Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1917-12-12
PRESIDENT WILSON PLEDGES
AMERICA TO WAR TO VICTORY
Asks That State of War Be Declared Against Austria The
Wrongs Committed in This War Must Be Righted-AH Our
Energies Must Be Concentrated on the One Object
of Winning the War.

congress to declare a state of war
against Austria-Hungary. He pledged
America to war to victory and declared
that nothing shall turn US aside. His
message follows:
Gentlemen of the Congress-Eight
months have elapsed since I last had
the honor Of addressing you. They
have been months crowded with events
of immense and grave significance for
us. l shall undertake to detail or even
to summarize these events. The prac-
teal particulars of the part we have
played in them will be laid before you
in the reports of the executive depart
ments. l shall discuss only our pres
ent outlook upon these vast affairs,
our present duties, and the immediate
means Of accomplishing the objects
we shall hold always in view.
Il 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 Amer
shall ask you to consider again and
with a very grave scrutiny our objec-
tives and the measures by which we
mean to attain them for the purpose
of discussion here in this place is ac-
ton, and our action must move
straight towards definite ends.
Must Win the War.
Our object is, of course, to win the
war; and we shall not slacken or suf-
FER 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 it is not
necessary to breach this fundamental
matter. 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 in it. AS a nation we
are united in spirit and intention. l
pay little heed to those who tell me
otherwise. l hear the voices of dis
sent-who does not? l hear the criti-
cism and the Glamour of the noisy,
thOughtlesS and troublesome. | also
see men here and there fling them
selves in impOtent disloyalty against
the calm, indomitable power of the ma
ton. I hear men debate peace who
understand neither its nature nor the
way in which we obtain it with uplift-
ed eyes and unbroken spirits. But 1
known that none Of these speaks for
the nation. They do not touch the
be left to strut their uneasy hour and
be forgotten.
But from another point of view I
believe that it is necessary to say
plainly what we here at the seat of ac-
ton consider the war to be for and
what part we mean to play in the set
Element of it's searching issues.
1--WE are the spokesman of the Amer
lean people, and they have a right to
know whether their purpose is ours.
They desire peace by the overcoming
of evil, by the defeat once for all Of
the sinister forces that interrupt
peace and render it impossible.
st believe that 1 speak for them
when I say two things: First, that
this intoIefable thing of which the
masters of Germany have shown us
the ugly face, this menace Of COM
bined intrigue and force which we now
see so clearly as the German power,
Thing without conscience or honor
or capacity for covenanted peace, must
be crushed and, if it is not utterly
brought TO an end, at least shut out
from the friendly intercourse of the
nations; and, second, when this Thing
and its power are indeed defeated and
the time comes that we can discuss
spokesman whose words we can be-
ilieve and when those spokesman are
ready in the name of their people to
accept the common Judgment of
the nations as to what shall hence
forth be the bases of law and of COW
enant for the life of the world-we
shall be willing and glad to pay the
full price for peace, and pay it I'M
grudgingly. We know what that price
will be- 1t will be full, impartial JUS
tice-juStice done at every point and
TO every nation that the final settle
ment must affect, our enemies as we'll
as our friends
Final and Convincing Lesson.
You catch with me, the voices of
humanity that are in the air They
grow daily more audible, more articu-
late, more persuasive, and they. come
from the hearts of men everywhere.
They insist that the war shall not end
In vindictive action of any kind: that
no nation or people shall be robbed or
punished because the irresponsible
rulers of single country have them