\ 0y IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR MESSAGES AND ADDRESSES TO THE CONGRESS AND THE PEOPLE MARCH 5, 1917, TO APRIL 6, 1918 BY WOODROW WILSON PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION Frontispiece from drawing by WILFRID MUIR EVANS HARPER i^ BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON Kvv 1IST, 1 Books by WOODROW WILSON IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR WHY WE ARE AT WAR. 16mo A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE Profusely illustrated. 5 volumes. 8vo Cloth Three-quarter Calf Three-quarter Levant GEORGE WASHINGTON. Illustrated. 8vo Popular Edition WHEN A MAN COMES TO HIMSELF. 16mo. Cloth. Leather ON BEING HUMAN 16mo. Cloth. Leather THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 16mo. Cloth. Leather HARPER -& BROTHERS, NEW YORK ir.i^iOilVU CONTENTS chap. page Introduction to New and Enlarged Edition v Foreword vii I. The Second Inaugural Address .... i {March 5, 191 7) II. We Must Accept War 9 {Message to the Congress^ April 2, 1917) III. A State of War 26 {The President's Proclamation of April 6, 1917) IV. "Speak, Act and Serve Together" ... 32 {Message to the American People, April 15 ^ 1917) V. The Conscription Proclamation .... 40 {May 18, 1917) VI. Conserving the Nation's Food .... 49 {May 19, 1917) VII. An Answer to Critics 54 {May 22, 1917) VIII. Memorial Day Address 56 {May JO, 1917) IX. A Statement to Russia 59 {June 9, 1917) X. Flag-day Address 64 {June 14, 1917) XI. An Appeal to the Business Interests . 76 {July II, 1917) 384016 CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE XII. Reply to the Pope 83 (August 27, ip/7) XIII. A Message to Teachers and School Officers 89 {September 30, 1917) XIV. Woman Suffrage Must Come Now . . 92 {October 25, 1917) XV. The Thanksgiving Day Proclamation . 96 {November 7, 1917) XVI. Labor Must Bear Its Part 99 {November 12, 1917) XVII. Address to the Congress 112 {December 4, 1917) XVIII. Proclamation of War Against Austria- Hungary 130 {December 12, 1917) XIX. The Government Takes Over the Rail- roads 134 {A Statement by the President, December 26, 1917) XX. Government Operation of Railroads . 143 {Address to the Congress, January 4, 191 8) XXI. The Terms of Peace 150 {January 8, 1918) XXII. Four Basic Peace Principles .... 162 {Address to the Congress, February 11, 1918) XXIII. "Force, Force to the Utmost" .... 174 {An Address Delivered by the President at Baltimore on the Evening of April 6, 1918, on the Opening of the Third Liberty Loan Campaign) Appendix 183 INTRODUCTION TO NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION It is gratifying in a sense which is higher than purely practical considerations to record the immediate welcome given to this volume. This has led to a new edition at a very early date. It has been possible to take advantage of this and to add two addresses, ' ' Four Basic Peace Principles," the address to the Congress of February ii, 19 18, and ''Force, Force to the Utmost," the address delivered at Balti- more on the opening of the Third Liberty Loan Campaign, April 6, 1918. The present volume, therefore, contains all the important addresses of the first year of our righteous war for liberty. On April 14th the New York Sun in its interesting Book Section presented a remark- able symposium offering the opinions of dis- tinguished men and women of letters as to **The new book that interested me most." With his customary felicity of phrase, that incisive and brilliant essayist and novelist, INTRODUCTION Meredith Nicholson, uttered his decision in these words: To name the best book of a given period is a serious matter. In these iron years imaginative Hterature is bound to suffer. There have been good novels in the past twelve months, but none that may be classed with the books of all time. There have been good poems, but no single poem has sprung to the front rank. There have been admirable essays, but this department has not been greatly enriched by the addition of volumes that will carry far into the future. And we are making history, not writing it. Great novels and great verse interpreting these clang- ing times must wait a little. In scanning the shelf of newest books for a candidate for immortality my eye_ falls upon one volume that will, I believe, outlive every other book of the past year. Its literary merit is the highest; it is addressed to the minds and the consciences not only of the American people but of every civilized man and woman on the globe. There is no savage in the utmost island of the farthest sea but is in some manner affected by the book that lies open before me. Here we have in every sense a piece of world literature, the production, under the most trying circumstances, of an American scholar, patriot, and statesman. Here we have democracy interpreted for all the children of men, and between the covers of this book there are phrases that are already indehbly written "in the very alphabet of memory." The book I refer to is In Our First Year of War (Har- pers), a volume of messages and addresses to the Amer- ican Congress and the people, and the author is Wood- row Wilson, sometime president of Princeton University and now, by the grace of God, President of the United States. FOREWORD This book opens with the second inaugural address and contains the President's messages and addresses since the United States was forced to take up arms against Germany. These pages may be said to picture not only official phases of the great crisis, but also the highest significance of liberty and democracy and the reactions of President and people to the great developments of the times. The second Inaugural Address with its sense of solemn responsibility serves as a prophecy as well as prelude to the declaration of war and the message to the people which followed so soon. The extracts from the Conscription Procla- mation, the messages on Conservation and the Fixing of Prices, the Appeal to Business In- terests, the Address to the Federation of Labor and the Railroad messages present the solid every-day realities and the vast responsibili- ties of war-time as they affect every Amer- ican. These are concrete messages which should be at hand for frequent reference, just as the uplift and inspiration of lofty FOREWORD appeals like the Memorial Day and Flag Day addresses should be a constant source of in- spiration. There are also the clarifying and vigorous definitions of American purpose af- forded in utterances like the statement to Russia, the reply to the communication of the Pope, and, most emphatically, the Presi- dent's restatement of War Aims on January 8th. These and other state papers from the early spring of 191 7 to January, 19 18, have a significance and value in this collected form which has been attested by the many re- quests that have come to Harper & Brothers, as President Wilson's publishers, for a war vol- ume of the President's messages to follow Why We Are At War. As a matter of course, the President has been consulted in regard to the plan of publication, and the conditions which he requested have been observed. For title, arrangement, head- ings, and like details the publishers are respon- sible. They have held the publication of the President's words of enlightenment and inspi- ration to be a public service. And they think that there is no impropriety in adding that in the case of this book, and Why We Are At War] the American Red Cross receives all author's royalties. In the case of the former book the evolution of events which led to war was illustrated in messages from January to April 15th. In the FOREWORD preparation of this book, which begins with the second inaugural, it has seemed desirable to present practically all the messages of war- time, and therefore three papers are included which appeared in the former and smaller book, in addition to the eighteen messages and addresses which have been collected for this volume. IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR THE SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS {March 5, 191T) My Fellow-citizens, — The four years which have elapsed since last I stood in this place have been crowded with counsel and action of the most vital interest and conse- quence. Perhaps no equal period in our his- tory has been so fruitful of important reforms in our economic and industrial life or so full of significant changes in the spirit and purpose of our political action. We have sought very thoughtfully to set our house in order, correct the grosser errors and abuses of our industrial life, liberate and quicken the processes of our national genius and energy, and lift our politics to a broader view of the people's essential in- terests. It is a record of singular variety and f;^iVi3N 'QUR/FIKST YEAR OF WAR singular distinction. But I shall not attempt to review it. It speaks for itself and will be of increasing influence as the years go by. This is not the time for retrospect. It is time, rather, to speak our thoughts and purposes concerning the present and the immediate future. A COSMOPOLITAN EPOCH AT HAND Although we have centered counsel and action with such unusual concentration and success upon the great problems of domestic legislation to which we addressed ourselves four years ago, other matters have more and more forced themselves upon our attention, matters lying outside our own life as a nation and over which we had no control, but which, despite our wish to keep free of them, have drawn us more and more irresistibly into their own current and influence. It has been impossible to avoid them. They have affected the life of the whole world. They have shaken men everywhere with a pas- sion and an apprehension they never knew before. It has been hard to preserve calm counsel while the thought of our own people swayed this way and that under their influence. We are a composite and cosmopolitan people. We are of the blood of all the nations that are at war. The currents of our thoughts as well as the currents of our trade run quick at IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 3 all seasons back and forth between us and them. The war inevitably set its mark from the first alike upon our minds, our industries, our commerce, our politics, and our social action. To be indifferent to it or independent of it was out of the question. And yet all the while we have been conscious that we were not part of it. In that con- sciousness, despite many divisions, we have drawn closer together. We have been deeply wronged upon the seas, but we have not wished to wrong or injure in return;, have re- tained throughout the consciousness of stand- ing in some sort apart, intent upon an interest that transcended the immediate issues of the war itself. As some of the injuries done us have become intolerable, we have still been clear that we wished nothing for ourselves that we were not ready to demand for all mankind, — ^fair dealing, justice, the freedom to live and be at ease against organized wrong. It is in this spirit and with this thought that we have grown more and more aware, more and more certain that the part we wished to play was the part of those who mean to vin- dicate and fortify peace. We have been obliged to arm ourselves to make good our claim to a certain minimum of right and of freedom of action. We stand firm in armed neutrality since it seems that in no other way we can demonstrate what it is we insist upon 4 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR and cannot forego. We may even be drawn on, by circumstances, not by our own pur- pose or desire, to a more active assertion of our rights as we see them and a more imme- diate association with the great struggle itself. But nothing will alter our thought or our purpose. They are too clear to be obscured. They are too deeply rooted in the principles of our national life to be altered. We desire neither conquest nor advantage. We wish nothing that can be had only at the cost of another people. We have always professed un- selfish purpose and we covet the opportunity to prove that our professions are sincere. THE SPIRIT OF CO-OPERATION There are many things still to do at home, to clarify our own politics and give new vi- tality to the industrial processes of our own life, and we shall do them as time and oppor- tunity serve; but we realize that the greatest things that remain to be done must be done with the whole world for stage and in co- operation with the wide and universal forces of mankind, and we are making our spirits ready for those things. They will follow in the immediate wake of the war itself and will set civilization up again. We are provincials no longer. The tragical events of the thirty months of vital turmoil through which we have just passed have made us citizens of the IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 5 world. There can be no turning back. Our own fortunes as a nation are involved, whether we would have it so or not. And yet we are not the less Americans on that account. We shall be the more American if we but remain true to the principles in which we have been bred. They are not the prin- ciples of a province or of a single continent. We have known and boasted all along that they were the principles of a liberated man- kind. These, therefore, are the things we shall stand for, whether in war or in peace : OUR NATIONAL PLATFORM That all nations are equally interested in the peace of the world and in the political stability of free peoples, and equally responsible for their maintenance; That the essential principle of peace is the actual equality of nations in all matters of right or privilege; That peace cannot securely or justly rest upon an armed balance of power; That Governments derive all their just powers from the consent of the governed and that no other powers should be supported by the common thought, purpose or power of the family of nations; That the seas should be equally free and safe for the use of all peoples, under rules set up by common agreement and consent, and 6 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR that, so far as practicable, they should be ac- cessible to all upon equal terms; That national armaments should be limited to the necessities of national order and domes- tic safety; That the community of interest and of power upon which peace must henceforth depend im- poses upon each nation the duty of seeing to it that all influences proceeding from its own citizens meant to encourage or assist revolu- tion in other states should be sternly and effectually suppressed and prevented. A UNITY OF PURPOSE AND ACTION I need not argue these principles to you, my fellow-countrymen: they are your own, part and parcel of your own thinking and your own motive in affairs. They spring up native amongst us. Upon this as a platform of pur- pose and of action we can stand together. And it is imperative that we should stand together. We are being forged into a new unity amidst the fires that now blaze through- out the world. In their ardent heat we shall, in God's providence, let us hope, be purged of faction and division, purified of the errant humors of party and of private interest, and shall stand forth in the days to come with a new dignity of national pride and spirit. Let each man see to it that the dedication is in his own heart, the high purpose of the nation IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 7 in his own mind, ruler of his own will and desire. I stand here and have taken the high and solemn oath to which you have been audience because the people of the United States have chosen me for this august delegation of power and have by their gracious judgment named me their leader in affairs. I know now what the task means. I realize to the full the re- sponsibility which it involves. I pray God I may be given the wisdom and the prudence to do my duty in the true spirit of this great people. I am their servant and can succeed only as they sustain and guide me by their confidence and their counsel. The thing I shall count upon, the thing without which neither counsel nor action will avail, is the unity of America — an America united in feel- ing, in purpose, and in its vision of duty, of opportunity, and of service. We are to beware of all men who would turn the tasks and the necessities of the nation to their own private profit or use them for the building up of private power; beware that no faction or disloyal intrigue break the harmony or embarrass the spirit of our people ; beware that our Govern- ment be kept pure and incorrupt in all its parts. United alike in the conception of otir duty and in the high resolve to perform it in the face of all men, let us dedicate ourselves to the great task to which we must now set our 2 8 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR hand. For myself I beg your tolerance, your countenance, and your united aid. The shad- ows that now lie dark upon our path will soon be dispelled and we shall walk with the light all about us if we be but true to ourselves — to ourselves as we have wished to be known in the counsels of the world a'nd in the thought of all those who love liberty and justice and the right exalted. II WE MUST ACCEPT WAR (Message to the Congress, April 2, igij) Gentlemen of the Congress, — I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because there are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made, and made immediately, which it was neither right nor constitution- ally permissible that I should assume the re- sponsibility of maldng. On the 3d 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 Med- iterranean. That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine warfare earlier in the war, but since April of last year the Imperial Government had somewhat restrained the 10 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR commanders of its undersea craft in conformity with its promise then given to us that passen- ger-boats should not be sunk, and that due warning would be given to all other vessels which its submarines might seek to destroy- when no resistance was offered or escape at- tempted, 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 hap- hazard 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. Germany's ruthless policy The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destina- tion, 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 belHgerents. Even hospital-ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with safe conduct through the proscribed areas by the German Government itself and were distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or of principle. IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR ii I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would, in fact, be done by any Government that had hitherto subscribed to the humane practices of civilized nations. International law had its origin in the attempt to set up some law which would be 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 that law been built up with meager enough results, indeed, after all was accomplished that could be accom- plished, but always with a clear view at least of what the heart and conscience of mankind demanded. This minimum of right the German Govern- ment has swept aside under the plea of retalia- tion and necessity, and because it had no weapons which it could use at sea except these, which it is impossible to employ as it is em- ploying them without throwing to the winds all scruples of humanity or of respect for the understandings 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 destruction of the lives of non-combatants, men, women and children engaged in pursuits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern history, been deemed innocent and legitimate. 12 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR Property can be paid for ; the lives of peace- ful and innocent people cannot be. GERMAN WARFARE AGAINST MANKIND The present German warfare against com- merce is a warfare against mankind. It is a war 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 friendly nations have been sunk and over- whelmed in the waters in the same way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all manldnd. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of counsel and a temperateness of judgment befitting our character and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling away. Our motive will not be revenge or the vic- torious assertion of the physical might of the nation, but only the vindication of right, of human right, of which we are only a single champion. When I addressed the Congress on the 26th of February last I thought that it would suffice to assert our neutral rights with arms, our right to use the seas against unlawful interference, our right to keep our people safe against unlawful violence. But armed neu- IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 13 trality, it now appears, is impracticable. Be- cause submarines are in effect outlaws when used as the German submarines have been used against merchant shipping, it is impossi- ble to defend ships against their attacks as the law of nations has assumed that merchantmen would defend themselves against privateers or cruisers, visible craft giving chase upon the open sea. It is common prudence in such circum- stances, grim necessity, indeed, to endeavor to destroy them before they have shown their own intention. They must be dealt 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 rights which no modem publicist has ever before questioned their right to de- fend. The intimation is conveyed that the armed guards which we have placed on our merchant-ships will be treated as beyond the pale of law and subject to be dealt with as pirates would be. Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough at best ; in such circumstances and in the face of such pretensions it is worse than ineffectual; it is likely to produce what it was meant to prevent; it is practically certain to draw us into the war without either the rights or the effectiveness of belligerents. 14 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making: we will not choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our people to be ig- nored or violated. The wrongs against which we now array ourselves are not common wrongs; they reach out to the very roots of human life. BELLIGERENCY THRUST UPON US With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it in- volves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial German Government to be in fact nothing less than war against the Government and people of the United States. That it formally accept the status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it and that it take immediate steps not only to put the country in a more thorough state of defense, but also to exert all its power and employ all its re- sources to bring the Government of the Ger- i^an Empire to terms and end the war. WHAT THIS WILL INVOLVE What this will involve is clear. It will in- volve the utmost practicable co-operation in counsel and action with the Governments now IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 15 at war with Germany, and as incident to that the extension to those Governments of the most Hberal financial credits in order that our resources may so far as possible be added to theirs. It will involve the organization and mobili- zation of all the material resources of the country to supply the materials of war and serve the incidental needs of the nation in the most abundant and yet the most economical and efficient way possible. It will involve the immediate full equipment of the navy in all respects, but particularly in supplying it with the best means of dealing with the enemy's submarines. It will involve the immediate addition to the armed forces of the United States already pro- vided for by law in case of war at least 500,000 men, who should, in my opinion, be chosen upon the principle of universal liability to service, and also the authorization of sub- sequent additional increments of equal force so soon as they may be needed and can be handled in training. It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate credits to the Government, sus- tained, I hope, so far as they can equitably be sustained by the present generation, by well- conceived 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 i6 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR the credits which will 'now be necessary en- tirely on money borrowed. It is our duty, I most respectfully urge, to protect our people so far as we may against the very serious hardships and evils which would be 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 accomplished we should keep constantly in mind the wisdom of interfering as little as possible in our own preparation and in the equipment of our own military forces with the duty — for it will be a very practical duty — of supplying the nations already at war with Germany with the materials which they can obtain only from us or by our assistance. They are in the field and we should help them in every way to be effective there. I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the several executive departments of the Gov- ernment, for the consideration of your com- mittees measures for the accomplishment of the several objects I have mentioned. I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with them as having been framed after very careful thought by the branch of the Government upon which the responsibility of conducting the war and safeguarding the nation will most directly fall. IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 17 OUR MOTIVES AND OBJECTS While we do these things, these deeply mo- mentous things, let us be very clear and make very clear to all the world what our motives and our objects are. My own thought has not been driven from its habitual and normal course by the unhappy events of the last two months, and I do not beHeve that the thought of the nation has been altered or clouded by them. I have exactly the same thing in mind now that I had in mind when I addressed the Senate on the 2 2d of January last; the same that I had in mind when I addressed the Congress on the 3d of February and on the 26th of February. Our object now, as then, is to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic power and to set up amongst the really free and self -governed peoples of the world such a con- cert of purpose and of action as will henceforth insure the observance of those principles. Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the world is involved and the freedom of its peoples, and the menace to that peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic Governments backed by organ- ized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people. We have i8 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR seen the last of neutrality in such circum- stances. We are at the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted that the same standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrong done shall be observed among nations and their Governments that are observed among the individual citizens of civilized states. We have no quarrel with the German peo- ple. We have no feeling toward them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon their impulse that their Government acted in entering this war. It was not with their pre- vious knowledge or approval. It was a war determined upon as wars used to be determined upon in the old, unhappy days when peoples were nowhere consulted by their rulers and wars were provoked and waged in the interest of dynasties or of little groups of ambitious men who were accus- tomed to use their fellow - men as pawns and tools. Self -governed nations do not fill their neigh- bor states with spies or set the course of intrigue to bring about some critical post- ure of affairs which will give them an op- portunity to strike and make conquest. Such designs can be successfully worked only under cover and where no one has the right to ask questions. Cunningly contrived plans of deception or IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 19 aggression, carried, it may be, from generation to generation, can be worked out and kept from the light only within the privacy of courts or behind the carefully guarded con- fidences of a narrow and privileged class. They are happily impossible where public opinion commands and insists upon full information concerning all the nation's affairs. PEACE THROUGH FREE PEOPLES A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a partnership of demo- cratic nations. Nq [autocratic Government could be trusted to keep faith within it or ob- serve its covenants. It must be a league of honor, a partnership of opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals away, the plottings of inner circles who could 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 interests of man- kind to any narrow interest of their own. Does not every American feel that assur- ance has been added to our hope for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and heart- ening things that have been happening within the last few weeks in Russia? Russia was known by those who know it best to have been always in fact democratic at heart, in all the vital habits of her thought, 20 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR in all the intimate relationships of her people that spoke their natural instinct, their habitual attitude toward life. Autocracy that crowned the summit of her political structure, long as it had stood and terrible as was the reality of its power, was not in fact Russian in origin, in character or purpose ; and now it has been shaken and the great, generous Russian people have been added, in all their native majesty and might, to the forces that are fighting for freedom in the world, for justice and for peace. Here is a fit partner for a league of honor. One of the things that have served to con- vince us that the Prussian autocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from the very outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities and even our offices of Government with spies and set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against our na- tional unity of council, our peace within and without, our industries and our commerce. Indeed, it is now evident that its spies were here even before the war began, and it is, un- happily, not a matter of conjecture, but a fact proved in our courts of justice, that the in- trigues which have more than once come per- ilously near to disturbing the peace and dislo- cating the industries of the country have been carried on at the instigation, with the support, and even under the personal direction, of offi- IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 21 cial agents of the Imperial German Govern- ment accredited to the Government of the United States. Even in checking these things and trying to extirpate them we have sought to put the most generous interpretation possible upon them because we knew that their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or purpose of the German people toward us (who were, no doubt, as ignorant of them as we ourselves were), but only in the selfish designs of a Government that did what it pleased and told its people nothing. But they have played their part in serving to convince us at last that that Govern- ment entertains 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 at our very doors the inter- cepted note to the German Minister at Mexico City is eloquent evidence. A CHALLENGE OF HOSTILE PURPOSE We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know that in such a Gov- ernment, following such methods, we can never have a friend; and that in the presence of its organized power, always lying in wait to ac- complish we know not what purpose, there can be no assured security for the democratic Governments of the world. We are now about to accept the gage of 22 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 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 false 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 obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the trusted foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no in- demnities for ourselves, no material compen- sation 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 made as secure as the faith and the freedom of the nation can make them. Just because we fight without rancor and without selfish objects, seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, con- duct our operations as belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for. IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 23 I have said nothing of the Governments al- lied with the Imperial Government of Germany because they have not made war upon us or challenged us to defend our right and our honor. The Austro-Hungarian Government has in- deed avowed its unqualified indorsement and acceptance of the reckless and lawless sub- marine warfare adopted now without disguise by the Imperial German Government, and it has therefore not been possible for this Govern- ment to receive Count Tarnowski, the am- bassador recently accredited to this Govern- ment by the Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary; but that Government has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United 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. OPPOSITION TO THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT FRIENDSHIP TOWARD THE GERMAN PEOPLE We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it because there are no other means of defending our rights. It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without ani- mus, not in enmity toward a people or with the desire to bring any injury or disadvantage 24 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsible Government which has thrown aside all considerations of humanity and of right and is running amuck. We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people, and shall desire nothing so much as the early re-establishment of inti- mate relations of mutual advantage between us — ^however hard it may be for them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our hearts. We have borne with their present Government through all these bitter months because of that friendship — exercising a pa- tience and forbearance which would otherwise have been impossible. We shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove that friendship in our daily attitude and actions toward the millions of men and women of German birth and native sympathy who live amongst us and share our life, and we shall be proud to prove it toward all who are, in fact, loyal to their neighbors and to the Government in the hour of test. They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if they had never known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be prompt to stand with us in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a different mind and purpose. If there should be disloyalty it will be dealt with with a firm hand of stem repression; but, if it lifts its head at all, it will lift it only here IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 25 and there and without countenance except from a lawless and malignant few. RIGHT MORE PRECIOUS THAN PEACE It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gen- tlemen of the Congress, which I have per- formed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacri- fice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great, peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civili- zation itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts — for de- mocracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own govern- ments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and 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. Ill A STATE OF WAR (The Presidents Proclamation of April 6, igif) Whereas, the Congress of the United States, in the exercise of the constitutional authority vested in them, have resolved by joint resolu- tion of the Senate and House of Representa- tives, bearing date this day, that a state of war between the United States and the Imperial German Government, which has been thrust upon the United States, is hereby formally declared; Whereas, It is provided by Section 4067 of the Revised Statutes as follows : Whenever there is declared a war between the United States and any foreign nation or Government, or any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or Government, and the President makes public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens, denizens or subjects of a hostile nation or Gov- ernment being male of the age of fourteen years and upward who shall be within the United States and not actually naturalized shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained secured and removed as alien enemies. IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 27 The President is authorized in any such event, by his proclamation thereof or other public acts, to direct the conduct to be ob- served on the part of the United States tow- ard the aliens who become so Hable; the manner and degree of the restraint to which they shall be subject and in what cases and upon what security their residence shall be permitted and to provide for the removal of those who, not being permitted to reside within the United States, refuse or neglect to depart therefrom, and to establish any such regula- tions which are found necessary in the prem- ises and for the public safety; Whereas, By Sections 4068, 4069, and 4070 of the Revised Statutes further provision is made relative to alien enemies; Now, therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, Presi- dent of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim to all whom it may concern that a state of war exists between the United States and the Imperial German Government, and I do specially direct all officers, civil or military, of the United States that they exer- cise vigilance and zeal in the discharge of the duties incident to such a state of war, and I do, moreover, earnestly appeal to all American citizens that they, in loyal devotion to their country, dedicated from its foundation to the principles of liberty and justice, uphold the laws of the land and give midivided and will- 28 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR ing support to those measures which may be adopted by the constitutional authorities in prosecuting the war to a successful issue and in obtaining a secure and just peace ; And acting under and by virtue of the au- thority vested in me by the Constitution of the United States and the said sections of the Revised Statutes: I do hereby further proclaim and direct that the conduct to be observed on the part of the United States toward all natives, citizens, deni- zens or subjects of Germany, being male, of the age of fourteen years and upward, who shall be within the United States and not act- ually naturalized, who for the purpose of this proclamation and under such sections of the Revised Statutes are termed alien enemies, shall be as follows : All alien enemies are enjoined to preserve the peace toward the United States and to refrain from crime against the public safety and from violating the laws of the United States and of the States and Territories thereof, and to refrain from actual hostility or giving in- formation, aid or comfort to the enemies of the United States, and to comply strictly with the regulations which are hereby or which may be from time to time promul- gated by the President, and so long as they shall conduct themselves in accordance with law they shall be undis- turbed in the peaceful pursuit of their lives and occupa- tions and be accorded the consideration due to all peaceful and law-abiding persons, except so far as re- strictions may be necessary for their own protection and for the safety of the United States, and toward such alien IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 29 enemies as conduct themselves in accordance with law all citizens of the United States are enjoined to preserve the peace and to treat them with all such friendUness as may be compatible with loyalty and allegiance to the United States. And all alien enemies who fail to conduct themselves as so enjoined, in addition to all other penalties pre- scribed by law, shall be liable to restraint or to give security or to remove and depart from the United States in the manner prescribed by Sections 4069 and 4070 of the Revised Statutes and as prescribed in the regulations duly promulgated by the President, And, pursuant to the authority vested in me, I hereby declare and establish the follow- ing regulations, which I find necessary in the premises and for the public safety : First. An alien enemy shall not have in his possession at any time or place any firearms, weapons or imple- ment of war, or component parts thereof; ammimition, Maxim or other silencer, arms or explosives or material used in the manufacture of explosives. Second. An aHen enemy shall not have in his possession at any time or place, or use or operate, any aircraft or wireless apparatus, or any form of signaling device, or any form of cipher code or any paper, document or book written or printed in cipher, or in which there may be invisible writing. Third. All property found in the possession of an alien enemy in violation of the foregoing regulations shall be subject to seizure by the United States. Fourth. An alien enemy shall not approach or be found within one-half of a mile of any Federal or State fort, camp, arsenal, aircraft station. Government or naval vessel, navy-yard, factory or workshop for the 30 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR manufacture of munitions of war or of any products for the use of the army or navy. Fifth. An aUen enemy shall not write, print or publish any attack or threat against the Government or Con- gress of the United States, or either branch thereof, or against the measures or policy of the United States, or against the persons or property of any person in the military, naval or civil service of the United States, or of the States or Territories, or of the District of Columbia, or of the municipal governments therein. Sixth. An alien enemy shall not commit or abet any hostile acts against the United States, or give informa- tion, aid or comfort to its enemies. Seventh. An aUen enemy shall not reside in or con- tinue to reside in, to remain in or enter any locality which the President may from time to time designate by an executive order as a prohibitive area in which residence by an alien enemy shall be found by him to constitute a danger to the public peace and safety of the United States except by permit from the Presi- dent and except under such limitations or restrictions as the President may prescribe. Eighth. An alien enemy whom the President shall have reasonable cause to believe to be aiding or about to aid the enemy, or to be at large to the danger of the public peace or safety of the United States, or to have violated or to be about to violate any of these regulations, shall remove to any location designated by the President by executive order, and shall not remove therefrom with- out permit, or shall depart from the United States if so required by the President. Ninth. No alien enemy shall depart from the United States until he shall have received such permit as the President shall prescribe, or except under order of a Coiurt, Judge or Justice, under Sections 4069 and 4070 of the Revised Statutes. Tenth. No alien enemy shall land in or enter the IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 31 United States except under such restrictions and at such places as the President may prescribe. Eleventh. If necessary to prevent violation of the regulations, all alien enemies will be obliged to register. Twelfth. An alien enemy whom there may be reason- able cause to believe to be aiding or about to aid the enemy, or to be at large to the danger of the public^ peace or safety, or who violates or who attempts to \dolate or of whom there is reasonable grounds to believe that he is about to violate any regulation to be promul- gated by the President or any criminal law of the United States or of the States or Territories thereof, will be subject to summary arrest by the United States, by the United States Marshal or his deputy or such other offi- cers as the President shall designate, and to confinement in such penitentiary, prison, jail, military camp, or other place of detention as may be directed by the President. This proclamation and the regulations herein contained shall extend and apply to all land and water, continental or insular, in any way within the jurisdiction of the United States. IV "SPEAK, ACT AND SERVE TOGETHER" {Message to the American People, April is, iQi?) My Fellow Countrymen, — ^The entrance of our own beloved country into the grim and terrible wa r for democra cy, and human rights which has shaken the world creates so many- problems of national life and action which call for immediate consideration and settlement that I hope you will permit me to address to you a few words of earnest counsel and appeal with regard to them. We are rapidly putting our navy upon an effective war footing and are about to create and equip a great army, but these are the sim- plest parts of the great task to which we have addressed ourselves. There^s not a single self- ish element, so far as fcan see, in~tEe~cause we are fighting for. We are fighting for what we believe and wish to be the rights of man- kind and for the future peace and security of the world. To do this great thing worthily and successfully we must devote ourselves to the service without regard to profit or material ad- IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 33 vantage and with an energy and intelligence that will rise to the level of the enterprise itself. We must realize to the full how great the task is and how many things, how many kinds and elements of capacity and service and self-sacrifice it involves. WHAT WE MUST DO These, then, are the things we must do, and do well, besides fighting — the things without which mere fighting would be fruitless : We must supply abundant food for ourselves and for our armies and our seamen, not only, but also for a large part of the nations with whom we have now made common cause, in whose support and by whose sides we shall be fighting. We must supply ships by the hundreds out of our shipyards to carry to the other side of the sea, submarines or no submarines, what will every day be needed there, and abundant materials out of our fields and our mines and our factories with which not only to clothe and equip our own forces on land and sea, but also to clothe and support our people, for whom the gallant fellows under arms can no longer work; to help clothe and equip the armies with which we are co-operating in Eu- rope, and to keep the looms and manufacto- ries there .in raw material; coal to keep the fires going m ships at sea and in the furnaces 34 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR of hundreds of factories across the sea; steel out of which to make arms and ammunition both here and there ; rails for womout railways back of the fighting fronts; locomotives and rolling-stock to take the place of those every day going to pieces; mules, horses, cattle for labor and for military service ; everything with which the people of England and France and Italy and Russia have usually supplied them- selves, but cannot now afford the men, the materials or the machinery to make. GREATER EFFICIENCY It is evident to every thinking man that our industries, on the farms, in the shipyards, in the mines, in the factories, must be made more prolific and more efficient than ever, and that they must be more economically managed, and better adapted to the particular requirements of our task than they have been; and what I want to say is that the men and the women who devote their thought and their energy to these things will be serving the country and conducting the fight for peace and freedom just as truly and just as effectively as the men on the battle-field or in the trenches. The in- dustrial forces of the country, men and women alike, will be a great national, a great interna- tional, service army — a notable and honored host engaged in the service of the nation and the world, the efficient friends and saviors of /' / / IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 35 free men everTwhere. Thousands, nay, hun- dreds of thousands, of men otherwise Hable to military service will of right and of necessity be excused from that service and assigned to the fundamental sustaining work of the fields and factories and mines, and they will be as much part of the great patriotic forces of the nation as the men under fire. I take the liberty, therefore, of addressing this word to the farmers of the country and to all who work on the farms : The supreme need of our own nation and of the nations with which we are co-operating is an abundance of supplies, and especially of foodstuffs. The im- portance of an adequate food-supply, especially for the present year, is superlative. Without abundant food, alilce for the armies and the peoples now at war, the whole great enterprise upon which we have embarked will break down and fail. The world's food reserves are low. Not only during the present emergency, but for some time after peace shall have come, both our own people and a large proportion of the people of Europe must rely upon the har- vests in America. THE RESPONSIBILITY OP THE FARMERS Upon the farmers of this country, therefore, in large measure rest the fate of the war and the fate of the nations. May the nation not count upon them to omit no step that will in- 36 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR crease the production of their land or that will bring about the most effectual co-operation in the sale and distribution of their products? The time is short. It is of the most imperative importance that everything possible be done, and done immediately, to make sure of large harvests. I call upon young men and old alike and upon the able-bodied boys of the land to accept and act upon this duty — to turn in hosts to the farms and make certain that no pains and no labor is lacking in this great matter. I particularly appeal to the farmers of the South to plant abundant foodstuffs, as well as cotton. They can show their patriotism in no better or more convincing way than by resist- ing the great temptation of the present price of cotton and helping, helping upon a great scale, to feed the nation and the peoples every- where who are fighting for their liberties and for our own. The variety of their crops will be the visible measure of their comprehension of their national duty. The Government of the United States and the Governments of the several States stand ready to co-operate. They win do everything possible to assist farmers in securing an ade- quate supply of seed, an adequate force of la- borers when they are most needed, at harvest- time, and the means of expediting shipments of fertilizers and farm machinery, as well as IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 37 of the crops themselves when harvested. The course of trade shall be as unhampered as it is possible to make it, and there shall be no unwarranted manipulation of the nation's food- supply by those who handle it on its way to the consumer. This is our opportunity to demonstrate the efficiency of a great democ- racy, and we shall not fall short of it ! THE DUTY OF MIDDLEMEN This let me say to the middlemen of every sort, whether they are handling our foodstuffs or the raw materials of manufacture or the products of our mills and factories : The eyes of the country will be especially upon you. This is your opportunity for signal service, efficient and disinterested. The country ex- pects you, as it expects all others, to forego unusual profits, to organize and expedite ship- ments of supplies of every kind, but especially of food, with an eye to the service you are rendering and in the spirit of those who enlist in the ranks, for their people, not for them- selves. I shall confidently expect you to de- serve and win the confidence of people of every sort and station. THE MEN OF THE RAILWAYS To the men who run the railways of the country, whether they be managers or opera- tive employees, let me say that the railways are 38 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR the arteries of the nation's life and that upon them rests the immense responsibility of seeing to it that those arteries stiff er no obstruction of any kind, no inefficiency or slackened power. To the merchant let me suggest the motto, "Small profits and quick service," and to the shipbuilder the thought that the life of the war depends upon him. The food and the war supplies must be carried across the seas, no matter how many ships are sent to the bottom. The places of those that go down must be sup- plied, and supplied at once. To the miner let me say that he stands where the farmer does: the work of the world waits on him. If he slackens or fails, armies and statesmen are helpless. He also is enlisted in the great Ser- vice Army. The manufacturer does not need to be told, I hope, that the nation looks to him to speed and perfect every process ; and I want only to remind his employees that their service is absolutely indispensable and is counted on by every man who loves the country and its liberties. Let me suggest also that every one who cre- ates or cultivates a garden helps, and helps greatly, to solve the problem of the feeding of the nations; and that every housewife who practises strict economy puts herself in the ranks of those who serve the nation. This is the time for America to correct her unpardon- able fault of wastefulness and extravagance. IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 39 Let every man and every woman assume the duty of careful, provident use and expenditure as a public duty, as a dictate of patriotism which no one can now expect ever to be ex- cused or forgiven for ignoring. THE SUPREME TEST In the hope that this statement of the needs of the nation and of the world in this hour of supreme crisis may stimulate those to whom it comes and remind all who need reminder of the solemn duties of a time such as the world has never seen before, I beg that all. editors and publishers everywhere will give as promi- nent publication and as wide circulation as possible to this appeal. I venture to suggest also to all advertising agencies that they would perhaps render a very substantial and timely service to the country if they would give it widespread repetition. And I hope that clergy- men will not think the theme of it an unworthy or inappropriate subject of comment and hom- ily from their pulpits. The supreme test of the nation has come. We must all speak, act and serve together. 