UC SOUTHERN RE 
 
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 AA 000 622 758 i 
 
 WAR INFORMATION SERIES 
 
 No. 2 
 
 August, 1917 
 
 THE NATION IN 
 ARMS 
 
 By 
 
 FRANKLIN K. LANE 
 
 SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 
 
 and 
 
 NEWTON D. BAKER 
 
 SECRETARY OF WAR 
 
 
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 Publ..hcd byCOMMIITEt ONlPUBLIC INFORMATION. Waihington. D. C.
 
 THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION 
 
 (Established by order of the President April 4, 1917.) 
 
 Distributed free except that in the case of No. 2 and No. 3 of 
 the Red, White, and Blue Series, the subscriber should for- 
 ward 15 cents each to cover the cost of printing. 
 
 I. Red, White, and Blue Series: 
 
 No. 1. How the War came to America (English, German, 
 Polish, Bohemian, Italian, Spanish, and Swedish). 
 
 No. 2. National Service Handbook (primarily for libraries, 
 schools, Y. M. C. A.'s, chibs, fraternal organiza- 
 tions, etc., as a guide and reference work on all 
 forms of war activity — civil, charitable, and mili- 
 tary. 
 
 No. 3. The Battle Line of Democracy. Pro.se and Poetry of 
 the Great War. 
 
 No. 4. The President's Flag Day Speech with Evidence of 
 Germany's Plans. 
 
 No. 5. Conquest and Kultur, the Germans' Aims in Their Own 
 Words, by Wallace Notestein and Elmer E. Stoll. 
 
 Other issues in preparation. 
 
 II. War Information Series: 
 
 Xo. 101. The War Message and Facts Behind It. 
 
 No. 102. The Nation in Arms, by Secretaries Lane and Baker. 
 
 No. 103. The Government of Germany, Ijy Prof. Charles D. 
 
 Hazen. 
 No. 104. TIic Great War: from Spectator to Participant. 
 No. 10-5. A War of Self- Defense, by Secretary 1 ansing and 
 
 Assistant Secretary of Labor Louis F. Post. 
 No. 106. American Loyalty by Citizens of German Descent. 
 No. 107. Amerikanische Biirgertreue, a tran.slation of No. 6. 
 No. 108. American Interest in Popular Government Abroad, 
 
 by Prof. Vj. B. GrecMie. 
 No. 109. Homo Heading Counse for Citizen Soldiers. 
 No. 110. First Ses.sion of tlie War Congress, by Charles Merz. 
 
 Other issues will shortly appear. 
 
 m. Official Bulletin: 
 
 Accurate daily statement of what all agencies of govern- 
 ment are doing in war times. Sent free to newsi>apers 
 and postmasters (to be put on bulletin boards). Sul)- 
 scription price, So per year. 
 
 Address requests and orders to 
 
 COMMITTEE OX PUBLIC INFORMATION, 
 
 Washington, D. C.
 
 SRLF 
 YRL 
 
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 WHY WE ARE FIGHTING GERMANY. 
 
 By Frankun K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior. 
 
 WJIY are we fijrlitiug CJermany? The brief answer 
 is that ours is a war of self-defense. We did not 
 wisli to li'^dit Gennany. She made the attack 
 upon ns; not on our shores, but on our ships, our lives, 
 our rights, our future. For two years and more we held 
 to a neutrality that nuide us apoloj^ists for thin<rs which 
 outraged man's eounnon sense of fair jday and humanity. 
 At each new on'cnse — the invasion of HclLrium. the killiiii,' 
 of civilian iicjkrians, the attacks on Scarborough and other 
 defenseless towns, the laying of mines in neulral waters, 
 the fencing off of the .sea-s — and on and on llirough the 
 months we said: '"'riiis is war — archaic, uncivili/ed \v;ir. Imt 
 war! All rules have been thrown away: all nobility; man 
 ha.s come d<»\vn to the ])riniilive brute. And while we can- 
 not justify we will not interveue. It is not our war." 
 
