The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1918-12-06

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in 1919.
Washington.-The following is the COM
plete text of President Woodrow Wilson's
address to congress in joint session on De
:ember 2:
Gentlemen of the Congress: The year that
mas elapsed since l last stood before you to
fulfill my constitutional duty to give the
congress from time to time information on
the state of the Union has been crowded
with great events, great processes and great
results that cannot hope to give you an
adequate picture of its transactions or of the
far reaching changes which have been
wrought in the life of our nation and of the
world. You have yourselves witnessed these
things, as l have 1t is too soon to assess
them, and we who stand in the midst Of
them and are part of them are less qualified
than men of another generation will be to
say what they mean or even what they have
been. But some great outstanding facts are
sinmistaKable and constitute IN a sense part
of the public business with which it is our
duty to deal. To state them is to set the
stage for the legislative and executive action
which must grow out of them and which we
have yet to shape and determine
Reviews Troop Shipment. a.,
A year ago we had sent 1928 men over
seas. Since then we have sent 1,95O,513, an
average of 162,542 each month. the number,
al ldClp IiSiHS III MAY ldSL W z4O,SO1s LII
June to 27s.76O, in July to 307.1s2 and con-
tinuing to reach similar figures in August
and September-in August 2S9,570 and in
September 257.43S. No such movement of
troops ever took place before across 5000
miles of sea. followed by adequate equipment
and supplies. and carried safely through
extraordinary dangers of attack-dangers
which were alike strange and infinitely diff
ficult TO guard against. In all this move
xnent only 1853 men were lost by enemy at
fonL of xuvhO csr l.
English transport which was sunk near the
Orkney islands.
United Nation.
l need not tell you what lay back Of this
great movement of men and material. It is
not inv.dious to say that back of it lay q
supporting organization of the industries of
the country and all its productive activities,
more complete. more thorough in method and
seffective in results, more spirited and unani-
NOUS in purpose and effort than any other
great belligerent had ever been able to eff
feet. We profted greatly by the experience
of the nations which had already been en-
gagged for hearly three years in the exigent
and exacting business, their every resource
and every executive proficiency taxed to the
utmost. We were the pupils. But we learned
quickly and acted with promptness and a
READINESS of cooperation that justify our
great pride that we were able to serve the
world with unparalleled energy and quick
accomplishments
Praise for Heroes.
But it is not the physical scale and execu-
tive efficiency Of preparation, supply, equip
.ment and dispatch that I would dwell upon.
but the mettle and quality of the officers and
men we sent over and of the sailors who kept
the seas and the spirit of the nation that
stood behind them. No soldiers or sailors
ever proved themselves more quickly ready
for the test of battle or acquitted themselves
with more splendid courage and achievement
N fho foot Of ,rLc
played some part in directing the great
processes by which the war was pushed ire
'sistibly forward to the final triumph may
now forget all that and delight our thoughts
with the story of what men did Their
Officers understood the grim and exacting
task they had undertaken and performed
with audacaSy, efficiency and unhesitating
courage that touch the story of convoy and
battle with imperlshable distinction at every
turn. whether the enterprise were great or
small-from their chiefs, Pershing and Sims
down to the youngest lieutenant; and their
men were worthy of them-such men as
hardly need to be commanded, and go to
their terrible adventure blithely and with the
quick intelligence of those who know Just
what it is they would accomplish. I: am
proud to be the fellow countryman of men
of such stuff and valor. Those of US who
stayed at home Dbl our duty; the war could
fought it given their opportunity to win it
otherwise; but for many a long day we
shall think ourselves "accurs'd we were not
there, and hold our manhoods cheap while
any speaks that fought with those at St. |
Mihiel or Thierry. The memory of those
days Of triumphant battle will go with these
fortunate mn to their graves, and each will |
ihave his favorite memory. "Old men forget |
yet all shall be forgot. but he'll remember |
with advantages what feats he did that |
day" |
Our Men Turned Tide.
What oil thanh Cod for ,,r;th Joou,,t |
gratitude is that our men went in force into |
the line of battle just at the critical moment |
when the whole fate Of the world seemed to
hang in the balance and threw their fresh
10 turn the whole tide and sweep of the fate
full struggle-turn it once for all, that
thsnceforth it was back, back, back for their
enemies, always back. never again forward.
After that it was only a scant four months
before the commanders of the central empires
knew themselves beaten and now their ~yery
tsmpires are in liquidation.
Nobility of Purpose.
And throughout it all how fine the spirit
of the nation was! What unity of purpose,
what untiring zeal, what elevation of purpose
ran through all its splendid display of
strength its untiring accomplishment
have said that those of us who stayed at
home to do the work of organization and
supply will always wish that we had been
with the men whom we sustained by our Ia
Dor, but we can never be ashamed. It has
been an inspiring thing to be here in the
midst of fine men who had turned aside from
every private interest of their own and de-
voted the whole of their trained capacity to
the tasks that supplied the sinews of the
whole great undertaking The patriotism,
the unsefishness. the thoroughgong devotion
and distinguished capacity that marked their
toilsome labors, day after day, month after
month, have made them fit mates and COM
rades of the men in the trenches and on the
sea. And not the men here in Washington
only. They have but directed the vast
achievement. Throughout innumerabe facto- I
ries. upon innumerable farms, in the depths
of coal mines and iron mines and copper
mines, wherever the stuffs of industry were
to be obtained and prepared, in the ship
yards, on the railways, at the DOCKS on the
sea, in every labor that was needed to sus-
tain the battle lines, men have We'd with
each other to do their part and do it we'll
They can look any man-at-arms in the face
and say I'VE also strove to win, and gave
the best that was in to make our fleets
and armies sure of their triumph"
4 Tribute to Women. {
And what shall we say of the women--of
their instant intelligence quickening every
task that they touched their capacity for or
ganization and cooperation, which gave their
action discipline and enhanced the effective
ness of everything they attempted; their apti-
tude at tasks to which they had never before
set their hands; their utter self sacrifice
alike. in what they did and in what they
payef Their contribution to the great result