Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1917-04-06

| was accomplished tHdl tOulu NC
accomplished, but always with a
clear view, at least, of what the
heart and conscience of mankind de-
handed. This minimum of right the
! German government has swept aside
under the plea of retaliation and neces-
sity and because it had no weapons
which it could use at sea except those
which it is impossible to employ as it
! is employing without throwing TO the
| winds all Scruples of humanity or of
respect for the understandings that
were supposed to underlie the inter-
| conrse of the world. / am not now
| thinking of the property involved, i'm
mense and serious as that is but only
| of the wanton and wholesale destruc-
| ton of the lives of noncOmbatants.
men, women and children, engaged in
| pursuits which have always, even in
the darkest periods of modern history,
been deemed innocent and legitimate.
Property can be paid for; the lives OF
peaceful and innocent people cannot
be. The present German submarine
warfare against commerce is war
| fare against mankind.
War Against All Nations.
It is war against all nations. Amer
| lean ships have been sunk. American
lives taken in ways which it has stirred
us very deeply to learn of, but the
ships and people of other neutral and
| friendly nations have been sunk and
| overwhelmed in the waters in the same
| way. There has been no discrimina-
ton. The challenge is to all mankind.
Each nation must decide for itself how
| it will meet it. The choice we make for
ourselves must be made with medita-
| ton, of counsel and temperatures
of judgment BETTING our charac-
| ter and 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 champion.
Asks Significant Action.
With profound sense of the solemn
and even tragical character of the step
| am taking and of the grave RESPONSE
bilities which it involves but in I'M
hesitating obedience to what | deem
my constitutional duty, / advise that
the congress declare the recent course
of the imperial German government to
| be in fact nothing less than war
against the government and people OF
| ~ tlot 81 q n
cept the status of belligerent which
has thus been thrust upon it; and that
it take immediate steps not only TO put
| the country in a more thorough state
of defense but also TO exert all its
power and employ all its resources to
bring the government of the German
empire to terms and end the war.
What this will involve is clear. 1t
will involve the utmost practical CO
operation in counsel and action with
the governments now at war with Ger
many, and as incident to that the ex-
tension to the government of the most
liberal financial credits in order that
our resources may so far as possible
be added to theirs. 1t will involve the
organization or mobilization of all the
material 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 efficient way possible.
! It will involve the immediate full
equipment of the navy in all respects.
but particularly in supplying it with
the best means of dealing with the en-
emy's submarines. 1t will involve the
immediate addition to the armed forces
of the United States already provided
for by law in case of war at least fye
hundred thousand men, who should, in
nv opinion, be chosen upon the prin-
ciple of universal liability to service
and also the authorization of subse-
uuentiaI additional incrementS of equal
force so soon as they may be needed
and can be handled in training. 1t will
involve Also of course, the granting OF
adequate credits to the government,
sustained, / hope, so far as they can
equitably be sustained by the present
generation, by well-conceived taxation.
/ say sustained SO far as may be
equitable by taxation, because it seems
to me that it would be most unwise
to base the credits which will now be
necessary entirely on money borrowed
1t is our duty, l most respectfully
urge. to protect our people so far as we
may against the serious hardShips and
evils which would be likely TO arise
out of the imitation which would be
produced by vast loans.
Supply Allies.
In carrying out the measures by
which these things are to be accom-
plished, we should keep constantly in
mind the wisdom of interfering as lit
tie as possible in our own preparation
and in the equipment of our own mill.
tary forces with the duty-for it will
be practical duty-of supplying the
nations already at war with Germany
with the materials which they can OBJ
tain only from us or by our assistance
They are in the field and we should
help them in every way TO be effective
I shall take the liberty of suggest
ing, through the several executive de
M rtmpDtS of the government for the