4 "^' ' ' '^ V THE CONSCRIPTION PROCLAMATION (May j8, 1917) Whereas, Congress has enacted and the Pres- ident has on the i8th day of May, 191 7, ap- proved a law which contains the following provisions : Section 5. That all male persons between the ages of twenty-one and thirty, both inclu- sive, shall be subject to registration in accord- ance with regulations to be prescribed by the President, and upon proclamation by the Presi- ident or other pubHc notice given by him or by his direction, stating the time and place of such registration, it shall be the duty of all persons of the designated ages, except officers and enlisted men of the Regular Army, the Navy and the National Guard and Naval Mi- litia while in the service of the United States, to present themselves for and submit to regis- tration under the provisions of this act. And every such person shall be deemed to have notice of the requirements of this act upon the publication of said proclamation or IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 41 other notice as aforesaid given by the President or by his direction. THE PENALTY FOR FAILURE And any person who shall wilfully fail or refuse to present himself for registration or to submit thereto as herein provided, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon con- viction in the District Court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof, be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year, and shall thereupon be duly registered. Provided, that in the call of the docket pref- erence shall be given, in courts trying the same, to the trial of criminal proceedings under this act. Provided, further, that persons shall be sub- ject to registration as herein provided who shall have attained their twenty-first birthday and who shall not have attained their thirty- first birthday on or before the day set for the registration, and all persons so registered shall be and remain subject to draft into the forces hereby authorized unless exempted or excused therefrom, as in this act provided. Provided, further, that in the case of tempo- rary absence from actual place of legal resi- dence of any person liable to registration as provided herein, such registration may be made by mail under regulations to be prescribed by the President. 42 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR THE WORK OF REGISTRATION Section 6. That the President is hereby au- thorized to utilize the service of any or all de- partments and any or all officers or agents of the United States and of the several States, Territories and the District of Columbia and subdivisions thereof, in the execution of this act, and all officers and agents of the United States and of the several States, Territories and subdivisions thereof, and of the District of Columbia, and all persons designated or ap- pointed under regulations prescribed by the President, whether such appointments are made by the President himself or by the Governor or other officer of any State or Territory to per- form any duty in the execution of this act, are hereby required to perform such duty as the President shall order or direct, and all such officers and agents and persons so designated or appointed shall hereby have full authority for all acts done by them in the execution of this act, by the direction of the President. Correspondence in the execution of this act may be carried in penalty envelopes bearing the frank of the War Department. NEGLECT OF DUTY AND FRAUD Any person charged, as herein provided, with the duty of carrying into effect any of the pro- visions of this act or the regulations made or IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 43 directions given thereunder who shall fail or neglect to perform such duty, and any person charged with such duty or having and exercis- ing any authority under said act, regulations or directions, who shall knowingly make or be a party to the making of any false or incorrect registration, physical examination, exemption, enlistment, enrolment or muster. And any person who shall make or be a party to the making of any false statement or certifi- cate as to the fitness or liability of himself or any other person for service under the provi- sions of this act, or regulations made by the President thereunder, or otherwise evades or aids another to evade the requirements of this act or of said regulations, or who, in any man- ner, shall fail or neglect fully to perform any duty required of him in the execution of this act, shall, if not subject to military law, be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction in the District Court of the United States having ju- risdiction thereof be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year, or, if subject to military law, shall be tried by court martial and suffer such punishment as a court martial may direct. A CALL TO GOVERNORS Now, therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, Presi- dent of the United States, do call upon the Governor of each of the several States and 44 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR Territories, the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia and all officers and agents of the several States and Terri- tories, of the District of Columbia, and of the counties and municipalities therein, to perform certain duties in the execution of the foregoing law, which duties will be com- municated to them directly in regulations of even date herewith. And I do further proclaim and give notice to all persons subject to registration in the several States and in the District of Columbia, in accordance with the above law, that the time and place of such registration shall be between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on the 5th day of June, 191 7, at the registration place in the precinct wherein they have their permanent homes. Those who shall have attained their twenty- first birthday and who shall not have attained their thirty-first birthday on or before the day here named are required to register, excepting only officers and enlisted men of the Regular Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps and the National Guard and Naval Militia while in the service of the United States, and officers in the Officers' Reserve Corps and enlisted men in the enlisted Reserve Corps while in active service. In the Territories of Alaska, Hawaii and Porto Rico a day for registration will be named in a later proclamation. IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 45 REGISTRATION BY MAIL And I do hereby charge those who, through sickness, shall be unable to present them- selves for registration that they apply on or before the day of registration to the County Clerk of the county where they may be for- instructions as to how they may be registered by agent. Those who expect to be absent on the day named from the counties in which they have their permanent homes may register by mail, but their mailed registration cards must reach the places in which they have their perma- nent homes by the day named herein. They should apply as soon as practicable to the County Clerk of the county wherein they may be for instructions as to how they may accom- plish their registration by mail. In case such persons as, through sickness or absence, may be unable to present themselves personally for registration shall be sojourning in cities of over 30,000 population, they shall apply to the City Clerk of the city wherein they may be sojourning rather than to the Clerk of the county. The Clerks of counties and of cities of over 30,000 population, in which numerous applica- tions from the sick and from non-residents are expected, are authorized to establish such sub- agencies and to employ and deputize such cler* 46 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR ical force as may be necessary to accommodate these applications. THE WHOLE NATION AN ARMY The Power against which we are arrayed has sought to impose its will upon the world by force. To this end it has increased armament until it has changed the face of war. In the sense in which we have been wont to think of armies there are no armies in this struggle, there are entire nations armed. Thus, the men who remain to till the soil and man the factories are no less a part of the army that is in France than the men beneath the battle flags. It must be so with us. It is not an army that we must shape and train for war — ^it is a Nation. To this end our people must draw close in one compact front against a common foe. But this cannot be if each man pursues a private purpose. All must pursue one pur- pose. The Nation needs all men, but it needs each man, not in the field that will most pleas- ure him, but in the endeavor that will best serve the common good. Thus, though a sharpshooter pleases to op- erate a trip-hammer for the forging of great guns, and an expert machinist desires to march with the flag, the Nation is being served only when the sharpshooter marches and the ma- chinist remains at his levers. The whole Na- IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 47 tion must be a team, in which each man shall play the part for which he is best fitted. NOT A DRAFT OP THE UNWILLING To this end Congress has provided that the Nation shall be organized for war by selection, that each man shall be classified for service in the place to which it shall best serve the gen- eral good to call him. The significance of this cannot be overstated. It is a new thing in our history and a landmark in our progress. It is a new manner of accept- ing and vitalizing our duty to give ourselves with thoughtful devotion to the common pur- pose of us all. It is in no sense a conscription of the unwilling. It is, rather, selection from a Nation which has volunteered in mass. It is no more a choosing of those who shall march with the colors than it is a selection of those who shall serve an equally necessary and devoted purpose in the industries that lie be- hind the battle-lines. The day here named is the time upon which all shall present themselves for assignment to their tasks. It is for that reason destined to be remembered as one of the most conspicuous moments in our history. It is nothing less than the day upon which the manhood of the country shall step forward in one soHd rank in defense of the ideals to which this Nation is consecrated. It is important to those ideals, 48 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR no less than to the pride of this generation in manifesting its devotion to them, that there be no gaps in the. ranks. DAY OF PATRIOTIC DEVOTION It is essential that the day be approached in thoughtful apprehension of its significance and that we accord to it the honor and the mean- ing that it deserves. Our industrial need pre- scribes that it be not made a technical holiday, but the stern sacrifice that is before us urges that it be carried in all our hearts as a great day of patriotic devotion and obligation, when the duty shall lie upon every man, whether he is himself to be registered or not, to see to it that the name of every male person of the des- ignated ages is written on these lists of honor. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington this i8th day of May, in the year of our Lord, 191 7, and of the independence of the United States of America the one hundred and forty-first. By the President : Robert Lansing, Secretary of State. VI CONSERVING THE NATION'S FOOD {May IQ, 1917) It is very desirable, in order to prevent mis- understanding or alarms and to assure co-op- eration in a vital matter, that the country should understand exactly the scope and pur- pose of the very great powers which I have thought it necessary, in the circumstances, to ask the Congress to put in my hands with re- gard to our food-supplies. Those powers are very great, indeed, but they are no greater than it has proved neces- sary to lodge in the other Governments which are conducting this momentous war, and their object is stimulation and conservation, not ar- bitrary restraint or injurious interference with the normal processes of production. They are intended to benefit and assist the farmer and all those who play a legitimate part in the prepara- tion, distribution and marketing of foodstuffs. A SHARP LINE OF DISTINCTION It is proposed to draw a sharp line of dis- tinction between the normal activities of the so IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR Government, represented in the Department of Agriculture, in reference to food production, conservation and marketing, on the one hand, and the emergency activities necessitated by the war, in reference to the regulation of food distribution and consumption, on the other. All measures intended directly to extend the normal activities of the Department of Agri- culture, in reference to the production, conser- vation and the marketing of farm crops, will be administered, as in normal times, through that department; and the powers asked for over distribution and consumption, over ex- ports, imports, prices, purchase and requisition of commodities, storing and the like, which may require regulation during the war, will be placed in the hands of a Commissioner of Food Administration, appointed by the President and directly responsible to him. THE END TO BE ATTAINED The objects sought to be served by the leg- islation asked for are: Full inquiry into the existing available stocks of foodstuffs and into the costs and practices of the various food pro- ducing and distributing trades ; the prevention of all unwarranted hoarding of every kind, and of the control of foodstuffs by persons who are not in any legitimate sense producers, dealers or traders ; the requisition, when necessary for public use, of food supplies and of the equip- IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 51 ment necessary for handling them properly; the licensing of wholesome and legitimate mix- tures and milling percentages, and the prohi- bition of the unnecessary or wasteful use of foods. Authority is asked also to establish prices, but nc^t in order to limit the profits of the farmcis, but only to guarantee to them, when necessary, a minimum price, which will insure them a profit where they are asked to attempt new crops, and to secure the consumer against extortion by breaking up corners and attempts at speculation when they occur, by fixing tem- porarily a reasonable price at which middle- men must sell. THE FIXING OF PRICES I have asked Mr. Herbert Hoover to under- take this all-important task of food adminis- tration. He has expressed his willingness to do so, on condition that he is to receive no pay- ment for his services, and that the whole of the force under him, exclusive of clerical assistance, shall be employed, as far as possible, upon the same volunteer basis. He has expressed his confidence that this difficult matter of food administration can be successfully accomplished through the vol- untary co-operation and direction of legiti- mate distributers of foodstuffs and with the help of the women of the country. 52 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR Although it is absolutely necessary that un- questionable powers shall be placed in my hands, in order to insure the success of this administration of the f ood-suppHes of the coun- try, I am confident that the exercise of those powers will be necessary only in the few cases where some small and selfish minority proves unwilling to put the Nation's interests above personal advantage, and that the whole coun- try will heartily support Mr. Hoover's efforts by supplying the necessary volunteer agencies throughout the country for the intelligent con- trol of food consumption, and securing the co-operation of the most capable leaders of the very interests most directly affected, that the exercise of the powers deputed to him will rest very successfully upon the good- will and co-op- eration of the people themselves, and that the ordinary economic machinery of the country will be left substantially undisturbed. NO FEAR OF BUREAUCRACY The proposed food administration is intended, of course, only to meet a manifest emergency and to continue only while the war lasts. Since it will be composed for the most part of volun- teers, there need be no fear of the possibility of a permanent bureaucracy arising out of it. All control of consumption will disappear when the emergency has passed. It is with that object in view that the Administration IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 53 considers it to be of pre-eminent importance that the existing associations of producers and distributers of foodstuffs should be mobilized and made use of on a volunteer basis. The successful conduct of the projected food ad- ministration, by such means, will be the finest possible demonstration of the willingness, the ability and the efficiency of democracy and of its justified reHance upon the freedom of indi- vidual initiative. The last thing that any American could con- template with equanimity would be the intro- duction of anything resembling Prussian au- tocracy into the food control of this country. It i^ of vital interest and importance to every man who produces food and to every man who takes part in its distribution that these policies, thus Liberally administered, should succeed and succeed altogether. It is only in that way that we can prove it to be absolutely unnecessary to resort to the rigorous and drastic measures which have proved to be necessary in some of the European countries. VII AN ANSWER TO CRITICS {May 22, 1917) In the following letter, addressed to Repre- sentative Hefiin, Democrat, of Alabama, Presi- dent Wilson replies to criticisms regarding his position with regard to the war and its objects : It is incomprehensible to me how any frank or honest person could doubt or question my position with regard to the war and its ob- jects. I have again and again stated the very serious and long-continued wrongs which the Imperial German Government has perpetrated against the rights, the commerce and the citi- zens of the United States. The list is long and overwhelming. No Nation that respected it- self or the rights of humanity could have borne those wrongs any longer. Our objects in going into the war have been stated with equal clearness. The whole of the conception which I take to be the conception of our fellow-countrymen with regard to the outcome of the war and the terms of its settle- ment, I set forth with the utmost explicitness IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 55 in an address to the Senate of the United States on the 2 2d of January last. Again, in my mes- sage to Congress on the 2d of April last, those objects were stated in unmistakable terms. I can conceive no purpose in seeking to be- cloud this matter except the purpose of weak- ening the hands of the Government and mak- ing the part which the United States is to play in this great struggle for human Hbeirty an in- efficient and hesitating part. We have entered the war for our own rea- sons and with our own objects clearly stated, and shall forget neither the reasons nor the objects. There is no hate in our hearts for the German people, but there is a resolve which cannot be shaken even by misrepre- sentation, to overcome the pretensions 5f the autocratic Government which acts upon pur- poses to which the German people have never consented. 5 VIII MEMORIAL DAY ADDRESS {May 30, 1917) In one sense the great struggle into which we have now entered is an American struggle, because it is in defense of American honor and American rights, but it is something even greater than that; it is a WQrld__struggle^^It is the struggle of men who love liberty every" where, and in this cause America will show herself greater than ever because she will rise to a greater thing. The program has conferred an unmerited dignity upon the remarks I am going to make by calling them an address, because I am not here to deliver an address [said the Presi- dent]. I am here merely to show in my offi- cial capacity the sympathy of this great Gov- ernment with the object of this occasion, and also to speak just a word of the sentiment that is in my own heart. Any memorial day of this sort is, of course, a day touched with sorrowful memory, and yet I for one do not see how we can have any IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 57 thought of pity for the men whose^ memory we honor to-day. I do not pity them. I envy them, rather, because their great work for lib- erty is accompHshed, and we are in the midst of a work unfinished, testing our strength where their strength already has been tested. A HERITAGE FROM THE DEAD There is a touch of sorrow, but there is a touch of reassurance also in a day Hke this, because we know how the men of America have responded to the call of the cause of lib- erty, and it fills our mind with a perfect asstu*- ance that that response will come again in equal measures, with equal majesty and with a result which will hold the attention of all mankind. When you reflect upon it, these men who died to preserve the Union died to preserve the instrument which we are now using to serve the world — a free nation espousing the cause of himian liberty. In one sense the great struggle into which we have now entered is an American struggle, because it is in the sense of American honor and American rights, but it is something even greater than that; it is a world struggle. It is a struggle of men who love liberty everywhere ; and in this cause America will show herself greater than ever because she will rise to a greater thing. We have said in the beginning that we planned this great Government that men who S8 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR wish freedom might have a place of refuge and a place where their hope could be realized, and now, having established such a Govern- ment, having preserved such a Government, having vindicated the power of such a Gov- ernment, we are saying to all mankind, "We did not set this Government up in order that we might have a selfish and separate liberty, for we are now ready to come to your assist- ance and fight out upon the fields of the world the cause of human liberty." America's full fruition In this thing America attains her full dig- nity and the full fruition of her great purpose. No man can be glad that such things have happened as we have witnessed in these last fateful years, but perhaps it may be permitted to us to be glad that we have an opportunity to show the principles which we profess to be living — ^principles which live in our hearts — and to have a chance by the pouring out of otu- blood and treasure to vindicate the things which we have professed. For, my friends, the real fruition of life is to do the things we have said we wished to do. There are times when words seem empty and only action seems great. Such a time has come, and in the providence of God America will once more have an opportunity to show to the world that she was born to serve mankind. IX A STATEMENT TO RUSSIA {June 9t 1917) In view of the approaching visit of the Amer- ican delegation to Russia to express the deep friendship of the American people for the people of Russia and to discuss the best and most practical means of co-operation between the two peoples in carrying the present struggle for the freedom of all peoples to a successful consummation, it seems opportune and appro- priate that I should state again, in the light of this new partnership, the objects the United States has had in mind in entering the war. Those objects have been very much beclouded during the past few weeks by mistaken and misleading statements, and the issues at stake are too momentous, too tremendous, too sig- nificant for the whole human race to permit any misinterpretations or misunderstandings, however slight, to remain uncorrected for a moment. The war has begun to go against Germany, and in their desperate desire to escape the in- 6o IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR evitable ultimate defeat, those who are in au- thority in Germany are using every possible