The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1917-04-04
cannot make, we are incapable of max

rights Of our nation and our people to
be ignored or violated. The wrongs
against which we now array ourselves
very roots of human life.
Asks Significant Action.
With profound sense Of the solemn
and even tragical character of the step
/ am taking and of the grave RESPONSE
bilities which it involves, but in un-
hesitating obedience to what 1 deem
my constitutional duty, l advise that
the congress declare the recent course
Of the imperial German government to
be In fact nothing less than war
against the government and people of
the United States; that it formally &C.
cept the status of belligerent which
has thus been thrust upon it; and that
it take immediate steps not only to put
the country in 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.
What this will involve Is clear. 1t
will involve the utmost practicable So
| operation in counsel and action with
the governments now at war with Ger
many, and as incident to that the ex-
tension to the government of the most
| liberal financial credits in order that
our resources may SO far as possible
be added to theirs. It will involve the
organization or 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 efficient way possible
1t will involve the immediate full
equipment of the navy in all respects,
but particularly in supplying it with
the best means Of dealing with the en-
emy's submarines. 1t 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 prin-
ciple Of universal liability to service,
and also the authorization of subse-
/
force SO soon as they may be needed
and can be handled in training. 1t will
involve also, of course the granting of
adequate credits to the government,
sustained, | hope, so far as they can
equitably be sustained by the present
! generation, by well-conceived taxation.
/ say sustained SO far as may be
! SY,1if hi hrv+ ~
to me that it would be most unwise
to base the credits which will now be
| necessary entirely on money borrowed.
1t is our duty, l most respectfully
urge, to protect our people so far as we
| may against the serious hardships and
evils which would be likely to arise
out of the imitation which would be
produced by vast loans.
Supply Allies.
In carrying out the measures by
which these things are to be accom-
plished, we should keep constantly in
mind the wisdom of interfering as lit
! tie as possible in our own preparation
and in the equipment of our own mill
| tary forces with the duty-for it will
| be a practical duty-of supplying the
nations already at war with Germany
with the materials which they can OBJ
| tain only from us or by our assistance.
| They are in the field and we should
| help them in every way to be effective.
| l shall take the liberty of suggest
! ing, through the several executive de-
/ narfp1pDtS of government q
consideration of your committee, meas
ureS for the accomplishment of the
several objects l have mentioned. I
| hope it will be your pleasure to deal
with them as having been framed af-
ter very careful thought by the branch
of the government upon which the re-
sponsibility of conducting the war and
| safeguarding the nation will most di-
rectly fall.
Country Filled With Spies.
! One Of the things that has served
to convince me that the Prussian au-
| tOcracy was not and could never
be our friend is that from the very
! outset of the present war it has filled
| our unSuspecting communities and
| even our offices of government with
spies and set criminal intrigues every
where afoot against our national
unity Of counsel, our peace within and
without, our Industries and our COM
| merce.
| Indeed, 1t is now evident that it's
! spies were here even before the war
| began; and it is unhappily not mat
| ter of conjecture but a fact proved
in our courts of justice that the in
| trigues which have more than once
come perilOuSly near to disturbing the
| peace and dislOcating the industries of
| the country have been carried on at
| the inStigatiOn, with the special, and
| even under the personal direction of
| official agents of the imperial govern
| ment accredited to the government of
! the United States. Even in checking
these things and trying to eXtirpate
| them we have sought to put the most
| generous Interpretation possible upon
| them because we knew that their
source lay, not in any hostile feeling
or purpose of the German people to-
wards US (whO were no doubt as ignO-
| rant of them as we ourselves were),
! but only in the selfish designs of a
| PREPARE FOR WORK IN NAVY