The Washington herald., 1918-04-07

Ae w ASSh Al oo1b1AAl0
Fellow Citizens: This Is the
anniversary of our acceptance OF
Germany's challenge to fight for
our right to live and be free,
and for the sacred rights Of free
men everywhere. The Nation is
awake. There is no need to call
to 1t. We know what the war
must cost. our utmost sacrifice,
the lives Of our fittest men, and
II need be- all that we possess.
Loan Least Important.
The loan we are met to dis
what we are called upon to give
and to do, though In itself i'm
peratiye. The people Of the whole
country are alive to the neees-
sity OF IL, and are ready to lend
to the utmost, even where IL in
wolves a sharp skimpinE and
daily sacrifice to lend cut of
meagre earnings. They will look
with reprobatIon and contempt
upon those who ean and will not,
upon those who demand q higher
rate OF interest, upon those who
think of IL ms n mere commercial
transaction.
have not come, therefore, to
urge the, loan. have, come only
to give you. II can, a more
vivid conception of what 1t is
for. .,
The reasons for this great war,
the reason why 1t had to come. the
need to fight 1t through, and the
issues that hang upon its outcome,
are more clearly disclosed now
than ever before. 1t Is easy TO
see just what this particular loan
means because the cause we are
fighting for stands more sharply
revealed than at any previous
crisis OF the momentous struggle.
The man who knows least can
now see plainly how the cause of
justice stands and what the inn
perishable thing is he Is asked to
invest in. Men in America may
be more sure than they ever were
before that the cause Is their own
and that. II it should be lost. their
own great nations place and mis-
sion in the world would be lost
with it.
Judgment Temperate.
call you to witness. my fellow
countrymen, that at no stage of
this terrible business have I judged
the purposes of Germany inten-
perately. l should be ashamed In
the presence of affairs so grave,
so fraught with the destinies OF
mankind throughout all the world,
to speak with turbulence, to use
the weak language of hatred or
vindictive purposes. We nuts judge
as we would be Judged. i have
sought to learn the objects Ger
many has in this war from the
mouths of her own spokesmen,
and to deal as frankly with them
as I wished them to deal with me.
have laid bare our own ideals,
our own purposes, without re-
serve or doubtful phrase. and
have asked them to say as plainly
what it is that they seek.
We have ourselves proposed
no injustice, no aggression. We
are ready whenever the final
reckoning is made. to be Just
to the German people, deal fairly
with the German power, as with
all others.
There can be no difference be-
tween peoples in the final judg-
ment, II it Is indeed to be a right
eous judgment. To propose any
thing but justice, even-handed and
dispassionate justice, to Germany
at any time. whatever the outcome
Of the war, would be. to renounce
and dishonor our own cause. For
we ask nothing that We are not
willing to accord.
Seek Conquests.
1t has been with this thought
that 1 have sought to learn from
those who spoke for Germany
whether it was justice or dominion
and the execution of their own will
upon the other nations of the
world that the German leaders
were seeking. They have answer
ed, answered in unmistakable
terms. They have avowed that 1t
was not justice but dominion and
the unhindered execution of their
own will.
The avowal has not come from
Germany's statesmen. 1t has come
from her military leaders, who are
her real rulers Her statesmen
have said that they wished peace,
and were ready to discuss its
terms whenever their opponents
were willing to sit down at the
conference table with them. Her
present chancellor has said-in in
definite and uncertain terms, In
deed, and in phrases that often
seem to deny their own meaning,
but with as much plainness as he
thought prudent-that he believed
that peace should be based upon
the principles which We had de-
clared would be our own in the
final settlement.
At Brest-Litovsk' her civilian
delegates spoke in similar terms;
professed their desire to conclude
a fair peace and accord to the peo-
Piles with whose fortunes they
were dealing the right to choose
their own allegiances. But action
accompanied and followed the pro-
fession. Their military masters.
the men who act for Germany and
exhibit her purpose in execution,
proclaimed a very different con-
clpslo1 VS. .csnnot mistake what