: “Am I not right that we must draw the conclusion that if the Republican party is put into power at the next election, our foreign policy will be radically changed? “I cannot draw any other inference. All our present foreign policy is wrong, they say, and if it is wrong and they are men of conscience they must change it. “And if they are going to change it, in what direction are they going to change? THERE IS ONLY ONE CHOICE AS AGAINST PEACE, AND THAT IS WAR.” No other conclusion can be drawn. What is YOUR conclusion, thoughtful citizen? In the last analysis, the election will be decided by ttye farmer vote. And so on the farmer is the responsibility of whether this country shall have peace or war. The only assurance that the country Will not be needlessly plunged into war is for YOU to vdte for Woodrow Wilson. FOR PEACE OR WAR your conscience and your vote must decide.