The Benson signal., 1916-04-29
Washington, April 20The text Of President Wilson's speech
before the joint session Of Congress Thursday follows

I'D III uI SOuJ LOllOWSs
ernment it's solemn assurances that at
least passenger ships would not be thus
dealt with; and yet it has again and
again permitted it's undersea command
ers to disregard those assurances with
entire impunity.
Refers to the Lusitania Outrage.
Great liners like the Lusitania and
the Arabic, and mere ferry boats like
the Sussex, have been attacked with.
out a moments warning, sometimes
before they had even become aware
that they were in the presence of an
armed vessel of the enemy, and the
lives of non-combatants, passengers
and crew have been sacrificed whole.
sale In a manner which the govern
ment of the United States cannot but
regard as wanton and without the
slightest color of justification.
No limit of any kind has in fact
been set to the indiscriminate pursuit
and destruction of merchantmen of all
kinds and nationalites within the wa
ters. constantly extending in area,
where these operations have been car
ried on; and the roll of Americans
who have lost their lives on ships thus
attacked and destroyed has grown,
month by month, until the ominous
toll has mounted into the hundreds
Sussex Case Rivals Lusitania.
One of the latest and most shocking
instances of this method of warfare
was that of the destruction of the
French cross channel steamer Sussex.
1t must stand forth as the sinking of
the steamer Lusitania did, as so sing
ularfy tragical and unjustifiable as to
constitute a truly terrible example OF
the inhumanity of submarine warfare
as the commanders of German vessels
have for the last twelve months been
conducting it.
If this incident stood alone some ex-
planation some disavowal by the Ger
man government, some evidence of
criminal mistake or wilful disobedience
on the part of the commander of the
vessel that fired the torpedo might be
sought or entertained; but. unhappily,
1t does not stand alone.
Recent events make the conclusion
inevitable that it is only one instance,
even though it be one of the most ex
treme and distressing instances, of the
spirit and method Of warfare which
the imperial German government has
mistakenly adopted, and which from
the first exposed that government to
the reproach of thrusting all neutral
rights aside in pursuit of it's immedi-
ate object.
United States Has Hoped In Vain.
The government of the United States
has been very patient At every stage
of this distressing experience of trag-
edy after tragedy in which it's own
citizens were involved. it has sought
tc be restrained from any extreme
course of action or of protest by a
thoughtful consideration of the extra
ordinary circumstances of this unpre-
cedented war. and actuated In all that
i. said or did by the sentiments Of
genuine friendship which the people of
the United States always have enter
tanned and continue to entertain
toward the German nation.
1t has, of course, accepted the sue
ceSSiVe, explanations and assurances of
the imperial German government as
given in entire sincerity and good
faith, and has hoped. even against
hope, that it would prove to be pos
sible for the German government so
to order and control the acts of it's
naval commanders as to square it's
policy with the principles of humanity
as embodied in the law of nations.
1t has been willing to wait until
the significance of the facts became
absolutely unmistakable and suscept-
ible of but one Interpretation. That
point has now unhappily been reached
The facts are susceptible of but one
Interpretation.
The imperial German government
or restraints upon it's warfare against
either freight or passenger ships.
Demands U-Boat Raids End.
It has, therefore, become painfully
evident that the position which this
government took at the very outset Is
inevitable; namely, that the use of
submarines for the destruction of any
enemy's commerce is of necessity.
because Oft the very character of the
vessels employed, and the very meth
DDS of attack which their employment
of course, involves, incompatible with
the principles of humanity, the long
established and incontrovertible rights
of neutrals, and the sacred immunitieS
of nOn-cOmbatantS.
I have deemed 1t my duty, there
fore, to say to the imperial Ger
man government that If it is still
Its purpose to prosecute relentless
vessels of commerce by the use
of submarines, Notwithstanding the
I'M possibility of conducting that war
fare in accordance with what the gov
consider the sacred and indisputable
rules of international law and the uni
versally recognized dictates of human
ity, the government of the United
States is at last forced to the conclu-
sion that there is but one course that
It can pursue, and that unless the i'm
perial German government should now
Immediately declare and effect an
abandonment of it's present methods of
warfare against passenger and freight.
carrying vessels, this government can
have no choice but to sever diplomat
iC relations with the government OF the
German empire altogether.
This decision / have arrived at with
the keenest regret; the possibility of
the action contemplated, / am sure,
all thoughtful Americans will look
but we cannot forget that we are in
some sort and by the force of circum
stances the responsible spokesman of
the rights of humanity, and that we
cannot remain silent while those
rights seem in process of being swept
utterly away in the melstrom of this
terrible war.
We owe it to a due regard for our
own rights as a nation, to our sense
of duty as representative of the
rights of neutrals the world over, and
to just conception of the rights of
mankind, to take this stand now, with
the utmost solemnity and firmness.
I have taken it, and taken it in the
confidence that it will meet with your
approval and support. All obedient
men must unite in hoping that the i'm
perial German government, which has
In their circumstances stood as the
champion of all that we are now con-
tending for in the interest of human
ity, may recognize the justice of our
demands and meet them in the spirit
in which they are made