instrumentality, are making use even of the influence of groups and parties among their own subjects to whom they have never been just or fair, or even tolerant, to promote a propaganda on both sides of the sea which will preserve for them their influence at home and their power abroad, to the undoing of the very men they are using. AMERICA SEEKS NO CONQUEST The position of America in this war is so clearly avowed that no man can be excused for mistaking it. She seeks no material profit or aggrandizement of any kind. She is fight- ing for no advantage or selfish object of her own, but for the liberation of peoples every- where from the aggressions of autocratic force. The ruling classes in Germany have begun of late to profess a like liberality and justice of purpose, but only to preserve the power they have set up in Germany and the selfish advan- tages which they have wrongly gained for them- selves and their private projects of power all the way from Berlin to Bagdad and beyond. Government after Government has, by their influence, without open conquest of its terri- tory, been linked together in a net of intrigue directed against nothing less than the peace and liberty of the world. The meshes of that IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 6i intrigue must be broken, but cannot be broken unless wrongs already done are undone; and adequate measures must be taken to prevent it from ever again being rewoven or repaired. Of course the Imperial German Government and those whom it is using for their own undo- ing are seeking to obtain pledges that the war will end in the restoration of the status quo ante. It was the status quo ante out of which this iniquitous war issued forth, the power of the Imperial German Government within the empire and its widespread domination and in- fluence outside of that empire. That status must be altered in such fashion as to prevent any- such hideous thing from ever happening again. THE PRINCIPLES THAT ARE INVOLVED We are fighting for the liberty, self-govern- ment and the undictated development of all peoples, and every feature of the settlement that concludes this war must be conceived and executed for that purpose. Wrongs must first be righted and then adequate safeguards must be created to prevent their being committed again. We ought not to consider remedies merely because they have a pleasing and sonor- ous sound. Practical questions can be settled only by practical means. Phrases will not ac- complish the result. Effective readjustments will; and whatever readjustments are neces- sary must be made. 62 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR But they must follow a principle, and that principle is plain: No people must be forced under sovereignty under which it does not wish to live. No territory must change hands except for the purpose of securing those who inhabit it a fair chance of life and liberty. No indemnities must be insisted on except those that constitute payment for manifest wrongs done. No readjustments of power must be made except such as will tend to secure the future peace of the world and the future welfare and happiness of its peoples. And then the free peoples of the world must draw together in some common covenant, some genuine and practical co-operation, that will in effect combine their force to secure peace and justice in the dealings of nations with one another. The brotherhood of mankind must no longer be a fair but empty phrase; it must be given a structure of force and reality. The nations must realize their common life and ef- fect a workable partnership to secure that life against the aggressions of autocratic and self- pleasing power. For these things we can affora to pour out blood and treasure. For these are the things we have always professed to desire, and unless we pour out blood and treasure now and succeed, we may never be able to tmite or show con- IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 63 quering force again in the great cause of hu- man liberty. The day has come to conquer or submit. If the forces of autocracy can divide us, they will overcome us ; if we stand together, victory is certain and the liberty which victory will secure. We can afford, then, to be generous, but we cannot afford then or now to be weak or omit any single guarantee of justice and security. X FLAG-DAY ADDRESS {June 14, 1 917) My Fellow-citizens, — We meet to cele- brate Flag Day because this flag which we honor and under which we serve is the emblem of our unity, our power, our thought and pur- pose as a nation. It has no other character than that which we give it from generation to generation. The choices are ours. It floats in majestic silence above the hosts that exe- cute those choices, whether in peace or in war. And yet, though silent, it speaks to us — speaks to us of the past, of the men and women who went before us and of the records they wrote upon it. We celebrate the day of its birth ; and from its birth until now it has wit- nessed a great history, has floated on high the symbol of great events, of a great plan of life worked out by a great people. We are about to carry it into battle, to lift it where it will draw the fire of our enemies. We are about to bid thousands, hundreds of thousands, it may be millions, of our men — the young, the strong, IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 65 the capable men of the nation — to go forth and die beneath it on fields of blood far away — for what? For some unaccustomed thing? For something for which it has never sought the fire before? American armies were never be- fore sent across the seas. Why are they sent now? For some new purpose, for which this great flag has never been carried before, or for some old, familiar, heroic purpose for which it has seen men, its own men, die on every battle- field upon which Americans have borne arms since the Revolution? These are questions which must be answered. We are Americans. We in our turn serve America, and can serve her with no private purpose. We must use her flag as she has al- ways used it. We are accountable at the bar of history and must plead in utter frankness what purpose it is we seek to serve. WHY WE ARE AT WAR It is plain enough how we were forced into the war. The extraordinary insults and ag- gressions of the Imperial German Government left us no self-respecting choice but to take up arms in defense of our rights as a free people and of our honor as a sovereign Government. The military masters of Germany denied us the right to be neutral. They filled our unsus- pecting communities with vicious spies and conspirators and sought to corrupt the opinion 66 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR of our people in their own behalf. When they found that they could not do that, their agents diligently spread sedition among us and sought to draw our own citizens from their allegiance — and some of those agents were men con- nected with the official embassy of the Ger- man Government itself here in our own capital. They sought by violence to destroy our own industries and arrest our commerce. They tried to incite Mexico to take up arms against us and to draw Japan into a hostile alliance with her — and that, not by indirection, but by direct suggestion from the Foreign Office in Ber- lin. They impudently denied us the use of the seas and repeatedly executed their threat that they would send to their death anyof oiu* people who ventured to approach the coasts of Eu- rope. And many of our own people were cor- rupted. Men began to look upon their own neighbors with suspicion and to wonder, in their hot resentment and surprise, whether there was any community in which hostile in- trigue did not lurk. What great nation, in such circumstances, would not have taken up arms? Much as we had desired peace, it was denied us, and not of our own choice. This flag under which we serve would have been dishonored had we withheld our hand. But that is only part of the story. We know now as clearly as we knew before we were ourselves engaged that we axe not the IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR Gj enemies of the German people and that they are not our enemies. They did not originate or desire this hideous war or wish that we should be drawn into it; and we are vaguely conscious that we are fighting their cause, as they will some day see it, as well as our own. They are themselves in the grip of the same sinister power that has now at last stretched its ugly talons out and drawn blood from us. The whole world is at war because the whole world is in the grip of that power and is trying out the great battle which shall determine whether it is to be brought under its mastery or fling itself free. THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONFLICT The war was begun by the military masters of Germany, who proved to be also the masters of Austria-Hungary. These men have never regarded nations as peoples, men, women and children of like blood and frame as them- selves, for whom governments existed and in whom governments had their life. They have regarded them merely as serviceable organiza- tions which they could by force or intrigue bend or corrupt to their own purpose. They have regarded the smaller states, in particular, and the peoples who could be overwhelmed by force, as their natural tools and instruments of domination. Their purpose has long been avowed. The statesmen of other nations, to 68 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR whom that purpose was incredible, paid Httle attention; regarded what German professors expounded in their class-rooms and German writers set forth to the world as the goal of German policy as rather the dream of minds detached from practical affairs, as preposterous private conceptions of German destiny, than as the actual plans of responsible rulers; but the rulers of Germany themselves knew all the while what concrete plans, what well-advanced intrigues, lay back of what the professors and the writers were saying, and were glad to go forward unmolested, filling the thrones of Bal- kan states with German princes, putting Ger- man officers at the service of Turkey to drill her armies and make interest with her Gov- ernment, developing plans of sedition and re- bellion in India and Egypt, setting their fires in Persia. The demands made by Austria upon Serbia were a mere single step in a plan which compassed Europe and Asia, from BerHn to Bagdad. They hoped those demands might not arouse Europe, but they meant to press them whether they did or not, for they thought themselves ready for the final issue of arms. THE PLAN OF CONQUEST Their plan was to throw a broad belt of Ger- man military power and political control across the very center of Europe and beyond the Med- iterranean into the very heart of Asia; and IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 69 Austria-Hungary was to be as much their tool and pawn as Serbia or Bulgaria or Turkey or the ponderous states of the East. Austria- Hungary, indeed, was to become part of the central German Empire, absorbed and domi- nated by the same forces and influences that had originally cemented the German states themselves. The dream had its heart at Ber- lin. It could have had a heart nowhere else! It rejected the idea of solidarity of race entirely. The choice of peoples played no part in it at all. It contemplated binding together racial and political units which could be kept together only by force — Czechs, Magyars, Croats, Serbs, Rumanians, Turks, Armenians — the proud states of Bohemia and Hungary, the stout little commonwealths of the Balkans, the indomi- table Turks, the subtile peoples of the East. These peoples did not wish to be united. They ardently desired to direct their own affairs, would be satisfied only by undisputed inde- pendence. They could be kept quiet only by the presence or the constant threat of armed men. They would live under a common power only by sheer compulsion and await the day of revolution. But the German military states- men had reckoned with all that and were ready to deal with it in their own way. And they have actually carried the greater part of that amazing plan into execution! Look how things stand. Austria is at their 70 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR mercy. It has acted, not upon its own initia- tive or upon the choice of its own people, but at Berlin's dictation, ever since the war began. Its people now desire peace, but cannot have it until leave is granted from Berlin. The so- called Central Powers are, in fact, but a single Power. Serbia is at its mercy, should its hand be but for a moment freed. Bulgaria has consented to its will, and Rumania is overrun. The Turkish armies, which Germans trained, are serving Germany, certainly not themselves, and the guns of German warships lying in the harbor at Constantinople remind Turkish statesmen every day that they have no choice but to take their orders from Berlin. From Hamburg to the Persian Gulf the net is spread. THE TALK OF PEACE Is it not easy to understand the eagerness for peace that has been manifested from Berlin ever since the snare was set and sprung? Peace, peace, peace has been the talk of her Foreign Office for now a year and more; not peace upon her own initiative, but upon the initiative of the nations over which she now deems herself to hold the advantage. A little of the talk has been public, but most of it has been private. Through all sorts of channels it has come to me, and in all sorts of guises, but never with the terms disclosed which the Ger- IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 71 man Government would be willing to accept. That Government has other valuable pawns in its hands besides those I have mentioned. It still holds a valuable part of France, though with slowly relaxing grasp, and practically the whole of Belgium. Its armies press close upon Russia and overrun Poland at their will. It cannot go farther; it dare not go back. It wishes to close its bargain before it is too late, and it has little left to offer for the pound of flesh it will demand. The military masters under whom Germany is bleeding see very clearly to what point Fate has brought them. If they fall back or are forced back an inch, their power both abroad and at home will fall to pieces like a house of cards. It is their power at home they are thinking about now more than their power abroad. It is that power which is trembling under their very feet; and deep fear has en- tered their hearts. They have but one chance to perpetuate their military power, or even their controlling political influence. If they can secure peace now, with the immense ad- vantages still in their hands which they have up to this point apparently gained, they will have justified themselves before the German people; they will have gained by force what they promised to gain by it — an immense ex- pansion of German power, an immense enlarge- ment of German industrial and commercial 6 72 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR opportunities. Their prestige will be secure, and with their prestige their political power. If they fail, their people will thrust them aside; a government accountable to the people them- selves will be set up in Germany, as it has been in England, in the United States, in France, and in all the great countries of the modem time except Germany. If they succeed they are safe and Germany and the world are un- done; if they fail Germany is saved and the world will be at peace. If they succeed, Amer- ica will fall within the menace. We and all the rest of the world must remain armed, as they will remain, and must make ready for the next step in their aggression; if they fail, the world may unite for peace and Germany may be of the union. THE PRESENT AIM OP GERMANY Do you not now understand the new intrigue, the intrigue for peace, and why the masters of Germany do not hesitate to use any agency that promises to effect their purpose, the de- ceit of the nations? Their present particular aim is to deceive all those who throughout the world stand for the rights of peoples and the self-government of nations; for they see what immense strength the forces of justice and of liberalism are gathering out of this war. They are employing liberals in their enterprise. They are using men, in Germany and without, as IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 73 their spokesmen whom they have hitherto de- spised and oppressed, using them for their own destruction — sociaUsts, the leaders of labor, the thinkers they have hitherto sought to si- lence. Let them once succeed and these men, now their tools, will be ground to powder be- neath the weight of the great military empire they will have set up; the revolutionists in Russia will be cut off from all succor or co- operation in western Europe and a counter revolution fostered and supported; Germany herself will lose her chance of freedom ; and all Europe will arm for the next, the final struggle. The sinister intrigue is being no less actively conducted in this country than in Russia, and in every country in Europe to which the agents and dupes of the Imperial German Govern- ment can get access. That Government has many spokesmen here, in places high and low. They have learned discretion. They keep within the law. It is opinion they utter now, not sedition. They proclaim the liberal pur- poses of their masters; declare this a foreign war which can touch America with no danger to either her lands or her institutions ; set Eng- land at the center of the stage and talk of her ambition to assert economic dominion through- out the world; appeal to our ancient tradition of isolation in the politics of the nations; and seek to undermine the Government with false professions of loyalty to its principles. 74 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR THIS IS A PEOPLES* WAR But they will make no headway. The false betray themselves always in every accent. It is only friends and partisans of the German Government whom we have already identified who utter these thinly disguised disloyalties. The facts are patent to all the world, and no- where are they more plainly seen than in the United States, where we are accustomed to deal with facts and not with sophistries; and the great fact that stands out above all the rest is that this is a Peoples' War, a war for free- dom and justice and self-government amongst all the nations of the world, a war to make the world safe for the peoples who live in it and have made it their own, the German people themselves included; and that with us rests the choice to break through all these hypocri- sies and patent cheats and masks of brute force and help set the world free, or else stand aside and let it be dominated a long age through by sheer weight of arms and the arbitrary choices of self -constituted masters, by the na- tion which can maintain the biggest armies and the most irresistible armaments — a power to which the world has afforded no parallel and in the face of which political freedom must wither and perish. For us there is but one choice. We have made it. Woe be to the man or group of men IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 75 that seeks to stand in our way in this day of high resolution, when every principle we hold dearest is to be vindicated and made secure for the salvation of the nations. We are ready to plead at the bar of history, and our flag shall wear a new luster. Once more we shall make good with our lives and fortunes the great faith to which we were bom, and a new glory shall shine in the face of our people. XI AN APPEAL TO THE BUSINESS INTERESTS {July II, 1917) My Fellow-countrymen, — The Govern- ment is about to attempt to determine the prices at which it will ask you henceforth to furnish various supplies which are necessary for the prosecution of the war, and various materials which will be needed in the indus- tries by which the war must be sustained. We shall, of course, try to determine them justly and to the best advantage of the nation as a whole. But justice is easier to speak of than to arrive at, and there are some consid- erations which I hope we shall keep steadily in mind while this particular problem of justice is being worked out. I therefore take the liberty of stating very candidly my own view of the situation and of the principles which should guide both the Government and the mine -owners and manufacturers of the country in this difficult matter, IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 77 PATRIOTISM AND PROFITS APART A just price must, of course, be paid for everything the Government buys. By a just price I mean a price which will sustain the in- dustries concerned in a high state of efficiency, provide a living for those who conduct them, enable them to pay good wages, and make pos- sible the expansions of their enterprises, which will from time to time become necessary as the stupendous undertakings of this great war develop. We could not wisely or reasonably do less than pay such prices. They are necessary for the maintenance and development of industry; and the maintenance and development of in- dustry are necessary for the great task we have in hand. But I trust that we shall not surround the matter with a mist of sentiment. Facts are our masters now. We ought not to put the acceptance of such prices on the ground of patriotism. Patriotism has nothing to do with profits in a case like this. Patriotism and profits ought never in the present circum- stances to be mentioned together. It is perfectly proper to discuss profits as a matter of business, with a view to maintaining the integrity of capital and the efficiency of labor in these tragical months, when the lib- erty of free men everywhere and of industry 78 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR itself trembles in the balance, but it would be absurd to discuss them as a motive for helping to serve and save our country. Patriotism leaves profits out of the question. In these days of our supreme trial, when we are sending hundreds of thousands of our young men across the seas to serve a great cause, no true man who stays behind to work for them and sustain them by his labor will ask himself what he is personally going to make out of that labor. No true patriot will permit himself to take toll of their heroism in money or seek to grow rich by the shedding of their blood. He will give as freely and with as unstinted self-sacri- fice as they. When they are giving their lives, will he not at least give his money? I hear it insisted that more than a just price, more than a price that will sustain our industries, must be paid; that it is necessary to pay very liberal and imusual profits in order to ** stimulate production," that nothing but pecuniary rewards will do — rewards paid in money, not in the mere liberation of the world. IS A BRIBE NECESSARY? I take it for granted that those who argue thus do not stop to think what that means. Do they mean that you must be paid, must be bribed, to make your contribution, a contribu- IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 79 tion that costs you neither a drop of blood, nor a tear, when the whole world is in travail and men everywhere depend upon and call to you to bring them out of bondage and make the world a fit place to live in again amidst peace and justice? Do they mean that you will exact a price, drive a bargain, with the men who are endur- ing the agony of this war on the battlefield, in the trenches, amid the lurking dangers of the sea, or with the bereaved women and pitiful children, before you will come forward to do your duty and give some part of your life, in easy, peaceful fashion, for the things we are fighting for, the things we have pledged our fortunes, our lives, our sacred honor, to vindi- cate and defend — liberty and justice and fair dealing and the peace of nations ? Of course you will not. It is inconceivable. Your patriotism is of the same self-denying stuff as the patriotism of the men dead or maimed on the fields of France, or else it is no patriotism at all. Let us never speak, then, of profits and of patriotism in the same sentence, but face facts and meet them. Let us do sound business, but not in the midst of a mist. Many a grievous burden of taxation will be laid on this Nation, in this generation and in the next, to pay for this war; let us see to it that for every dollar that is 8o IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR taken from the people's pockets it shall be possible to obtain a dollar's worth of the sound stuffs they need. HIGH FREIGHTS AID GERMANY Let us for a moment turn to the ship-owners of the United States and the other ocean car- riers whose example they have followed, and ask them if they realize what obstacles, what almost insuperable obstacles, they have been putting in the way of the successful prosecu- tion of this war by the ocean freight rates they have been exacting. They are doing everything that high freight charges can do to make the war a failure, to make it impossible. I do not say that they realize this or intend it. The thing has happened naturally enough, because the commercial processes which we are content to see operate in ordinary times have without sufficient thought been continued into a period where they have no proper place. I am not questioning motives. I am merely stating a fact, and stating it in order that attention may be fixed upon it. The fact is that those who have fixed war freight rates have taken the most effective means in their power to defeat the armies en- gaged against Germany. When they realize this we may, I take it for granted, count upon them to reconsider the whole matter. It is IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 8i high time. Their extra hazards are covered by war-risk insurance. THE LAW TO DEAL WITH OFFENDERS I know, and you know, what response to this great challenge of duty and of opportu- nity the riation will expect of you; and I know what response you will make. Those who do not respond, who do not respond in the spirit of those who have gone to give their lives for us on bloody fields far away, may safely be left to be dealt with by opinion and the law — ^for the law must, of course, command those things. I am dealing with the matter thus publicly and frankly, not because I have any doubt or fear as to the result, but