Evening star., 1917-02-27
COMMENT OF THE AMERICAN PRESS ON
PRESIDENTS ADDRESS TO CONGRESS
BALTIMORE Sun.

That the Presidents address in
creases the seriousness of the situation,
in one respect, cannot be questioned
Breaking off relations with Germany
brought US one step nearer to war
Armed neutrality" will doubtless bring
us one more step nearer. There is a
faint g1immer of hope in the fact that
the Orleans and the Rochester got safe
other American boats have gone unhurt
through the prohibited waters. But it
is only a glimmer.
LOUISVILLE HERALD.
With discretion the President
pledges himself to use the authority he
seeks. with such restraint as. under the
circumstances. may be possible. With
4 heart all but broken that patience
can no further go and that the day of
peace may we'll be drawing to its close,
he is none the less resolute to safe
guard and to vindicate the rights, the
lives. the property of our citizens. He
could not have done less. To have dali
lied further would have been coward
ice. America is with it's President.
PITTSBURGH GAZEI"TE-TIMES.
President Wilson. in addressing
Congress, did not make out good
case in support of his request for die
tatorial powers. President Wilson says,
ut would be most imprudent to be un-
prepared" That is a complete argu
ment against his desire to go it alone.
Adequate preparation at the present
time must include the presence of Con-
gress in Washington to act in con-
junction with the President, as provid-
ed for by the Constitution. Mr.. Wilson
should summon the Sixty-fifth Con-
gress.
NEW YORK TIMES.
The President is right. The
time and the occasion for action have
come. We must defend our people and
rights or make a cowardly surrender to
the power that has forbidden us to ex-
ercise them.
All partisanship. all pettiness, all
thought of any other interest than of
the nation, now so seriously threaten
ed, must be laid aside and the author
ity he asks for conferred upon the
President. The people know that
the President will act with restraint,
prudence and in the true spirit of amity
and good faith that they have them
selves displayed through these trying
months. But he will act also with firm
ness, s becomes the head of a great
state. to use his own words. he can do
no less.
CINCINNATI ENQUIRER.
The address of Mr.. Wilson was dig
nified, temperate and without dramatic
appeal 1t disclosed more clearly than
any of his previous statements. Moth
the President is concerned merely in
the conservation and preservation of
the rights of neutrals.
Should the arming of the American
merchant marine and the supplying of
gunners from the navy for such ves-
| sells precipitate the long-eXpected
overt act" as it probably will. Ameri-
! can devotion to principle and national
| honor will have been vindicated, no
| matter what the final outcome.
PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC LEDGER.
! The crisis is so grave, we are SO far
| from full readiness to meet it, that
| the moderation of the Presidents Ian
guage, the deliberation with which he
takes one step at a time. the care with
. which he avoids any suggestion of
! war, is likely to meet with general
approval. . Much as the thought
! of war may distress the nation, much
as the President may desire to avoid
| it, we should be shutting our eyes to
realities if we did not recognize the
| fact that the possibility of it is draw
| that possibility is averted or not, the
| stand loyalty and unfiinchingly behind
| the President.
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER.
| The President hopes that Congress
and the people will trust him. There
| is nothing else to do in the circum-
stances. He should have his appropria-
/ tion and he should have all the author