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Show I STANDARD WITH ROOT AND ROOSEVELT There is a true American ring to ihe speech of Elihu Root, delivered! before a great audience in Madison Square Garden last night, in which) the New York Republican leader de-j de-j clared ihe question is not whether we ; shall submit, but whether the world shall be made to understand that America, with Its hundred million pco- j pie. with its vast wealth, with its gTeat traditions, with all the courage ' and the spirit of the greatest free democracy, has the power and the, courage to deTend herself. I'pon the issue of the war in Europe hangs the ; r.,to.?inn wIiaI Iii-.t morira shall, at I' J U "Ji ll V H the close of that war. be turned into one armed camp or whether America shall be a subject nation. There is no" nation on earth not England, nor France, nor Belgium, nor Italy, nor Russia with a greater stake in the BUCcesfl of the allies in this war against German militarism than the United States. Now is the time for Americans to realize the full meaning of Senator Root's words. For the first time in a year or two. the Standard Is in accord with the utterances ut-terances of Root and Roosevelt. At the New York demonstration. Theodore Theo-dore Roosevelt said: "Unless, in the words of Abraham 1 Lincoln, we are degenerates whose manhood has run out. we shall strike , hard and effectively in response to these brutal and unprovoked injuries : Unless we do so we shall show our-salves our-salves unworthy to be the heirs of the steadfast soldiers of Washington, unworthy un-worthy to claim kinship with the men I of high soul who. under the banners of Grant and of Lee, proved their truth by their endeavor." Mr. Roosevelt asserted the country now was at war, and added that the only question was "whether we shall make war valiantlv or make war fee-bur." fee-bur." Well said. No longer can we procrastinate pro-crastinate or view the menace of Germany from any other standpoint than war, and a war which calls for something more than armed neutrality. neutral-ity. If we have any part in this world affair, it must be a man's full part. This country must help strike down piracy on the seas and savagery on i the land, and, furthermore, must do its utmost to destroy a military power which is as devoid of honor as a brigand. At present the Berlin officials have the utmost contempt for Americans, as their Mexican and Japanese plots prove. This will tell against us long after the war. if this countrv does not now do something to impress the 1 Germans with the ability of this na-1 tion to rise equal to the occasion. By I striking today, the United States will be relieved lrorn uncertainties in the . years to come. The opportunity i pre sented of demonstrating dem-onstrating to not only Germany, but Mexico and even Japan that, once aroused, the United States is neither ! cowardly nor impotent. If the United States makes a showing worth while, ( a peace of absolute security will be vouchsafed for half a century. Failing Fail-ing to understand this, America, in the years to come, will be a shining mark for the plonrrs of the world. |