Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-12-09
TEXT OF WILSON'S
MESSAGE

The text of President Wilson
Message follows.
When 1 address myself to per-
forming the duty laid upon the
president by the constitution to
present to you an annual report
on the state of the union, I found
myself dominated by an immortal
sentence of Abraham Lincoln's,
LET us have faith that right
makes might. and in that faith
let us dare to do our duty as we
understand ia sentence i'm
mortal because it embodies in a
form of utter simplicity and pur-
ity the essential state of the ma
ton, the faith in which it was
conceived and the faith in which
it has grown to glory and power.
With that faith and the birth
of nation founded upon 1t came
the hope into the world that a
new order would prevail through
out the affairs of mankind, an
order in which reason and right
would take precedence of covet-
BUSINESS and force, and I believe
that I express the wish and pur-
pose of every thoughtful Ameri-
can when / say that this sentence
marks for us in the plainest man
ner the part we should play alike
in the arrangements of our do
mestic affairs and in our exer-
else of influence upon the af-
fairs of the world. By this faith
and by this faith alone, can the
world be lifted out of it's pres
ent confusion and despair.
1t was this faith which pre-
81
Germany. You will remember
the war came when the German
people found themselves face to
face with the conscience of the
world and realized that right was
everywhere arrayed against the
wrong that their government was
attempting to perpetrate. think,
therefore, that it is true to say
that this was the faith which
won the war. Certainly this is
the faith with which our gallant
men went into the field and out
upon the seas to make sure OF
victory.
Test Of Democracy
This is the mission upon
which democracy came into the
world. Democracy is an aSser-
ton of the right Of the Individual
to live and to be treated justly
as against any attempt. on the
part of any combination of lndl-
Viduals to make laws which Will
overburden him or which Will
destroy his equality among his
fellows in the matter OF right
or privilege, and I think we all
realize that the day has come
when democracy is being put
upon it's final test. The old world
is Just now suffering from a
wanton rejection Of the principle
of democracy and substitution
Of the principle of autocracy as
asserted in the name but with.
out the authority and sanction OF
the multitude. This is the time
should prove :ts purity and it's
spiritual power to prevail. 1t Is
surely the manifest destiny of
the United States to lead in the
attempt to make this spirit pre-
vail.
There are. wo ways in which
the United States can assist to
accomplish this great object:
First. by offering the example
will and power of democracy to
make and enforce laws which
are unquestionably just and
which are equal in their admins
tration-laws which secure it's
full right to labor and yet at
the same time safeguard the in
tegrity of property, and particu-
larly of that property which Is
devoted to the development of
industry and the increase Of the
Necessary wealth of the world.
Caonn6 h,y 10 nd ri
and justice as towards individual
nations. The law of democracy
is for the protection of the weak,
and the influence of every de-
mocracy in the world should be
for the protection of the weak
nation, the nation which is strug-
ling towards it's right and to-
wards it's proper recognition and
privilege in the family of ma
tions.
The United States cannot re-
fuse this role of champion with
out putting the stigma of re-
lection upon the great and de-
voted men who brought it's gov
eminent into existence and es-
tablished it in the face of almost
universal opposition and intrigue. !
even in the face of wanton force.
as, for example, against the Or
uGES Ill ,SOuHCll VI IESdL britain
and the arbitrary Napoleonic de-
crees which involved us in what
we know as the War of 1912.
Make u. s. An Example
I urge you to consider that the
display of an immediate DISPOSE
ton on the part Of the congress
to remedy any injustices or evils
that may have shown themselves
in our own national life will af-
ford the most effectual offset to
the forces of chaos and tyranny,
which are playing so disastrous
a part in the fortune Of the free