The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1917-12-07
President Requests Immedi-
ate Declaration of War
on Austria-H Hungary.
.PACIFlSTS ARE WARNED
Suggests That Instead of Combining
Enemy Aliens In Comfortable In
ternment Camps That They Be
Put In Penitentiaries.


Put In Penitentiaries.
Washington.-P Wilson, ad-
dressing the members of congress on
December 4, called upon congress to
declare a state of war against Austria
Hungary.
Pledging America to war to victory
and declaring nothing shall turn us
aside, he asked that Austria Hungary
be formally listed among Americas
enemies to remove this embarrassing
obstacle that stands in our way
The president spoke DIS follows
Gentlemen of the Congress:
Eight months have elapsed since
had the honor Of addressing you. They
have been months crowded with events
Of immense and grave significance FOR
us. / shall not undertake to detail or
even to summarize these events. The
practical particulars of the part we
have played in them will be laid before
you in the reports Of the executive
departments. I shall discuss only our
present outlook upon these vast az
fairs, our present duties and the i'm
mediate means of accomplishing the
objects we shall hold always in view.
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
American to need to be rehearsed. But
l shall ask you to consider again and
with very grave scrutiny our OBJ
jectives and the measures by which
we mean to attain them; for the pur-
pose of discussion here in this place
is action, and our action must move
straight toward definite ends. Our
object Is, of course, to win the war:
and we shall not slacken or suffer our
selves to be diverted until 1t Is won
But it is worth while asking and an
swering the question, When shall we
consider the war won?
From one point of view. 1t Is not
necessary to breach this fundamental
matter. I do not doubt that the Amer
lean people know what the war is
about and what sort Of an outcome
they will regard as a realization OF
their purpose on it. AS nation we
are united in spirit and intention.
HEAR DISSENTING VOICES.
1 pay little heed to those who tell
me otherwise. hear the voices OF
dissent-who does not? I hear the
criticism and the clamor of the noisily
thoughtless and troublesome. I also
see men here and there fling them
selves in impotent disloyalty against
the calm, indomitable power of the
nation. l hear men debate peace who
understand neither its nature nor the
way in which we may obtain 1t with
uplifted eyes and unbroken spirits. But
l know that none of these speaks fol
the nation. They do not touch the
heart of anything They may safely
be left to strut their uneasy hour an6
be forgotten.
But, from another point of view, be-
what we here at the seat of action con-
slider the war to be for, and what part
we mean to play in the settlement Of
it's searching issues. We are spokesmer
of the American people, and they have
a right to know whether their purpose
Is ours They desire peace by the over
coming Of evil, by the defeat once fol
all of the sinister forces that interrupt
peace and render 1t impossible, and they
wish to know how closely our thought
runs with theirs and what action we
propose. They are impatient with those
promise-deeply and indignantly impa-
tient; but they will be equally impatient
with us If we do not make it plain tt
them what our detectives are and what
we are planning for in seeking to make
conquest of peace by arms.
HUNS MUST BE CRUSHED.
believe that I speak for them wher
T kxrvN THfp.t 1.nt t..kn ~
cradle thing of which the masters Of
Germany have shown US the ugly face
this menace of combined intrigue an6
force which we now see so clearly az
the German power-a thing without con-
science or honor or capacity for cove.
nanted peaceLmust be crushed and, If i,
be not utterly brought to an end, al
least shut out from the friendly inter
course of the nations; and second, thai
when this thing and it's power are in
deed defeated and the time comes that
we can discuss peace-when the German
people have spoken whose word we car
believe, and when those spokesman are
ready in the name Of their people to &C.
cept the common judgment Of the ma.
lions as to what shah henceforth be the
bases of law and Of covenant for the
life Of the world-we shall be willing ant
glad to pay the full price for peace, ant
pay it ungrudgingly., We know what
partial justice-justice done at ever,
point and to every nation that the fina
settlement must affect, our enemies a.
well as our friends
You catch, with me, the voices of hui
mainly that are in the air. They grow
persuasive, and they come from thu
hearts of men everywhere. They insis
that the war shall not end in vindictiv
action of any kind; that no nation o.
people shall be robbed or punished be-
cause the irresponsible rulers of sin
| gle country have themselves done deel
and abominable wrong.
II is this thought that has been ex
pressed in the formula, mo anpexations
no contributions, no punitive indemni
ties" Just because this crude formul;
| expresses the instructive judgment as t,
right of plain men everywhere, 1t ha
been made diligent use of by the mas
tiers of German intrigue 70 lead the peo
Die of Russia astray-and the people o
| every other country their agents coul'
| reach-in order that premature peac
might be brought about before autoc
racy has been taught it's final and con
| vincing lesson and the people of tn
| world put in control of their own desti
| MES.
been made of a just idea Is no reason
| why a right use should not be made o
| s@A
| patronage of its real friends.
| CRUSH HUN MASTERS.
| Let 1t be said again that autocrac
must first be shown the utter futility {
It's claims to power or leadership in tn
| modern world 1t is impossible to appl
| any standard of justice so long as sue
| forces are unchecked and indicated q
the present masters of Germany com
mand. Not until that has been done ca
right be set up as arbiter and peace