 Then why are we in? Hecause we cotdd not keep out. 
 The invasion of lieluium. which opened the war. led to the 
 invasion of the United States by sbiw. steady. l<>gical steps. 
 Our sympathies evolved into a conviction of self-interest. 
 Our love of fair play ripened into alarm at our own peril. 
 
 We talked in the lanL'unee and in the spirit of good faith 
 an<l sineerity. as honest men slioidd talk, until we discovered 
 that our talk was construed as cowardice. And Mexico was 
 called upon to invade us. We talked us men would talk who 
 cared alone f()r [)eace and the advancenu-nt of their own 
 material interests, until we discovered that we were thought 
 to be a nation of mere money makers, devoid t)f all char- 
 neter — until, indeed, we were told that we coidd not walk 
 the highways of the world without permission of a Prtissian 
 soldier; that otir ships might not sail without wearing a 
 
 38SflO'— 17 3
 
 liiU 
 
 4 THE NATION IN ARMS. 
 
 striped iinirorm of Immiliation upon a narrow path of 
 national subservience. We talked as men talk who hope for 
 honest agreement, not for war, until we found that the 
 treaty torn to pieces at Liege was but the symbol of a policy 
 that made agreements worthless against a purpose that knew 
 no word but success. 
 
 And so we came into this war for ourselves. It is a war 
 to save America — to preserve self-respect, to justify our 
 right to live as we have lived, not as some one else wishes us 
 to live. In the name of freedom we challenge with ships 
 and men, money, and an undaunted spirit, that word 
 "Verboten" which Germany has written upon the sea and 
 upon the land. For America is not the name of so much 
 territory. It is a living spirit, born in travail, grown in the 
 rough school of bitter experiences, a living spirit which has 
 purpose and pride, and conscience — knows why it wishes to 
 live and to what end, knows how it comes to be respected of 
 the world, and hopes to retain that respect by living on with 
 the light of Lincoln's love of man as its Old and New Testa- 
 ment. It is more precious that this America should live than 
 that we Americans should live. And this America, as we now 
 see, has been challenged from the first of this war by the strong 
 arm of a power that has no sympathy with our purpose and 
 will not hesitate to destroy us if the law that we respect, the 
 rights that are to us sacred, or the spirit that we have, stand 
 across her set will to make this world how before her policies, 
 backed by her organized and scientific military system. The 
 world of Christ — a neglected but not a rejected Christ — has 
 come again face to face with the world of IMahomet, who willed 
 to win by force. 
 
 With this background of history and in this sense, then, 
 we fight Germany — 
 
 Because of Belgium — invaded, outraged, enslaved, im- 
 poverished Belgium. We cannot forget Liege, Louvain, 
 and Cardinal ^lercier. Translated into terms of American 
 history, these names stand for Bunker Hill, Lexington, and 
 Patrick Henry. 
 
 Becau.se of France — invaded, desecrated France, a million 
 of whose heroic sons have died to save the land of Lafayette. 
 Glorious golden France, the preserver of the arts, the land
 
 THE NATION IN ARMS. 5 
 
 of noble spirit — the fii-st land to follow our lead into repub- 
 lican liberty. 
 
 Because of Enfrland — from whom came the laws, tradi- 
 tions, standard^ of life, and inherent love of liberty wliich 
 we call An^lo-Saxon civilization. We defeated her once 
 upon the land and once uj)on the sea. But Australia, New 
 Zealand, Africa, and Canada are free because of what we 
 did. And they are with us in the fight for the freedom of 
 the seas. 
 
 Because of Russia — New Kussia. She must not be over- 
 whelmed now. Not now, surely, when she is just born into 
 freedom. Her jjeasants mu.st have their chance; they must 
 go to school to Washington, to Jefferson, and to Lincoln 
 until they know tlieir way al)out in this new, strange world 
 of government by the poi>ular will. 
 
 liccaiise of otluT j)eoples, with tlicir rising hope that the 
 world niav hv fr«'<il from government bv the soblicr. 
 
