The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1917-04-13

eide for itself how it will meet it.
The. choice we make for ourselves
must be made with a moderation of
counsel and a temperatures of
judgment befitting our character
and our motives as a nation. We
must put excited feeling away. Our
motive will not be revenge or the
victorious assertion of the physical
might of the nation, but only the
vindication of right, of human right
of which we are only a single cnam-
pion.
When | addressed the Congress
on the twenty-sixth of February last
| thought that it would suffice to
assert our neutral rights with arms,
our right to use the seas against un-
lawful interference, our right to
keep our people safe against unlaw-
full violence. But armed neutrali-
ty, it now appears, is impractical
bic Because submarines are in eff
feet outlaws when used as the Ger
man submarines have been used a.
gainst merchant shipping, it is i'm
possible to defend ships against
their attacks as the law of nations
h as assumed that merchantmen
would defend themselves against
privateers or cruisers, visible craft
giving chase upon the sea. 1t is
common prudence, in such circum-
stances, grim necessity to endeavor
to destroy them before they have
shown their own intention. They
must be dealt with upon sight, if
dealt with at all. The German
Government denies the right Of
neutrals to use arms at all with
in the areas of the sea which it has
prescribed, even in the defense OF
rights which no modern publicist
has ever before questioned their
right to defend The intimation is
conveyed that the armed guards
which we have placed on our mer-
chant ships will be treated as be-
yond the pale of law and subject to
be dealt with as pirates would be.
Armed neutrality is Intellectual: it
is likely only to produce what it was
meant to prevent; it is practically
certain to draw us into the war
without either the rights or the
effectiveness of belligerents. There
is one choice we cannot make. we
are incapable of making: we will
not choose the path OF submission
and suffer the most sacred rights of
our nation and our people to be
ignored or violated The wrongs
against which we now array our
selves are no common wrongs; they
cut to the very roots of human life.
With a profound sense of the
solemn and even tragical character
of the step | am taking and of the
grave responsibilities which it in
wolves, but in unhesitating obedi
ence to what | deem my constitu-
tional duty, | advise that the Con-
sress declare the recent course of
the Imperial German Government
to be in fact nothing less than war
against the government and people
OF the United States; that it for
mally accept the status of bellieer
ent which mas thus been thrust up
on it; and that it take immediate
steps not only to put the country
in a more thorough state of defense
but also to exact all it power and
employ all its resources to bring the
Government of the German Empire
to terms and end tne war.
What this will involve is clear II
will involve that utmost practicable
cooperation in counsel and action
with the governments now at war
with Germany, and, as incident to
that, the extension to those govern
ments of the most liberal financial
credits, in order that our resources
may so far as possible be added 70
theirs. 1t will involve the organiza
ton and mobilization of all the ma
tertal resources of the country to
supply the materials Of war and
serve the incidental needs of the
nation in the most abundant and
yet the most economical and eff
cient way possible. 1t will involve
the Immediate full equipment Of the
navy in all respects but particularly
in supplying it with tae best means
OF dealing with ,hc enemys subma-
rines. 1t will involve the immedi-
ate addition to the armed force Of
the United States already provided
for by law in case OF war at least
five hundred rhou@nd men, wno
should, in my opilion. be chosen
Continued on Page Twelve,)