Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1917-04-05

fare against commerce is warfare
against mankind.
"It is a war against all nations
American ships have been sunk
American lives taken, in ways which
it has stirred us very deeply to learn
Of, but the ships and peoples of other
neutral and friendly nations have
been sunk and overwhelmed in the
waters in the same way. There has
been no discrimination
'"The challenge is to all mankind
Each nation must decide for itsel1
how it will meet it.
'"The choice we make for ourselves
must be made with a moderat ton OF
counsel and a temperance of judgment
beftting our character and our mo
tives as a nation We must put ex
cited feeling away.
"Our motive will not be revenge OF
the victorious assertion Of the physi
cal might Of the nation, but only the
vindaation of right, of human right
Of v Ech we are only a single cham
pioR
When I addressed the congress on
the 26th of February last I thought
that it would suffice to assert our neu
trail rights with arms, our right to use
the seas against unlawful interfer
ence, our right to keep our people safe
against unlawful violence.
Armed Neutrality Impracticable.
"But armed neutrality, it now ap.
pears, is i'0practicable. Because sub.
marines are in effect outlaws when
used as the German submarines have
been used against merchant shipping,
it is impossible to defend ships
against their attacks, as the law of ma
tions has assumed that merchantmen
would defend themselves against pri-
vateers or cruisers, visible craft giving
chase upon the open sea.
1T is common prudence in such
circumstances, grim necessity indeed,
to endeavor to destroy them before
they have shown their own intentions.
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 within the area 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 convey
ed that the armed guards which we
have placed on our merchant ships
will be treated as beyond the pale of
law and subject to be dealt with as
pirates would be.
Armed neutrality is Intellectual
enough at best; in such circumstances
and in the face Of such pretensions it
is worse than ineffectual; 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 bel.
ligerents.
There is one choice we cannot
make, we are incapable of making:
1--WE will not chose the path of sub
mission and suffer the most sacred
rights of our nation and our people
to be ignored or violated.
Inc wrongs against which we now
array ourselves are not common
wrongs; they cut to the very roots OF
human life.
"Accept War Thrust Upon U.s."
with profound sense Of the sol
emn and even tragical character of
the step l am taking, and Of the
grave responsibility which it involves,
but in unhesitating obedience to what
l deem my constitutional duty, I ad-
wise that the congress declare the re.
cent 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
formally accept the status of belli-
gerent, which has 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 |
exert all its power and employ all of |
its resources to bring the government |