The Washington herald., 1917-04-03
Wilson Requests Congress
To Declare War Exists;
Urges Belligerent Stand
Wilson Advocates Cooperation with Allies and
Stroke Against Teuton Militarism in Interests
Of Humanity and in Defense of Fundamen-
tai PRINCIPLES of Democracy.

VI DSlllOSl dNy.
put the country in a more thorough state
of defense but also to exert all its power
and employ all its resources to bring the
government. OF the German empire to
terms and end the war.
Cooperation with Allies.
What this will involve is clear. It will.
involve the utmost practicable co-opera-
tion1n counsel and action with the gov
ernments now at war with Germany,
and. as incident to that, the extension
to those governments of the most liberal
financial credits, in order that our re-
sources may SO far as possible be added
to theirs. 1t will involve the organiza-
tion and mobilization OF all the material
resources OF the country to supply the
materials of war and serve the incidental
needs of the nation in the most abundant
and yet the most economical and eff
ficent way possible. 1t will involve the
immediate full equipment of the navy
in all respects but particularly in supply
ing It with the best means of dealine
with the enemy's submarines. It will
involve the immediate addition to the
armed forces of the United States already
provided for by law In case of war at
least five hundred thousand men, who
should, in my opinion. be chosen upon
the principle of universal liability to SER
vice, and also the authorization of sub
sequent additional inCrements of equal
force so soon as they may be needed and
can be handled in training. 1t will in
volve also, Of course, the granting Of
adequate credits to the government
sustained. 1 hope. so far as they can
equitably be sustained by the present
generation. by well conceived taxation.
I say sustained so far as may be
equitable by taxation because 1t seems
to pe that it would be most unwise
to base the credits which will now be
necessary entirely on money borrowed.
II Is our duty, I most respectfully urge,
to protect our people SO far as we ma"
against the very serious hardsips and
evils which would be likely to arise out
OF the imitation which would be produced
by vast loans.
In carrying out the measures by which
these things are to be accomplished We
should keep constantly in mind the
wisdom OF interfering as little as pos
sible in our own preparation and in the
equipment of our own military forces
with the duty-for it will be a very
practical duty-of supplying the nations
already at war with Germany with the
materials which they can obtain only
from us or by our assistance. They are
in the field and We should help them in
Mobilization Measures.
1 shah take the liberty of suggesting,
through the several executive depart
ments of the government, for the con-
sideration Of your committees, measures
for the accomplishment Of the several
objects I have mentioned. 1 hope that it
will be your pleasure to deal with them
as having been framed after very care
full thought by the branch Of the govern
ment upon which the responsibility of
conducting the war and safeguarding the
nation will most directly fall.
While we do these things. these deeply
momentous things, let US be very clear.
and make very clear to all the world
what our motives and our objects are.
My own thought has not been driven
from Its habitual and normal course by
the unhappy events Of the last two
months, and I do not believe that the
thought OF the nation has been altered
or clouded by them. I have exactly the
same things in mind now that had In
mind when I addressed the Senate on the
twenty-second Of January last; the same
that had in mind when 1 addressed the
Congress on the third Of February and
on the twenty-sixth of February. Our
object now, as then, is to vindicate the
principles Of peace and justice in the life
of the world as against selfish and auto
cratic power and to set up amongst the
really free and self-governed peoples Of
the world such a concert Of purpose and
of action as will henceforth ensure the
observance of those principles. Neutral
Ity is no longer feasible or desirable
where the peace of the world is involved
and the freedom of its peoples. and the
menace to that peace and freedom lies in
the existence Of autocratic governments
backed by organized force which is con-
trolled wholly by their will. not by the
will of their people. We have seen the
last Of neutrality in such circumstances.
We are at the beginning of an age in
which It will be insisted that the same
standards of conduct and of responsible
ity for wrong done shall be observed
among nations and their governments
that are observed among the individual
citizens OF civilized states
No Quarrel with Germans.
We have no quarrel with the German
people. We have no feeling towards them
but one of sympathy and friendship. 1t
was not upon their impulse that their
government acted in entering this war.
II was not with their previous knowledge
or approval. 1t was a war determined
upon as wars used to be determined upon
in the old. unhappy days when peoples
were nowhere consulted by their rulers
and wars were provoked and waged in
groups OF ambitious men who were ac-
customed to use their fellow men as
pawns and tools. Self-governed nations
do not fill their neighbour states with
spies or set the course of intrigue to
bring about some critical posture of af-
fairs which will give them an opportunity
to strike and make conquest. Such de-
signs can be successfully worked out
only under cover and where no one has
the right to ask questions. Cunningly
contrived plans of deception or aggres-
sion, carried. it may be, from generation
to generation. can be worked out and
kept from the light only within the
privacy Of courts or behind the carefully
guarded condolences of a narrow and
privileged class. They are happily i'm
possible where public opinion commands
and insi4s upon full information con-
cerning all the nations affairs.
A steadfast concert for peace can never
be maintained except by a partnership of
democratic nations No autocratic gov
ernment could be trusted to keep faith
within It or observe its covenants. It must
be league of honor, a partnership of
opinion. Intrigue would eat its yitals
away; the plottings OF inner circles who
could plan what they would and render
account to no one would be corrlIption