The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1917-02-28
certain additional indications and ex-

| IlIull lcSSeleU lIlc IllpIeSSIOn LLdl, IL
| our ships and our people are spared 1t
will be because of fortunate circum-
| stances or because the commanders of
| the German submarines which they
| may happen to encounter exercise an
| unexpected discretion and restraint
rather than because Of the instructions
| under which those commanders are
| acting.
1T would be foolish TO deny that the
situation is fraught with the gravest
possibilities and dangers. No thought
| full man can fail to see that the ne
cesSity of definite action may come at
any time, If we are in fact, and not
in word merely ready to defend our
elementary rights as a neutral nation.
1t would be most imprudent to be IN
prepared.
Il cannot in such circumstances be
unmindful of the fact that the ex-
piratiOn term of the present congress
is Immediately at hand by constitution
al limitation, and that it would in all
likelihood require an unusual length
of time to assemble and organize the
congress which is to succeed it.
81 feel that I ought, In view of thet
fact, to obtain from you full and i'm
mediate assurance of the authority
which I may need at any moment to
exercise.
Must Act Together.
eve are Jointly the servants Of the
people and must act together and in
their spirit, SO far as we can divine
and interpret it. No one doubts that
it Is our duty to do so.
eve must defend our commerce aud
the lives of the people in the midst Of
the present trying circumstances, with
discretion, but with clear and SteadfaSt
purpose. Only the method and the ex-
tent remain to be chosen upon the oc-
casiOn, if occasion should indeed arise.
"Since it has unhappily proved i'm
possible to safeguard our neutral
rights by diplomatic means against the
unwarranted infringements they are
suffering at the hands of Germany,
there may be no recourse but to
armed neutrality, which we shall know
how to maintain and for which there
is abundant American precedent.
Hopes to Avoid War.
ut is devoutly TO be hoped that it
will not be necessary to put armed
force anywhere into action. The Amer
lean people do not desire it, and our
desire is not different from theirs. |
am sure that they will understand the
irif in ryh Y no
purpose | hold nearest my heart and
would wish to exhibit in everything
| do.
Il am not now proposing or con-
templating war or any steps that need
lead to it. l merely request that you
Will accord me by your own vote and
definite beStOwal the means and au-
thority to safeguard in practice the
rights of a great people who are at
peace and who are DESTROYS of exercis-
ing none but the rights of peace to
follow the pursuits of peace in quiet
ness and good will-rights recognized
time out of mind by all the civilized
nations of the world.
War Only for WiIIful Act.
mo course of my choosing or of
theirs will lead to war. War can come
only by the willful acts and aggres-
SiOns of others.
Il believe that the people will be
willing to trust me to act with re-
straint, with prudence and in the true
spirit of amity and good faith that
they have themselves displayed
throughout these trying months, and it
is in that belief that l request that you
will authorize me to supply our mer-
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 peaceful pursuits
on the seas.
81 request also that you will grant me
at the same time, along with the pow
erS l ask, sufficient credit to enable
me to provide adequate means of pro-
lection where they are lacking, includ-
ing adequate insurance against the
present war risks.
Speaks for Human Rights.
II am thinking not only of rights 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. l am
thinking of those rights of humanity
without which there is no civilization
My theme is of those great principles
of compassion and of protection which
mankind has sought to throw about hui
man lives, the lives Of noncombatants,
the lives of men who are peacefully at
work keeping the industrial processes
of the world quick and vital, the lives
OF women and children and of those
who supply the labor which ministers
TO their sustenance.
1--WE are speaking of no selfish ma
terial rights, but of rights which our
hearts support and whose foundation
is that righteous passion for justice
upon which all law, all structures alike
of family, of state and of mankind
may rest, as upon the ultimate base
of our existence and our liberty.
II cannot imagine a man with Amer
lean principles at his heart hesitating
to defend these things"
Hne