The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-04-03
PRESIDENT WILSON'S
HISTORIC ADDRESS BEFORE CONGRESS
MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 2, 1917.

acter, their cargo, their destination.
their errand, have been ruthlessly sent
to the bottom without warning and
without thought of help or mercy for
those on board, the vessels of friendly
neutrals along with those of belliger-
ents.
Hospital and Relief Ships Victims.
Even hospital ships and ships car
rying relief to the sorely bereaved and
stricken people of Belgium, tho the
latter were provided with safe con-
duct, thru the prescribe areas by the
German government itself and were
distinguished by unmistakable marks
of identity have been sunk with the
same reckless lack of compassion or
principle.
81 was for a little while unable to
believe that such things would in fact
be done by any government that had
hitherto subscribed to the humane
practices of civilized nations. In
ternational law had as its origin the
purpose, to set up some law, which
would be respected and observed upon
the seas, where no nation had right of
dominion and where lay the free high
ways of the world. By painful stage
after stage has that law been built up
with meager enough results, indeed,
after all was accomplished that could
clear view at least. that the heart and
conscience of mankind demands.
This minimum of right the Ger
man government has swept aside I'M
der the plea of retaliation and neces-
sity, and because it had no weapons,
which it could use at sea Except these,
which it is impossible to employ as it
is employing them without throwing
to the winds all scruples of humanity
or respect for the understanding that
were supposed to underlie the inter-
course of the world.
Loss of Property Immateria1.
81 am not now thinking of the loss
of property involved, immense and Sc
rious as that is, but only of the wan
ton and wholesale destruction of the
lives of non-combatants and men, wo-
men and children, engaged in pur-
suits who have always, even in the
darkest periods of modern history
been deemed innocent and legitimate.
Property can be paid for; the lives of
peaceful and innocent people cannot
be.
Warfare Against Mankind.
The present German submarine
warfare against commerce is war
| fare against mankind, it is war against
all nations. American ships have been
sunk; American lives taken, in ways
which it has stirred us very deeply to
learn of, but the ships and people of
! other neutral and friendly nations
| have been sunk and overwhelmed in
| the waters in the same way. There
| has been no discrimination. The chal-
lenge is to all mankind. Each nation
must decide for itself how it will meet
, it. The choice we make for our selves
must be made with a moderation OF
| counsel and a temperatures of judg-
ment befitting our character and our
| motives as a nation. We must put
I cd
not be revenge or the victorious as
sertion of the physical might of the
nation. but only the vindication OF
right, of human right. of which we
are only single champion.
Armed Neutrality Impracticable.
when I addressed the congress on
the twenty sixth of February last, ]
thought that Il would suffice to assert
our neutral rights with arms. our right
to use the seas against unlawful in
reference, our right to keep our peo-
pie safe against unlawful violence
But armed neutrality, it now appears
| is impracticable.
Because submarines are in effect
| outlaws when used as the German
submarines have been used agains,
merchant shipping. IT is impossible to
defend ships against their attacks, as
the law of nations has assumed tina,
merchantmen would defend them
selves against privateers or cruisers
visible craft giving chase upon the
open sea. 1t is common prudence in
such circumstances, grim necessity
indeed, to endeavor to destroy them
before they have shown their own in
tention. They must be dealt with
upon sight If dealt with at all.
"a Deny Right of Defense.
The German government denies the
! right of neutral to use arms at al
within the areas of the sea which il
| has prescribed even in the defense OF
rights which no modern publicist has
! ever before questioned their right to
defend. The intimation is conveyed
that the armed guards which we have
placed on our merchantmen will be
treated as beyond the pale of law and
subject to be dealt with as pirates
would be. Armed neutrality is inef-
fectual enough at best; in such cir
cumstances and in the face of such
pretensions it is worse than ineffec-
tual, likely once to produce what it was
| meant to prevent: it is practically GER
tain to draw us into the war without
of belligerents.
Can Not Yield in Submission.
There is one choice we cannot
make, we are incapable of making
We will not choose the path of sub
mission and Sufi.r the most sacred
rights of our nation and our people
to be ignored or violated. The wrongs
against which we now array ourselves
are not common wrongs; they cut to
the very roots of human life.
with a profound sense of the sol
emn and even tragical, character OF
the step 1 am taking and of the grave
responsibility which it involves, but
unhesitating obedience to what l deem
my constitutional duty, 1 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 ac-
cept the status of belligerent which
has thus been thrust upon it and that
it take steps not only to put the coun-
try in a more thoro state of defense
but also to exert all it's power and en-