The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1917-04-06

against narknd.
'Tt IS 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 ctNer
neutral end 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 itself
how it will meet it.
'"The choice we make for ourselves
counsel and temperance of Judgment
BETTING our character and our nc
tives as nation We must put ex
cited feeling away.
"Our motive will not be revenge or
the victorious assertion of the physi-
cal might of the nation, but only the
vindication of right, of human right,
of which we are only single cham
pion.
when l 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 rsa
the seas against unlawful interior
ence, our right to keep our people safe
against unlawful violence
Armed Neutrality lmpracticabIe.
"But armed neutrality, it now ap-
pears, is impracticable. 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.
''It 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 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 ineffectua!
enough at best; in such circumstances
and in the face of such pretensions it
is worse than 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 bel
ligerents.
'There is one choice we cannot
make, we are incapable off making:
eve 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.
''The 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 am taking, and of the
grave responsibility which it involves,
but in unhesitating obedience to what
I deem my constitutional duty, l 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 it's power and employ all OF
it's resources to bring the government
of Germany to terms and end the war
What this will involve is clear. I!
will involve the utmost practicable CO.
operation in counsel and action with
the governments now at war with
Germany, and as incident to that, the
extension of those governments of the
most liberal financial credits, in order
that our resources may so far as pos
sible be added to theirs.
cit will involve the organization
ond mobilization of all the material re
sources of the country to supply the
materials of war and serve the Incl
dental needs of the nation in the mos
abundant and yet the most econesnica
and efficient way possible.
sIt will involve the immediate full