The Tomahawk. [volume] (White Earth, Becker County, Minn.) 1903-192?, 1917-04-12
THE TOMAHAWK, WHITE EARTH, MINI.
PRESIDENT MAKES MOST STIRRING ADDRESS

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 con-
fidences of narrow and privileged
class.
"They are happily impossible where
public opinion commands and insists
upon full information concerning all
the nations affairs.
Set intrigues Afoot.
Zone of the things that has served
to convince us that the Prussian au-
tocracy was not and could never be
our friend is that from the very out
set of the present war it has filled
our unsuspecting communities and
even our offices of government with
spies and set criminal intrigues ev-
erywhere afoot against our national
unity Of counsel, our peace within and
without, our industries and our COM
merce.
Spies Here Before War.
Indeed, it is now evident that it's
spies were here even before the war
began; and it is unhappily not mat
ter of conjecture, but fact proved
in our courts Of justice that the in
trigues which have more than once
come perilously near disturbing the
peace and dislocating the industries
of the country have been carried on
at the instigation, with the support
and even under the personal direction
of official agents Of the imperial Ger
man government accredited to the
government of the United States.
Played Their Part.
But they have played their part in
serving to convince us at last that
that government entertains no real
for us and means to act,
against our peace and security at its
THAT it means to stir up enemies
against us at our very doors the in
tercepted note to the German minister
at Mexico City is eloquent evidence.
Fight for World Peace.
1--WE a2e glad now that we see tho
facts with no veil of false pretense
about them, to fight thus for the ulti-
mate peace of the world and for the
of it's peoples, the German
peoples included, for the rights of ma
tons great and small, and the privi-
lege of men everywhere to choose
their way of life apd of obedience.
"The world must be made safe for
democracy. It's peace must be planted
upon the tested foundations Of politi-
cal liberty. We have no selfish ends
to serve. We desire no conquest, no
dominion. We seek no indemnitles
for ourselves, no material compensa-
ton for the sacrifices we shall freely
make. We are but one Of the cham
pions of the rights of mankind.
1--WE shall be satisfied when those
rights have been made as secure as
the faith and the freedom of nations
can make them.
In Status Quo.
''The Austro-Hungarian government
has, indeed, vowed its unqualified en-.
dorsement and acceptance of the reck.
less and lawless submarine warfare
now without disguise by the
imperial German government and =
has therefore not been possible Tor
this government to receive Count Tar
the ambassador recently &C.
credited to this government by the
imperial and royal government of Aus
tria- Hungary, but that government has
not actually engaged in warfare
against citizens of the United States
on the seas, and I take the liberty, for
the present at least, of postponing a
of our relations with the
at Vienna. We enter this
war only where we are clearly forced
into it because there are no other
of defending our rights.
Warming to the DisIoyaI.
IF there should be disloyalty, 1t
will be dealt with with stern repres-
sion; but, if it lifts it's head at all, it
will lift it only here and there and
without countenance except from a
lawless and malignant few.
"It is a distressing and oppressive
duty, gentlemen of the congress,
which I have performed in thus ad-
dressing you. There are, it may be,
many months of fiery trial and sacri-
flee ahead Of U.S. 1t is fearful thing
to lead this great, peaceful people into
war, into the most terrible and disas-
trous of all wars, civilization itself
seeming to be in the balance. But
the right is more precious than peace
and we shall fight for the things which
we have always carried nearest our
hearts-for democracy, for the right OF
those who submit to authority to have
a voice in their own governments, for
the rights and liberties of small ma
lions, for a universal dominion OF
right by such concert of free peoples
as shall bring peace and safety to all
nations and make the world itself at
last free.
ITO such task we can dedicate
our lives and our fortunes, everything
that we are and everything that we
have, with the pride of those who
know that the day has come when
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