Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-12-07

standardized and made uniform and
waste and duplication as much as pos
sible avoided.
RAILWAY LAWS FORECAST.
additional legislation may also be-
come necessary before the present con-
gress adjourns in order to effect the
most efficient coordination and oper'
alton Of the railway and other trans.
portation systems Of the country; but
to that shall, If circumstances should
demand, call the attention of congress-
upon another occasion.
III have overlooked anything that
ought to be done for the more effec-
tive conduct of the war, your own
counsels will supply the omission.
What am perfectly clear about is that
in the present session of the congress
our whole atteition and energy should
be concentrated on the vigorous and
rapid and successful prosecution OF
the great task of winning the war.
WAR OF HIGH PRINCIPLE.
I'VE can do this with all the greater
zeal and enthusiasm because we know
that for us this is a war of high prin-
ciple, debased by no selfish motive
of conquest or spoliation because we
know, and all the world knows, that
we have been forced into, 1t to save
the very institutions we live under
from corruption and destruction.
"The purposes Of the central pow
ers strike straight at the very heart OF
everything we believe in; their meth
DDS Of warfare outrage every principle
Of humanity and Of knishtiy honor;
their intrigue has corrupted the very
thought and spirit Of many Of our peo-
Pile; their sinister and secret dipio-
macy has sought to take our very ter.
ritory away from Us and disrupt the
union Of the states. Our safety would
be at an end, our honor forever sullied
and brought into contempt were we to
permit their triumph. They are strik-
ing at the very existence Of democracy
and liberty.
BATTLE TO END.
ut 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, war for the preservation of
our nation and of all that it has held
dear Of principle and of purpose, that
we feel ourselves doubly constrained
to propose for its outcome only that
which is righteous and of irreproach-
able 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 tra,ktions! For
this cause we entered the war and for
this cause will we battle until the last
gun is fired.
EYES OF WORLD ON U. S. Il
IT 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 forgotten 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 gen.
erations 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, devoutly be-
lieve, only If they rise to the clear
heights of His own justice and mercy"