Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1917-11-09

same way. There has been NO dis
elimination.
The challenge is to all mankind.
Each nation must decide for itself how
1t will meet it. The choice we make
for ourselves must be made with a
moderation of counsel and a temper
ateness OF Judgment BETTING our
character and our motives as a nation.
We must put excited feelings 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.
When I addressed the congress on
the 26th OF February last 1 thought it
would suffice to assert our neutral rights
with arms, our right to use the seas
against unlawful interference, our right
60 keep our people safe against unIawJ
full violence. But armed neutrality, it
now appears. is impracticable. Because
submarines are in effect outlaws, when
use as the German submarines have
been used against merchant shipping,
II Is impossible to defend ships against
their attacks. as the law of nations has
assumed that merchantmen would de-
fend themselves against privateers or
cruisers, visible craft giving chase up
on the open sea. 1t is common pru-
dence in such circumstances, grim nee
essity indeed, to endeavor to destroy
them before they have shown their own
intention. They must be dealt with up
on sight, II dealt with at all.
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 defense of
rights which no modern publicist has
ever before questioned their right to
defend. The intimatiori is conveyed that
the armed guards which we have
placed on our merchant ships will be
treated as beyond the pale of law and
subject to be dealt with as pirates
would be. Armed neutrality Is ineffec-
tuaI enough at besti in such circum-
stances and I'm the face of such preten-
nIOns IL Is worse than Intellectually 1t Is
likely only to produce what 1t was
meant to prevent; 1t Is practically cer-
tain to draw MS into war without either
the rights or the effectiveness of the bel
ligerents. There Is one choice we can
not make, we are Incapable of making;
We will not choose the path of submis-
sion and suffer the most sacred rights
of our nation and our people to be ig-
nored or violated. The wrongs against
which we now array ourselves are no
common wrongs; they cut to the very
roots of human life.
with a profound sense of the solemn
and even tragicaI character of the step
1 am taking and of the grave RESPONSE
btlities which 1T involves, but in un-
hesitating obedience to what I 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 it 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 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 this will involve Is clear. It
will involve the utmost practicable CO.
operation in counsel and action with
the governments now at war with Ger
many, and as incident to that, the ex-
tension to those governments of the
most liberal financial credits, in order
that our resources may so far as pos
sible be added to theirs.
1t will involve the organization and
mobilization of all the material re-
sources of the country to supply the
materials of war and serve the Incl
dental 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 1t with
the best means of dealing with the enc
my's submarines.
1t will involve the immediate addi-
tion to the armed forces of the United
States. already provided for by law in
case of war, of at least 100000 men.
who should, in my opinion, be chosen
upon the principle of universal liabil-
ity to service and also the authoriza-
tion of subsequent additional incre-
ments OF equal force so soon as they
may be needed and can be handled in
training.
II will involve also, of course, the
granting of adequate credits to the
government, sustained, 1 hope, far
as they can eauItably be sustained by
the present generation, by well-cOn-
ceived taxation.
say sustained so far ms may be
equitable by taxation, because II seems
to me that IL would be most unwise to
base the credits, which will now be
necessary, entirely on money borrowed.
IL II our duty, 1 most respectfully urge,
90 protect our people, so far ms we
may, against the very serious hard
ships and evils which would be likely
20 arise out of the imitation which would
be produced by vast loans.
In carrying out the measures by
which these things are to be accom-
plished we should keep constantly I'm
mind the wisdom of interfering as lit
tie possible I'm our own preparation
and In the equipment of our own mill
tary forces with the duty-fOr Il will
be a very practical duty-Of supplying
the nations already Mt war with Ger
many with the materials which they
can obtain only from or by our as
nistance. They are i'm the field, and we
should help them in every wSy to be
effective there.
shall take the liberty of suggest-
ing, through the several executive de-
| partments of the government, for the
consideration of your committees,
measures for the accomplishment of
| the several objects I have mentioned.
I hope that IL will be your pleasure to
deal with them as having been framed
after very careful thought by the
branch of the government upon whom
the responsibility of conducting the
war and safeguarding the nation will
most directly fall.
While we do these things, these deep
| ly momentOus things, let us be very
clear, and make very clear to all the
world, what our motives and our OBJ
| jecta are. My own thought has no.
veen driven from its habituaI ana nor
NAL course by the unhappy events of
| the last two months, and do not be-
lieve that the thought OF, the nation
has been altered or clOuded by them.
have exactly the same things i'm mind
now that I had In mind when ad-
dressed the senate ON the 22d of Janu-
airy last; the same that had in mind
when 1 addressed congress on the Sd OF
February and on the 26th of February
Our object now, as then, is to vindicate
the principles of peace and Justice In
the life of the world against selfish
and autOcratic power, and TO set ur
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