The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1917-04-05

ing: We Will not choose the path o
submission and suffer the most sacret
rights of our nation and our people t.
be ignored or violated. The wrong:
against which we now array oruselve:
are no common wrongs: they cut to tho
very roots of human life.
Asks Significant Action.
With profound sense of the solemy
and even tragical character of the steI
am taking and of the grave RESPONSE
bilities which 1t involves, but in un
hesitating obedience to what deem
my constitutional duty, i 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 people OF
the United States that 1t formally ac-
cept the status of belligerent which
has thus been thrust upon it; and that
it take immediate steps not only to put
the country in more thorough state
of defense but also to exert all Its
power and employ all Its resources to
bring the government of the German
empire to terms and end the war.
What this will involve is clear. 1t
will Involve the utmost practicable So
operation in counsel and action with
the governments now at war with Ger
many, and as incident to that the ex-
tension to the government of the most
| liberal financial credits In order that
our resources may so far as possible
be added to theirs. 1t Will involve the
organization or mobilization OF all the
material resources Of the country 10
supply the materials of war and serve
the incidental needs of the nation in
the most abundant and yet the most
economical and efficient way possible.
1t 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 en-
emy's submarines. 1t will involve the
immediate addition to the armed forces
of the United States already provided
for by law in case of war at least five
hundred thousand men, who should, in
my opinion, be chosen upon the prin-
cipie o. universal liability to service,
and also the authorization of subse-
quential additional increments of equal
force so soon as they may be needed
and can be handled in training. 1t will
involve also, of course, the granting of
adequate credits to the government,
sustained, ] hope, so far as they can
equitably be sustained by the present
generation, by well-conceived taxation.
/ say sustained so far as may be
equitable by taxation, because 1t 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, / most respectfully
urge, to protect our people so far as we
may against the serious hardships and
evils which would be likely to arise
out of the imitation which would be
produced by vast loans.
Supply Allies.
In carrying out the measures by
which these things are to be accom-
plished, we should keep constantly in
mind the wisdom of interfering as lit
tie as possible in our own preparation
and In the equipment Of our own mill
tary forces with the duty-for it will
be practical duty--of supplying the
nations already at war with Germany
with the materials which they can OBJ
tain only from us or by our assistance.
They are in the field and we should
help them in every way to be effective.
l shall take the liberty of suggest
ing, through the several executive de-
partments Of the government for the
consideration of your committee, meas
ures for the accomplishment of the
several objects | have mentioned. /
hope 1t will be your pleasure to deal
with them as having been framed af-
ter very careful thought by the branch
of the government upon which the re-
sponsibility Of conducting the war and
safeguarding the nation will most di-
rectly fall.
Country Filled With Spies.
One of the things that has served
to convince me that the Prussian au-
tocracy was not and could never
be our friend is that from the very
outset of the present war 1t has filed
our unsuspecting communities and
even our offices of government with
spies and set criminal int!igues every
where afoot against our national
unity of counsel, our peace within and
without, our industries and our com
merce.
Indeed, 1t is now evident that its
spies were here even before the war
began; ind 1t is unhappily not mat
| ter of conjecture but fact proved
in our courts Of justice that the in
trigues which have more than once
come perilously near to disturbing the
peace and dislocating the industries of
the country have been carried ON at
the instigation, with the special, and
even under the personal direction of
official agents of the imperial govern
ment accredited to the government of
the United States. Even In checking
these things and trying to extirpate
them We have sought to put the most
generous Interpretation possible upon
them because we knew that their
source lay, not in any hostile feeling
or purpose of the German people to-
wards us (who were no doubt as igno-
| rant of them as we ourselves were)
] but only In the selfish designs OF n