Middletown transcript., 1917-11-17
THANKSGIVING
/ PROCLAMATION
President Urges All to Be Thank
full. Even in War.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20
YcaIis Upon Nation In Midst OF War
To Thank God For Bless
ings Better Than
Mere Peace.

Washington.-Presi Wilson is
sued his 1917 Thanksgiving proclama-
tion, calling upon the nation, even in
the midst of the sorrow and great
peril of world shaken by war, to
thank God for blessings that are bet
ter than mere peace of mind and pros
perity of enterprise.
The proclamation, fixing Thursday,
November 29, as Thanksgiving Day,
Thanksgiving, 1917"
Bv the President of the United States
of America:
A Proclamation.
at has long been the hOnored GUS
tom of our people to turn in the fruit
full autumn of the year in praise and
thanksgiving to Almighty God for His
many blessings and mercies to us as
a nation That custom we can follow
now, even in the midst of the tragedy
of world shaken by war and immeas-
urable disaster, in the midst of sor-
row and great peril, because even
amidst the darkness that has gathered
about us we can see the great bless
ings God has bestowed upon us, bless
ing that are better than mere peace
of mind and prosperity of enterprise.
1--WE have been given the Opportun-
ity to serve mankind as we once
served ourselves in the great day of
our Declaration of Independence, by
taking up arms against tyranny that
threatened to master and debase men
everywhere, and joining with other
fr>a peoples in demanding for all the
nations of the world what we then de-
manded and obtained for ourselves.
In this day of the revelation of our
duty not only to defend our own rights
as nation, but to- defend also the
rights of free men throughout the
world, there has been vouchsafed us
in full and inspiring measure the reso-
luton and spirit of united action. We
have been brought to one mind and
purpose. A new vigor of common
counsel and common action has been
revealed in us. We should especially
thank God that, in such circumstances,
in the midst of the greatest enterprise
the spirits of men have ever entered
upon, we have, if we but observe a
reasonable and practicable economy,
abundance with which to supply the
needs of those associated with us as
we'll as our own. A new light shines
about us. The great duties of new
day awaken a new and greater ma
tional spirit in us. We shall never
again be divided or wonder what stuff
we are made of.
"And while we render thanks for
these things, let us pray Almighty God
that, in all humbleness of spirit, we
may look always to Him for guidance;
that we may be kept constant in the
spirit and purpose of service; that by
His grace our minds may be directed
and our hands strengthened, and that
in His good time liberty and security
and peace and comradeship of COM
mon justice may be vouchsafed all the
nations Of the earth.
"Wherefore, l, Woodrow Wilson,
President of the United States of
America, do hereby designate Thurs
day, the twenty-ninth day of Novem-
ber next as a day of thanksgiving and
prayer, and invite the people through
out the land to cease upon that day
from their ordinary occupations and
in their several homes and places of
worship to render thanks to God, the
great ruler of nations.
"In witness whereof have hereunto
set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed
Done in the District of Columbia
this 7th day of November, in the year
of our Lord one thousand nine hun
dred and seventeen and of the inde-
pendence of the United States of
America the one hundred and forty
second
(signed) WOODROW WILSON.
Ry the President: