Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 79, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 January 1919 — U.S. WON’T JOIN POWER ALLIANCE, ASSERTS WILSON [ARTICLE]

U.S. WON’T JOIN POWER ALLIANCE, ASSERTS WILSON

America Is Not Concerned in European Politics, Says President. *, i,- , ■'/j •Pt' INTERESTEDINWORLD PEACE Declare* "United States Will Join No Combination of Powers Which Is Not a Combination of Us All." • ♦ Manchester, Dec. 31.—America Ib not Interested in European politics, but she is Interested in a partnership of right between America and Europe, declared President Wilson in receiving the freedom of the city of Manchester at the Free Trade hall here. America is not interested merely in the peace of Europe, but in the peace of the world, he added. “If the future had nothing for us but a new attempt to keep the world at the right poise by a balance of power,” the president added, “the United States would take no interest in it, because she will join no combination of powers which is not a combination of us all.” There was a feeling of cordial fraternity and friendship between America and Great Britain, declared the president, which was based on the principle of friendship and patriotism that led men to give more than was demanded. The partnership of interests which had attempted the government of the world had broken down, he said, as interest did not bind men together but separated them. Common devotion to the right was the only thing, he insisted, that could bind men together. In the settlement which is just ahead something more difficult than was ever attempted before had to be accomplished—a genuine ’ concert of mind and purpose, the president said, but a keen international conscientiousness would make it easy. Mandate of Humanity. There is a great voice of humanity abroad in the world “which he who cannot hear is deaf,” he added. “We are not obeying the mandate of parties or politics,” the president continued; “we are obeying the mandate of humanity.” If the world Is to remain a body of friends, he said, rliere must lie an easy and constant method of conference so that troubles could be taken wheu they were little and not allowed to grow until they were big.

Living Symbol of Friendship. In presenting the freedom of the city to President Wilson ' the lord mayor said it afforded the city of Manchester supreme satisfaction to have on its roll the chief citizen of the American republic, “foremost of Vi Americans who have ever visited England,” and one whose clear utterances and earnest acts had been a proof of the real upion of sentiment. This man, said the lord mayor, now stood before the audience as a living type and symbol of the friendship of the English-speaking races. The bonds between England and America, the lord mayor added, had been riveted with great strength and made indestructible. “When the complete history of the war is written,” he declared, “the world will comprehend more fully than It can today the stupendous character of the effort which the United States made to insure a right decision. The president has come among us equally resolved that the world shall henceforth be better and happier for a wellordered pea Ce.“ » The president, the lord mayor went on, Was not a vain dreamer, as ills dreams had been fulfilled. This was a fact which needed no further argument to support it, he declared, when it was remembered how President Wilson’s fourteen points had become within twelve months the real basis for a peace settlement, and had been accepted by the enemies of the allies as the preliminary for the permanent peace. “We welcome him,” the speaker added, “as president of the United States, as a helper in the battles and as a worker in the business of peace.” The lord mayor is a self-made man. His home, where Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were guests, is in a section of the city hall, where the mayors live during their tqjms of office. It is a typical English home.

> x Free Trade Hall Speech. The text of the president’s address to the Free Trade hall audience is as follows: i “Mr. Lord Mayor, Ladles and Gentlemen : “Perhaps I may be permitted to add, my fellow citizens. i • “You have made me feel in a way that is deeply delightful the generous welcome which you have accorded me, and back of it I know there lies the same sort of feeling for the great people whom I have the privilege of representing. “There Is a feeling of Cordiality, fraternity and friendship between the two great nations, and as I have gone from place to place and made everywhere to feel the pulse of sympathy that is now beatiqg between us, I have been led to some very serious thoughts as to what the basis of it all is. Friendship Not Mere'Sentiment. I “For I think you will agree with me

that friendship is not a mere sentiment. Patriotism is not a mere sentiment It is based upon a principle, upon the principle that leads a man to give more than he demands. Slmllary, friendship is based not merely upon affection, but upon common service. The man is not your friend who Is not willing to serve you, and you are not his friend unless you are willing to serve him. And out of that impulse of common interest and desire of common service arises that noble feeHng which we consecrate as friendship. “And so it does seem to me that the theme that we must have in our minds now in this great day of settlement is the theme of common interest and the determination of what it Is that is our common interest.. You know that heretofore the world has been governed, or at any rate the attempt has been made to govern it, by partnerships of interest, and that they have broken down. “Interest does not bind men together. Interest separates men. For the moment there is the slightest departure from the nice adjustment of interests, then jealousies begin to spring up. There is only one thing that can bind peoples together, and that is common devotion to right. , Condition of Right Is Duty. “Ever since the history of liberty began men have talked about their rights, and it has taken several hundred years to make them perceive that the principal condition of right is duty and that unless a man performs his full fluty he is entitled to no right. It is a fine co-relatlon of the influence of duty that ptght is the equipoise and balance of society. “And so wjien we analyze the present situation ad the future that we now have to mold and control, it seems to me there is no other thought than than that that can guide us. “You know that the United States has always felt from the very beginning of her story that she must keep herself separate from any kind of connection with European politics. “I want to say very frankly so you that she is not now Interested in European politics, but she is interestod in the partnership of right between America and Europe. If the future had no thing for us but a new attempt to keep the world at a right poise by a balance of power the United States would take no interest, because she will join no combination of power which is not a combination of all of us. She is not interested merely in the peace of Europe, but in the peace of the world.

Finds International Consciousness. “Therefore it seems to me that in the settlement which is just ahead oi us something more delicate and difficult than was ever attempted before has to be accomplished —a genuine concert of mind and of purpose. But while it is difficult there is an element present that makes it easy. Never before in the history of the world, I believe, has there been such a keen international consciousness as there i.« now. “There is a great voice of humanity abroad in the world just now which he who cannot hear is deaf. There is n great compulsion of the common con science now in existence which if an.V statesman resist he will gain the most unenviable -eminence in history. Wt are not obeying the mandate of parties or of politics. We are obeying the mandate of humanity. “That is the reason why it seenis tc me that the things that are most often in our minds are the least significant I am not hopeful that the individual items of the settlement which we art about to attempt will be altogether satisfactory. Must Have Machinery. “One has only-to-apply his mind tc any one of thexquestions of boundary and of altered sovereignty and of ra cial aspirations to do something mort than conjecture that there is ho man and no body of men who know just how they ought to be settled, and yel if we are to make satisfactory settle ments we must see to it that they are rendered more and more satisfactory by the subsequent adjustments which are made possible. We must provide the machinery Yet readjustments in order that we have the machinery of goodwill* and friendship.

“Friendship must have machinery If I cannot correspond with you, if 1 cannot learn your minds, if I cannot co-operate with you I cannot be your friend, and if the world is to remain a body of friends it must have the means of friendship, the means of constant friendly intercourse, the means for constant watchfulness over the common interests. That makes it necessary to make some great effort to have with one another 5 an easy and constant method of conference, so that troubles may be taken when they are little and not allowed to grow until they are big. Possible for Enemies to Agree. “I never ijjoughti*t had a big difference with a man that I did not find when I 'came into conference with him that after all it was rather a little difference and that if we were frank with one another and did not too much stand upon that great enemy of mankind which is called pride we could come together. “It is the wish to come together that is more than half of the process. It is a doctrine which ought to be easy of comprehension in a great commercial center like this. You cannot trade with a man who suspects you. You cannot establish commercial and industrial relations with those who do not trust you. Good will is the forerunner of trade. Good will is the foundation of trade, and trade is the great amicable instrument of the world on that account.”