only in order that, in all our thinking and in all our dealings with one another we may move in a perfectly clear air of mutual understanding. And there is something more that we must add to our thinking. The public is now as much part of the Government as are the Army and Navy themselves. The whole people, in all their activities, are now mobilized and in service for the accomplishment of the Nation's task in this war. It is in such circumstances impossible justly to distinguish between indus- trial purchases made by the Government and industries. And it is just as much our duty to sustain the industries of the country, all the 82 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR industries that contribute to its life, as it is to sustain our forces in the field and on the sea. We must make the prices to the public the same as the prices to the Government. PRICES MEAN VICTORY OR DEFEAT Prices mean the same thing everywhere now. They mean the efficiency or the inefficiency of the Nation, whether it is the Government that pays them or not. They mean victory or de- feat. They mean that America will win her place once for all among the foremost free Na- tions of the world, or that she will sink to defeat and become a second-rate Power alike in thought and action. This is a day of her reckoning, and every man among us must per- sonally face that reckoning along with her. The case needs no arguing. I assume that I am only expressing your own thoughts— what must be in the mind of every true man when he faces the tragedy and the solemn glory of the present war, for the emancipa- tion of mankind. I summon you to a great duty, a great privilege, a shining dignity and distinction. I shaU expect every man who is not a slacker to be at my side throughout this great enter- prise. In it no man can win honor who thinks of himself. XII REPLY OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE COM- MUNICATION OF THE POPE TO THE BELLIG- ERENT GOVERNMENTS {August 27, IQ17) To His Holiness Benedictus XV., Pope. In acknowledgment of the communication of Your Holiness to the belligerent peoples, dated August i, 191 7, the President of the United States requests me to transmit the following reply : Every heart that has not been blinded and hardened by this terrible war must be touched by this moving appeal of His Holiness, the Pope, must feel the dignity and force of the humane and generous motives which prompted it, and must fervently wish that we might take the path of peace he so persuasively points out. But it would be folly to take it if it does not, in fact, lead to the goal he proposes. Our response must be based upon the stem facts and upon nothing else. It is not a mere ces- sation of arms he desires; it is a stable and enduring peace. This agony must not be gone 84 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR through with again, and it must be a matter of very sober judgment what will insure us against it. THE PROPOSAL FROM THE VATICAN His Holiness, in substance, proposes that we return to the status quo ante hellufHy and that then there be a general condonation, disarma- ment, and a concert of nations based upon an acceptance of the principle of arbitration ; that by a similar concert freedom of the seas be established; and that the territorial claims of France and Italy, the perplexing problems of the Balkan states, and the restitution of Po- land be left to such conciliatory adjustments as may be possible in the new temper of such a peace, due regard being paid to the aspira- tions of the peoples whose political fortunes and affiliations will be involved. It is manifest that no part of this program can be successfully carried out unless the res- titution of the status quo ante furnishes a firm and satisfactory basis for it. The object of this war is to deliver the free peoples of the world from the menace and the actual power of a vast military establishment controlled by an irresponsible Government, which, having secretly planned to dominate the world, pro- ceeded to carry the plan out without re- gard either to the sacred obligations of treaty or the long-established practices and long- IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 85 cherished principles of international action and honor; which chose its own time for the war; deHveredits blow fiercely and suddenly ; stopped at no barrier either of law or of mercy; swept a whole continent within the tide of blood — not the blood of soldiers only, but the blood of innocent women and children also, and of the helpless poor; and now stands balked but not defeated, the enemy of four-fifths of the world. This power is not the German people. It is the ruthless master of the German people. It is no business of ours how that great people came under its control or submitted with tem- porary zest to the domination of its purpose; but it is our business to see to it that the his- tory of the rest of the world is no longer left to its handling. To deal with such a power by way of peace upon the plan proposed by His Holiness the Pope would, so far as we can see, involve a recuperation of its strength and a renewal of its policy ; would make it necessary to create a permanent hostile combination of nations against the German people who are its instru- ments; and would result in abandoning the new-bom Russia to the intrigue, the manifold subtle interference, and the certain counter- revolution which wotild be attempted by all the malign influences to which the German Government has of late accustomed the world. Can peace be based upon a restitution of its 86 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR power or upon any word of honor it could pledge in a treaty of settlement and accom- modation ? Responsible statesmen must now everywhere see, if they never saw before, that no peace can rest securely upon political or economic restric- tions meant to benefit some nations and cripple or embarrass others, upon vindictive action of any sort, or any kind of revenge or deliberate injury. The American people have stiffered intolerable wrongs at the hands of the Imperial German Government, but they desire no re- prisal upon the German people, who have themselves suffered all things in this war which they did not choose. They believe that peace should rest upon the rights of peoples, not the rights of governments — the rights of peoples great or small, weak or powerful — their equal right to freedom and security and self-govern- ment and to a participation upon fair terms in the economic opportunities of the world, the German people, of course, included, if they will accept equality and not seek domination. The test, therefore, of every plan of peace is this: Is it based upon the faith of all the peoples involved or merely upon the word of an ambitious and intriguing Government on the one hand, and of a group of free peoples on the other ? This is a test which goes to the root of the matter; and it is the test which must be applied. IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 87 THE TEST THAT MUST BE APPLIED The purposes of the United States in this war are known to the whole world, to every people to whom the truth has been permitted to come. They do not need to be stated again. We seek no material advantage of any kind. We believe that the intolerable wrongs done in this war by the furious and brutal power of the Imperial German Government ought to be re- paired, but not at the expense of the sover- eignty of any people — ^rather a vindication of the sovereignty both of those that are weak and of those that are strong. Punitive dam- ages, the dismemberment of empires, the es- tablishment of selfish and exclusive economic leagues, we deem inexpedient and in the end worse than futile, no proper basis for a peace of any kind, least of all for an enduring peace. That must be based upon justice and fairness and the common rights of mankind. THE GERMAN RULERS CANNOT BE TRUSTED We cannot take the word of the present rul- ers of Germany as a guaranty of anything that is to endure, unless explicitly supported by such conclusive evidence of the will and pur- pose of the German people themselves as the other peoples of the world would be justified in accepting. Without such guarantees treaties of settlement, agreements for disarmament, 7 88 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR covenants to set up arbitration in the place of force, territorial adjustments, reconstitutions of small nations, if made with the German Government, no man, no nation could now depend on. We must await some new evi- dence of the purposes of the great peoples of the Central Powers. God grant it may be given soon, and in a way to restore the confi- dence of all peoples ever3rwhere in the faith of nations and the possibility of a covenanted peace. Robert Lansing, Secretary of State of the United States of America. XIII A MESSAGE TO TEACHERS AND SCHOOL OFFICERS (Septetnbet 30, 1917) The war is bringing to the minds of our people a new appreciation of the problems of national life and a deeper understanding of the meaning and aims of democracy. Matters which heretofore have seemed commonplace and trivial are seen in a truer light. The ur- gent demand for the production and proper distribution of food and other national re- sources has made us aware of the close de- pendence of individual on individual and na- tion on nation. The effort to keep up social and industrial organizations, in spite of the withdrawal of men for the army, has revealed the extent to which modem life has become complex and specialized. These and other lessons of the war must be learned quickly if we are intelligently and suc- cessfully to defend our institutions. When the war is over we must apply the wisdom which 90 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR we have acquired in purging and ennobling the life of the world. THE COMMON SCHOOL HAS A PART TO PLAY In these vital tasks of acquiring a broader view of human possibiHties the common school must have large part. I urge that teachers and other school officers increase materially the time and attention devoted to instruction bear- ing directly on the problems of community and national life. Such a plea is in no way foreign to the spirit of American public education or of existing practices. Nor is it a plea for a temporary enlargement of the school program appropri- ate merely to the period of the war. It is a plea for a realization in public education of the new emphasis which the war has given to the ideals of democracy and to the broader con- ceptions of national life. In order that there may be definite material at hand with which the schools may at once expand their teachings, I have asked Mr. Hoover and Commissioner Claxton to organ- ize the proper agencies for the preparation and distribution of suitable lessons for the element- ary grades and for the high-school classes. Lessons thus suggested will serve the double purpose of illustrating in a concrete way what can be undertaken in the schools and of stimu- IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 91 lating teachers in all parts of the country to formulate new and appropriate materials drawn directly from the commimities in which they live. WooDRow Wilson. XIV WOMAN SUFFRAGE MUST COME NOW {October 23, igi7) The President received at the White House a delegation from the New York State Woman Suffrage Party. Answering the address made by the chairman, Mrs. Norman de R. White- house, the President spoke as follows: Mrs. Whitehouse and Ladies, — It is with great pleasure that I receive you. I esteem it a privilege to do so. I know the difficulties which you have been laboring under in New York State, so clearly set forth by Mrs. White- house, but in my judgment those difficulties cannot be used as an excuse by the leaders of any party or by the voters of any party for neglecting the question which you are pressing upon them. Because, after all, the whole world now is witnessing a struggle between two ideals of government. It is a struggle which goes deeper and touches more of the founda- tions of the organized life of men than any struggle that has ever taken place before, and no settlement of the questions that lie on the IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 93 surface can satisfy a situation which requires that the questions which lie underneath and at the foundation should also be settled and settled right. I am free to say that I think the question of woman suffrage is one of those questions which lie at the foundation. The world has witnessed a slow political reconstruction, and men have generally been obliged to be satisfied with the slowness of the process. In a sense it is wholesome that it should be slow, because then it is solid and sure. But I believe that this war is going so to quicken the convictions and the conscious- ness of mankind with regard to political ques- tions that the speed of reconstruction will be greatly increased. And I believe that just be- cause w^e are quickened by the questions of this war, we ought to be quickened to give this question of woman suffrage our immediate consideration. NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT As one of the spokesmen of a great party, I would be doing nothing less than obeying the mandates of that party if I gave my hearty support to the question of woman suffrage which you represent, but I do not want to speak merely as one of the spokesmen of a party. I want to speak for myself, and say that it seems to me that this is the time for the States of this Union to take this action. I 94 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR perhaps may be touched a Httle too much by the traditions of our poHtics, traditions which lay such questions almost entirely upon the States, but I want to see communities declare themselves quickened at this time and show the consequence of the quickening. I think the whole country has appreciated the way in which the women have risen to this great occasion. They not only have done what they have been asked to do, and done it with ardor and efficiency, but they have shown a power to organize for doing things of their own initiative, which is quite a different thing, and a very much more difficult thing, and I think the whole country has admired the spirit and the capacity and the vision of the women of the United States. It is almost absurd to say that the country depends upon the women for a large part of the inspiration of its life. That is too obvious to say; but it is now depending upon the women also for suggestions of service, which have been rendered in abundance and with the distinction of originality. I, therefore, am very glad to add my voice to those which are urging the people of the great State of New York to set a great example by voting for woman suf- frage. It would be a pleasure if I might utter that advice in their presence. Inasmuch as I am bound too close to my duties here to moko that possible, I am glad to have th§ IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 95 privilege to ask you to convey that message to them. It seems to me that this is a time of privi- lege. All otir principles, all our hearts, all our purposes, are being searched ; searched not only by our own consciences, but searched by the world ; and it is time for the people of the States of this country to show the world in what prac- tical sense they have learned the lessons of democracy — that they are fighting for democ- racy because they beheve it, and that there is no application of democracy which they do not believe in. I feel, therefore, that I am standing upon the firmest foundations of the age in bidding godspeed to the cause which you represent and in expressing the ardent hope that the people of New York may realize the great occasion which faces them on Election Day and may respond to it in noble fashion. XV THE THANKSGIVING DAY PROCLAMATION {November 7, iQiT) It has long been the honored custom of our people to turn in the fruitful autumn of the year in praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God for His many blessings and mercies to us as a Nation. That custom we can follow now, even in the midst of the tragedy of a world shaken by war and immeasurable disaster, in the midst of sorrow and great peril, because even amidst the darkness that has gathered about us we can see the great blessings God has bestowed upon us ; blessings that are bet- ter than mere peace of mind and prosperity of enterprise. We have been given the opportunity to serve mankind as we once served ourselves in the great day of our declaration of independence, by taking up arms against a tyranny that threatened to master and debase men every- where and joining with other free peoples in demanding for all the nations of the world what we then demanded and obtained for our- IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 97 selves. In this day of the revelation of our duty not only to defend our rights as a Nation, but to defend also the rights of free men throughout the world, there has been vouch- safed us in full and inspiring measure the reso- lution and spirit of united action. We have been brought to one mind and purpose. A new vigor of common counsel and common action has been revealed in us. We should especially thank God that, in such circumstances, in the midst of the great- est enterprise the spirits of men have ever entered upon, we have, if we but observe a reasonable and practicable economy, abun- dance with which to supply the needs of those associated with us as well as our own. A new light shines about us. The great duties of a new day awaken a new and greater national spirit in us. We shall never again be divided or wonder what stuff we are made of. And while we render thanks for these things, let us pray Almighty God that in all humble- ness of spirit we may look always to Him for guidance; that we may be kept constant in the spirit and purpose of service ; that by His grace our minds may be directed and our hands strengthened, and that in His good time lib- erty and security and peace and the comrade- ship of a common justice may be vouchsafed all the nations of the earth. Wherefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of 98 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR the United States of America, do hereby desig- nate Thursday, the 29th day of November next, as a day of thanksgiving and prayer, and invite the people throughout the land to cease upon that day from their ordinary occupations and in their several homes and places of wor- ship to render thanks to God, the Great Ruler of nations. XVI LABOR MUST BEAR ITS PART {November 12, 1917) In his address before the American Federa- tion of Labor, assembled in convention at Buffalo, New York, the President spoke as follows: Mr. President, Delegates of the Amer- ican Federation op Labor, Ladies and Gentlemen, — I esteem it a great privilege and a real honor to be thus admitted to your public councils. When your executive com- mittee paid me the compliment of inviting me here I gladly accepted the invitation, because it seems to me that this, above all other times in your history, is the time for common coun- sel, for the drawing not only of the energies, but of the minds of the nation together. I thought that it was a welcome opportunity for disclosing to you some of the thoughts that have been gathering in my mind during the last momentous months. I am introduced to you as the President of the United States, and yet I would be pleased if you would put the thought of the office into loo IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR the background and regard me as one of your fellow-citizens who has come here to speak, not the words of authority, but the words of counsel, the words which men should speak to one another who wish to be frank in a moment more critical, perhaps, than the history of the world has ever yet known, a moment when it is every man's duty to forget himself, to forget his own interests, to fill himself with the nobil- ity of a great national and world conception and act upon a new platform elevated above the ordinary affairs of life, elevated to where men have views of the long destiny of mankind. I think that in order to realize just what this moment of counsel is, it is very desirable that we should remind ourselves just how this war came about and just what it is for. You can explain most wars very simply, but the explanation of this is not so simple. Its roots run deep into all the obscure soils of history, and, in my view, this is the last decisive issue between the old principles of power and the new principles of freedom. GERMANY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WAR The war was started by Germany. Her authorities deny that they started it, but I am willing to let the statement I have just made await the verdict of history. The thing that needs to be explained is why Germany started the war. Remember what the position of Ger- IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR loi many in the world WciS-^ias' en viable a' position as any nation has ever occupied. The whole world stood at admiration of her wonderful intellectual and material achievements, and all the intellectual men of the world went to school to her. As a university man I have been sur- rounded by men trained in Germany, men who had resorted to Germany because nowhere else could they get such thorough and search- ing training, particularly in the principles of science and the principles that underlie modem material achievements. Her men of science had made her indus- tries perhaps the most competent industries in the world, and the label, "Made in Germany,'* was a guarantee of good workmanship and of sound material. She had access to all the markets of the world, and every other man who traded in those markets feared Germany because of her effective and almost irresistible competition. She had a place in the sun. Why was she not satisfied? What more did she want? There was nothing in the world of peace that she did not already have, and have in abundance. We boast of the extraordinary pace of American advancement. We show with pride the statistics of the increase of our industries and of the population of our cities. Well, those statistics did not match the recent sta- tistics of Germany. Her old cities took on 102 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR youth, grew faster than any American cities ever grew; her old industries opened their eyes and saw a new world and went out for its con- quest, and yet the authorities of Germany were not satisfied. You have one part of the answer to the question why she was not satisfied in her meth- ods of competition. There is no important in- dustry in Germany upon which the Govern- ment had not laid its hands to direct it and, when necessity arose, control it. You have only to ask any man whom you meet who is familiar with the conditions that prevailed before the war in the matter of inter- national competition to find out the methods of competition which the German manufactur- ers and exporters used under the patronage and support of the Government of Germany. You will find that they were the same sorts of competition that we have decided to prevent by law within our own borders. If they could not sell their goods cheaper than we could sell ours, at a profit to themselves, they could get a subsidy from the Government which made it possible to sell them cheaper any- how; and the conditions of competition were thus controlled in large measure by the German Government itself. But that did not satisfy the German Gov- ernment. All the while there was lying be- hind its thought, in its dreams of the future, a IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 103 political control which would enable it, in the long run, to dominate the labor and the in- dustry of the world. SUCCESS BY AUTHORITY They were not content with success by su- perior achievement; they wanted success by authority. I suppose very few of you have thought much about the Berlin to Bagdad rail- way. The Berlin to Bagdad railway was con- structed in order to run the threat of force down the flank of the industrial undertakings of half a dozen other countries, so that when German competition came in it would not be resisted too far — because there was always the possibility of getting German armies into the heart of that country quicker than any other armies could be got there. Look at the map of Europe now. Ger- many, in thrusting upon us again and again the discussion of peace, talks about what? Talks about Belgium, talks about northern France, talks about Alsace-Lorraine. She has kept all that her dreams contemplated when the war began. If she can keep that, her power can disturb the world as long as she keeps it ; always provided — for I feel bound to put this provision in — always provided the present influences that control the German Government continue to control it. I believe that the spirit of freedom can get I04 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR into the hearts of Germans and find as fine a welcome there as it can find in any other hearts. But the spirit of freedom does not suit the plans of the Pan-Germans. Power cannot be used with concentrated force against free peoples if it is used by free people. You know how many intimations come to us from one of the Central Powers that it is more anxious for peace than the chief Central Power, and you know that it means that the people in that Central Power know that if the war ends as it stands, they will in effect themselves be vassals of Germany, notwithstanding that their populations are compounded with all the people of that part of the world, and notwithstanding the fact that they do not v/ish, in their pride and proper spirit of nationality, to be so absorbed and dominated. THE POLITICAL POWER OP THE WORLD Germany is determined that the political power of the world shall belong to her. There have been such ambitions before. They have been in part realized. But never before have those ambitions been based upon so exact and precise and scientific a plan of domination. May I not say it is amazing to me that any group of people should be so ill informed as to suppose, as some groups in Russia apparently suppose, that any reforms planned in the in- terest of the people can live in the presence of IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 105 a Germany powerful enough to undermine or overthrow them by intrigue or force? Any body of free men that compounds with the present German Government is com- pounding for its own destruction. But that is not the whole of the story. Any man in America or anywhere else who supposes that the free industry and enterprise of the world can continue if the Pan-German plan is achieved and German power fastened upon the world is as fatuous as the dreamers of Russia. What I am opposed to is not the feeling of the pacifists, but their stupidity. My heart is with them, but my mind has a contempt for them. I want peace, but I know how to get it, and they do not. You will notice that I sent a friend of mine, Colonel House, to Europe, who is as great a lover of peace as any man in the world ; but I did not send him on a peace mission. I sent him to take part in a conference as to how the war was to be won. And he knows, as I know, that that is the way to get peace if you want it for more than a few minutes. If we are true friends of freedom — our own or anybody else's — ^we will see that the power of this country and the productivity of this country is raised to its absolute maximum and that absolutely nobody is allowed to stand in the way of it. When I say that nobody ought to be al- io6 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR lowed to stand in the way, I don't mean that they shall be prevented by the power of Government, but by the power of the Ameri- can spirit. Our duty, if we are to do this great thing and show America to be what we believe her to be, the greatest hope and energy in the world, then we must stand together night and day until the job is finished. LABOR MUST BE FREE While we are fighting for freedom we must see, among other things, that labor is free, and that means a number of interesting things. It means not only that we must do what we have declared our purpose to do — ^see that the con- ditions of labor are not rendered more oner- ous by the war — but also that we shall see to it that the instrumentalities by which the con- ditions of labor are improved are not blocked or checked. That we must do. That has been the matter about which I have taken pleasiire in conferring, from time to time, with your president, Mr. Gompers; and if I may be permitted to do so, I want to express my ad- miration of his patriotic courage, his large vision, his statesman-Hke sense and a mind that knows how to pull in harness. The horses that kick over the traces will have to be put in a corral. Now, to ''stand together" means that no- body must interrupt the processes of our en- IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 107 ergy if the interruption can possibly be avoided without the absolute invasion of freedom. To put it concretely, that means this : Nobody has a right to stop the processes of labor until all the methods of conciliation and settlement have been exhausted, and I might as well say right here that I am not talking to you alone. You sometimes stop the courses of labor, but there are others who do the same. I am speak- ing of my own experience when I say that you are reasonable in a larger number of cases than the capitalists. I am not saying these things to them per- sonally yet, because I haven't had a chance. But they have to be said, not in any spirit of criticism. But, in order to clear the atmosphere and come down to business, everybody on both sides has got to transact business, and the settlement is never impossible when both sides want to do the square and right thing. More- over, a settlement is always hard to avoid when the parties can be brought face to face. I can differ with a man much more radically when he isn't in the room than I can when he is in the room, because then the awkward thing is that he can come back at me and answer what I say. It is always dangerous for a man to have the floor entirely to himself. And, therefore, we must insist in every instance that the parties come into each other's presence and loS IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR there discuss the issues between them, and not separately in places which have no communi- cation with each other. I like to remind myself of a delightful say- ing of an Englishman of a past generation, Charles Lamb. He was with a group of friends and he spoke harshly of some man who was not present. I ought to say that Lamb stut- tered a little bit. And one of his friends said, *'Why, Charles, I didn't know that you knew So-and-so?" * 'Oh," he said, ** I don't. I can't hate a man I know." There is a great deal of human nature, of very pleasant human nature, in that saying. It is hard to hate a man you know. I may admit, parenthetically, that there are some politicians whose methods I do not at all be- lieve in, but they are jolly good fellows, and if they would not talk the wrong kind of politics with me I would love to be with them. And so it is all along the line, in serious matters and things less serious. We are all of the same clay and spirit, and we can get together if we desire to get together. AMERICANS MUST CO-OPERATE Therefore my counsel to you is this : Let us show ourselves Americans by showing that we do not want to go off in separate camps or groups by ourselves, but that we want to co- operate with all other classes and all other IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 109 groups in a common enterprise, which is to release the spirits of the worid from bondage. I would be willing to set that up as the final test of an American. That is the meaning of democracy. I have been very much distressed, my fel- low-citizens, by some of the things that have happened recently. The mob spirit is display- ing itself here and there in this country. I have no sympathy with what some men are saying, but I have no sympathy with the men that take their punishment into their own hands; and I want to say to every man who does join such a mob that I recognize him as unworthy of the free institutions of the United States. There are some organizations in this coun- try whose object is anarchy and the destruc- tion of the law. I despise and hate their pur- pose as much as any man, but I respect the ancient processes of justice, and I would be too proud not to see them done justice, however wrong they are. And so I want to utter my earnest protest against any manifestation of the spirit of lawlessness anywhere or in any cause. Why, gentlemen, look what it means. We claim to be the greatest democratic people in the world, and democracy means, first of all, that we can govern ourselves. If our men have not self-control, then they are not capable of that great thing which we call no IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR democratic government. A man who takes the law into his own hands is not the right man to co-operate in any form of orderly development of law and institutions. And some of the processes by which the struggle between capital and labor is carried on are processes that come very near to taking the law into your own hands. I do not mean for a moment to compare them with what I have just been speaking of, but I want you to see that they are mere gradations of the mani- festations of the unwillingness to co-operate. The fundamental lesson of the whole situation is that we must not only take common counsel, but that we must yield to and obey common counsel. Not all of the instrumentalities for this are at hand. BETTER CONDITIONS MAY BE AT HAND I am hopeful that in the very near future new instrumentalities may be organized by which we can see to it that various things that are now going on shall not go on. There are various processes of the dilution of labor and the unnecessary substitution of labor and bid- ding in different markets and unfairly upset- ting the whole competition of labor which ought not to go on — I mean now, on the part of employers — and we must interject into this some instrumentality of co-operation by which the fair thing will be done all around. IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR in I am hopeful that some such instrumen- talities may be devised, but whether they are or not we must use those that we have, and upon every occasion where it is necessary to have such an instrumentality, originated upon that occasion, if necessary. And so, my fellow-citizens, the reason that I came away from Washington is that I some- times get lonely down there — there are so many people in Washington who know things that are not so, and there are so few people in Wash- ington who know anything about what the people of the United States are thinking about. I have to come away to get reminded of the rest of the country. I have come away and talk to men who are up against the real thing and say to them, I am with you if you are with me. The only test of being with me is not to think about me personally at all, but merely to think of me as the expression for the time being of the power and dignity and hope of the American people. XVII ADDRESS TO CONGRESS {December 4, 1917) Gentlemen of the Congress, — Eight months have elapsed since I last had the honor of addressing you. They have been months crowded with events of immense and grave sig- nificance for us. I shall not imdertake to detail or even to summarize these events. The prac- tical particulars of the part we have played in them will be laid before you in the reports of the executive departments. I shall discuss only our present outlook upon these vast affairs, our present duties and the immediate means of accomplishing the objects we shall hold always in view. I shall not go back to debate the causes of the war. The intolerable wrongs done and planned against us by the sinister masters of Germany have long since become too grossly obvious and odious to every true American to need to be rehearsed. But I shall ask you to consider again, and with very grave scrutiny, IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 113 our objectives and the measures by which we mean to attain them; for the purpose of discus- sion here in this place is action, and our action must move straight toward definite ends. Our object is, of course, to win the war, and we shall not slacken or suffer ourselves to be di- verted until it is won. But it is worth while asking and answering the question, When shall we consider the war won? From one point of view it is not necessary to broach this fundamental matter. I do not doubt that the American people know what the war is about, and what sort of an outcome they will regard as a realization of their pur- pose in it. As a nation we are united in spirit and intention. I pay little heed to those who tell me otherwise. I hear the voices of dissent — who does not? I hear the criticism and the clamor of the noisily thoughtless and troublesome. I also see men here and there fling themselves in impotent disloyalty against the calm, indomitable power of the Nation. I hear men debate peace who understand neither its nature nor the way in which we may attain it, with uplifted eyes and un- broken spirits. But I know that none of these speaks for the Nation. They do not touch the heart of anything. They may safely be left to strut about their uneasy hour and be forgotten. 114 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR WHAT WE ARE FIGHTING FOR But from another point of view I believe that it is necessary to say plainly what we here at the seat of action consider the war to be for, and what part we mean to play in the settle- ment of its searching issues. We are the spokes- men of the American people, and they have a right to know whether their purpose is ours. They desire peace by the overcoming of evil, but the defeat once and for all of the sinister forces that interrupt peace and render it im- possible, and they wish to know how closely our thought runs with theirs and what action we propose. They are impatient with those who desire peace by any sort of compromise — deeply and indignantly impatient — but they will be equally impatient with us if we do not make it plain to them what our objectives are and what we are planning for in seeking to make conquest of peace by arms. I believe that I speak for them when I say two things : First, that this intolerable Thing of which the masters of Germany have shown us the ugly face, this menace of combined intrigue and force, which we now see so clearly as the German power, a Thing without conscience or honor or capacity for covenanted peace, must be crushed, and, if it be not utterly brought to an end, at least shut out from the friendly intercourse of the nations; and, second, that IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 115 when this Thing and its power are indeed de- feated and the time comes that we can discuss peace — when the German people have spokes- men whose word we can believe, and when those spokesmen are ready, in the name of their people, to accept the common judgment of the nations as to what shall henceforth be the bases of law and of covenant for the life of the world — we shall be willing and glad to pay the full price for peace and pay it ungrudgingly. We know what that price will be. It will be full, impartial justice — justice done at every point and to every nation that the final settle- ment must affect, our enemies as well as our friends. You catch with me the voices of humanity that are in the air. They grow daily more audible, more articulate, more persuasive, and they come from the hearts of men everywhere. They insist that the war shall not end in vin- dictive action of any kind; that no nation or people shall be robbed or punished because the irresponsible rulers of a single country have themselves done deep and abominable wrong. It is this thought that has been expressed in the formula, "No annexations, no contribu- tions, no punitive indemnities." THE PEOPLE OF RUSSIA LED ASTRAY Just because this crude formula expresses the instinctive judgment as to the right of plain ii6 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR men everywhere, it has been made diligent use of by the masters of German intrigue to lead the people of Russia astray, and the people of every other country their agents could reach, in order that a premature peace might be brought about before autocracy has been taught its final and convincing lesson and the people of the world put in control of their own destinies. But the fact that a wrong use has been made of a just idea is no reason why a right use should not be made of it. It ought to be brought under the patronage of its real friends. Let it be said again that autocracy must first be shown the utter futility of its claims to power or leadership in the modern world. It is impossible to apply any standard of justice so long as such forces are unchecked and un- defeated as the present masters of Germany command. Not until that has been done can right be set up as arbiter and peacemaker among the nations. But when that has been done — as, God willing, it assuredly will be — we shall at last be free to do an unprecedented thing, and this is the time to avow our purpose to do it. We shall be free to base peace on generosity and justice, to the exclusion of all selfish claims to advantage, even on the part of the victors. Let there be no misunderstanding. Our present and immediate task is to win the war, IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 117 and nothing shall turn us aside from it until it is accomplished. Every power and resource we possess, whether of men, of money, or of materials, is being devoted, and will continue to be devoted, to that purpose until it is achieved. Those who desire to bring peace about before that purpose is achieved I coun- sel to carry their advice elsewhere. We will not entertain it. JUSTICE AND REPARATION We shall regard the war only as won when the German people say to us, through properly accredited representatives, that they are ready to agree to a settlement based upon justice and the reparation of the wrongs their rulers have done. They have done a wrong to Belgium which must be repaired. They have estab- lished a power over other lands and peoples than their own — over the great empire of Aus- tria-Hungary, over hitherto free Balkan states, over Turkey, and within Asia — which must be relinquished. Germany's success by skill, by industry, by knowledge, by enterprise, we did not grudge or oppose, but admired rather. She had built up for herself a real empire of trade and influ- ence, secured by the peace of the world. We were content to abide the rivalries of manufact- ure, science and commerce that were involved for us in her success, and stand or fall as we had ii8 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR or did not have the brains and the initiative to surpass her. But at the moment when she had conspicuously won her triumphs of peace she threw them away to estabHsh in their stead what the world will no longer permit to be established — military and political domi- nation by arms, by which to oust where she could not excel the rivals she most feared and hated. The peace we make must remedy that wrong. It must deliver the once fair lands and happy peoples of Belgium and northern France from the Prussian conquest and the Prussian men- ace, but it must also deliver the peoples of Austria-Hungary, the peoples of the Balkans, and the peoples of Turkey, alike in Europe and in Asia, from the impudent and alien domi- nation of the Prussian military and commercial autocracy. We owe it, however, to ourselves to say that we do not wish in any way to impair or to re- arrange the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is no affair of ours what they do with their own life, either industrially or politically. We do not purpose nor desire to dictate to them in any way. We only desire to see that their af- fairs are left in their own hands, in all matters, great or small. We shall hope to secure for the peoples of the Balkan peninsula and for the people of the Turkish Empire the right and op- portunity to make their own lives safe, their IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 119 own fortunes secure against oppression or injus- tice and from the dictation of foreign courts or parties, and our attitude and purpose with regard to Germany herself are of a like kind. OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD GERMANY We intend no wrong against the German Em- pire, no interference with her internal affairs. We should deem either the one or the other absolutely unjustifiable, absolutely contrary to the principles we have professed to live by and to hold most sacred throughout our life as a nation. The people of Germany are being told by the men whom they now permit to deceive them and to act as their masters that they are fighting for very life and existence of their empire, a war of desperate self-defense against deliberate aggression. Nothing could be more grossly or wantonly false, and we must seek, by the utmost openness and candor as to our real aims, to convince them of its false- ness. We are, in fact, fighting for their eman- cipation from fear, along with our own, from the fear as well as from the fact of unjust attack by neighbors or rivals or schemers after world empire. No one is threatening the exist- ence or the independence or the peaceful en- terprise of the German Empire. The worst that can happen to the detriment of the German people is this, that if they should 120 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR still, after the war is over, continue to be obliged to live under ambitious and intriguing masters interested to disturb the peace of the world, men or classes of men whom the other peoples of the world could not trust, it might be impossible to admit them to the partner- ship of nations which must henceforth guar- antee the world's peace. That partnership must be a partnership of peoples, not a mere partnership of governments. It might be impossible, also, in such untow- ard circumstances, to admit Germany to the free economic intercourse which must inevi- tably spring out of the other partnerships of a real peace. But there would be no aggression in that; and such a situation, inevitable be- cause of distrust, would in the very nature of things sooner or later cure itself, by processes which would assuredly set in. THE RIGHTS OF THE CENTRAL POWERS The wrongs, the very deep wrongs, com- mitted in this war will have to be righted. That of course. But they cannot and must not be righted by the commission of similar wrongs against Germany and her allies. The world will not permit the commission of simi- lar wrongs as a means of reparation and settle- ment. Statesmen must by this time have learned that the opinion of the world is every- where wide awake and fully comprehends the IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 121 issues involved. No representative of any self- governed nation will dare disregard it by at- tempting any such covenants of seLfishness and compromise as were entered into at the congress of Vienna. The thought of the plain people here and everywhere throughout the world, the people who enjoy no privilege and have very simple and unsophisticated standards of right and wrong, is the air all governments must hence- forth breathe if they would live. It is in the full disclosing light of that thought that all policies must be conceived and executed in this midday hour of the world's life. German rulers have been able to upset the peace of the world only because the German people were not suffered, under their tutelage, to share the comradeship of the other peoples of the world either in thought or in purpose. They were allowed to have no opinion of their own which might be set up as a rule of conduct for those who exercised authority over them. But the congress that concludes this war will feel the full strength of the tides that run now in the hearts and consciences of free men every- where. Its conclusions will run with those tides. All these things have been true from the very beginning of this stupendous war; and I can- not help thinMng that if they had been made plain at the very outset the sympathy and en- 122 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR thusiasm of the Russian people might have been once for all enlisted on the side of the AlHes, suspicion and distrust swept away, and a real and lasting union of purpose effected. Had they believed these things at the very mo- ment of their revolution, and had they been confirmed in that belief since, the sad reverses which have recently marked the progress of their affairs toward an ordered and stable gov- ernment of free men might have been avoided. TRUTH AS THE ANTIDOTE The Russian people have been poisoned by the very same falsehoods that have kept the German people in the dark, and the poison has been administered by the very same hands. The only possible antidote is the truth. It cannot be uttered too plainly or too often. From every point of view, therefore, it has seemed to be my duty to speak these declara- tions of purpose, to add these specific interpre- tations to what I took the liberty of saying to the Senate in January. Our entrance into the war has not altered our attitude toward the settlement that must come when it is over. When I said in January that the nations of the world were entitled not only to free path- ways upon the sea, but also to assured and un- molested access to those pathways, I was thinking, and I am thinking now, not of the smaller and weaker nations alone, which need IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 123 our countenance and support, but also of the great and powerful nations, and of our present enemies as well as our present associates in the war. I was thinking, and am thinking now, of Austria herself, among the rest, as well as of Serbia and of Poland. Justice and equal- ity of rights can be had only at a great price. We are seeking permanent, not temporary, foundations for the peace of the world, and must seek them candidly and fearlessly. As always, the right will prove to be the expedient. What shall we do, then, to push this great war of freedom and justice to its righteous con- clusion ? We must clear away with a thorough hand all impediments to success, and we must make every adjustment of law that will facili- tate the full and free use of our whole capacity and force as a fighting unit. THE WAR AGAINST AUSTRIA One very embarrassing obstacle that stands in our way is that we are at war with Germany, but not with her allies. I therefore very ear- nestly recommend that the Congress immedi- ately declare the United States in a state of war \/ith Austria-Hungary. Does it seem strange to you that this should be the conclu- sion of the argument I have just addressed to you? It is not. It is, in fact, the inevitable logic of what I have said. Austria-Hungary is for the time being not her own mistress, but 124 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR simply the vassal of the German Government. We must face the facts as they are and act upon them without sentiment in this stem business. The Government of Austria-Hungary is not acting upon its own initiative or in response to the wishes and feelings of its own peoples, but as the instrument of another nation. We must meet its force with our own and regard the Central Powers as but one. The war can be successfully conducted in no other way. The same logic would lead also to a declaration of war against Turkey and Bulgaria. They also are the tools of Germany. But they are mere tools, and do not yet stand in the direct path of our necessary action. We shall go wherever the necessities of this war carry us, but it seems to me that we should go only where immediate and practical considerations lead us, and not heed any others. A STRICTER GRIP ON ENEMY ALIENS The financial and military measures which must be adopted will suggest themselves as the war and its undertakings develop, but I will take the Hberty of proposing to you certain other acts of legislation which seem to me to be needed for the support of the war and for the release of our whole force and energy. It will be necessary to extend in certain par- ticulars the legislation of the last session with IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 125 regard to alien enemies; and also necessary, I believe, to create a very