North Carolina is a conservative State. Our people love peace and hate war. It is the curse of the Nations. We had hoped that the warring governments of the old world would respond to the plea of our President and enter into a compact that would insure permanent and universal peace. The reply of Germany to this plea for peace is a deliberate invitation to further strife. When the German government delivered its note of January 31, it knew then as well as it knows now that diplomatic relations would be severed. The President could not have done less without obliterating every trace of our national honor. We deeply hope that Germany may yet stay her hand, but if American ships or American lives shall be wantonly destroyed then our people, as one man, without respect to race or politics, will uphold the President in whatever action he may take to preserve the honor and safety of the Nation.