Seward daily gateway., 1924-02-04
sons of it's diverse population and di "iued -n s:ler:.

'Sho VI I'H ui'ciSc Ioi'ul;ttl)ll anu ul
 "iued S -n s:ler.
 A tragic moMent n the President
 life came. when sitting at the bedsid,
 of his dying wife, he penned a mes
 sage to the European powers suggest ing peaceful settlement. Mrs. Vii
 son died on August 6, 1914, and th.
 President took her body to her girl
 hood home in Rome, Georgia, for bur
 ial. The family circle had been brok
 en only short time previously by tht
 marriage of two of the President:
 daughters Jessie and Eleanor, one tt
 Francis Bowes Sayre and the other
 to William Gibbs McAdoo, then Secre
 tary of the Treasury Mrs Wilson's death left the President alone excep
 for his eldest daughter, Margaret, who
 was absent much of the time in wei
 fare work
 The Wilson family had preserved its
 simple dOmesticity upon coming to the White House. The household furni
 ture, including a sewing machine which had been brought from Prince ton, was installed on the second floor Of the mansion away from the form. al settings of State parlOrs on the floor below. There the President and his wife and children lived among their own personal belongings and it was in this seclusion, after a hard days work, that MT. Wilson found comfort and rest. Often he read aloud in the evening to the members of his family.
 Mrs. Wilson's death plunged the President into deep personal grief. With it came the anxiety of guiding the country alright in a world afire To add to his perplexities, the prac- tices of the German goyernment-par- ticularly in submarne warfare were ineXplicable to men of honesty and candor He found it hard to believe that the innumerable atrocities charg- ed against U-boat commanders could be attributed to the orders of the German government but his disallu- sionment finally came after the most prolonged exchange of notes and war nings
 On May 2, 1915, the great steamship Lusitania was torpedoes and sunk off the coast of Ireland with a loss of if teen hundred lives, more than no of them American and many women and children. Great Britain in her block ade. had been accused of violating in ternational law but her acts involved only losses of property and damages which could be assessed in money. This situation, however, served to af- feet large element of Americans and worked to the advantage of the Cent ral Powers. With the sinking of the Lusitania, however, sentiment chang ed. The fact that Germany was talk ing her toll in human lives of neutrals was emphasized. There was a wide spread camor in the United States for war.
 Still President Wilson hesitated. Formal diplomatic protests,-note writing his critics called it-contin- ued. Meantime German spies and pro- pagandists were active. Munition plants, ships and wharves were being burned or dynamited to hinder the shipment of supplies to the allies. The President was slowly reaching the conclusion that the United States was being forced into the war and that 1t must soon determine to defend it's rights against such aggressions on the land and sea.
 The first Lusitania note to Germany solemnly warned the German Emper- or against the wanton murder of Am ericans "on peaceful enjoyment of their rights on the high seas" The German government replied with blast of irrelevancies. It adroltly trl- ed to use the United States as club to force England to lift the blockade. In the midst of the note writing, MT. Bryan, one of the foremost advocates of world peace, and Secretary of State resigned because he disagreed, it was said with the Presidents course ill his negotiations with Germany. They parted friends, however, and Mir. Bry- an supported his former chief for the in 1916.
 The net result of the diplomatic cor with Berlin was that Ger many, one year after the loss of the Lusitania, pledged herself to respect the rules of civilized warfare on the sea.
 Ship after ship had been sent to the bottom without warning and this eli max came with the sinking on March "A 1916 of the English Channel stea- mer Sussex. The President, in a final note, served notice on the German Emperor that he might expect war with the United States if the 'inhu- man and illegal" practices continued His warning to Germany that she would be held to "a strict account: Tn ity" and his later declaration that -4- erica would use force without limit" stirred responsive chords in the hearts of most Americans.
 Germany for few months kept her promise. MT. Wilson, dubious that her comparativ 7 good behavior would continue, addressed the Senate in December 1916, and urged the na- tions at war to attempt a settlement. If was tha cnlahra+Qd "naaoo without