 We are fighting Gernuiny because she sought to terrorize 
 us and th«Mi to fool us. \Vc could not believe that (Jerniauy 
 would do what she said she would do u|)on the seas. 
 
 W<' still hear the piteous cries of eliildreii eomiuu up out 
 of the wa where the Lusifania went down. And (liiiiianv 
 has never asked foru'iveness *>\' llie world. 
 
 \^^• saw tlie Sussex sunk, (.-rowded witli llie sons iiiid 
 daughters of neutral nations. 
 
 We .saw ship after ship sent to the holtoni shijis of mercy 
 boiuid out of Ainerieji for the Belu'ian starving; ships carry- 
 ing the Red ('roK.H and ladr'ii with the woundeil of all tuitions; 
 ships carrying food and •■lothing to friendly, harmless, ter- 
 rorized peoples; ships (lyiiig the Stars and Stripes sent tf) 
 the bottom hundreds of miles fnuii sliore. maruied by Ameri- 
 can seamen, murdered atrainst all law, without warning. 
 
 We believerl fiPfmnny's promise that she would resp«'ct 
 the neutral flag ami the rights of neutrals, and we held our 
 anger and outrage in eheek. But now we see that she was 
 holdintr us niT with fair |»romises until she eonld bnild her 
 huge fleet of submarities. For when s[tring came she blew 
 her promise into the air. just as at the beirinninsr she luid 
 torn up that ".serap of paper." Then we saw clearly that 
 there was but one law for CJermany— her will to rule.
 
 6 THE NATION IN ARMS. 
 
 We are fiulitiny Geniiany because she violated our confi- 
 dence. Paid German spies lilled our cities. Officials of her 
 Government, received as the guests of this Nation, lived 
 with us to bribe and terrorize, defying our law and the law 
 of nations. 
 
 "We are fighting Germany because while we were j'et her 
 friends — the only great power that still held hands off — she 
 sent the Zimmermann note, calling to her aid Mexico, our 
 southern neighbor, and hoping to lure Japan, our western 
 neighbor, into war against this Nation of peace. 
 
 The nation that would do these things proclaims tne 
 gospel that government has no conscience. And this doc- 
 trine cannot live, or else democracy mnst die. For the 
 nations of the world must keep faith. There can be no living 
 for us in a world where the state has no conscience, no rev- 
 erence for the things of the spirit, no respect for international 
 law, no mercy for those who fall before its force. What an 
 unordered world! Anarchy! The anarchy of rival wolf 
 packs ! 
 
 We are fighting Germany because in this war feudalism is 
 making its last stand against on-coming democracy. We see 
 it now. This is a war against an old spirit, an ancient, out- 
 worn spirit. It is a war against feudalism — the right of the 
 castle on the hill to rule the village below. It is a war for 
 democracy — the right of all to be their own masters. Let 
 Germany be feudal if she will. l)ut she must not spread her 
 system over the world that has outgrown it. Feudalism 
 plus science, thirteenth century plus twentieth — this is the 
 religion of the mistaken Germany thnt has linked itself with 
 the Turk; that has, too, adopted the method of IMahomet. 
 "The state has no conscience." "The state can do no 
 wrong." With the spirit of the fanatic she believes this 
 gospel and that it is her duty to spread it l)y force. With 
 poison gas that makes livintr a hell, with submarines that 
 snenk through the seas to slyly mur.ler noncombatants. with 
 dirigibles that bombard men and women while they sleep, 
 vaih a perfected system of terrorization that the modern 
 world first heard of when German troops entered China, 
 German feudalism is making war upon mankind. Let this 
 old spirit of evil have its way and no man will live in America
 
 THE NATION IN ARMS. 7 
 
 ■vdthout payiug toll to it in nianhood and in money. This 
 spirit might demand Canada fi'om a defeated, navyless 
 England, and then our dream of peace on the north would 
 be at an end. We would live, as France has lived for -40 
 years, in haunting terror. 
 
