The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1917-04-06

/ WdlSIS lhC oduO way
Challenges An Mankind.
There has been no discrimination.
The challenge is to all mankind. Each
nation must decide for itself how it
will meet it.
1.-THE choice we make for our
selves must be made with a modera-
ton of counsel and temperatures
of judgment BETTING our character
and our motives as nation.
1--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 vim
dication of right, of human right OF
which we are only a single champion.
Outlaws In Effect.
when I addressed the congress on
the Goth of February last I thought
that it would suffice to assert our
| neutral rights with arms, our right
to use the seas against unlawful in
reference, our right to keep our peo-
| pie safe against unlawful violence.
| But armed neutrality, 1t now appears,
is impracticable. Because submarines
diO III CuSCI OulldWo WuCh uSCu clS
the German submarines have been
used against merchant shipping, it is
impossible to defend ships against
| their attacks as the law of nations
has assumed that merchantmen would
defend themselves against privateers
or cruisers-visible craft giving chase
on the open sea.
1T is common prudence in such
circumstances, grim necessity indeed,
to endeavor to destroy them before
they have shown their own intention
They must be dealt with upon sight,
if dealt with at all.
Denies Rights to NeutraIs.
"The German government denies
the right of neutrals to use arms at
all within the areas of the sea which
it has prescribed, even in the de-
tense of rights which no modern pub
their right to defend. The intimation
is conveyed that the armed guards
which we have placed on our mer-
chant ships will be treated as beyond
the pale of law and subject to be
dealt with as pirates would be.
Armed Neutrality Futile.
ARMED neutrality is Intellectual
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 1t was
meant to prevent; it is practically
certain to draw us into the war with
out either the rights or the effective
ness of belligerents. There is one
choice we cannot make, we are in
capable of making. We will not
choose the path of submission and
suffer the most sacred rights of our
nation and our people to be ignored
or violated.
array ourselves are no common
wrongs; they cut to the very roots of
human life.
With a profound sense of the SOL
emn and even tragical character of the
step / am taking and of the grave re-
sponsibilities which it involves, but in
unhesitating obedience to what deem
my constitutional duty, 1 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 the people
of the United States;
THAT it formally accept 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 it's
resources to bring the government
of the German empire to terms and
end the war.
What Defense Involves.
what this will involve is clear. 1t
will involve the utmost practicable
cooperation in counsel and action
with the governments now at war
with Germany, and, as incident to
that the extension to those govern
ments of the most liberal financial
credits, in order that our resources
may so far as possible be added to
theirs.
ut will involve the organization
and 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 eco
nomical and efficient way possible.
ut 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
enemy's submarines.
Asks 100000 Men.
"It will involve the immediate addi-
ton to the armed forces of the United
States already provided by law in case
of war at least 100000 men, who
should, in my opinion, be chosen upon
the principle of universal liability to
service and also the authorization of
subsequent additional increments of
equal force as soon as they may be
needed and can be handled in train
ing.
Finances For War.
ut will involve, also, of course, the
granting of adequate credits to the
government, sustained, I hope SO far
as they can equitably be sustained, by
the present generation, by well con-
ceived taxation.
Il 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, 1 most respectfully
urge, to protect our people SO far as
we may against the very serious hard