https://kiakimamuseum.org/files/original/1ad9bdcab71bba512fd65e9ed9714ff9.pdf 6bbab83db50bdaca6e9648e299982f4e PDF Text Text .I ~-------------M--------'+ WAR for LIBER TY President Wilson's Address to Congress April 3rd, 1917 ��e VERY American c itizen shou ld read carefully and ponder over the president's message to Congress. Q That message should be read in every public and private school in the nation. Q The spirit of the message should be explained to little children . In the message there is a spirit of lofty p atriotism. It is a plea for a war-not a war against a people, but a war against an autocratic dynasty. The president draws the issue squarely between absolutism and democracy. H e raises the ban· ner of democracy, and calls upon all liberty lov· ing people of the world to rally under it. Woodrow Wilson in his message threw the banner of liberty, of equality and of fraternit.11 within the ranks of Caesari sm; and it behooves the lovers of liberty and equality to fight their way through the lines and up to a realization of the ideals that the president enunciates.-Commercial Appeal. The president's message is a great sta t e paper which will rank in history among t he great stat<! papers of which Americans in futur e years will be proud.-Theodore Roos evelt. The president 's message is an ,;~!mirable set · ting forth of t he causes that mnst lead the United States into a d eclaration of war. It :s a g reat historical s tate paper. Its rnstraincll ancl mocleratecl phrases give it w o'l<lerfnl strength. It covers t he entire fi eld upott \Yhicli wr: are now entering. Its approval of nn"ivcrsal M mpulsoi·y service ancl of a close practir.a ! alliance with England, France and R ussia in overcoming Prussia n militarism, show s t he ;ncsidcnt 's <l C'termination that the country when at war shall wage it effectively.-Wm. H owa.nl 'faft. ��President Wilson's Message Deli-vernd to Both Houses qf Congress 1vhiclt He Asked Congress to Declare /lie U. S. in a Stale qf War 1vith Gennany in WASHINGTON, April 2.-President Wilson tonight asked Congress to declare a state of war existing betwceu the U nited States and Ge1·many. While the news of the s ubmarining of the st eamer Aztec-the first A merican armd ship to sail into the war zone-was being told fr om mouth to mouth in t he capitol, t he president, a ppearing before House and Senate in j oiut session, asked Congress to recognize a nd deal with Germany's warfare on America. The prcsicl ent said war with Germany would involve practical co-operation with t he govemments uow at war with Germany, including liberal finan cial credits. The president urged the organization of an army of at least 500,000 men, chosen ''upon the principle of universal liability to service. '' The president made it elear t hat no action was being taken against the Austrian government and the other nations allied with Germany. President Wilson spoke as follows: ''I have called th e Congress into extraordinary session because t here are serious, very serious choices of policy to be made, -and m ade immediately, which it was 11eithc1· right nor constitutionally permissible that I should assume t he responsibility of making. �''On the third of February last I officially laid before you the extraordinary announcement of the imperial German government that on and after the first day of February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. That had seemed to be the object of the German sub marine warfare earlier in the war, but since April of last year the imperial government had somewhat restrained the commanders of its undersea era.ft in conformity with its .promise then given to us that passenger boats should not be sunk and that due warning would be given to all other vessels which its submarines migh~ seek to destroy, when no resistance was offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews were given at least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats. ~'The precautions taken were meager and haphazard enough as was. proved in distressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint was observed. ''The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the lat.tar were provided with safe �conduct th1·oug h t he proscribed areas by t he German governme nt itself and were distinguis hecl by unmistakable marks of identity, have been sunk with the same i·ecklcss lack of compassio n or of principle. ''I was for a little while unable to b elieve that such things would iu fact b e done by any governme nt t hat had hitherto subscribed to the huma ne practices of civilized nations. Internatio nal law had its origin in t he attempt to set up some law which would he respected and observed upon the seas, where no nation had right of dominion and where lay the free highways of the world. "By painful stage after stage has t ha t law been built up with meager enough results, indeed, after all was accomplis hed that could be accomplis hed, but always with a clear view, a t l east of what the heart and conscience of mankind dem anded. This minimum of right the German governme nt has swept aside under the plea of retaliation and n ecessity and because it Juul no weapons which it could use at sea except those which it is impossible to employ as it is employing them without throwing to the winds all scruples of humanity or of r espect for the understan dings that were supposed to underlie the intercourse of the world. '' I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense and serious as that is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destructio n of the lives of non-comba tants, men, women and children, engaged in pusuits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern hist ory, been deemed innocent and legitimat e. P roperty can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people cannot be. The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind. �"It is a wa.r against all nations . Americ an ships have been sunk, Americ an lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of, but th e ships and people of other neutral and fri endly nations have bcon sunk and overwh elmed in t he waters in the same way. There has been no discrim ination . The challen ge is to all mankin d. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselv es must be made with a modera tion of counsel and a t emperateness of judgme nt befittin g our charac ter an1l our motive s as a nation. Vile must put excited feeling away. Our motive s will not be reveng e or t he victori · ous assertio n of the physica l might of the nation, but only the vindica ti on of right, of human rig ht, of which we are only a single champi on. "When I address ed the Congre ss on Feb. 26 last, I though t that it would suffice to asse1·t our neutral rights with arms, our right to use the seas against unlawful interference, our right to keep our people safe against unlawf ul violenc e. But armed neutral ity, it now appears , in imprac ticable . Becaus e submar ines are in effect outlaws, when used as the German submarine s have been used agains t mercha nt shippin g, it is imposs ible to defend ships against t heir attacks as the law of nations has assume d that mercha ntmen would defend themse lves agains t private ers or cruiser s, visibl e craft giving chase upon t he open sea. It is common pruden ce in such circum stance s-grim neces· sity, indeed- to endeav or to destroy them before th ey have ·shown their own intenti on. They must be dea lt with upon sight, if dealt with at all. ''The German govern ment denies the right of neutral s to use arms at all within the areas of the sea which it has proscri bed, even in the defense of rights �oned which no moder n public ist has ever before questi that yed conve is tion intima The their right t o defend . merour on placed have we which s guard t he armed of law chant ships will be treate d as beyon d the pale be . woulcl s pirate as with dealt be to t and subjec such n i best; at h .ll.l'med neutra lity is ineffe ctual enoug sions it i s circum stance s and in the face of such preten produ ce to only likely s i it ; ctual ineffe than worse cer.tain cally practi s i it nt; w hat it was meant to preve of rights he t either ut witho war the into us to draw the effecti v eness of l)cllig erents . a re ' 'Ther e is one choi ce we canno t ma ke, we path of i ncapa ble of makin g: We .will not choose the of 1Jur submi ssion a nd suffer the most sacrecl rights ed. Th e violat or d ignore be to people our and nation ar e no wrong s again st which we now array om·sel ves human of roots ery v the to cut they s; comm on wrong li fe. even ''With a profou nd sense of the solem n and of the and taking am I step the of cter chara cal tragi unhes itatgrave l"C5ponsibili ty which it involv es, but in al clut.y, tution consti my deem I what o t 1ee 1 ing obcclie of course recent the e I advise that t he Congr ess declar g nothin fact n i be to nment gover n Germa t he imper ial of the less than war again st the govem ment and people of belUnite d States ; that it forma lly accep t the status and that ligere nt, which has t hus ·been thrust upon it, ry in it ta.Ice imme diate steps not only to put the count all exert to also ut b se defen of state h g _ a more thorou bring t he its power and emplo y a ll its resour ces to a ncl end gover nment of the Germa n empir e to terms · t he war. e "Wha t this will i nvolve is clear. It will involv action and l counse in ration the utmos t practi cal co-ope �with the govern ments now at war with Germa ny and, as incide nt to that, t he extens ion to these govern ments of th e most liberal financi al credits , in order th a t our resourc es may so far as possib le be adcled to t heirs. It will involv e the organi zation and mobili zation of a ll the materi al resom ees of the countr y to supply th e materi als of war ancl serve tho inciden tal needs of t he countr y i n most abund ant ancl yet t he most econom ica l ancl ·efficie nt way possible. It will involv e t he immcclia tc full equipm ent of t he navy in all respec ts, but pa rticula rly in supply i ng it with th e best means of dealing with the enemy 's subma rines. " It will invol ve the immed iate additio n to the annecl forces of the U nited States al ready provid ed b~· law in case of war at least 500,000 men, w ho should , in my opinio n, be chosen upon th e principle of universal liabili ty to service, a ncl also t he author ization of s ubsequ ent additio nal increm ents of equal force so soon as they may be needed and can be handle d in t raining . It will in vol ve, a lso, of course, the granti ng of adequa te credits to t he govern ment, sustain ed, I hope, so far as they can equita.bly b e sustain ed by the p resent genera t ion, by well-co nceive d taxatio n. " I say sustain ed so far as may be equita ble by taxatio n becaus e it seems to me that it would be most unwise to base the credits which will now be necess ary entirel y on money borrowed. It is our duty, I most respec tfully urge, to protect our people so far as we may agains t t he very serious hardsh ips and evils which would b e likely to arise out of the inflati on which would be produced by vast loans. '' In carryi ng out the measu res by which these things are to be accornplish ecl we should keep con- �I ' I ' stant ly in mind the wisdom of int erfering as lit tle a s possibl e in our own prepara tion and in t he equip me nt of our own military forces wit h the clnty- for it will be a very practic al duty-o f supply ing t he nat i ons already at war with German y with t he materia ls whi11h they can obtain only from us or by our a ssistan ce. They are in t he fi eld, and we should help th em in every way to b e effectiv e t here. " I shall take t he liberty of suggest ing, t hrong h t he several executi ve depa rtment s of t he govern ment, for t he cons ideratio n of your commit