The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1914-12-11


porlatio1 II or commerce B! sea vas
struugly urged b. President Wilson n
his -lssage 70 congress today. The
president pointed ont that the markets
OF The grez-e- part OF the world are
empty and that ours Is the duty 70 sup
Ply TIE needs Tot only II the coun-
tries Ct Europ1. but also OF the coun-
tries which hitherto have looked 10
Europe for their supplies The mes
cage in part follows:
The session upon @hich you ara no@
entering EiIl BE- the closing session Of
the Sixty-third congress, congress. |
venture 70 say. when viii long Dc re-
nenbered for the great body Of
thoughtful and constructive work
which it has done, il loyal response
to the thought and needs OF the coun-
try
While 7e have worked al our tasks
Of peace the circuu stances Of the
whole age have been altered o. var.
What Te have done for our o9n land
and our own people we did with the
best that was in rs, whether OF char
acter or OF intelligence. with sober
enthusiasm and q confidence il the
principles upon which We were acting
which sustained Is al every step q
the difficult undertaking; but il Is
done Il has passed from our hands.
We face new tasks. have been fac,ng
them these sig months, must face them
in the months 70 ccuetace them
without partisan feeling. ike men
who have forgotten everything but &
COMMON duty and the fact that Ee are
representatives Of great people
whose thought is lot Of rs but Of what
America owes 70 herself and TO al
mankind in such circumstances as
these UPON which W look amazed and
anxious
Europe viii Need Our Help.
War has interrupted the means Of
trade not only but also the processes
Of Production II Europe il is destroy
ing nsa and resources wholesale and
upon scale unprecedented and ap-
3 paning Thsre is reason 70 fear that
I the tine i near. Il i be not already
az hand, when several Of the coun-
tries Of Europe srin find il difficult 10
DO for their people what they have
( hitherto been always easily able to do,
many essential and fundamental
things. At any rate they viii need our
bel = g~fE
have never needed them before; and
We should be ready, more Fl and
ready than We have ever been.
( II is Of equal consequence that the
nations whom Europe has usually sup
piled with innumerable articles of
manufacture and commerce can nov
get only a small par; Of what they
formerly imported and eagerly look
TO Us TO supply their all but empty
markets. Here are markets which We
must supply, and We must find the
means OF action.
We Need Ships.
It is very practical matter, a mat
ter Of ways and means. We have the
resources, but are We fully ready TO
use them? And if we can made ready
what We have. have We the means at
hand TO distribute it? We are not fully
ready; neither have We the means of
distribution. We are willing, but we
are not fully able. We have the wish
TO serve and to serve greatly, gener-
ously; but we are not prepared as We
should be. We are lot ready to mo.
Billie our resources at once. We are
not prepared to use them Immediately
and at their best, without delay and
without waste
To speak plainly we have grossly
erred in the way in which we have
stunted and hindered the development
Of our merchant marine. And now,
when we need ships, we have not got
them.
| have come to ask you to remedy
and correct these mistakes and omis-
sions. The time and the circum.
stances are extraordinary, and so
must our efforts be also.
Use and Conservation.
Fortunately, two great measures,
finely conceived, the one to unlock.
with proper safeguards, the resources
of the national domain, the other to
encourage the use of the navigable
waters outside that domain for the
generation Of power, have already
passed the house of representatives
and are ready for immediate consider.
alton and action by the senate With
the deepest earnestness urge their
prompt passage.
And there is another great piece OF
legislation which awaits and should
receive the sanction Of the senate:
mean the bill which gives larger
measure of self-government to the PEG
pie of the Philippines. cannot believe
that the senate will let this great
measure of constructive justice await
the action of another congress. Its