Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-04
President Calls For War on Austria-Hungary

of the country hB are still under the
control of the Federal government
should be resumed and affirmatively
and constructively dealt with at the
earliest possible moment, The press
irsg need of such legislation Is daily
becoming more obvious,
The legislation proposed at the
last session with regard to regulated
combinations among our exporters
in order to provide for our foreign
trade Il more effective organization
and method of cooperation, ought
| by all means to be completed at this
session.
To Center Responsibility
And 1 beg that the members of
| tho House of Representatives will
permit me to express the opinion
/ that it will be impossible to deal In
any way but a very wasteful and ex-
travagant fashion with the enormous
| appropriations of the public moneys
which must continue to be made, IL
the war is to be properly sustained.
| unless the House will consent to
return to its former practice of ini-
tiating and preparing all appropria-
| ton bills through a single commit
tee in order that responsibility may
| be conferred. expenditures standard
| lied and made uniform and waste
and duplication as much as possible
| avoided.
Railway Legislation
Additional legislation may also be-
come necessary before the present
Congress adjourns in order to eff
| feet the most efficient coordination
and operation of the railway and
other transportation systems of the
country; but to that / shall. if cir
| cIpnstances should demand, call the
| attention of Congress upon another
occasion.
II have overlooked anything that
ought to be done for the more ef-
fective conduct of the war, your own
counsels will supply the omission.
What I am perfectly clear about is
that in the present session Of the
Congress our whole attention and
energy should be concentrated on
the vigorous and rapid and success
full prosecution of the great task of
winning the war.
War of High Principle
We can do this with all the
greater zeal and enthusiasm because
we know that for us this is q war
of high principle, debased by no
selfish ambition of conquest or
spoilation; because we know, and all
the world knows, that we have been
forced into it to save the very in
stitutions we live under from cor
ruption and destruction. The pur-
poses of the central powers strike
straight at the very heart of every
thing we believe in; their methods
of warfare outrage every principle
of humanity and of knightly honor;
their intrigue has corrupted the
very thought and spirit of many of
our people; their sinister and secret
diplomacy has sought to take our
very territory away from us and
disrupt the Union of the States. Our
safety would be at an end, our honor
forever sullied and through con-
tempt We're we to permit their
triumph. BY striking at the very ex-
istence of democracy and liberty.
1t is because it is for us a war of
high, disinterested purpose, in which
all the free peoples of the world are
banded together for the vindication
of right, a war for the preservation
of our nation and of all that it has
held dear of principle and of pur-
pose, that we feel ourselves doubly
constrained to propose for it's out
come only that which is righteous
and of irreproachable intention, for
our foes as well as for our friends.
The cause being just and holy, the
settlement must be of like motive
and quality. For this we can fight,
but for nothing less noble or less
worthy of our traditions. For this
cause we entered the war and for
this cause will we battle until the
last gun is fired
Time To Speak Plainly
L have spoken plainly because this
seems to me the time when it is
most necessary to speak plainly, in
order that all the world may know
that even in the heat and ardor of
the struggle and when our whole
thought is of carrying the war
through to its end we have not for
gotten any ideal or principle for
which the name of America has been
held in honor among the nations and
for which it has been our glory to
contend in the great generations
that went before us. A supreme
moment of history has come. The
eyes of the people have been opened
and they see. The hand of God is
laid upon the nations. He will show
them favor, 1 devoutly believe, only
II they rise to the clear heights of
His own inStipa and