tees, measur es fo r the a ccomplishmen t of the several object s I have .mentioned. I hope th at it will be your pleasur e t o d ea l wi t h t hem as having been frame d after very carefu l though t by t he b ranch of tlle govern men t u pon w hich t he respons ibility of conduc ting t he war ancl safcg ua1·ding t ho na tion will most directly f all. ' 'While we do these things, these d eeply mo· ment ous things, let us b e v ery clea r and ma ke ,·cr y clear to all the world what our motive s and our ob· j ect s a rc. My own t houg ht has not been driven from its habitua l and normal course by the u nhappy events of the last two mont hs and I clo not believe tha t the though t of the na tion has b een altered or clouded by them. "I have exactly t he same t hings in mind now t ha t I had in mind when I a ddresse d t he Senate on t he 22d of Januar y last; th e same that I had in mind when I a ddresse d the Cong ress on the 3d of F ebrua ry, an :l on t he 26th of F ebruary. Our object now, a s t hen, is t o vindicate t he p rinciple s of peace and justice i n thr life of t he world a s agains t selfish a nd aut ocratir. power and to set up amongs t t he really f ree and selfgove1·n cd peoples of the worl d such a concert of pm·· �pose a nd of action as will hencefort h i nsure t he ob· sc1·vance of t hose p rinciples. "Neutral ity is no longer feasible or desirable w here the peace of t he world is involved and t he free· clom of its peoples, and t he menace to that peace ancl freed om lies i n t he existence of autocratic governme n ts backed by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people. We have seen t he last of neutrality in such circumsta nces. "We a re at the beginn ing of an age in whicla i t wi ll be insisted t hat t he same standards of conduct and of responsibi lity for wrong done shall be obse1·vcd among nations and t heir governme nts t hat arc observed a mong t he i ndividual citizens of civilized states. "We have no quanel with the German people. We have no feeling towa rds t h em b ut one of sympathy a nd friendship . It was not upon their impulse that t heir governme n t acted in ent e ring this war. It was not "·ith their previous knowl edge or approval. '' It was a war determine d upon as wars ~:sed to be determine d upon in the old, unhappy clays when peoples were nowhere consultecl by t heir rulers and wars w ere provok ed and waged i n t he interest of dy· nasties or of little groups of ambitious men who were accust omed to use their fellow men as pawns aid tools. ''Self-gov erned nations do !tot tll t heir neigh hor states with spies or set t11e course of i n t1·iguc to bri ng about some critical posture of ;i!fairs w hich will gh·e t hem au opportuni ty to strik<: :rnd make eonquest. Snch designs can be successfully wor~rnd ouly u nder cover and w here 110 one has the rig!i!: to a sk questions. ''Cun ningly contrived plans rif deecpt•on or ag· g ression, carried, it may be, frorn ;~e neratio n to gen· �eration, can be worked out anrl kept frnm the 1ig11t only within the privacy of cour!s "r behind the carefully guarded confiden~es of a rnaow an'.1 pri vilcg-cd class. They ai·e happily impossi!ilc whore p,1blic opinion commands and insists upon full informat ion conccrnin g all the nation's affairs. ''A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintainecl except by a partnersh ip of democrati c nations. No autocratic governme nt could be trusted to keep faith within or observe its covenants . It must be a league of honor, a partnersh ip of opinion. Intrig ue would eat its vitals away; the plottings of inner circles who eoulcl plan what they would and render account to no one would be a corruption seated at its very heart. Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honor steady to a common end and prefer the intdrests of mankind to any narrow interest of their own. ''Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to our hope for the future peace of the world by the wonderfu l and heart ening things that have been happening within the last few weeks in Russia~ Russia was known by those who knew it best. to have been always in fact democrati c at heart, in all the vital habits of her thought, in all the intimate relationsh ips of her people that spoke their natural instinct, their habitual attitude towards life. ''The autocracy that crowned the summit of lier political structure, long as it had stood and t errible as was the reality of its power, was not in fact Ru5sian in origin, character or purpose; and now it has been shaken off and the great, generous Russian peop1c have been added in aJl their naive majesty and migh t to the forces that are fighting for freedom in t he �world, for justice a nd for peace. Herc i s a fit partner fo r a league of honor. " One of the t hings that has served to convince as that the Prus~ian autocracy was not and could never hll ou1· fri end is that from the very outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities and even onr offices of government with spies a nd set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of council, our peace within and withont, our i ndustries and our commerce. " Indeed, it is now evident t hat its spies were here even before t he war began; and it is, un happily, not a matt er of conjecture, but a fact proved in our courts of justice that t he intrigues which have more than once come perilously near to clisturbing the peace and dislocating t he industries of t he country have been carried on a t t he instigation, with the support and even under the personal direction of official agents of t he imperial government accredited t o the government of t he United Stat es. ' 'Even in checking these things and trying to ext irpate t hem we have sough t to put t he most generous interpret at ion possible upon them because we knew that their sources lay, not in any hostile feeling or purpose of t he German people towards us (who were, no