The Watertown news. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1917-1919, 1917-12-05

Washington, Dec. 4.-President Will
son In his message to congress today
declared emphatically for peace bas-
ed on generosity and justice after Ger
man autocracy shall first be shown
the utter futility Of it's claims to
power or leadership In the modern
world"
The message follows:
Gentlemen Of the Congress-Eight
months have elapsed since I last had
the honor Of addressing you. They
have been months crowded with events
OF immense and grave significance for
US. l shall undertake to detail or even
to summarize these events. The prac
teal particulars Of the part we have
played in them will be laid before you
In the reports of the executive depart
ments. I shall discuss only our pres
ent outlook upon these vast affairs,
our present duties, and the immediate
means Of accomplishing the objects
we shall hold always in view.
Il shall not go back to debate the
causes of the war. The intolerable
wrongs done and planned against us
: by the sinister masters of Germany
have long since become too grossly
obvious and odious to every true Amer
lean to need to be rehearsed. But
shall ask you to consider again and
with a very grave scrutiny our objec-
tfves and the measures by which we
mean to attain them; for the purpose
Of discussion here in this place is ac-
ton, and our action must move
straight towards definite ends.
Must Win the War.
Our object is, of course, to win the
war; and we shall not slacken or suf-
fer ourselves to be diverted until it is
won. But it is worth while asking and
answering the question: When shall
We consider the war won?
'From one point of view it is not
necessary to broach this fundamental
matter | do not doubt that the Amer
ican people know what the war is
about and what sort of an outcome
their purpose in it. AS a nation we
are united in spirit and intention.
pay little heed to those who tell me
otherwise. / hear the voices of dis
sent--who does not? l hear the criti-
cism and the Glamour of the noisy,
thoughtless and troublesome. | also
see men here and there fling them
selves In impotent disloyalty against
the calm, indomitable power of the ma
ton. l hear men debate peace who
understand neither it's nature nor the
way In which we obtain it with uplift-
ed eyes and unbroken spirits. But
known that none of these speaks for
the nation. They do not touch the
heart Of anything. They may safely
be left to strut their uneasy hour and
be forgotten.
No Peace by Compromise.
"But from another point of view
believe that 1t Is necessary to say
plainly what we here at the seat of ac-
ton consider the war to be for and
what part we mean to pay in the set
tlement of its searching issues.
eve are the spokesmen of the Amer
ican people, and they have a right to
know whether their purpose is ours.
They desire peace by the overcoming
of evil, by the defeat once for all Of
the sinister forces that interrupt
peace and render it impossible, and
they wish to know how closely our
thought runs with theirs, and what ac-
Non we propose They are impatient
with those who desire peace by any
sort of compromise-deeply and indig-
nantly impatient-but they will be
equally impatient with us If we do not
make 1t plain TO them what our OBJ
sectives are and what we are planning
for In seeking to make conquest Of
peace by arms.
Menace Must Be Crushed.
81 believe that / speak for them
when say two things: First, that
this intolersble thing Of which the
masters of Germany have shown US
the ugly face, this menace of COM
bined intrigue and force which we now
see SO clearly as the German power,
q Thing without conscience or honor
or capacity for coyenanted peace, must
be crushed and, II 1t Is not utterly
brought to an end, at least shut out
from the friendly intercourse Of the
nations and, second, when this Thing
and It's power are indeed defeated and
the time comes that We can discuss