definite and particular control over the entrance and departure of all persons into and from the United States. Legislation should be enacted defining as a criminal offense every wilful violation of the Presidential proclamations relating to enemy aliens promulgated under Section 4067 of the Revised Statutes and providing appropriate punishment ; and women as well as men shoiild be included under the terms of the acts placing restraints upon ahen enemies. It is likely that as time goes on many ahen enemies will be willing to be fed and housed at the expense of the Government in the detention camps, and it would be the purpose of the legislation I have suggested to confine offenders among them in penitentiaries and other similar institutions, where they could be made to work as other criminals do. A FURTHER LIMITING OF PRICES Recent experience has convinced me that the Congress must go further in authorizing the Government to set limits to prices. The law of supply and demand, I am sorry to say, has been replaced by the law of unrestrained selfishness. While we have eliminated profit- eering in several branches of industry, it still runs impudently rampant in others . The farm- ers, for example, complain with a great deal 126 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR of justice that, while the regulation of food prices restricts their incomes, no restraints are placed upon the prices of most of the things they must themselves purchase; and similar inequities obtain on all sides. It is imperatively necessary that the con- sideration of the full use of the water power of the country, and also the consideration of the systematic and yet economical development of such of the natural resources of the country as are still under the control of the Federal Government, should be resumed and affirma- tively and constructively dealt with at the earliest possible moment. The pressing need of such legislation is daily becoming more obvious. The legislation proposed at the last session with regard to regulated combinations among our exporters, in order to provide for oiu* for- eign trade a more effective organization and method of co-operation, ought by all means to be completed at this session. And I beg that the members of the House of Representatives will permit me to express the opinion that it will be impossible to deal in any way but a very wasteful and extravagant fashion with the enormous appropriations of the public moneys which must continue to be made, if the war is to be properly sustained, unless the House will consent to return to its former practice of initiating and preparing all IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 127 appropriation bills through a single committee, in order that responsibility may be centered, expenditures standardized and made uniform, and waste and duplication as much as possible avoided. Additional legislation may also become nec- essary before the present Congress adjourns, in order to effect the most efficient co-ordination and operation of the railway and other trans- portation systems of the country; but to that I shall, if circumstances should demand, call the attention of Congress upon another occasion. THE WINNING OF THE WAR If I have overlooked anything that ought to be done for the more effective conduct of the war, your own counsels will supply the omis- sion. What I am perfectly clear about is that, in the present session of the Congress, our whole attention and energy should be con- centrated on the vigorous and rapid and suc- cessful prosecution of the great task of winning the war. We can do this with all the greater zeal and enthusiasm because we know that for us this is a war of high principle, debased by no selfish ambition of conquest or spoliation; because we know, and all the world knows, that we have been forced into it to save the very institutions we live under from corruption and destruction. The purposes of the Central Powers strike 128 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR straight at the very heart of everything we be- lieve in ; their methods of warfare outrage every principle of humanity and of knightly honor; theirintriguehascorruptedtheverythoughtand spirit of many of our people ; their sinister and secret diplomacy has sought to take our very territory away from us and disrupt the union of the States. Our safety would be at an end, our honor forever sullied and brought into con- tempt, were we to permit their triumph. They are striking at the very existence of democracy and liberty. It is because it is for us a war of high, disin- terested purpose, in which all the free people of the world are banded together for the vindi- cation of right, a war for the preservation of our nation and of all that it has held dear of principle and of purpose, that we feel ourselves doubly constrained to propose for its outcome only that which is righteous and of irreproach- able intention, for our foes as well as for our friends. The cause being just and holy, the settle- ment must be of like motive and quality. For this we can fight, but for nothing less noble or less worthy of our traditions. For this cause we entered the war, and for this cause we will battle until the last gun is fired. I have spoken plainly because this seems to me the time when it is most necessary to speak plainly, in order that all the world may know IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 129 that even in the heat and ardor of the struggle, and when our whole thought is of carrying the war through to its end, we have not forgotten any ideal or principle for which the name of America has been held in honor among the nations and for which it has been our glory to contend in the great generations that went before us. A supreme moment of history has come. The eyes of the people have been opened and they see. The hand of God is laid upon the nations. He will show them favor, I devoutly believe, only if they rise to the clear heights of His own justice and mercy. XVIII PROCLAMATION OF WAR AGAINST AUSTRIA- HUNGARY {December 12, 1917) The President's proclamation, after citing the resolution of Congress authorizing the war with Austria, says : Now, therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, Presi- dent of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim to all whom it may concern that a state of war exists between the United States and the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Government, and I do specially direct aU offi- cers, civil or military, of the United States that they exercise vigilance and zeal in the discharge of the duties incident to such a state of war. And I do, moreover, earnestly appeal to all American citizens that they, in loyal devotion to their coimtry, dedicated from its foundation to the principles of Hberty and justice, uphold the laws of the land and give undivided and willing support to those measures which may be adopted by the constitutional authorities IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 131 in prosecuting the war to a successful issue and obtaining a secure and just peace. NEED ONLY OBEY THE LAWS And, acting under and by virtue of the au- thority vested in me by the Constitution of the United States, and the aforesaid sections of the Revised Statutes, I do hereby further pro- claim and direct that the conduct to be ob- served on the part of the United States toward all natives, citizens, denizens or subjects of Austria-Hungary, being males of the age of fourteen years and upward, who shall be within the United States and not actually naturalized, shall be as follows : All natives, citizens, denizens or subjects of Austria- Hungary, being males of fourteen years and upward who shall be within the United States and not actually naturalized, are enjoined to preserve the peace toward the United States and to refrain from crime against the public safety and from violating the laws of the United States and of the States and Territories thereof. And to refrain from actual hostility or giving infor- mation, aid or comfort to the enemies of the United States. And to comply strictly with the regulations which are hereby or which may be, from time to time, promul- gated by the President. And so long as they shall conduct themselves in accordance with law, they shall be undisturbed in the peaceful pursuit of their lives and occupations and be accorded the consideration due to all peaceful and law- abiding persons, except so far as restrictions may be 132 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR necessary for their own protection and for the safety of the United States. A FRIENDLY ATTITUDE IS URGED And toward such of said persons 'as con- duct themselves in accordance with law, all citizens of the United States are enjoined to preserve the peace and to treat them with all such friendliness as may be compatible with loyalty and allegiance to the United States. And all natives, citizens, denizens or sub- jects of Austria-Hungary, being males of the age of fourteen years and upward, who shall be within the United States and not actually naturalized, who fail to conduct themselves as so enjoined, in addition to all other penalties prescribed by law, shall be liable to restraint or to give security, or to remove and depart from the United States in the manner pre- scribed by Sections 4069 and 4070 of the Re- vised Statutes and as prescribed in regulations duly promulgated by the President : FEW REGULATIONS And pursuant to the authority vested in me, I hereby declare and establish the follow- ing regulations, which I find necessary in the premises, and for the public safety: I. No native, citizen, denizen or subject of Austria- Hungary, being a male of the age of fourteen years and upward and not actually naturalized, shall depart from IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 133 the United Sta±es until he shall have received such per- mit as the President shall prescribe, or except under order of a court, judge or justice, under Sections 4069 and 4070 of the Revised Statutes. 2. No such person shall land or enter the United States except under such restrictions and at such places as the President may prescribe. 3. Every such person, of whom there may be reason- able cause to believe that he is aiding or about to aid the enemy, or who may be at large to the danger of the public peace or safety, or who violates or attempts to violate, or of whom there is reasonable ground to believe that he is about to violate any regulation duly promulgated by the President, or any criminal law of the United States, or of the States or Territories thereof, will be subject to summary arrest by the United States Marshal or his deputy, or such other officers as the President shall desig- nate, and to confinement in such penitentiary, prison, jail, military camp or other place of detention as may be directed by the President. This proclamation and the regulations herein contained shall extend and apply to all land and water, continental or insular, in any way within the jurisdiction of the United States. XIX THE GOVERNMENT TAKES OVER THE RAILROADS (A Statement by the President, December 26, igi7) I have exercised the powers over the trans- portation systems of the country which were granted me by the Act of Congress of Au- gust, 1 91 6, because it has become imperatively necessary for me to do so. This is a war of resources no less than of men, perhaps even more than of men, and it is necessary for the complete mobilization of our resources that the transportation systems of the country should be organized and em- ployed under a single authority and a simpli- fied method of co-ordination which have not proved possible under private management and control. The committee of railway executives who have been co-operating with the Government in this all-important matter have done the ut- most that it was possible for them to do; have done it with patriotic zeal and with great abil- IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 135 ity ; but there were differences that they could neither escape nor neutralize. IN FAIRNESS TO THE RAILROADS Complete unity of administration in the present circumstances involves upon occasion and at many points a serious dislocation of earnings, and the committee was, of course, without power or authority to rearrange changes or effect proper compensations and adjustments of earnings. Several roads which were will- ingly and with admirable public spirit accept- ing the orders of the committee have already suffered from these circumstances and should not be required to suffer further. In mere fairness to them the full authority of the Government must be substituted. The Government itself will thereby gain an immense increase of efficiency in the conduct of the war and of the innumerable activities upon which its successful conduct depends. The public interest must be first served, and in addition the financial interests of the Gov- ernment and the financial interests of the rail- ways must be brought under a common direc- tion. The financial operations of the railways need not then interfere with the borrowings of the Government, and they themselves can be conducted at a great advantage. 10 136 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR INVESTORS TO BE PROTECTED Investors in railway securities may rest as- sured that their rights and interests will be as scrupulously looked after by the Government as they could be by the directors of the several railway systems. Immediately upon the reassembling of Congress I shall recom- mend that these definite guarantees be given: First, of course, that the railway properties will be maintained during the period of Fed- eral control in as good repair and as complete equipment as when taken over by the Gov- ernment, and, second, that the roads shall re- ceive a net operating income equal in each case to the average net income of the three years preceding June 30, 191 7; and I am entirely confident that the Congress will be disposed in this case, as in others, to see that justice is done and full security assured to the own- ers and creditors of the great systems which the Government must now use under its own direction or else suffer serious embarrassment. The Secretary of War and I are agreed that, all the circumstances being taken into consid- eration, the best results can be obtained under the immediate executive direction of the Hon. William G. McAdoo, whose practical experi- ence peculiarly fits him for the service, and whose authority as Secretary of the Treasury will enable him to co-ordinate, as no other man IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 137 could, the many financial interests which will be involved and which might, unless systemat- ically directed, suffer very embarrassing en- tanglements. A RECOGNITION OP FACTS The Government of the United States is the only great Government now engaged in the war which has not already assumed control of this sort. It was thought to be in the spirit of American institutions to attempt to do everything that was necessary through private management, and if zeal and ability and patri- otic motive could have accomplished the nec- essary unification of administration, it would certainly have been accomplished; but no zeal or abiHty could overcome insuperable obstacles and I have deemed it my duty to recognize that fact in all candor, now that it is demon- strated, and to use without reserve the great authority reposed in me. A great national necessity dictated the ac- tion, and I was therefore not at liberty to abstain from it. WooDROw Wilson. The text of the proclamation follows : Whereas, the Congress of the United States, in the ex- ercise of the constitutional authority vested in them, by joint resolution of the Senate and House of Representa- tives, bearing date April 6, 191 7, resolved: 138 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR **That the state of war between the United States and the Imperial German Government which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally de- clared, and that the President be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and miUtary forces of the United States and the re- sources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial German Government, and to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all of the re- sources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States." And by joint resolution bearing date of December 7, 191 7, resolved: **That a state of war is hereby declared to exist between the United States of America and the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Government, and that the President be, and he is hereby, authorized and di- rected to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Govern- ment to carry on war against the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Government, and to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States." And whereas, it is provided by Section i of the act approved August 29, 1916, entitled "An act making appropriations for the support of the army for the fiscal year ending June 30, 191 7, and for other purposes," as follows: **The President, in time of war, is empowered, through the Secretary of War, to take possession and assume control of any system or systems of transportation, or any part thereof, and to utilize the same, to the exclusion as far as may be necessary of all other traffic thereon, for the transfer or transportation of troops, war material and equipment, or for such other IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 139 purposes connected with the emergency as may be needful or desirable." And whereas, it has now become necessary in the national defense to take possession and assume control of certain systems of transportation and to utilize the same, to the exclusion as far as may be necessary of other than war traffic thereon for the transportation of troops, war material and equipment therefor, and for other needful and desirable purposes connected with the prosecution of the war. Now, therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, under and by virtue of the powers vested in me by the foregoing resolutions and statute, and by virtue of all other powers thereto me enabling, do hereby, through Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War, take pos- session and assume control at 12 o'clock noon on the twenty-eighth day of December, 191 7, of each and every system of transportation and the appurtenances thereof located wholly or in part within the boundaries of the continental United States and consisting of railroads, and owned or controlled systems of coastwise and inland transportation, engaged in general transportation, whether operated by steam or by electric power, including also terminals, terminal companies and terminal associa- tions, sleeping and parlor cars, private cars and private car Hnes, elevators, warehouses, telegraph and telephone lines and all other equipment and appurtenances com- monly used upon or operated as a part of such rail or combined rail and water systems of transportation, to the end that such systems of transportation be utiHzed for the transfer and transportation of troops, war ma- terial and equipment to the exclusion so far as may be necessary of all other traffic thereon, and that so far as such exclusive use be not necessary or desirable, such systems of transportation be operated and utilized in the performance of such other services as the national interest 140 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR may require and of the usual and ordinary business and duties of common carriers. It is hereby directed that the possession, control, op- eration and utilization of such transportation systems hereby by me undertaken shall be exercised by and through William G. McAdoo, who is hereby appointed and designated Director-General of Railroads. Said director may perform the duties imposed upon him, so long and to such extent as he shall determine, through the boards of directors, receivers, officers and employees of said systems of transportation. Until and except so far as said director shall from time to time by general or special orders otherwise provide, the boards of directors, receivers, officers and employees of the vari- ous transportation systems shall continue the operation thereof in the usual and ordinary course of the business of common carriers, in the names of their respective companies. Until and except so far as said director shall from time to time otherwise by general or special orders deter- mine, such systems of transportation shall remain subject to all existing statutes and orders of the Interstate Com- merce Commission, and to all statutes and orders of regu- lating commissions of the various States in which said systems or any part thereof may be situated. But any orders, general or special, hereafter made by said director shall have paramount authority and be obeyed as such. Nothing herein shall be construed as now affecting the possession, operation and control of street electric passenger railways, including railways commonly called interurban, whether such railways be or be not owned or controlled by such railroad companies or systems. By subsequent order and proclamation, if and when it shall be found necessary or desirable, possession, control or operation may be taken of all or any part of such street railway systems, including subways and tunnels, and by subsequent order and proclamation possession, control IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 141 and operation in whole or in part may also be relinquished to the owners thereof of any part of the railroad systems or rail and water systems, possession and control of which are hereby assumed. The director shall as soon as may be after having assimied such possession and control enter upon nego- tiations with the several companies looking to agree- ments for just and reasonable compensation for the possession, use and control of the respective properties on the basis of an annual guaranteed compensation, above accruing depreciation and the maintenance of their properties, equivalent, as nearly as may be, to the average of the net operating income thereof for the three year period ending Jime 30, 1917 — ^the results of such negotiations to be reported to me for such action as may be appropriate and lawful. But nothing herein contained, expressed or implied, or hereafter done or suffered hereimder, shall be deemed in any way to impair the rights of the stockholders, bondholders, creditors and other persons having inter- ests in said systems of transportation or in the profits thereof, to receive just and adequate compensation for the use and control and operation of their property hereby assimied. Regular dividends hitherto declared, and maturing interest upon bonds, debentures and other obligations, may be paid in due course, and such regular dividends and interest may continue to be paid until and unless the said director shall from time to time otherwise by general or special orders determine, and, subject to the approval of the director, the various carriers may agree upon and arrange for the renewal and extension of maturing obligations. Except with the prior written assent of said director, no attachment by n:esne process or on execution shall be levied on or against any of the property used by any of saidtransportation systems, in the conduct of their 142 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR business as common carriers; but suits may be brought by and against said carriers and judgments rendered as hitherto until and except so far as said director may, by general or special orders, otherwise determine. From and after 12 o'clock on said twenty-eighth day of December, 191 7, all transportation systems included in this order and proclamation shall conclusively be deemed within the possession and control of said director without further act or notice, but for the purpose of accounting said possession and control shall date from 12 o'clock midnight on December 31, 191 7. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done by the President, through Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War, in the District of Columbia, this twenty -sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seventeen, and of Inde- pendence of the United States the one hundred and forty-second. WooDRow Wilson. Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War. By the President : Robert Lansing, Secretary of State. XX GOVERNMENT OPERATION OF RAILROADS {Address to the Congress, January 4, igi8) Gentlemen of the Congress, — I have asked the privilege of addressing you in order to report that on the 28th of December last, during the recess of Congress, acting through the Secretary of War, and under the authority conferred upon me by the Act of Congress ap- proved August 29, 19 16, I took possession and assumed control of the railway lines of the coimtry and the systems of water transporta- tion under their control. This step seemed to be imperatively necessary in the interest of the public welfare, in the presence of the great tasks of war with which we are now dealing. As our experience develops difficulties and makes it clear what they are, I have deemed it my duty to remove those difficulties wher- ever I have the legal power to do so. To assume control of the vast railway sys- tems of the country is, I realize, a very great re- sponsibility, but to fail to do so in the existing circumstances would have been much greater. 