doubt, a s ignorant of t hem as we ourselves were) , but only in the selfish desig ns of a government t hat did what it pleased and told its people n othing. B ut t hey have played their part in serving to convince us at last t hat t hat government enter tains no real friendship for us and means to act against our peace and security at its convenience. That it means to stir up enemies against us a t our very doors, the intercepted note to the German mini ster at Mexico City i s eloquent evidence. �"We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because wc know that in such a government, following such methods, we can never have a friend; and that in the presence of its organized power, always ly· ing in wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no assured security for the democratic governments of the world. "We are now about to accept gauge of battle ·wit h this natural foe to liberty and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that we see the facts with no veil of f alse pretense about t hem, to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German people included; for the rights of nations, great and small, and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life a nd of obedienc~. The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planned upon the trusted foundations of political liberty. ''We have no selfish ends to serve. W c desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities !or ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of t he champions of the rights of mankind. We shall b e satisfied when those rights have been as secure as the faith and the freedom of the nations can make them. "Just because we fight without ranc9r and without selfish objects, seeking nothing for our selves but what we shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with punctilio the principles of right and of fa.ir play we profess to l)e fighting for. 11 I have said nothing of t he governments allied with the imperial government of Germany because �they have not made war upon us or challenge d us to defend our rights and our honor. The A ustro·Hun · garian governme nt has, indeed, avowed its unqualifie d indorseme nt and acceptanc e of the reckless and law· less submarine warfare adopted now without disguise by the imperial German governme nt, it has therefore not been possible for this governme nt to receive Count Tarnowsk i, the ambassad or· recently accredited to this governme nt by the imperial and royal government of A.ustro-H ungary; but that governme nt has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the U nited States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at least, of postponin g a discussion of our relations with the authoritie s at Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it because there are no other means of defending 01ir rights. ''It will be all the easier for us to conduct our· selves a.s belligeren ts in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, not in enmity toward a people or with the desire to bring a ny injury or disadvant age upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsi ble governme nt which has t hrown aside .all considerat ions of humanity a ncl of right and is running a.muck. "We are, let me say a.gain, the sincere friends of the German people and shall desire nothing so much as the early re-establis hment of intimate relations of mutual advantage between us, however hard it may be for them, for the time being, to believe t hat this is spoken from our hearts. "We have borne with their present governme nt t hrou gh all these bitter months because of that friend- �ship-exer cising a patience and forbearance which would otherwise have been i mpossible. We shall, happily, still have a n opportunity to prove t hat fr iend- . ship in our daily a ttitude and actions towards t he millions of men and women of German birth and native sympathy who live amongst us and share our life, and we shall b e proud to prove it towards all who are i n fact loyal to t heir neighbor s and to the government i n the hour of test. They are, most of them, as true and loyal Ame ricans as if they had never k nown a ny other fea lty or allegiance. 'rhey will be prompt to stand with us in rebuki ng ancl restraining the few who ma~' be of a differen t mind and purpose. " If there should be disloyalt.v, it w ill be dealt with with a firm hand of stem repression; but if it lifts its head at all i t will lift it only here and there and without countena nce except from a lawless and malignant few. "It is a distressing and oppressive dut~·, gentle· men of t bc Congress, wh ic h I have performed in th us addressing you. There are, it may be, many months of fie ry t rial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful t hing to lead this g reat peaceful people in to war, i nto t he most terrible and disast rous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But th<' right is mor e precious than peace and we shall fight for th e t hings wh ich we 11avc always car riecl nearest our hearts- for democracy, for the r ight of t hose who submit t o authority to have a voice in their own governments, for t he rights and li berties of small nations, fo r a universal clomi nion of righ t by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace a nd safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free. �''To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other.'' ��·-------------·----+ + I II 'P rinted and Sold Under the Auspices of Chickasaw Council for Benefit of Boy Scout Organization ~RMPHIS, TENNESSKE DIXOH·PAUL PRIHTJHG CO ., MEMPHIS � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Chickasaw Council Publications and Papers Description An account of the resource Contains miscellaneous publications and papers by and about the Chickasaw Council. