Connecticut western news., 1917-03-01


 Photo by American Press Association. would be most inprudent to be unprepared. I feel that I ought in view of that fact to obtain from you full and immediate as- surance of the authority which I may need at any moment to exercise. No doubt l already possess that authority without special warrant of law by the plain impli- cation of my constitutional duties and powers, but I prefer in the present cir cumstances not to act upon general impli- cation. I wish to feel that the authority and the power of the congress are behind me in whatever 1t may become necessary for me to do. We are jointly the servants of the people and must act together and in their spirit so far as we can divine and interpret it.
 Defend Our Commerce.
 No one doubts what 1t is our duty to do. We must defend our commerce and the lives of our people in the midst of the present trying circumstances with discre- ton, but with clear and steadfast purpose. Only the method and the extent remain to be chosen upon the occasion, if occasion should indeed arise.
 Since it has unhappily proved impossible to safeguard our neutral rights by diplo matic means against the unwarranted in- Judgements they are suffering at the hands of Germany there may be no re- course but to armed neutrality, which we shall know how to maintain and for which there Is abundant American precedent. It is devoutly to be hoped that it will not be necessary to put armed forces any, where into action. The American people do not desire it, and our desire is not diff ferent from theirs. I am sure that they will understand the spirit in which I am now acting, the purpose hold nearest my heart and would wish to exhibit in every thing do.
 I am anxious that the people of the na- tions at war also should understand and not mistrust us. I hope that I need give no further proofs and assurances than l have already given throughout nearly three years of anxious patience that l am the friend of peace and mean to preserve 1t for America so long as I am able.
 Not Proposing War. I am not now proposing or contemplat- ing war or any steps that need lead to it. merely request that you will accord me by your own vote and definite bestowal the means and the authority to safeguard in practice the right of a great people who are at peace and who are desrous of ex- ercising none but the rights of peace to follow the pursuit of peace in quietness and good will-rights recognized time out of mind by all the civilized nations of the world.
 No course of my choosing or of theirs will lead to war. War can come only by the willful acts and aggreSsions of others.
 You will understand why can make no definite proposals or forecasts of action now and must ask for your supporting au- thority in the most general terms The form in which action may become neces- Bary cannot yet be foreseen. I believe that the people will be willing to trust me to act with restraint, with prudence and in the true spirit of amity and good faith that they have themselves displayed throughout these trying months, and it is in that belief that I request that you will authorize me to supply our merchant ships with defensive arms should that become necessary and with the means of using them and to employ any other instrument talities or methods that may be necessary and adequate to protect our ships and our people in their legitimate and peaceful pursuits on the seas.
 I request also that you will grant me at the same time along with the powers I ask a sufficient credit to enable me to provide adequate means of protection where they are lacking, including adequate insurance against the present war risks.
 Fundamental Human Rights.
 I have spoken of our commerce and of the legitimate errands of our people on the seas, but you will not be misled as Uo my main thought, the thought that lies beneath these phrases and gives them dig nifty and weight. It is not of material in terest merely that we are thinking. It is rather of fundamental human rights, chief of all the right of life itself. I am think ing not only of the rights of Americans to go and come about their proper business by way of the sea, out also of something much deeper, much more fundamental than that. l am thinking of those rights , of humanity without which there is no civilization.
 My theme is of those great principles of compassion and of protection which man kind has sought to throw about human lives, the lives of noncomba tants the lives of men who are peacefully at work keep ing the industrial processes of the world quick and vital, the lives of women and children and of those who supply the labor which ministers to their sustenance.
 We are speaking of no selfish material rights, but of rights which our hearts sup port and whose foundation is that right eous passion for justice upon which all law, all structures alike of family, of state and of mankind, must rest as upon the ultimate base of our existence and our liberty. I cannot imagine any man with American principles at his heart hesitating to defend these things.