Meade County news., 1917-12-13


should go only where immediate and
practical considerations land us and
not heed any others.
"The financial and military meas
ures which must be adopted will sug.
gest themselves as the war and it's un-
dertakings develop but l will take the
liberty of proposing to you certain
other acts of legislation which seem
to me to be needed for the support of
the war. and for the release of our
whole force and energy.
1T will be necessary to extend In
certain particulars the legislation of
the last session with regard to alien
enemies; and also necessary. | be-
lieve. to create a very definite and
particular control over the entrance
and departure of all persons into and
from the United States.
Legislation should be enacted de-
fining as criminal offense every willful
violation of the presidential proclama-
tions relating to alien enemies prOmul-
gated under section 4067 of the Re-
vised Statutes and providing appfopri-
ate punishments; and women as well
as men,, should be included under the
terms Of the acts placing restraints
upon alien enemies.
Go Further In Fixing Prices.
Recent experience has convinced
me that the congress must go further
in authorizing the government to set
limits to prices. The law Of supply
and demand, am sorry to say, has
been replaced by the law of unrestrain-
ed selfishness. While we have elm
mated profiteering in several branches
of industry, 1t still runs impudently
rampant in others. The farmers, for
example, complain with great deal Of
justice, that while the regulation Of
food prices restricts their incomes, no
restraints are placed upon the prices
of most of the things they must them
selves purchase, and similar iniquities
obtain on all sides.
A Word to the Lawmakers.
"The legislation proposed at the last
session with regard to regulated COM
binations among our exporters, in or
der to provide for our foreign trade a
more effective organization and meth
cd of cooperation, ought by all means
to be completed at this session.
"And beg that the members of the
house Of representatives will permit
me to express the opinion that 1t will
be impossible to deal in any but a very
wasteful and eXtravagant fashion with
the enormous appropriations of the
public moneys which must continue to
be made, If the war is to be properly
sustained, unless the house will con-
sent to return to its former practice
of initiating and preparing all appro-
priation bills through a single commit
tee, in order that responsibility may
he centered. expenditures standardized
and made uniform and waste and du-
pllcation as much as possible avoided.
Concentrate on Winning War.
IF / have overlooked anything that
ought to be done for the more effective
conduct of the war, your own counsels
will supply the omission. What I am
perfectly clear about is that in the
present session of the congress our
whole attention and energy should be
concentrated on the vigorous, rapid
and successful prosecution of the great
task of winning the war.
"We can do this with all the greater
zeal and enthusiasm because we know
that for us this as war of high prin-
ciple, debased by no selfish ambition
of conquest or spOliatlon; because we
know, and all the world knows, that
we have been forced into it to save the
very institutions we live under from
corruption and destruction.
Cause Is Just and Holy.
1T Is because 1t is for us war Of
high, disinterested purpose, in which
all the free peoples of the world are
banded together for the vindicatiOn OF
right, war for the preservation of our
nation, and Of all that it has held dear
of principle and of purpose, that we
felt ourselves doubly constrained to
purpose for its outcome only that
which is righteous and Of irreproach-
able intention, for our foes as well as
for our friends. The cause being just
and holy, the settlement must be of
like motive and quality. For this we
can fight, but for nothing less noble
or less worthy of our traditions. For
this cause we entered the war and for
this cause will we battle until the last
gun is fired.
81 have spoken plainly, because this
seems to me the time when 1t Is most
necessary to speak plainly, in order
that all the world may know that even
in the heat and ardor of the struggle
and when our whole thought is of
carrying the war through to its end
we have not forgotten any ideal or
principle for which the name of Amer
lea has been held in honor among the
nations and for which 1t has been our
glory to contend in the great genera
tions that went before us. A supreme
moment of history has come. The
eyes of the people have been opened
and they see. The hand of God Is laid
upon the nations. He will show them
favor, devoutly believe, only If they
rise to the clear heights of his own