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document .I ~-------------M--------'+ WAR for LIBERTY President Wilson's Address to Congress April 3rd, 1917 e VERY American c itizen s hou ld r ead carefully and ponder over the president's message to Congress. Q That message should be read in every public a nd private school in the nation. Q The spirit of the message should be explain ed t o little children . In the message there is a spirit of lofty p a triotism. It is a pl ea for a war-not a war against a people, but a war against an autocratic d ynasty. The president draws the issue squarely between absolutism and democracy. H e raises the ban· ner of democracy, and calls upon all liberty lov· ing people of the world to rally under it. Woodrow Wilson in his message threw the banner of liberty, of equality and of fraternit.11 within the ranks of Caesari sm; and it behoove s the lovers of liberty and equality to fight their way through the lines and up to a realization of the ideal s that the president enunciates.-Commercial Appeal. The president's message is a great s t a t e paper which will rank in history among t h e great stat<! papers of which Americans in futur e years will be proud.-The odore Roos evel t. The preside nt 's me ssage is an ,;~!mirable s e t · ti ng forth of t h e causes that mnst l e ad the Unite d States into a d eclaration of war. It :s a g reat historical state pape r. Its rnstrain c ll ancl mocleratecl phrases give it w o'l<lerfnl stre ngth. It covers t h e entire fi eld upott \Yhicli wr: are now entering. Its approval of nn"iv c rsal M mpulsoi·y service an cl of a close pra c tir.a ! alliance with England, Fra n ce and R ussia in ove rcoming Prussi a n milita ris m , s how s t he ;ncsidcnt 's <l C'termination that the country whe n at war s hall wag e i t e ff ectively .-Wm. H owa.nl 'faft. President Wilson's Message D eli-vernd to Both Houses qf Congress in 1vhiclt He Asked Congress to Declare /lie U. S. in a Stale qf War 1vith Ge nnany WASHINGTON, April 2.-President Wilson tonight asked Congress to de clare a state of war existi ng betwceu the U nited States and Ge1·many. While the news of the s ubmarining of the st eamer Azt ec-the first American armd s hip to sail into the war zo n e-was b eing told from mouth to mouth in t he capitol , t he president, a ppearing before House and Senate in j oiut session, ask ed Congress to recognize a nd deal with Ge rmany's warfare on Ameri ca. The prcsicl ent said war with Germany would involve practical co-ope ration with t he gove mments uow at war with Germany, including libe ra l finan cial credits. The president urged the organizati on of an army of at l east 500,000 m en, ch osen ''upon the principle of universal lia b ility to ser vice. '' The president made it elear t hat no action was being taken against the Austrian government and the other nations a llied with Germany . Pres ident W ilso n spoke as follows: ''I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because t h ere are serious, very serious choices of policy to b e made, -and m ade immediatel y, which it was 11eith c1· right nor constitutionally permissible that I s hould assume t he responsibility of makin g. ''On the third of February last I officially laid before you the extraordinary announcement of the imperial German government that on and after the first day of February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. That had seemed to be the object of the German sub marine warfare earlier in the war, but since April of last year the imperial government had somewhat restrained the commanders of its undersea era.ft in conformity with its .promise then given to us that passenger boats should not be sunk and that due warning would be given to all other vessels which its submarines migh~ seek to destroy, when no resistance was offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews were given at least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats. ~'The precautions taken were meager and haphazard enough as was. proved in distressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint was observed. ''The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the lat.tar were provided with safe conduct th1·ough t he proscribed areas by t he German government itself and were distinguishecl by unmistakable marks of identity, have b een sunk with the same i·eckl css lack of compassion or of principle. ''I w as for a little while unable to b elieve that such things would iu fact b e don e by a ny government t hat h ad hitherto sub scribed to the huma n e practices of civilized nations. International law had its origin in t he attempt to set up some law which would he r espected and observed upon the seas, where no nation had right of domin ion and where l ay the free highways of the world. "By painful stage after stage h as t ha t law been built up with meager enough results, indeed, after all was accomplished that could be accomplished, but a lw ays with a cl ear view, a t l east of what the heart and conscience of mankind d em anded. This minimum of right the Germa n government h as swept aside under the plea of retaliation and n ecessity a nd because it Juul no w eapons which it could use at sea except those which it is impossible to empl oy as it is employing them without throwing to the w inds a ll scruples of humanity or of r espect for the understandings that w ere supposed to underlie the intercourse of the world. ''I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense and serious as that is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destruction of the lives of non-combatants, men, women and children, engaged in pus uits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern h ist ory, b een deemed innocent and legitimat e. P r operty can b e paid for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people cannot b e. The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind. "It is a wa.r against all nations. American ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and