AMERICA'S PRIDE

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 240, 7 October 1916, Page 5

AMERICA'S PRIDE

BATTLKS AT PETTY THTNGS. BUT WOULD FIGHT FOB JUST ; CAUSE. MB WILSON AFTER TOTES. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Received 8.50 a.m.) JTEW YORK, October 6. Speaking at Omaha. President Wilson, who is conducting his election campaign, said: "America is not too proud to fight for any just cause, but she will not fight for petty things." The Opposition Press criticises this, and asks if the sinking of the Lusitania, the sinking of the Sussex, and the massacre of American citizens on the Mexican border are petty things. The speech is considered as a warning to Germany' that if ruthless torpedoing by submarines be resumed, -with consequent loss of American lives, America will fight, but she will not fight over questions of property interests involved in controversies -with the Allies concerning the blockade and the seizure ot American mails. There is known to be uneasiness in Washington over the possibility of Germany thinking that America is "bluffing" on the submarine question, and that if the German Government could make it apparent that the German nation could not be resisted in its demands for a re-' newal of the submarine campaign the United States would content itself by writing more Nbte3. Mr. Wilson desires to remove this impression in as public a manner as possible, hence his declaration at Omaha, "There is as much fight in America as in any nation in the world." The speech is also interpreted to mean that if Sir. Wilson be re-elected as President he will do everything possible to bring. America into a formal alliance with the European. Powers to prevent any future wars by combining to force belligerents to arbitrate when differences arise. This is believed by many leading Americans' to constitute the greatest hope for the peace of the world, with the United States and the British Empire co-operating in the most intimate manner. '