Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1917-02-27
POWER TO PROTECT AMERICANS WITH ARMED FORCES
 IS SOUGHT
(Continued from page one.)

Continued from page one.)
 mancerS would not commit has no
 occurred, but certain additional indi
 cations and the statements by the
 German press and authorities increase
 rather than lessen the belief that oui
 shlps have been spared because of
 fortunate circumstances or because
 the SuDmarlne commanders exercised 1 unexpected discretion rather from or
 ders from their government
 Gravest Dangers Threaten.
 Ut is foolish to deny that the sit
 nation is fraught with the gravest dan- gers. The cause for definite action
 may come at any time. It would be
 most lmprudent to be unprepared. I ] can not be unmindful of the fact that
 the time for the expiration of the pres
 ent session of congress is at hand and
 it would in all likelihood require a
 considerable length of time to reas- semble congress. feel that l should obtain full and immediate assurance
 ot authority that may be needed. No doubt already possess it by the plain implication of the powers conferred upon me in the oath of office re- qulred, but l wish to feel that con- gress is behind me-
 we must defend our commerce and the lives of our people in the midst of frying circumstances with discretion, put with firmness. Only the methods
 need to be decided. am anxious that
 the people of the nations at war
 should understand and not mstrust
 us. l hope that we need not give fur ther assurances than have been given during the past three years that we are the friends of peace and eager to preserve 1t as long as we are able. I am not proposing or contemplating war. l only ask for means to safe guard the rights of great people, who are in peace and want to follow the pursuits of peace. No course of my own choosing will iead us to war. It will be only by the wilful action and aggression of others.
 Definite Proposal Impossible.
 You will understand why I can make no definite proposals or fore cast of action now, and must ask for your supporting authority in the most general terms. The form in which ac- tion may become necessary cannot yet be foreseen. | believe that the people will be willing to trust me to act with restraint, with prudence and in the true spirit of amity and good faith that they have themselves displayed throughout the trying months, and it is in that belief that I request that you will authorize me to supply our merchant ships with defensive arms, should that become necessary. and with the means of using them, and to employ any other instrumentalities or methods that may be necessary and adequate to protect our ships and our people in their legitimate and peace full pursuits on the seas I request also that you will grant me at the same time, along with the powers ask sufficient credit, to enable me to provide means of protection where they are lacking, including adequate insurance against the present war risks.
 Rights of Humanity at Stake.
 "I have spoken of our commerce and of the legitimate errands of our people on the seas, out you will not be misled as to my main thought, the thought that lies beneath these phrases and gives them dignity and weight. It is not of national interests | merely that we are thinking. It is l rather of fundamental human rights, | chief of all, the right of life itself. | I am thinking not only of the rights 1 of Americans to go and come about their proper business by way of the sea, but also of something much | deeper, much more fundamental than that. I am thinking of those rights of without which there is no civilization. l
 My theme is of those great prin- ciples of compassion and of protec- tion which mankind has sought to throw about human lives, the lives Of n-combatants, the lives of men who are peacefully at work keeping tbe in dustrial processes of the world quick l and vital, the lives of women and chill dren and of those who supply the labor which ministers to their sub stenance. We are speaking of no selfish material rights, but of rights which our hearts support and whose, lOuHudtloH IS that righteous PaSS1Onl for justice upon which all law, all structures alike of family, of state and of mankind must rest, as upon the ultimate base of our existence and our liberty. I cannot imagine any man with American principles at his heart hesitating to defend these things"
 UNUSUAL ACTIVITY