fri endly nations have b co n sunk and overwhelm ed in t he waters in the same way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all mankind. Each nation must dec ide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of counsel and a t emperateness of judgment befitting our character an1l our motives as a nation. Vile must put excited feeling away. Our motives will not be revenge or t he victori· ous assertion of the physical might of the nation, but only the vindicati on of right, of human rig ht, of which we are only a single champion. "When I addressed the Congress on Feb. 26 last, I thought that it would suffice to asse1·t our neutral rights with arms, our right to use the seas against unl awful interfer ence, our right to keep our people safe against unlawful v i olence. But armed neutrality, it now appears, in impracticable. Because submarines are in effect outlaws, when used as the German submarin es have b ee n used against merchant shipping, it is impossible to defend ships against t h eir attacks as the law of nations has assumed that merchantmen would d efend themselves against privateers or cruisers, visible craft giving chase upon t he open sea. It is common prudence in such circumstances-grim neces· sity, indeed- to endeavor to destroy t he m before they have ·shown their own intention. They must be dea l t with upon sight, if dealt with at all. ''The German government denies the right of neutrals to use arms at all within the areas of the sea which it has proscribed, even in the defense of righ ts which no modern publicist has ever before questioned their right t o defend. The intimation is conveyed that t h e armed guards which we have placed on our merchant ships will be treated as beyond the pale of law and s ubject to be dealt with as pirates woulcl be . .ll.l'me d neutrality is ineffectual enough at best; i n such c ircumstances and in the face of such pretensions it i s worse than ineffectual ; it i s likely only to produce what it was m eant to prevent; it i s practically cer.tain to draw us into the war without either t he rights of the effectiv e n ess of l)cllige rents. ' 'There is one choi ce we cannot ma ke, we a r e i ncapable of making: We .will not choose the path of s ubmission a nd suffer the most sacrecl rights of 1Jur nati on and our people to be ignored or violat e d. Th e wrongs against which we now array om·selves a r e no common wrongs; they cut to the v ery roots of human li fe. ''With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragi cal character of the step I am taking and of the grave l"C5ponsi bility which it involves , but in unhesitating obcclie11ee t o what I deem my con stitutional clut.y, I advise that the Cong ress decl are the r ecent cour se of t he imperial German government to be i n fact nothing less than war against the govemment and people of the United States; that it formally accept the status of bel ligerent, which has t hus ·been thrust upon it, a nd that it ta.Ice immediate steps not only to put the country in a more thorou_gh state of defense b ut a lso to exert all its power and employ a ll its resources to bring t h e government of the German empire to terms a ncl end t he war. · "What this will i nvolve is clear. It will involve the utmost practical co-operation in counsel and action with the governments now at war with Germany and, a s inc ident to that, t he extension to these governments of the most liberal financial credits, in order tha t our resources may so far as possible be adcled to t heir s. It will involve the organization and mobilization of a ll the material r esom ees of the cou ntry to supply th e materials of war ancl ser ve tho inciden tal needs of t he country i n most abundant ancl yet t he m ost eco nom ica l ancl ·efficien t way possible. It will involve t he immcclia tc full equipment of t he navy in all r espects, but partic ularly i n supplyi ng i t with th e bes t means of dealing with the en emy 's submarines. " It will involve the immedia te addition to the anne cl forces of the U nited States al ready prov ided b~· law in case of war at least 500,000 men, w ho s h ould, in my opinion, be ch osen upon th e prin cipl e of universal liability to servi ce, a ncl also t he authorization of s ubsequent additional i ncrements of e qual force so soon as they may be n eeded and can b e handled in t r aining. It will in vol ve, a lso, of cour se, the granting of adequate credits to t he government, sustained, I hop e, so far as they can equita.bly b e sustained by the p resent generat ion, by well-co n ceived taxation. " I say sustained so far as may be equitable by taxation because it seems to me that it would be most unwise to base the credits which will now be n ecessary entirely on money borrowed . It is our duty, I mo st resp ec tfully urge, to protect our people so far as we may against t he very serious ha rds hips and evils whic h would b e likely to arise out of the inflation which would be produced by vast loans. '' In carrying out the measures by which these things are to be accornpli sh ecl we should keep conI ' I ' stant ly in mind the wisdom of i nte rfer i ng as lit tle a s p ossible i n our own preparation and in t he equip me nt of our own military forc es wit h the clnty- for it will b e a very practical duty-of su pply ing t he na t i ons already at war with German y w i th t he materials whi11 h they c an obtain only from us or by ou r a ssistan ce . T h ey are in t h e fi eld, and we shoul d h elp them in every way to b e effectiv e t h ere. " I shall take t he l ibert y of suggesting, t hrong h t he severa l executive depa rtments of t he governme nt, for t he cons ideration of your comm ittees, m easures for the a ccomp li s hment of the several object s I have .mention ed. I h op e that it will be your p l easure t o d ea l wi t h t hem as having been framed after very careful thoug ht by t he b ranch of tlle gov ernmen t u pon