 America speaks for the world in fighting Germany. Mark 
 on a map those countries which are Germany's allies and you 
 will mark but four, running from the Baltic through Austria 
 and Bulgaria to Turkey. All the other nations the whole 
 globe around are in arms a;rainst her or are unable to move. 
 There is deep meaning in this. We fight with the world for 
 an honest world in which uatiouM keep their word, for a world 
 in which nations d<> not live by swagger or by threat, for a 
 world in which men think of the ways in which they can 
 oonquer the <'r)mnion cruelties of nature instead of inventing 
 more liorrible cruelties to intliet upon the sj)irit and body of 
 man, for a world in which the ambition or the philosophy of a 
 few shall not nuike miserable all nmnkind, for a world in which 
 the man is held more precious than the machine, the system, 
 or the state.
 
 WAR MEASURES AND PURPOSES. 
 
 By Newton D. Baicer, Secretary of War. 
 
 In 1776, on the 4th daj' of July, a nation was born, dedi- 
 cated to a new theory of government and a new ideal of 
 human liberty. On the 4th day of July, 1917 our news- 
 papers announced throughout a vast and populous conti- 
 nent, to a people who for more than 100 years have known 
 political liberty, and with it unexampled j)rogress, that an 
 expeditionary force of their soldiers had landed, without 
 the loss of a man, on the soil of France to defend in that 
 place the great principle of democracy and liberty under 
 which they have thrived so long. 
 
 In passing, it will be deemed appropriate for me to pay a 
 tribute of thanks from the Army to the Navy for the superb 
 way in which they acquitted themselves of the grave respon- 
 sibility of that convoy. And I think I can say to the Ameri- 
 can people that the splendid cooperation between the Navy 
 and the Army which characterized this first martial exploit 
 is a promise of a happy and effective cooperation in the fu- 
 ture. So that we can look forward to the American Army and 
 the American Navy, the two strong arms of the American 
 people on many glorious fields and on many glorious seas, 
 sustaining the traditions of our country and establishing 
 forever the belief that free men in a battle for freedom fear 
 no foe. But I want to ask your attention to the occasion for 
 our being in France with our soldiers. 
 
 One of the traditional policies of the United States from 
 its beginning has been the avoidance of entangling alliances. 
 The United States is in no entangling alliance. We are in 
 this war upon no sordid mission of any sort. We do not 
 seek to take the possessions of any other people or to im- 
 pose by force our will upon any other people in the making 
 of their government or in an encroachment upon their 
 rights. But after a patience perfectly unparalleled and 
 
 (8)
 
 THE NATION IN ARMS. 9 
 
 after an effort worthy of our civilization to accomplish the 
 recognition of our rights and of our freedom, by diplomacy 
 and by every peaceful art, America is in arms now to vindi- 
 cate upon the battletield the right of democracy to exist 
 against the denials of autocracy. 
 
 Things have come to a pass in this world where all man- 
 kind must choose whether the nations of the earth are to 
 be autocratic in their government and militarist in their 
 pretensions or democratic in their governments ajid just in 
 their pretensions. 
 
 America has chosen — nay, she chose in 1776 — that she 
 intended to be democratic in her policies and in her ^foverii- 
 ment, and our wiioh- history of more than 100 years justifies 
 the statement that our peo[)le are wedded and devoted to 
 the idea of international justice as the rule upon which 
 nations shall live together in peace and amity ui)on the earth. 
 
 So that when we entered this war we entered it in order 
 that we and our children and our childrctrs children miirht 
 fabricate a new and belter civilization under better condi- 
 tions, enjoying liberty of person, liberty of belief, freedom of 
 8[)eech and freedom as to our political institutions. We 
 entered this war to remove from ourselves, our children ami 
 our ehjldren's ehiMreri the menace wliieh threatened to 
 deny us that right. 
 
 I want to ai)[>eal to you ami to all Anu'ricaus. Never, 
 during the [)rogr<'SH of llils war. let us for one instant forget 
 the higli and holy missinn with which we entered it, no 
 matter what the cost, no matter what llie temptation. 
 
