New Britain herald., 1918-04-08
SOUNDS
GERIMANy'S kNELL
Accepts Challenge and Will Strike
to UttermOSt Of Power

the utmost, force without stint or
limit, the righteous and triumphant
force which shall make right the law
of the world and cast every selfish
dominion down in the dust"
That was President Wilson's an
sWer to the Hun challenge during the
course Of an address in the great Fifth
Regiment armory here Saturday night
at the opening of the campaign for
the Third Liberty Loan. The armory
was packed and the President was
frequently Interrupted by gales of
applause. When he concluded. tho
audience cheered wildly and soldiers
and sailors who heard his words joined
in the demonstration.
President Wilson's address in full
follows:
Fellow Citizens: This is the ami
versary of our acceptance of Ger
manys challenge to fight for our
right to live and be free, and for the
sacred rights of freemen 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 i'm
perative The people of the whole
country are alive to the necessity of
it, and are ready to lend to the ut
most, even khere it involves q sharp
skimping and daily sacrifice to lend
out OF meagTe earnings. They will
look with reprobation and contempt
upon those who can and will not,
upon those who demand higher rate
of interest, upon those who think of
it as a mere commercial transaction.
I have not come, therefore, to urge
the loan. I have come only to give
you If I con, a more vivid conception
| of what it is for.
1.-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 be-
! fore. 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 is the imperishable thing 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 if it should be lost
their own great nations place and
| mission in the world would be lost
| with it.
| II call You to witness, my fellow
! countrymen, that at no stage Of this
| terrible business have I judged the
| purposes of Germany Unexpectedly.
! I should be ashamed In the presence
OF affairs so grave, so fraught with the
1 init Of INK
! the world, to speak with turbulence, to
| use the weak language of hatred OR
| vindictive purpose. We must judge
| as we would be judged. I have sought
| to learn the objects Germany has in
this war from the mouths Of her own
| spokesman, 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.
1--WE have ourselves proposed no
injustice, no aggression We are
ready, whenever the final reckoning Is
made, to be just to the German peo-
pie, deal fairly with the German
| Power. as with all others. There can
be no difference between peoples IN
the final Judgment, If it Is indeed to
be a righteous judgment. To propose
| anything but justice. evenhanded and
dispassionate justice, to Germany al
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 tC
accord.
| ut as been with this thought thai
have sought to learn from those
-,
was Justice or dominion and the exc
cution of their own will upon the Other
nations of the world that the German
leaders were seeking. They have an
swered in unmistabeab1e terms. The,
have avowed that 1t was not justice
| but dominion and the unhinderet
execution of their own will.
1.-THE avowal has not come from
Germany's statesmen. 1t has com
from her military leaders, who ar
her real rulers. Her statesmen hav
said that they wished peace an
were ready to discuss it's terms when
| ever their opponents were willing I
sit down at the conference table wit
| them. Her present Chancellor ha
| said-in indefinite and uncertai
| terms, indeed, and in phrases tina
t often seem to deny their own meaning
| | but with as much plainness as h
| thought prudent-that he believe
| that peace should be based upon tn
principles which we had declared woul
be our own in the final settlement
At Brest-Litovsk her civilian dele
> gates spoke in similar terms; professe
their desire to conclude a fair peac
Y and accord to the peoples with who's
S fortunes they were dealing the rigr
to choose their own allegtances. BIT
Y action accompanied and followed tn
n profession. Their military master
: the men who act for Germany an
= exhibit her purpose in execution, PR