The Commoner
MARCH, 1917
President Wilson's
Inauguration
- -.A
i
- " : i'
'.. c
Love of His Kind All He
PRESIDENT'S OATH TEXT
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
A Washington dispatch, dated
March 4, says: When President
WilBon kissed the Bible after tak
ing the oath of office today his lips
touched on this passage:
"The Lord is our refuge: a very
present help in time of trouble."
This verse is from the Forty
sixth Psalm, which the President'
was reading when the time came
for him to tako the bath. The
ninth verse of this psalm reads:
"He maketh wars to cease unto
the end of the earth; He breaketh '
the bow and cutteth the spear in
sunder. . He burneth the chariot
in the fire."
"
,
.
'
'
"
"
4u
4
Had to Leave
.'
' ri -r
A Washington dispatch, dated March
5, says: Woodrow Wilson, with the major
part of the world at war and America
poised on its verge, consecrated his sec
ond inauguration as president of the
United States today with a last message
of hope for peace.
Standing in the shadows of the nation's
capitol with his face turned toward the
eastern war-seared skies, the President
renewed his oath o'f allegiance to the con
stitution, praying to God that he might
be given wisdom and prudence to do his
duty in the true spirit of the 'American
people., ,
While trumpets hlared and martial ac
coutrements rattled prophetically about
him, the President pictured the deep
wrongs the United States patiently had
borne in the conflict of other people with
out wishing to wrong or injure in return.
Asserting that the tragedies of another
continent had removed provincialism and
made Americans citizens of the world, and
that the principles of this republic should
be applied to a liberation of mankind, he
resolutely voiced a determination that
America, standing "firm in armed neu
trality" must, demonstrate her claims to a
"certain mininium of right and freedom
of action" in world affairs.
Making no attempt to review the legis
lative Tecord of the last four years, the
President said that this was no time for
retrospect. The time was one to speak of
thoughts and purposes for the immediate
future. To be indifferent to the influence
of the war upon America, or independent
of it, he said, was impossible, and he was
firm sin the "conviction that the part this
country wishes to play in the vital turmoil
was the part of those "who mean to vindi
cate and fortify peace." --
These were the dominant tHouglits of
the President as he addressed the cheer- .
ing multitude in the broad plaza of the
capitol grounds. In the assemblage be
fore him American citizens of all nations
had sung "America" with a mighty voice
"while waiting for his appearance on the inau
gural stand. And in the procession which fol
lowed him to the White house and passed in
review "a composite and cosmopolitan people"
gave graphic evidence of loyalty and patriotism.
"We are American citizens" flared from ban-
ners borne by once alien hands. "We are ready
to fight and die for America" was the stirring
message blazing fron a 'standard waving over
the heads of new American citizens from Po
land. Men of many foreign ancestries held to
the breeze as they marched past the chief ex
ecutive banners on which the words "Patriotic
America" and "America first" aroused the
throngs along Washington's hroad thorough
fares to continued outbursts of patriotic fervor.
From the time the President left the White
house until his return his course was triumphal.
.?
Justice Walter Lloyd Smith; pre
siding over the third department of
the appellate division of tho su
premo court, read, at a recent moot
ing of the New York University law
school alumni association, tho fol
lowing very interesting and re
markable document, the last will
and testament of Charles Lounsbury,
. who died in the Cook county asylum
at Dunningj 111.:
"I, Charles Lounsbury, being of
sound mind and disposing memory,
do hereby make and publish this, my '
last will and testament, in order as
justly as may be to distribute my in
terest in the world among succeed
ing men.
"That part of my interest which
is known in-law and recognized in
the sheep-bound volumes as my
. property, being inconslderablo aiid
of no account, I make no disposal of
firthis my will.
"My right to live, being but a life
estate, is not at niy disposal, "' but
these tilings excepted all else in the
world I now procoed to devise and
" "bequeath
"Item: I give to good fathers and1
mothers, In' trust for their" children,
all good little words of praise, and,,
'encouragement, and all quain.t pet'
names and ' endearments, and I
charge said 'parents to use theni
justly and generously, as the needs
of their children may require.
