The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1918-04-12
WILL FORCE PEACE,
DECLARES WILSON
HUN GAGE OF BATTLE ACCEPTED
BY PRESIDENT IN BALTl-
MORE ADDRESS.
Reasons for the War, the Need to
Fight 1t Through, and the Issues
That Hang Upon Its Outcome Are
More Clearly Disclosed.

Baltimore.-President Wilson, at a
great Liberty loan celebration here
Saturday night, April 6, gave Amer
ica's answer to the German drive on
the western front.
The presidents address was as fol-
lows:
"Fellow citizens-This is the ami
versary of our acceptance of Ger
many'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 do, though in itself impera-
tive. The people of the whole coun-
try are alive to the necessity of it,
and are ready to lend to the utmost,
even where it involves a sharp skimp-
ing and daily sacrifice to lend out of
meager earnings. lney will look with
reprobation and contempt upon those
who can and will not, upon those who
demand 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 can,
more vivid conception 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 be-
fore. 1t is necessary to see just
what this particular loan means, be-
cause the cause we are fighting for
stands more sharply revealed than
at any previous crisis Of the mo-
mentous struggle. The man who
knows least can now see plainly how
| the cause of justice stands and what
| the imperishable thing is he is asked
| to invest in. Men in America may
be more sure than they ever were be
| fore 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.
| call you to witness, my fellow
countrymen, that at no stage OF this
terrible business have l judged the
purposes of Germany Unexpectedly
/ should be ashamed in the presence
of affairs so grave, so fraught with
| the destinies of mankind Throughout
all the world, to speak with trucu'
| lence, to use the weak language OF
hatred or vindictive purpose. We must
| Judge as we would be judged. l have
| sought to learn the objects Germany
has in the war from the mouths OF
| her own spokesman, and to deal as
1 frankly with them as | wished then
to deal with me. l have laid bare
our own ideals, our 'own purposes
without reserve or doubtful phrase
and have asked them to say as plain
| ~ what it is that they seek.
Proposes No Injustice.
ave have ourselves proposed no IN
| Justice, no aggression. We are ready
| whenever the final reckoning is made
to be just to the German people, dea
fairly with the German power, as VIII
all others. There can be no difference
between peoples in the final judgment
if it is, indeed, to be righteous Judg
ment. To propose anything but JUS
tice, even-handed and dispassionat'
Justice, to Germany, at any time, what
ever the outcome of the war, would By
, to renounce and dishonor our owl
cause. For we ask nothing that we ar
not willing to accord.
1T has been with this thought tina
I have sought to learn from those Wit
spoke for Germany whether it was jus
tice or dominion and the execution 0
their own will upon the other nation
of the world that the German leader
were seeking. They have answered
answered in unmistakable terms. The
have avowed that it was not justice
but dominion and the unhindered exc
cution Of their own will.
Germany Ruled by Military.
1.-THE avowal has not come from Gel
many's statesmen. 1t has come fror
her military leaders, who are her rea
rulers. Her statesmen have said tina
they wished peace, and were ready t
discuss its terms whenever their oppC
nents were willing to sit down at tn
conference table with them. Her pres
ent chancellor has said-in indefinit
and uncertain terms, indeed and i
phrases that often seem to deny thei
own meaning, but with as much plain
North American Moose.