The Pulaskian., 1917-11-09


 | 1t is impossible to defend ships against
 their attacks. the law of nations has
 assumed that merchantmen would de
 fend themselves against privateera or cruisers, visible craft giving chase up-
 on the open sea. It is common pru- dence in such circumstances. grim nee | essity indeed, to endeavor to destroy them before they have shown their own l intention They must be dealt with up= on sight, if dealt with at all.
 The German government denies the | right of neutrals to use arms at all
 within the areas of the sea which 1t has prescribed even in the defense of rights which no modern publicist has 1 ever before questioned their right to i defend. The intimation Is conveyed that | the armed guards which we have placed on our merchant ships will be treated as beyond the pale of law and l subject to be dealt with as pirates | would be- Armed neutrality is inefRec- | tual enough at best; fin such circum- stances and in the face of such preten- siOnA it is worse than intellectually if is likely only to produce what 1t was meant to prevent; 1t is practically cer- 1 tain to draw us into war without either the rights or the effectiveness of the bel- | iigerents. There Is one choice we can- not make, we are incapable of making; l We will not choose the path of submis- sion and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our people to be ig= nored or violated. The wrongs against which we now array ourselves are no common wrongsj they cut to the very roots Of human life.
 With profound sense of fhe solemn mad even tragicaI character of the step am taking and of the grave respOnsi- bilities which it involves, but In un- hesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I 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 immediate steps not only to put the country in more thorough state of defense. but also to exert all its power and employ all it's resources to bring the government of the German empire to terms and end the war.
 What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost practicable CO., operation in counsel and action with the governments now at war with Ger many and as incident to that, the ex tension to those governments of the most liberal financial credits, in order that our resources may so far as pos- sible be added to theirs.
 It will involve the organization and mobilization of all the material re- sources of the country to supply the materials of war and serve the Incl dental needs of the nation in the most abundant and yet the most economical and efficient way possible.
 It 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 ene- my's submarines.
 It will involve the immediate addi- tion to the armed forces of the United States. already provided for by law in case of war, of at least 500.000 men, who should. in my opinion. be chosen upon the principle of universal liabil- ity to service. and also the authoriza- ton of subsequent additional incre- ments of equal force so soon as they may be needed and can be handled in training.
 1t will invoIve also, of course, the grnnting Ot adequate credits to the government, sustained, I hope, so far ns they can equitnbly be sustained by the present generation, by weII-cOn- ceiyed taxation.
 say sustained so far as may be equitable by taxation, because 1t seems to that ft would be most unwise to base the credits, which will now be necessary, entirely on money borrowed. It ia our duty, most respectfully urge,
  may, against the very serious hard ships and evils which would be likely to nrise out of the imitation which would be produced by vast loans.
 In carrying out the measures by which these things to he accom- pIished should keep constantly in mind the wisdom of interfering lit- tie as possible in our own preparation md In the equipment of our own lmili- tary forces with the duty-for it will be a very practical duty-Of supplying the nations already at war with Ger many with the materials which they can obtain only from or by OGr as- sistance. They are in the field, and we should help them in every way to be effective there.
 shall take the liberty of suggest ing, through the several executive de- partments of the government, for the consideration of your committees, measures for the accomplishment of the several objects I have mentioned. I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with them ms having been framed after very careful thought by the 1 branch of the government upon whom | the responsibility of conducting the war and safeguarding the nation will most directly fall.
 While we do these things, these deep- | Iy momentous things, let us be very clear. and make very clear to all the | world, what our motives and our ob- | iects are. My thought has not 1 been driven from its habituai and nor nal course by the unhappy events of the last two months, and do not be- Iieve that the thought of the nation 1 has been altered cIouded by them- | have exactly the same things in mind | now that I had in mind when I ad- | dressed the senate on the 22d of Janu- | nry last, the same that l had i'm mind | when addressed congress on the 3d of l February and on the Beth of February. | Our object now, then, is to vindtcate the principles of peace and justice in | the life of the world as against selfish l nnd autocratic power, and to set up | among the really free and self-gov- l erned peoples of the world such q con cert of purpose and of action as will henceforth insure the observance of those principles.
 | Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the world is Involved and the freedom of its peo- 1 p1es. and the menace to that peace and freedom Hes in the existence of auto cratic governments, backed by organ