Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-04-09

BALTIMORE, April 6.-The complet
ext of President Wilson's stirring wa
ddress delivered here tonight follows
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 it. We
know what the war must cost, our
utmost sacrifice, the lives of our
fittest men and, if need be, all that
we possess. The loan we are met
to discuss, is one of the least parts
of what we are called upon to give
and to do, though in itself impera-
tive. The people of the whole
country are alive to the necessity
of it, and are ready to lend to the
utmost, even where it involves a
sharp skimping and daily sacrifice
to lend out of meagre earnings.
They will look with reprobation
and contempt upon those who can
and will not, upon those who de-
mand a higher rate of interest,
upon those who think of it as
mere commercial transaction.
have not come, therefore, to urge
the loan. l have come only, to give
you, if l can, more vivid concep-
ton of what it is for.
Reasons for the War
THE reasons for this great war.
the reason why it had to come, the
need to fight it through, and the
issues that hang upon it's 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 JUS
tice stands and what the imperlsh-
able 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, ana
that. if it should be lost, their own
great nations place and mission In
the world would be lost with 1t.
Judgment Not Tasty
81 call you to witness, my fellow
countrymen. that at no stage or
this terrible business have l judged
the purposes of Germany intemper-
ately. | should be ashamed in the
presence of affairs so grave, so
fraught with the destinies of man
kind throughout all the world, to
sneak with turbulence, to use the
weak language of hatred or vindic-
tive purpose. We must judge as
we would be judged. l have
sought to learn the objects Ger
MANY has in this war from
the mouths of her own spokes-
men. and to deal as frankly with
them as | wished them to deal with
me have laid bare our own
ideals, our own purposes, without
reserve or doubtful phrase. and
have asked them to say as plainly
what it is that they seek.
I'VE 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
mower, as with all others. There
can be no difference between peo-
piles in the final judgment, if it
is indeed to be a righteous judg-
ment. To propose anything but
Justice, even-handed and dispas-
sionate justice, to Germany at any
time. whatever the outcome of the
war, would be to renounce and dis
honor our own cause. For we ask
nothing that we are not willing to
accord.
"It has been with this thought
that l have sought to learn from
hA Cnnlra for fTPTmanX
whether it was justice or dominion
and the execution of their own will
upon the other nations of the world
that the German leaders we're seek
ing. They have answered, answered
in Enthusiastically terms. They have
avowed that it was not justice, but
dominion and the unhindered eXecu-
ton 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.
Military aMsters Rule
"Her statesmen have said that they
wished peace, and were ready to
discuss it's terms whenever their
opponents were willing to sit down
at the conference table with them.
Her present chancellor has said
in indefinite 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 declar-
ed 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 peoples with whose fortunes
they were dealing the right to
choose their own allegiances. But
action accompanied and followed
the profession. Their military mas
tiers, the men who act for Ger
many and exhibit her purpose in ex-
ecution, proclaimed a very differ
ent conclusion. We can not mis-
take what they have done-in Rus
STA, in Finland, in the Ukraine, in
Rumania The real test of their
Justice and fair play has come.
From this we may judge the rest.
They are enjoying in Russia a
cheap triumph in which no brave
or gallant nation can long take
pride. 4 great people, helpless by
their own act, lies for the time at
their mercy. Their fair professions
are forgotten. They nowhere set up
Justice. but everywhere impose
their power and exploit everything
for their own use and aggrandiZe-
ment; and the peoples of conquered
provinces are invited to be free I'M
der their dominion!
"Ore we not justified in believing
that they would do the same things
at their western front if they were
not face to face with armies whom
even their countless divisions can
not overcome? If, when they have
felt their check to be final. they
should propose favorable and equi-
table terms with regard to Belgium