Evening star., 1918-05-19
IT, S. TO SET NO LIMIT TO WIN
WAR, PRESIDENT DECLARES;
PARADE OF LOCAL RED CROSS
ext0fSpeech
Delivered by
President

"Mr. Chairman and fellow-coun-
think that Mr.. Dawson in any de-
gree curtailed his exceedingly in
teresting speech for fear that he
was postponing mine. because l
am sure you listened with the same
intent and intimate interest with
which I listened to the extra
ordinarily vivid account he gave
of the things which he had realized
because he had come in contact
with them on the other side of the
waters
I'VE compass them with. our i'm
agination; he compassed. them in
his personal experience. and l am
not come here tonight to review
for you the work of the Red Cross:
1 am not competent to do SO be-
cause l have not had the time or
the opportunity to follow 1t in de-
tail. 1 have come here simply to
say a few words to you as to what
1t all seems to me to mean, and 1t
means great deal.
we Face Two Duties.
There are two duties with which
we are face to face The first duty
Is to win the war. And the second
duty. that goes hand in hand with
II, Is to win it greatly and worthily,
showing the real quality of our
power not only. but the real quail
1ty OF our purpose and Of ourselves.
OF course, the first duty. the
duty that we must keep in the
foreground Of our thought until it
Is accomplished is to win the war.
nave heard gentlemen recently
say that we must get 1--WE million
men ready. Why limit 1t to Ave
million?
II have asked the Congress Of
the United States to name no limit
because the Congress intends,
am sure. as we all intend, that
every ship that can carry men or
supplies shall go laden upon every
voyage with every man and every
supply she can carry.
Will Not Be Diverted.
'And we are not to be diverted
from the grim purpose of winning
proaches upon the subject Of peace.
l can say with a clear conscience
that I have tested those intima-
tfons and have found them insin-
cere. ! now recognize them for
What they are-an opportunity to
have q free hand, particularly in
the east. to carry out purposes Of
~. Every spFoposxf win regard To-
accommodation In the west in
wolves reservation with regard to
the east. Now, SO far as am
concerned. intend to stand by
Russia as well as Francen'
A voice from the audience interrupt
ID with: God bless you"
The helpless and the friendless
are the very ones that need friends
and succor; and IL any man in Ger
many thinks we are going to sacri-
fee anybody for our own sake I tell
them now they are mistaken.
First Unselfsh War.
For the glory Of this war, nv
fellow citizens, in so far as we are
concerned, is that 1t is, perhaps for
the first time in history. an unself-
tsh war. / could not be proud to
fight for a selfish purpose. but / can
be proud to fight for mankind. If
they wish peace let them come for
ward through accredited representa-
tives and lay their terms on the
table. We have laid ours and they
know what they are.
But behind all this grim purpose,
my friends, lies the opportunity to
demonstrate not only force. which
will be demonstrated to the utmost,
but the opportunity to demonstrate
character. and it is that opportunity
that we have most conspicuously in
the work of the Red Cross. Not
that our men in arms do not repre-
sent our character, for they do, and
1t Is a character which those who
see and realize appreciate and ad-
mire; but their duty Is the duty of
force. The duty of the Red Cross is
the duty Of mercy and succor and
friendship.
Have you formed a picture in
your imagination of what this war
is doing for US and for the world
In my own mind I am convinced
that not q hundred years of peace
could have knitted this nation to-
gether as this single year Of war
has knitted it together; and better
even than. that. II possible. it Is
knitting the world together.
Four Nations Against %.
Look at the picture. In the
center of the scene. four nations
engaged against the world. and
at every point of vantage. show
ing that they are seeking selfish
aggrandizement; and, against
them. twenty-three governments.
representing the greater part Of
the population of the world. drawn
together into new sense OF COM
munity of interest. h new sense of
community of puI pose. a new sense
of unity Of life.
The Secretary Of war told me
an interesting incident the other
day He said when he was in
Italy a member of the Italian gov
ernment was explaining to him the
many reasons why Italy felt near
to the United States.
"If you want 10 try an Interest,"
ing experiment go up to any one OF
these troop trains and ash in Eng
lish how many of them have been
in America and zee what hap
pens?'
"He tried the experiment He
said: How many Of you boys have
been in American and he said it
seemed to him as IL hal; OF them
sprang up: Me from San Francis
co: me from New York: all over
There was part of the heart of
America in the Italian army. Poo
pie that had been knitted to US by
association. who knew us. who
had lived amongst us. who had
worked shoulder to shoul'lar with
u.s. and now friends of America,
were fighting for their native
Italy;
Friendship to Cement World.
Friendship Is the only cement
that will ever hold the world to-
gether. And this insistent con-
tact of the Red Cross with the
peoples who are suffering tho ter
rors and deprivations Of this war
Is going to be one Of the greatest
instrumentalities of friendship that
the world ever knew. and the CEN
ter of the heart Of II all. II we sus-