The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1917-04-05
THE PRESIDENTS
NEW WAR MESSAGE
STRIKING PARAGRAPHS TAKEN
FROM HIS REMARKABLE AD-
DRESS MONDAY NIGHT
FIGHT IS FOR ULTIMATE PEACEOF WORLD
Wilson Tells Congress and World That
We Are Entering War For the
Rights Of Mankind

THE present German submarine
warfare against commerce is a war
fare against mankind. 1t is a war
against all nations. American ships
have been sunk, American lives taken
In ways which it has stirred us very
deeply to learn. but the ships and peo-
pie of other neutral and friendly ma
tons have been sunk and overwhelmed
in the waters in the same way. There
has been no discrimination. The chal.
lenge' is to all mankind"
Our object now, as then, is to vindi.
cate the principles of peace and justice
in the life of the world against selfish
and autocratic power and to set up
among the really free and s~elf-govern-
ed peoples of the world such a concert
Of purpose and action as will hence
forth insure the observance of those
principles. Neutrality is no longer
feasible or desirable where the peace
Of the world is involved and the free
dom of its people and the menace to
that peace and freedom lies in the
autocratic governments not backed by
the will of their people. We have seen
the last of neutrality in such circum-
stances"
I'VE are at the beginning of an age
in which it will be insisted that the
same standards of conduct and of re-
lsponsibility for wrong done shall be OBJ
served among nations and their govern
ments that are observed among the
individual citizens of civilized states"
I'VE have no quarrel with the Ger
man people. We have no feeling to-
ward them but n of sympathy and
friendship. 1t was not on their i'm
pulse that their government acted in
entering this war. 1t was not with
their previous knowledge or approval.
The war was determined upon as wars
used to be determined in the old un-
happy days, when peoples were not
consulted by their rulers and wars
were provoked in the interest of dy-
nasties or little groups of ambitious
men who were accustomed to use their
fellow men as pawns and tools"
I'VE are now about to accept the
gauge of battle with this natural foe to
liberty and shall, if necessary, spend
the whole force of the nation to check
and nullify its p%retensions and it's pow
er. We are glad now that We see the
facts with no veil of false p%retense
about them, to fight thus for the ulti-
mate peace of the world and for the
liberation of its peoples, the German
tons great and small and the privilege
of men everywhere to choose their
way of life and obedience. The world
must be made safe for democracy. It's
peace must be planted upon the trust
ed foundations of political liberty"
I'VE have no selfish ends to serve.
We desire no conquest, no dominion.
We seek no indemnities for ourselves,
no material compensation for the
sacrifices We shall freely make. We
are but one of the champions of the
rights of mankind. We shall be salts
fed when these rights have been made
as secure as the faith and the free
dom of the nations can make them"
War Resolution
BY a vote of 80 to- 6 the senate pass
ed the following resolution Wednesday
night:
Whereas, The imperial German
government has committed repeated
acts of war against the government
and the people of the United States Of
America; therefore. be it
Resolved, BY the senate and house
of representatives of the United States
of America, in congress assembled,
that the state of war between the Unit
ed States and the imperial German gov
eminent which has thus been thrust
upon the United States Is hereby
formally declared, and that the presi-
dent be and he Is hereby authorized
and directed to employ the entire naval
and military forces OF the United
States and the Of the govern