St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1917-12-08
The President spoke as follows:

The President spoke as follows:
Gentlemen OF the Congress:
Eight months have elapsed since
last had the honor of addressing
Won. They have been months crowd
al with events of immense and grave
significance Tor US.
shall not undertake to detail! or
.ven to summarize those events. Tne
practical particulars OF the part we
have played in them will be ialo oe-
fore you in the reports OF the ex-
ecutiye departments. l shall discuss
onlv our present outlook upon these
vaat affairs. our present duties and
tho immediate means OF accomplish
ing the objects we shall hold always
IN view.
Il shall not go back to debate the
c.uses of the war. The intoleraole
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 | shall ask you to consider
aeain and with very grave scrutiny
our objectives and the measures by
which we mean to attain them, tof
hhe purpose OF discussion here IN
this place is action, and our action
must move straight towards denni1e
ends. Our object is, of course, to
win the war; and we shall not slack
an or suffer ourselves to be diverted
until It is won. But it Is worth
while asking and answering the
question. when shall we consider the
war won?'
From one point Of view 1t is not
necessary to broach this fundamen-
tai matter. l do not doubt that the
American people know what the war
10 about and what sort OF an OUT
come they will regard as realiza-
ton of their purpose in 1t. As q
nation we are united in spirit and
intention. pay little heed to those
who tell me otherwise. ! hear the
voices OF dissent-who does not?
hear the criticism and Glamour OF the
noisy, thoughtless and troublesome.
also see men here and there
fling themselves in fmpOtent dis
loyalty against the calm, in
dOmitablc power Of the nation.
I hear men debate peace who
understand neither its nature
nor the way in which we may
attain it, with uplifted eyes and
unbroken spirits. But l know
nH cu,n0k0 TRHs
the nation. They do not touch
the heart of anything. They
may safely be left to strut their
uneasy hour and be forgotten.
But from another point OF view l
believe that it is necessary to say
plainly what we here at the seat OF
action consider the war to be for and
what part we mean to play in the
settlement Of Its searching issues.
We are the spokesmen OF the Amer'-
can people and they have the right
to know whether their purpose 1s
ours.
They desire peace by the overcom-
ing OF evil, by the defeat once for all
Of the sinister forces that interrupt
peace and render it impossible, and
they wish to know how closely our
thought runs with theirs and what
ection We propose.
They are impa tient with those who
desire peace by any sort OF COM
promise-deeply and Indignantly i'm
patient-but they will be equally
impatient with us if we do not make
It plain to them what our detectives
are and what we are planning for
dn seeking to make conquest of peace
by arms.
believe that speak for them
when l say two things: First
that intolerable thing of which
the masters Of Germany have
shown us the ugly face, this
menace Of combined intrigue
and force which we now see SO
clearly as the German power,
Thing without conscience or
honor or capacity for covenant
cd peace, must he crushed and.
y it be not utterly brought to
an end, at least shut out from
tho friendly intercourse Of the
nations, and, second, that when
this Thing and its power are
indeed defeated and the time
comes that we can discuss peace
when German people have
epokesmen whose word we can
eeaieve and when those spokes-
men arc ready in the name OF
their people to accept tho com.
lA0n judgment Of tho nations -