NEWS OF THE WEEK P RESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S Message to Congress was
read on Tuesday, and has produced a far-reaching and profound impression by its wisdom, its fearlessness, and its sincerity. We have dealt in another column with most of the subjects raised by the President, but may supplement what we have said elsewhere by calling attention to one or two special points. We would particularly note Mr. Roosevelt's insistence on the United States Navy as the surest guarantee of peace, and the warning which accompanies his welcome to the second Peace Conference at the Hague. "Peace is normally a great good, and normally it coincides with righteousness ; but it is righteousness, and not peace, which should bind the conscience of a nation, as it should bind the conscience of an individual; and neither a nation nor an individual can surrender conscience into another's keeping." Equally striking is the President's reference to the epidemic of lynching and mob violence. "Mobs frequently avenge the hideous crime of rape by themselves torturing to death the man committing it ; thus avenging in bestial fashion a bestial deed, and reducing themselves to a level with the criminal. There is but one safe rule in dealing with black men or with white men; it is the same rule that must be applied in dealing with rich men and poor men,—that is, to treat each man, whatever his colour, his creed, or his social position, with even-handed justice on his real worth as a man."