 Let us bring otit of tliis war the (Iml' of «»nr country as 
 untarnished ns it iroes in. sanctified jind consecrjited to the 
 establishment of lilnrty f<.r ;ill men who dwll on tlie f;ico 
 of the earth. 
 
 .\tifl now let me tal'o your time jtist for a moment to tell 
 yon something of our preparation. As you know, the 
 Conirress of the Tnitefl States has ordained that we sludl 
 undertake extensive military preparation. It is provided 
 that the Army of the United States shall consist of the 
 Regular Army, the Xationnl TJuard. and the National Army. 
 
 The Rerrular Army and National rjuard recruited to war 
 strength, and to them ought to be added r)00.Of)0 young
 
 10 THE NATION IN ARMS. 
 
 men between the ages of 21 and 31, drawn from the body 
 of our couutry by selective processes which will recognize 
 the needs of industry, the needs of dependents, and those 
 relations in life which ought not to be sacrificed if our 
 national strength is to be preserved to its maximum efficiency. 
 
 And it is provided in the law that when these armies are 
 assembled there shall be no difference between the Regular 
 Army, the National Guard, and the National Army. But 
 every man, whether he has had training in the Regular 
 Army or not. whether he has had training in the guard or 
 not, whether he be a member of the selective National 
 Army, is equal in dignity, in responsibility, and in oppor- 
 tunity — a member of the Army of the United States. 
 
 There Avill be preserved that just pride which the people 
 of our several States have in their own soldier boys, so that 
 the soldier from New York will be known as a part of the 
 contribution of this great Commonwealth to our national 
 strength, and the soldier from Wisconsin and from Ohio 
 and from Texas equally designated; but in the eyes of the 
 country, in all that is done for them and in all that they 
 do for us, there is to be neither distinction nor prejudice 
 nor favoritism, but they stand equal as the servants and as 
 the upholders of our liberties. 
 
 And this great company of men are to be trained — they 
 are to be trained to meet modern conditions of war. They 
 are to be equipped with the most modern and effective 
 devices, both for aggression upon our adversary and the 
 protection of our own men. And I want to say to the 
 mothers and fathers, to the wives and sisters, of American 
 soldiers that the Congress has provided the money and the 
 expert minds of this country are providing the experience 
 and the knowledge, and every effort is being made and is 
 to be made to protect our soldiers against any possible loss 
 or sacrifice that can be avoided in this great undertaking. 
 
 Modern times have witnessed many new things. The 
 great science of medicine and sanitation has wonderfully 
 advanced, and all the safeguards that knowledge and science 
 can throw around our soldiers are to be placed about them. 
 And in these great encampments, where they are to be 
 trained, modern recreation experts are to provide wholesome
 
 THE NATION IN ARMS. 11 
 
 and attractive amusemeuts for their leisure, so that Miicii 
 they come out of the Army they Avill have no scars except 
 tliose honorably Avon in warfare against the enemy of their 
 country. 
 
 The mere business of this enterprise is very great. Perhaps 
 I can give some idea to you of what it means if I quote for 
 your information a few comparative figures. 
 
 Take, for instance, the subject of aeronautics. Tn 1915 
 the Congress ai)proi)riated something less than half a million 
 dollars for the building i)f aircraft in the Army. In 1!>17 the 
 appropriation was .^47.000.000, and now Congress has i)assed, 
 and the President has signed, a l)ill which ai)pr()priates the 
 great sum of $030,000,000 for the building of aeroplanes. 
 
 And the i)rogram is lliat American skill and iii'.;i'iniity, 
 American .scientific laiowledge and the skill of handicrafts- 
 men, of inexhaustil)I(' resources of supplies, shall be drawn 
 upo!i. ami we shall coufribntc to those willi whom we are 
 associated in this war abroad the unquestionable supremacy 
 of the air. 
 
