suppose that I should know before I said it that I had not told you what that meant, as I am telling you to-night. Suppose that I had not warned you of what was involved. Suppose that I had not challenged you in a moment of peace to make ready. Do not suppose, however, that I am afraid that it is not going to be done. I would not do the injustice that that implication would involve to the gallant men upon the Hill yonder in Washington who make the laws of the Nation. They are going to do a good deal of debating, but they are going to deliver the goods. Do not misunderstand me; I do not mean that I can oblige them to deliver the goods; they are going to deliver the goods because you want them delivered.

I am a believer not only in some of the men who talk, though not all of them, but also in that vast body of my fellow citizens who do not do any talking. I would a great deal rather listen to the still, small voice that comes out of the great body of the Nation than to all the vocal orators in the land. But there are times when I must come out and say, "Do not let the voice be too small and too still"; when I must come out and say, "Fellow citizens, get up on your hind legs and talk and tell the people who represent you, wherever they are in your State Capital or in your National Capital-what it is that the Nation desires and demands." The thing that everybody is listening for in a democracy is the tramp, tramp, tramp of the facts and the people. . . .

I am anxious, therefore, my fellow citizens, that you should look at the hot stuff of war before you touch it; that you should be cool; that you should apply your hard business sense to the proposition, "Shall we be caught unaware and do a scientific job like tyros and ignoramuses? Or shall we be ready? Shall we know how to do it, and when it is necessary to do it; shall we do it to the queen's taste?" I know what the answer of America is, but I want it to be unmistakably uttered, and I want it to be uttered now. Be

cause, speaking with all solemnity, I assure you that there is not a day to be lost; not, understand me, because of any new or specially critical matter, but because I can not tell twenty-four hours at a time whether there is going to be trouble or not. And whether there is or not does not depend upon what I do or what I say, or upon what any man in the United States does or says. It depends upon what foreign governments do; what the commanders of ships at sea do; what those in charge of submarines do; what those who are conducting blockades do. Upon the judgment of a score of men, big and little, hang the vital issues of peace or war for the United States. . . .

This month should not go by without something decisive being done by the people of the United States by way of preparation of the arms of self-vindication and defence. . . .

I am going away from here reassured beyond even the hope that I entertained when I came here; and yet I want to beg of you that you do not let the impressions of this hour die with the hour. Let every man and woman in this place go out of here with the feeling that he must concentrate his influence from this moment until the thing is accomplished upon making certain the security and adequacy of national defence. Because, if America suffer, all the world loses its equipoise. Madness has entered into everything, and that serene flag which we have thrown to the breeze upon so many occasions as the beckoning finger of hope to those who believe in the rights of mankind will itself be stained with the blood of battle, and staggering here and there among its foes will lead men to wonder where the star of America has gone and why America has allowed herself to be embroiled when she might have carried that standard serenely forward to the redemption of the affairs of mankind. I beg of you to stand by your Government with your minds as well as your hearts, and let us redeem America by applying our judgments to the wholesome process of national defence.

AT ST. LOUIS, Mo., FEBRUARY 3, 1916.

(The Western Preparedness Tour)

Mr. Chairman and Fellow Citizens:

I came into the Middle West to find something, and I found it. I was told in Washington that the Middle West had a different feeling from the portions of the country that lie upon either coast, and that it was indifferent to the question of preparation for national defence. I knew enough of the Middle West of this great continent to know that the men who said that did not know what they were talking about. I knew the spirit of America to dwell as much in this great section of the country as in any other section of it, and I knew that the men of these parts loved the honor and safety of America as much as Americans everywhere love it and are ready to stand by it. I did not come out to find out how you felt or what you thought, but to tell you what was going on. I came out in order that there might be an absolute clarification of the issues which are involved in the questions immediately confronting us, because I, for one, have an absolute faith in the readiness of America to act upon the facts just as soon as America knows what the facts are.

The facts are very easily and briefly stated. What is the situation? The situation is that America is at peace with all the world and desires to remain at peace with all the world. And it is not a shallow peace; it is a genuine peace, based upon some of the most fundamental influences of international intercourse. America is at peace with all the world because she entertains a real friendship for all the nations of the world. It is not, as some have mistakenly supposed, a peace based upon self-interest. It is a peace based upon some of the most generous sentiments that characterize the human heart.

You know, my fellow citizens, that this Nation is a composite Nation. It has a genuine friendship for all the na

tions of the world because it is drawn from all the nations of the world. The blood of all the great national stocks runs, and runs red and strong, in the veins of America, and America understands what the genuine ties of friendship and affection are. It would tear the heartstrings of America to be at war with any of the great nations of the world. Our peace is not a superficial peace. Our peace is not based upon the mere conveniences of our national life. If great issues were involved which it was our honorable obligation to defend, we should not be at peace, but would plunge into any struggle that was necessary in order to defend the honor and integrity of the Nation; but we believe, my fellow citizens, that we can show our friendship for the world and our devotion to the principles of humanity better and more effectively by keeping out of this struggle than by getting into it. . . .

The danger is not from within, gentlemen; it is from without, and I am bound to tell you that that danger is constant and immediate, not because anything new has happened, not because there has been any change in our international relationships within recent weeks or months, but because the danger comes with every turn of events. Why gentlemen, the commanders of submarines have their instructions, and those instructions are consistent for the most part with the law of nations, but one reckless commander of a submarine, choosing to put his private interpretation upon what his government wishes him to do, might set the world on fire. There are not only governments to deal with, but the servants of governments; there are not only the contacts of politics, but also those infinitely varied contacts which come from the mere movement of mankind, the quiet processes of the everyday world. There are cargoes of cotton on the seas; there are cargoes of wheat on the seas; there are cargoes of manufactured articles on the seas; and every one of those cargoes may be the point of ignition, because every cargo goes into the field

of fire, goes where there are flames which no man can control.

I know the spirit of America to be this: We respect other nations and absolutely respect their rights so long as they respect our rights. We do not claim anything for ourselves which they would not in like circumstances claim for themselves. Every statement of right that we have made is grounded upon the previous utterances of their own public men and their own judges. There is no dispute about the rights of nations under the understandings of international law. America has drawn no fine points. America has raised no novel issue. America has merely asserted the rights of her citizens and her Government upon what is written plain upon all the documents of international intercourse. Therefore America is not selfish in claiming her rights; she is merely standing for the rights of mankind when the life of mankind is being disturbed by an unprecedented war between the greatest nations of the world. Some of these days we shall be able to call the statesmen of the older nations to witness that it was we who kept the quiet flame of international principle burning upon its altars while the winds of passion were sweeping every other altar in the world. Some of these days they will look back with gratification upon the steadfast allegiance of the United States to those principles of action which every man loves when his temper is not upset and his judgment not disturbed. ...

I am ready to make every allowance for both sides, for, having pledged myself, as your chairman has reminded you, to maintain, if it be possible for me to maintain, the peace of the United States, I have thereby pledged myself to think as far as possible from the point of view of the other side as well as from the point of view of America. I want the record of the conduct of this administration to be a record of genuine neutrality and not of pretended neutrality. You know the circumstances of the time. You know how one group of belligerents is practically shut off by circum