The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-27
COMMENT BY THE PRESS

, are going to send out our merchant ships They will be attacked. If they | are attacked this government will re- l taliate, and that will be war. Jackson (Miss) Clarion-Ledger 1 President Wilson has asked for noth- 1 ing more or less than authority tc protect American lives and safeguard 1 American rights and this authority should be given him unanimously by 1 Congress.
 | San Francisco Chronicles If this gov ernment defines the rights of Amer i ican citizens on the high seas it Is
 morally bound to provide for the pro- ! lection of those rights by whatever
 means are found necessary. ] Spokane (Wash,) Chronicle: Presi- | dent Wilson has spoken for humanity | The Stars and Stripes are not to be bluffed off the high seas. The Presi~ | dent has pronounced a policy that is , certain to command the support of tn 3 | nations strength.
 Boise Gdaho) Daily Statesman; The is intolerable; that the time has ar | rived to not only assert our rights but enforce them. If that means war, war | it will be.
 Chicago Herald: The President does
 not want war; Congress does not want war; the nation does not want war. comes moments when the desire for peace must be subordinated to pitiless necessity. Such a moment may come in 1917 as it cannes in 1861.
 Sioux Falls (S. D.) Press: Knowing
 his aversion to war, sharing with him
 his present conception of manly, self
 respecting Am mericanism. the people are
 willing to trust the President to go
 no farther than is necessary and to
 go as far as is necessary. Congress
 should be equally willing.
 The Sioux City Gowa) Journal The
 President does not fall to intimate
 his fear that war may be inevitable.
 Milwaukee (wis) Sentinel: While
 favoring an extra session, we are dis
 posed to think that refusing to invest
 the President with the ad interim au-
 thority he asks and thereby giving the
 impression abroad that we are a di :
 vided people on the question of de-
 lending our plain rights, would be more likely to bring on trouble than .. a prompt grant of this authority.
 Memphis CTenn) Commercial-Appeal: If our people properly appreciate the
 worth of liberty, we are periously close
 to war, but if our people are for peace 1t any price they are just as far away from war as they have added lib- critics to surrender
 Dallas (Tex.) Morning News: Congress
 must not deny the Presidents request for i, tha ny will nd nd +o1o ta no quibbling and contention of legal istics.
 San Antonio (Tex.) Express; The pres ent situation is utterly ntolerable. It is not to be further endured. Our armed neutrality" must not, so far as it's off cers are concerned, be in any way akin to that of Greece.
 Galveston (Tex) News: The President is not asking for authority to make war on Germany He is asking only for pow CT to enforce rights which he has been unable by diplomatic process to persuade Germany to respect.
 Oklahoma City (Okla) Oklahoman: It should have been pleasure to write that at the conclusion of the President S | speech, Congress had arisen as one man and given an affirmative by exclamation | The Columbia (S. O State: It is not hard to fortell that war with Germany will cause to the United States loss. per- 1 haps fearful loss of men and wealth Only
 this we know, that it is the solemn duty 1 of this republic to protect the elemen- . i tary rights" of it's citizens and that with out abnegation of manhood may we lay down at the order of any government or l dyrasty
 New York World: There ought to be no question whatever in Congress about granting to President Wilson the full measure of money and credit for which
 he has asked in order to protect Ameri- can lives and American ships on the high seas The powers that the President de- sires are powers barely short of war, but the situation is barely short of war. New York Staats Zetung: The resolu- tions granting full authority which now are to be introduced in both houses of the Congress will result in all probability in a series of debates which may bring about the council to which the President refers in his speech. With the great peace feeling of the country as a guide we can look to the future with great confidence. New York Herald: MT. Wilson's mes sage appears at first sight to meet only the most moderate demands of the pro- allies Yet, buried in these seemingly in ocuous sentences and periods, we find a request for full power to do just what oIly Congress is permitted to do, that is to commence war
 Boston Advertiser: The speech is MT Wilson at his worst. It shows him very avidartIv undecided what tO do We can hope only that the American people will in the next few days demonstrate sc plainly their determination to stop this talking and do something that MT. Wilson will be forced to act.