w hich t h e r esponsibi lity of conduc ting t he war ancl safcg ua 1·ding t ho n a tion will most di rectly f all. ' 'While w e do these things, these deeply mo· m e n t ou s things, le t us b e v ery clea r and ma k e , ·cry clear to all the world what our motives an d our ob· j e ct s a rc. My own t houg ht has n ot been driven from its h a bitual and normal c ourse by the u nhappy events of the l ast two mon t hs and I clo not believe tha t the thought of the n a tion has b ee n altered or clouded by them. "I have exactly t h e same things in mind now t ha t I had in min d when I a ddressed t h e Senate on t he 22d of Janua ry last; th e same that I had in mind whe n I a ddressed the Cong ress on the 3d of F ebrua ry , an:l on t h e 26th of F ebruary. Our object now, a s then , is t o vindicate t he p rinciples of pea ce and justi ce i n thr life of t h e world as against se lfi s h a nd aut ocratir. power and to set up a m ongst t h e really f r ee and self gove1 ·n cd peo ples of the wor l d s uch a concer t of pm·· pose a n d of action as will henceforth i nsure t he ob· sc1·va n ce of t hose p rinci ples. "Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of t h e world is invol ved and t he free· clom of its peopl es, a nd t h e menace to that peace ancl freedom lies i n t he existence of autocratic governmen ts backed by organized force which is controlled w holly by their will, n ot by the w ill of their people. We have seen t h e l ast of neutrality in such circu mstances. "We a re at the beginning of an age in whicla i t will be insisted t hat t he sam e standards of conduct and of respons ibility for wrong done shall be obse1·vcd among nations a n d t heir governments t hat arc observed a mo n g t he i ndividual citizens of civilized states. "We have n o q uanel with the German people. We have n o feeling towards t h em b ut on e of sympathy a nd friendship. It was not upon thei r impulse that t heir governme n t acted i n ente ring this war. It was not "·ith their previous knowl edge or approval. '' It was a war d etermined upon as wars ~:sed to b e determined upon i n the old, un happy clays w hen peoples were nowhere consul tecl by t h eir rulers and wars w ere provok ed and waged i n t he interest of dy· nasties or of little groups of ambi tious men who were accust omed to use their fellow men as pawns aid tools. ''Self-governed nations do !tot tll t heir neigh hor states with spies or set t11e course of i nt1·iguc to bri ng about so me critical posture of ;i!fairs w hich will gh·e t hem au opportunity to strik <: :rnd make eonq uest. Snch designs can be successfull y wor~rnd ouly u nder cove r a n d where 110 one h as the rig!i!: to a s k question s . ''Cunningly contrived plan s rif deecpt•on or ag· g r ession, carried , it may be, frorn ;~e neration to gen· eration, can be worked out anrl kept frnm the 1ig11t only within the privacy of cour!s "r behind the carefully guarded confiden~es of a rnaow an'.1 pri vilcg-cd class. They ai·e happily impossi!ilc whore p,1blic opinion commands and insists upon full info rmat ion conccrnin g all the nation's affairs. ''A steadfast co ncert for peace can never be maintainecl except by a partnership of de moc ratic n ations. No autocratic government co ul d b e trusted to keep faith within or observe its covenants. It must be a league of honor, a partnership of opi nion. Intrig ue wo uld eat its vitals away; the plottings of inner circles who eoulcl plan what they wo uld and render account to no one would be a co rruption seated at its very h eart. Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honor steady to a co mmon end and prefer the intdrests of m ankind to any narrow interest of their own. ''Does n ot every American feel that assurance has been added to our hope for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and h eart ening things that have been happening within the l ast few weeks in Russia~ Russia was known by those who knew it best. to have been always in fact democratic at heart, in all the vital habits of her thought, in all the intimate relationships of h er p eopl e that spoke their n atural instinct, their habitual attitude towards life. ''The autocracy that crowned the summit of li e r political structure, long as it had stood and t errib le as was the reality of its power, was not in fact Ru5- sian in origin, ch aracter or purpose; and now it has been shaken off and the great, generous Russian p eop1c have been added in aJl their naive majesty and might to the forces that are fighting for freedom in t he world, for justi ce a nd for peace. Herc is a fit partner fo r a league of honor. " One of th e t hings that has served to convince as that the Prus~ian autocracy was not and could never h ll ou1· fri end is that from the very outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities and even onr offices of governm ent with spies a nd set c riminal intrigues e verywhere afoot against our national unity of council, our peace within and withont, our i ndustr ies and our commerce. " Indeed, i t i s now evident t hat its spies we re here even before t h e war began; and it is, un happily, n ot a matt er of conjecture, but a fact proved in our courts of justice that t h e intr igues which have more than once come perilously near to clisturbing th e peace and disl ocating t h e industries of the country h ave been carried on a t t h e instigation, with the support and even u n der the personal dir ectio n of official agen ts of t he imperial g overnment accredit ed t o the government of t he United Stat es. ' 'Even in ch ecking the s e things and trying to ext irpate t hem we have sough t to p ut t he most generous interpret a t ion possi ble upon them because we knew that their sour ces lay, not in any hostile feeling or p u rpose of t he German p eople towards us (who were, no doubt, a s ign or ant of t hem as we ourselves wer e) , but on ly in the selfi sh desig ns of