 Put to illustrate tliis com|)arison further, uiu'er normal 
 eircumstariees llie a[»propriati<ni )ii;:(b' b>- Congress lor our 
 Army's regidar snp[>lies is about $l().0(»0.(l()0. and this year 
 for war tlie first approj)riation is .$110,000,000. In the 
 item of Ij-ansporlalion for the Army, instead of the pcaee 
 time ai>propriation of some .$1 :!.()()(».()( Ml or ^H.OOO.OOO. 
 Congress has already appivipriatetl .$222,000,000. For ebilli- 
 iiig ami siieli items, iiistcjid of tin- ordiiuu'v appropriation 
 of .$G.r)0O.OOO. Congress has appro|)riated more lli.iii 
 $200,000,000. 
 
 Nf»w let me trive you the detail of nnl.v one item: Take 
 the item of supplies. We mu.st buy now for tbe armi<'s 
 that we are traiiiini: and sendintr nbroa<l .').000.00t) blankets, 
 37.000.000 yards «.f bobinettes. 45.000.000 yards of eot- 
 tou <'1.,|||. 21.000.000 yards of luiblenejied <lrilling— nay. 
 we have to go to every factory and wnrksiioji in this 
 country and start its wheels K[)innintr in or<ler that these 
 nTq)reefd('iited rniantities of siipjiliis m.TV bi- ;i v;iil;iblc fur 
 our armies. 
 
 A?>(1 tln'ii wp must build in the T'nited States )C, r-ifir-s 
 within tbe ificrodibly short space of time of three motitbs.
 
 12 THE NATION IN ARMS. 
 
 They are to be built of wood, and each of these 16 cities is 
 to house 40,000 men, not only with i)laces of shelter, but 
 with places for their cooking, hospitals and all of the build- 
 ings that ordinarily go with a city. 
 
 I tell you these things, not to magnify the size of the task 
 but to illustrate to you the w^ay in which our progress is 
 being made, for I can tell you that, although all these 
 things are unprecedented in size and quantity, American 
 industry is so rapidly responding that they are being fur- 
 nished and will be supplied on time. 
 
 In contemplation of these achievements, however, there is 
 one particular thought always to be kept in mind. We must 
 look to the end of this great business. We at home must 
 fight for democracy here as well as our armies for it abroad. 
 
 In the midst of our military enterprises we must be equally 
 loj'al to our own ])olitical theories here. All this vast reor- 
 ganization of industry must be made without the loss of the 
 great physical and social gains which we have achieved in 
 the last hundred years, mostly years of peace and fruitful 
 effort and toil. 
 
 We must not alloAv the hours and conditions of people 
 who work and labor in factories and workshops to be upset 
 and interfered with. We must preserve the sweetness of 
 our rights. We must agree in deeds of grace here, as our 
 soldiers do deeds of grace on the other side, for I can see the 
 day when our harbors will be filled with the mass of ships 
 returning from abroad and bringing back our soldiers. 
 
 They will come, it may he wnth their ranks somewhat 
 thinned by sacrifice, but with themselves glorified by ac- 
 complishments; and when those heroes step off the boats 
 and tell us that they have won the fight for democracy in 
 Europe, we must be able to tell them in return that we have 
 kept the faith of democracy at home and won battles here 
 for that cause while they were fighting there. The end of 
 this whole matter is that when this war is over and it is 
 definitely detemiined among the children of men that au- 
 tocracy is bidden to veil its face forever; when government 
 becomes all over the world merely the instrument of en- 
 lightened popular will and judgment; w^hen the interests of 
 the lowest and the least in every society is vital to the welfare
 
 THE NATION IN ARMS. 13 
 
 and the interest of all that society; Avlieu the rule of the 
 people is established in the world and the historians write 
 it down that America, born in freedom and dcilicated to 
 liberty, has saved that great doctrine for the salvation of 
 mankind — it will then be said that in 1917 we arrayed our 
 Nation and sent to the war our soldiers ; that we sustained 
 them by our industrial enterprises at home; that we kept 
 our national spirit pure and undefiled ; and that the dawn 
 of liberty for men all over the world dales fiom that day 
 when our soldiers landed in France and began the final 
 conquest for freedom.