Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1920-04-21

nave the right and privilege of beliey-
ing that Mr.. Roosevelt may have pre-
vented war;. You have perfect right
TO such opinion and to express the same
But claim for myself the same privil-
eye, and what I attempted to show in
the talk you criticise was that this
clalm made by you against the Presi-
cent was false and that the facts in
the case prove cOnclusively that he did
everything any American President
could honorably do to avoid the war.
The first paragraph Of the Presidents
War Message reads:
II have called the Congress into
extraordinary session because there
are serious. very serious choices of
policy to be made, and made i'm
mediately, which it is neither right
nor cOnstitutionally permissible
that l should assume the RESPONSE
bility Of making"
The President then relates to the
Congress some Of the facts with re-
spect to the war-like acts of the I'm
perial German Government against the
people and Government Of the United
States. Among these he mentions the
unlawful sinking Of passenger ships
the wanton and wholesale destruction
Of the lNes Of non-combatants; that
Prussian autOcracy has filled our un-
suspecting communities, and even our
offices Of government, with spies and
set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot
against our national unity of counsel.
our peace within and without, our in
dustries, and our commerce.; that
even hospital ships and ships carry
ing relief to the sorely bereaved and
stricken people of Belgium, though the
latter were provided with safe conduct
through the prescribed areas by the
German Government itself and were
by unmistakable marks
Of identity, have been sunk with the
same reckless lack Of compassion or of
principle" These acts, and many
others mentioned by the President, were
such that he, as the constitutional
leader of the Republic and in "unhesi-
tating obedience to- that duty, advised
that "the Congress declare the recent
course of the Imperial German Govern
ment to be in fact nothing less than
war against the Government and peo-
pie Of the United States.
And the Congress acted and acted
quickly and emphatically, the vote in
favor of the war resolution being 373
to so in the House and 80 to 6 in the
Senate.
The Committee on Foreign Affairs of
the House in presenting the war reso-
luton listed at least twenty-one crimes
Or unfriendly acts committed upon our
soil with the connivance Of the German
Government. Amongst these we're: In
citing the Hindoos within the United
States to stir up revolts in India and
them with funds for that pur-
pose; running a fraudulent passport
office for German reservists; sending
German Agents to England to act as
spies equipped with American pass
ports; outftting steamers to supply
German raiders and sending them out
Of American ports in defiance of our
laws: sending an agent from the United
States for the purpose Of blowing up
the International Bridge at Vanceboro,
Maine: furnishing funds to German
agents to blow up factories in Canada
financing newspapers in this country to
conduct propaganda serviceable to the
German Government to manufactur
and place bombs on ships leaving the
United States; stirring up anti-Ameri-
can sentiment in Mexico; and many
others. ::
There can be no question but that the
war was forced upon us and that war
actually, existed when the President ad-
dressed the Congress. We were not
lied" into it by any one. 81
The leadership imposed upon the
President and concerning which he
speaks in the War Message is entirely
different from the leadership to which
YOU refer In your first editorial. You
might as well charge the chief Of a fire
with incendiarism because
he leads4his forces against a conflagra-
ton as to charge the President Of the
United States with Heading our coun-
try into the-war''
Your slur about President Wilson's
beautifully worded notes. is hardly
worth mentioning. Nevertheless, can
not refrain from calling your attention
to the fact that some of the German
leaders ascribe to these notes the be-
ginning of the downfall of Germany in
this war Gen. Won LudendOrf says:
"The answer to Wilson was despatched
on the Goth. The submarine campaign
was abandoned. This concession to
Wilson. was the deepest blow to the
army and especially to the navy. The