a governme nt t h at did w h at it pleased and told its people n othing . B u t t h ey have played their part in ser vin g to c onvince us at last t hat t hat go v er nme nt en ter tains no real frien dship for us and means to act against our peace and securi ty at its convenience. T hat i t m eans to stir up enemies against u s a t ou r very d oors, the intercepted note to the Germ a n mini ster at Mexic o City i s eloquent evidence. "We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because wc know that in such a government, following such methods, we can never have a friend; and that in the presence of its organized power, always ly· ing in wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no assured security for the democratic governments of the world. "We are now about to accept gauge of battle ·with this natural foe to liberty and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that we see the facts with no veil of f alse pretense about them, to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German people included; for the rights of nations, great and small, and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of obedienc~. The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planned upon the trusted foundations of political liberty. ''We have no selfish ends to serve. W c desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities !or ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been as secure as the faith and the freedom of the nations can make them. "Just because we fight without ranc9r and without selfish objects, seeking nothing for our selves but what we shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with punctilio the principles of right and of fa.ir play we profess to l)e fighting for. 11 I have said nothing of t he governments allied with the imperial government of Germany because they have not made war upon us or challenged us to defend our rights and o ur honor. The A ustro·Hun· garian government has, indeed, avowed its unqualified indorsement and acceptance of the reckless and law· less submarine warfare adopted now without disguise by the imperial German government, it has therefore not been possibl e for this government to receive Count Tarnowski, the ambassador· recently accredited to this government by the imperial and royal government of A.ustro-Hungary; but that government has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the U nited States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at least, of postponing a discussion of our relations with the authorities at Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it because there are no other means of defending 01ir rights. ''It will be a ll the easier for us to conduct our· selves a.s belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, not in enmity toward a people or with the desire to bring a n y injury or disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsible government which has t hrown aside . all considerations of huma nity a ncl of right and is running a.muck. "We are, let me say a.gain, the s incere friends of the German people and shall desire nothing so mu c h as the early re-establishment of intimate relations of mutual advantage between us, however hard it may be for them, for the time being, to believe t h at this is spoken from our hearts. "We have borne with their present government t hrou gh all these bitter months because of that friendship- ex er cising a pati ence and forbeara nce which would oth erwise h ave been i m possible. We shall, h app ily, still have a n opp ortunity to prove t hat fr iend- . ship i n our daily a tti tud e and actions towards t he millions of men and women of German birth and n ative sympathy who live amongst us and share o ur life, and w e shall b e proud to prove it towards all who are i n fact loyal to t h eir neighbor s and to the government i n the hour of test. T hey are, m ost of them, as true and loyal Ame rica ns as if they had never known a ny other fea l ty or a llegiance. 'rhey will be prompt to stand with us in rebuki ng ancl restraining the few who ma~' be of a d i fferent m i n d and purpose. " If there sh ould be disloyalt.v, it w ill be dealt with with a fir m h and of stem repression; but if it lifts its h ead at all i t will lift it only her e and there and with out cou ntena n ce except from a lawless and malignant few. "It is a distressing and oppressive dut~·, ge ntle · men of t bc Congress, wh ic h I have perfo rmed in thus addressing you. T here are, it may be, many months of fie ry t r ial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful t hing to lead this g r eat peaceful people i n to war , i nto t he most terrible and disast rous of all wars, civilization itself seem ing to b e in the balance. But th<' righ t is mor e precious than peace and we shall fight for the t hings wh ich we 11avc always car ri ecl nearest our hear ts- for democracy, for the r igh t of t hose who submit t o auth ority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and li berties of small nations, fo r a uni ver sal clomi nion of righ t by such a co ncert of free peoples as shall bring peace a nd safety to all n ation s a n d m ake the world itself at last free. ''To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend h er blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other.'' ·-------------·----+ + I I I 'Printed and Sold Under the Auspices of Chickasaw Council for Benefit of Boy Scout Organization ~RMPHIS, TENNESSKE DIXOH·PAUL PRIHTJHG CO ., MEMPHIS Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1917 Chickasaw Council War for Liberty Booklet Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Chickasaw Council, BSA Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Chuck Schadrack Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Chuck Schadrack Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1917 Citizenship U.S. President World War I