"Item:. I leave to children In
clusively, but only for the term of
their childhood, all and every, the
flowers of the fields, and the blps
soms of the woods, with the right
to play among them freely accord
ing to the customs of. children,
' warning them at the same time
' against thistles and thorns. And I
devise to children the banks of the
brooks, and the goldfcri sands be-
- neath the waters thereof, and the
odors of the willows that dip there
in, and the white clouds that float
high over the giant trees. And I
leave the children the long, long
days to be merry in, in a thousand
ways, and the night and the' moon
and the train of the Milky Way to
wonder at, but subject nevertheless
'
to the rights hereinafter given-to
lovers.
"Item: I deviso to boys Jointly all
tho useful Idle fields 'and commons '
whero ball may bo played; all
pleasant waters whose ono may
swim; all snowclad hills where one
may coast, and all streams and
ponds whoro one may fish, or whero,
when grim winter comes, one may
skate; to have and to hold the same
for tho period or their boyhood.
And all meadows with the clorcr
blossoms nnd butterflies thereof, tho
woods and tholr appurtenances, tho
squirrels and birds nnd echoes and
strange noises, and all distant places
which may be visited, together with
the adventure? there found. And I
givo to said boys ench his own place
at the fireside at night, with all pic
tures that may be seen In I he burn
ing wood, to enjoy without let or
hindrance and without any Incum
brance of care.
"Item: To lovers, I dev'so their
imaginary world, with whatever they
may need; as the stars of tho sky;
the red roses by the wall; the bloom
of the hawthorn; tho sweet strains
of -music, and aught else by which
they may desire to -figure to cach-
other tho lastlngness and. beauty o'f
their love.
"Item: To young men jointly; r
devise and bequeath all boisterous,
inspiring sports of rivalry, and I give
to them the disdain of weakness and
undaunted confidence in their own
strength, though they are rude; I
give thern tho power to make last
ing friendships, and of possessing
companions, and to them exclusively
I give all merry songs and brave
choruses, to sing with lusty voices.
"Item: And to those who are no
longer children, or youths, or lovers,
I leave memory and bequeath to them
tho volumes of the poems of Burns
and Shakespeare and of other poets,
if there be others, to tho end that
they may live over the old days
again, freely and fully, without tithe
or diminution.
"Item: To our loved ones with
snowy crwns I bequeath the hap
piness of old age, the love and grat
itude of ' their children until they
fall asleep."
Sharing with him the plaudits was Mrs. Wilson,
who accompanied him to the capitol, stood by
his side on the inaugural stand as Chief Justice
White administered the oath of office, and joined
with him in acknowledging the tributes and ac
claim in the processional journey to the White
house. It was the first time invhistory that the
wife of a president had participated so prom
inently in inaugural ceremonies; and gracing
them also was Mrs. Marshall, wife of the vice
president, who sat with her husband In the in
augural stand and rode beside him in the pa
fade. No less impressive than the Inauguration of
the President was the inauguration -of the vice
president and the swearing in of new senators
In the senate chamber, in which tho President
participated. When members of the senate and
house had been seated, the diplomats of foreign
nations, followed by the chief justice and as
sociate justices of the supreme court in their
somber robes, officers of the army and navy, and
members of the cabinet. Then the sergeant-at-arms
of tho senate heralded the approach of -tho
"President of the United States."
Instantly the 'crowd Inffio galleries and on .
the senate floor rose to their feet and applaud
ed as the President walked down, the aisle to
the seat in front of tho vice-president's dais.
Affer the administering of the oath to the
vice-president, President Wilson, with Mrs.
Wilson at his side, was escorted by tho com- '
mlttee on arrangements to the inaugural stand.
His appearance at the head of the red-carpeted
(Continued on Page Thirteen)
v
0
-1 a -" '
(I