144 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR I assumed the less responsibility rather than the weightier. NEED OF UNITED DIRECTION I am sure that I am speaking the mind of all thoughtful Americans when I say that it is our duty as the representatives of the nation to do everything that it is necessary to do to secure the complete mobilization of the whole resources of America by as rapid and effective a means as can be found. Transportation supplies all the arteries of mobilization. Un- less it be under a single and unified direction, the whole process of the nation's action is embarrassed. It was in the true spirit of America, and it was right, that we should first try to effect the necessary unification under the voluntary ac- tion of those who were in charge of the great railway properties, and we did try it. The directors of the railways responded to the need promptly and generously. The group of rail- way executives who were charged with the task of actual co-ordination and general direc- tion performed their difficult duties with patri- otic zeal and marked ability, as was to have been expected, and did, I believe, everything that it was possible for them to do in the cir- cumstances. If I have taken the task out of their hands, it has not been because of any dereHction or failure on their part, but only IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 145 because there were some things which the Government can do, and private management cannot. We shall continue to value most highly the advice and assistance of these gentlemen, and I am sure we shall not find them withholding it. It had become unmistakably plain that only under Government administration can the en- tire equipment of the several systems of trans- portation be fully and unreservedly thrown into a common service without injiuious dis- crimination against particular properties ; only under Government administration can abso- lutely unrestricted and unembarrassed com- mon use be made of all tracks, terminal facili- ties and equipment of every kind. Only tmder that authority can new terminals be con- structed and developed without regard to the requirements or limitations of particular roads. But under Government administration aU these things will be possible — not instantly, but as fast as practical difficulties, which cannot be merely conjured away, give way before the new management. AS LITTLE DISTURBANCE AS POSSIBLE The common administration will be carried out with as little disturbance of the present operating organizations and personnel of the railways as possible. Nothing will be altered or disturbed which is not necessary to disturb. 146 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR We are serving the public interest and safe- guarding the public safety, but we are also regardful of the interest of those by whom these great properties are owned and glad to avail ourselves of the experience and trained ability of those who have been managing them. It is necessary that the transportation of troops and of war materials, of food and of fuel, and of everything that is necessary for the full mo- bilization of the energies and resources of the country, should be first considered; but it is clearly in the public interest also that the or- dinary activities and the normal industrial and commercial life of the country should be inter- fered with and dislocated as little as possible, and the public may rest assured that the inter- est and convenience of the private shipper will be carefully served and safeguarded as it is possible to serve and safeguard it in the present extraordinary circumstances. COMPENSATION SHOULD BE GUARANTEED While the present authority of the Execu- tive suffices for all purposes of administration, and while, of course, all private interests must for the present give way to the public neces- sity, it is, I am sure you will agree with me, right and necessary that the owners and credi- tors of the railways, the holders of their stocks and bonds, should receive from the Govern- ment an unqualified guarantee that their prop- IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 147 erties will be maintained throughout the period of Federal control in as good repair and as com- plete equipment as at present, and that the several roads will receive, under Federal man- agement, such compensation as is equitable and just alike to their owners and to the gen- eral public. I would suggest the average net railway operating income of the three years ending June 30, 191 7. I earnestly recommend that these guarantees be given by appropriate legislation, and given as promptly as circum- stances permit. I need not point out the essential justice of such guarantees and their great influence and significance as elements in the present finan- cial and industrial situation of the country. Indeed, one of the strong arguments for as- suming control of the railroads at this time is the financial argument. It is necessary that the values of railway securities should be justly and fairly protected, and that the largest finan- cial operations every year necessary in connec- tion with the maintenance, operation and de- velopment of the roads should, during the period of the war, be wisely related to the financial operations of the Government. Our first duty is, of course, to conserve the common interest and the common safety, and to make certain that nothing stands in the way of the successful prosecution of the great war for liberty and justice; but it is an obligation 148 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR of public conscience and of public honor that the private interests we disturb should be kept safe from unjust injury, and it is of the utmost consequence to the Government itself that all great financial operations should be stabilized and co-ordinated with the financial operations of the Government. No borrowing should run athwart the borrowings of the Federal Treas- ury, and no fundamental industrial values should anywhere be unnecessarily impaired. In the hands of many thousands of small in- vestors in the country, as well as in national banks, in insurance companies, in savings banks, in trust companies, in financial agen- cies of every kind, railway securities — the sum total of which runs up to some ten or eleven thousand millions, constitute a vital part of the structure of credit, and the unquestioned solidity of that structure must be maintained. SELECTION OF MCADOO AS DIRECTOR The Secretary of War and I easily agreed that, in view of the many complex interests which must be safeguarded and harmonized, as well as because of his exceptional experience and ability in this new field of governmental action, the Hon. William G. McAdoo was the right man to assume direct administrative con- trol of this new executive task. At our re- quest, he consented to assume the authority and duties of organizer and director-general of IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 149 the new railway administration. He has as- sumed those duties, and his work is in active progress. It is probably too much to expect that, even under the unified railway administration which will now be possible, sufficient economies can be effected in the operation of the railways to make it possible to add to their equipment and extend their operative facilities as much as the present extraordinary demands upon their use will render desirable, without resort- ing to the national Treasury for the funds. If it is not possible, it will, of course, be necessary to resort to the Congress for grants of money for that purpose. The Secretary of the Treas- lu-y will advise with your committees with re- gard to this very practical aspect of the matter. For the present, I suggest only the guarantees I have indicated and such appropriations as are necessary at the outset of this task. I take the liberty of expressing the hope that the Congress may grant these promptly and tmgrudgingly. We are dealing with great matters, and will, I am sure, deal with them greatly. XXI THE TERMS OF PEACE {January 8, igi8) In an address to both Houses of Congress, assembled in joint session, President Wilson enunciated the war and peace program of the United States in fourteen definite proposals. The President spoke as follows : Gentlemen of the Congress, — Once more, as repeatedly before, the spokesmen of the Central Empires have indicated their de- sires to discuss the objects of the war and the possible basis of a general peace. Parleys have been in progress at Brest-Litovsk between Rus- sian representatives and representatives of the Central Powers to which the attention of all the belligerents has been invited for the pur- pose of ascertaining whether it may be possible to extend these parleys into a general confer- ence with regard to terms of peace and settlement. The Russian representatives presented not only a perfectly definite statement of the prin- ciples upon which they would be willing to conclude peace, but also an equally definite IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 151 program of the concrete application of those principles. The representatives of the Central Powers, on their part, presented an outline of settlement which, if much less definite, seemed susceptible of liberal interpretation until their specific program of practical terms was added. That program proposed no concessions at all, either to the sovereignty of Russia or to the preferences of the population with whose fort- unes it dealt, but meant, in a word, that the Central Empires were to keep every foot of territory their armed forces had occupied — every province, every city, every point of van- tage — as a permanent addition to their terri- tories and their power. It is a reasonable conjecture that the general principles of settle- ment which they at first suggested originated with the more liberal statesmen of Germany and Austria, the men who have begun to feel the force of their own people's thought and purpose, while the concrete terms of actual settlement came from the military leaders who have no thought but to keep what they have got. The negotiations have been broken off. The Russian representatives were sincere and in earnest. They cannot entertain such pro- posals of conquest and domination. SIGNIFICANCE IN PARLEYS The whole incident is full of significance. It is also full of perplexity. With whom are 152 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR the Russian representatives dealing? For whom are the representatives of the Central Empires speaking? Are they speaking for the majorities of their respective parliaments, or for the minority parties — that military and im- perialistic minority which has so far dominated their whole policy and controlled the affairs of Turkey and the Balkan states, which have felt obliged to become their associates in this war? The Russian representatives have insisted, very justly, very wisely, and in the true spirit of modern democracy, that the conferences they have been holding with the Teutonic and Turkish statesmen should be held within open, not closed, doors, and all the world has been audience, as was desired. To whom have we been listening, then? To those who speak the spirit and intention of the resolution of the German Reichstag of the gth of July last, the spirit and intention of the Liberal leaders and parties of Germany, or to those who resist and defy that spirit and in- tention and insist upon conquest and subjuga- tion? Or are we listening, in fact, to both, unreconciled and in open and hopeless contra- diction? These are very serious and pregnant questions. Upon the answer to them depends the peace of the world. But, whatever the results of the parleys at Brest-Litovsk, whatever the confusions of coimsel and of purpose in the utterances of the IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 153 spokesmen of the Central Empires, they have again attempted to acquaint the world with their objects in the war and have again chal- lenged their adversaries to say what their ob- jects are and what sort of settlement they would deem just and satisfactory. There is no good reason why that challenge should not be responded to and responded to with the utmost candor. We did not wait for it. Not once, but again and again, we have laid our whole thought and purpose before the world, not in general terms only, but each time with sufficient definition to make it clear what sort of definitive terms of settlement must necessarily spring out of them. LLOYD GE0RGE*S AIMS APPROVED Within the last week Mr. Lloyd George has spoken with admirable candor and in ad- mirable spirit for the people and Government of Great Britain. There is no confusion of counsel among the adversaries of the Central Powers, no uncertainty of principle, no vague- ness of detail. The only secrecy of counsel, the only lack of fearless frankness, the only failure to make definite statement of the ob- jects of the war lies with Germany and her allies. The issues of life and death hang upon these definitions. No statesman who has the least conception of his responsibility ought for a moment to permit himself to continue this 154 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR tragical and appalling outpouring of blood and treasure unless he is sure beyond a peradvent- ure that the objects of the vital sacrifice are part and parcel of the very life of society, and that the people for whom he speaks think them right and imperative, as he does. There is, moreover, a voice calling for these definitions of principle and of purpose which is, it seems to me, more thrilling and more com- pelling than any of the many moving voices with which the troubled air of the world is filled. It is the voice of the Russian people. They are prostrate and all but helpless, it would seem, before the grim power of Germany, which has hitherto known no relenting and no pity. Their power apparently is shattered. And yet their soul is not subservient. They will not 3rield either in principle or in action. Their con- ception of what is right, of what it is humane and honorable for them to accept, has been stated with a frankness, a largeness of view, a generosity of spirit and a universal human sympathy which must challenge the admira- tion of every friend of mankind ; and they have refused to compound their ideals or desert others that they themselves may be safe. WOULD LIKE TO AID RUSSIA They call to us to say what it is that we desire — ^in what, if in anything, our purpose and our spirit differ from theirs ; and I believe IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 155 that the people of the United States would wish me to respond with utter simplicity and frankness. Whether their present leaders be- lieve it or not, it is our heartfelt desire and hope that some way may be opened whereby we may be privileged to assist the people of Russia to attain their utmost hope of liberty and ordered peace. It will be our wish and purpose that the processes of peace, when they are begun, shall be absolutely open, and that they shall involve and permit henceforth no secret understand- ings of any kind. The day of conquest and aggrandizement is gone by; so is also the day of secret covenants entered into in the interest of particular governments and likely, at some unlooked-for moment, to upset the peace of the world. It is this happy fact, now clear to the view of every public man whose thoughts do not still linger in an age that is dead and gone, which makes it possible for every nation whose ptuposes are consist- ent with justice and the peace of the world to avow now, or at any other time, the objects it has in view. We entered this war because violations of right had occurred which touched us to the quick and made the life of our own people impossible unless they were corrected and the world secured once for aU against their recur- rence. What we demand in this war, there- iS6 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR fore, is nothing peculiar to ourselves. It is that the world be made fit and safe to live in ; and particularly that it be made safe for every peace-loving nation which, like our own, wishes to live its own Hfe, determine its own institu- tions, be assured of justice and fair dealing by the other peoples of the world as against force and selfish aggression. All the peoples of the world are in effect partners in this interest, and for our own part we see very clearly that unless justice be done to others it will not be done to us. THE DEFINITE PROGRAM The program of the world's peace, there- fore, is our program, and that program, the only possible program, as we see it, is this: I. Open covenants of peace, openly jar- rived at, after which there shall be no private international understandings of any kind, but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the pubHc view. II. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants. III. The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 157 nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance. IV. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety. V. A free, open-minded and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sov- ereignty the interests of the populations con- cerned must have equal weight with the equi- table claims of the Government whose title is to be determined. VI. The evacuation of all Russian terri- tory and such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as will secure the best and freest co-operation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the indepen- dent determination of her own political devel- opment and national policy and assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free na- tions under institutions of her own choosing; and, more than a welcome, assistance also of every kind that she may need and may herself desire. The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations will be the acid test of their good will, of their comprehension of her needs as distinguished from their own interests and of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy. 158 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR BELGIUM MUST BE RESTORED VII. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit the sovereignty which she en- joys in common with all other free nations. No other single act will serve as this will serve to restore confidence among the nations in the laws which they have themselves set and de- termined for the government of their relations with one another. Without this healing act the whole structure and validity of interna- tional law is forever impaired. VIII. All French territory should be freed and the invaded portions restored, and the wrong done to France by Prussia in 187 1 in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which has un- settled the peace of the world for nearly fifty years, should be righted, in order that peace may once more be made secure in the interest of aU. IX. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recogniz- able lines of nationality. X. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safe- guarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity of autonomous development. XL Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated; occupied territories re- stored; Serbia accorded free and secure access IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 159 to the sea; and the relations of the several Balkan states to one another determined by friendly counsel along historically established Hnes of allegiance and nationality; and interna- tional guarantees of the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan states should be entered into. XII. The Turkish portions of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous devel- opment, and the Dardanelles should be per- manently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees. INDEPENDENCE FOR POLAND XIII. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a freehand secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant. XIV. A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states aHke. i6o IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR In regard to these essential rectifica- tions of wrong and assertions of right, we feel otirselves to be intimate partners of all the Governments and peoples associated together against the imperialists. We can- not be separated in interest or divided in purpose. We stand together until the end. *'For such arrangements and covenants we are willing to fight, and to continue to fight, until they are achieved; but only because we wish the right to prevail and desire a just and stable peace, such as can be secured only by removing the chief provocations to war, which this program does remove. We have no jealousy of German greatness, and there is nothing in this program that impairs it. We grudge her no achievement or distinction of learning or of pacific enterprise, such as have made her record very bright and very envi- able. We do not wish to injure her or to block in any way her legitimate influence or power. We do not wish to fight her either with arms or with hostile arrangements of trade, if she is willing to associate herself with us and the other peace-loving nations of the world in cove- nants of justice and law and fair dealing. We wish her only to accept a place of equality among the peoples of the world — the new world in which we now live — ^instead of a place of mastery. IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR i6i Germany's spokesmen an issue Neither do we presume to suggest to her any alteration or modification of her institu- tions. But it is necessary, we must frankly say, and necessary as a preliminary to any in- telligent dealings with her on our part, that we should know whom her spokesmen speak for when they speak to us, whether for the Reichs- tag majority or for the military party and the men whose creed is imperial domination. We have spoken now surely in terms too concrete to admit of any further doubt or ques- tion. An evident principle runs through the whole program I have outlined. It is the prin- ciple of justice to all peoples and nationalities and their right to live on equal terms of liberty and safety with one another, whether they be strong or weak. Unless this principle be made its foundation, no part of the structure of in- ternational justice can stand. The people of the United States could act upon no other principle, and to the vindication of this prin- ciple they are ready to devote their lives, their honor and everything that they possess. The moral climax of this, the culminating and final war for human liberty, has come, and they are ready to put their own strength, their own highest purpose, their own integrity and de- votion to the test. XXII FOUR BASIC PEACE PRINCIPLES {Address to the Congress, February ii, 1918) Gentlemen of the Congress, — On the 8th of January I had the honor of addressing you on the objects of the war as our people conceive them. The Prime Minister of Great Britain had spoken in similar terms on the ist of January. To these addresses the German Chancellor replied on the 24th, and Count Czernin for Austria on the same day. It is gratifying to have our desire so promptly realized that all exchanges of views on this great matter should be made in the hearing of all the world. Count Czernin's reply, which is directed chiefly to my own address on the 8th of Janu- ary, is uttered in a very friendly tone. He finds in my statement a sufficiently en- couraging approach to the views of his own Government to justify him in believing that it furnishes a basis for a more detailed discussion of purposes by the two Governments. He is represented to have intimated that the IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 163 views he was expressing had been communi- cated to me beforehand and that I was aware of them at the time he was uttering them, but in this I am sure he was misunderstood. I had received no intimation of what he in- tended to say. There was, of course, no reason why he should communicate privately with me. I am quite content to be one of the public audience. HERTLING VAGUE AND CONFUSING Count von Hertling^s reply is, I must say, very vague and very confusing. It is full of equivocal phrases and leads it is not clear where. But it is certainly in a very different tone from that of Count Czemin, and appar- ently of an opposite purpose. It confirms, I am sorry to say, rather than removes, the unfortunate impression made by what we had learned of the conference of Brest-Litovsk. His discussion and acceptance of our general principles lead him to no prac- tical conclusions. He refuses to apply them to the substantive items which must constitute the body of any final settlement. He is jealous of interna- tional action and of international counsel. He accepts, he says, the principle of public diplomacy, but he appears to insist that it be confined, at any rate in this case, to general- ities and that the several particular questions i64 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR of territory and sovereignty, the several ques- tions upon whose settlement must depend the acceptance of peace by the twenty-three states now engaged in the war, must be dis- cussed and settled, not in general council, but severally by the nations most immediately concerned by interest or neighborhood. He agrees that the seas should be free, but looks askance at any limitation to that freedom by international action in the interest of the common order. He would without reserve be glad to see economic barriers removed between nation and nation, for that could in no way impede the ambitions of the military party with whom he seems constrained to keep on terms. Neither does he raise objection to a limitation of armaments. That matter will be settled of itself, he thinks, by the economic conditions which must follow the war. But the German colonies, he demands, must be returned without debate. He will discuss with no one but the repre- sentatives of Russia what disposition shall be made of the peoples and the lands of the Baltic provinces; with no one but the Govern- ment of France the ** conditions " under which French territory shall be evacuated ; and only with Austria what shall be done with Poland. In the determination of all questions affect- ing the Balkan states he defers, as I under- IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 165 stand him, to Austria and Turkey; and with regard to the agreements to be entered into concerning the non-Turkish peoples of the present Ottoman Empire, to the Turkish au- thorities themselves. After a settlement all around, effected in this fashion, by individual barter and con- cession, he would have no objection, if I correctly interpret his statement, to a league of nations which would undertake to hold the new balance of power steady against external disturbance. GERMAN METHOD IS IMPOSSIBLE It must be evident to every one who imder- stands what this war has wrought in the opinion and temper of the world that no general peace, no peace worth the infinite sacrifices of these years of tragical suffering, can possibly be arrived at in any such fashion. The method the German Chancellor proposes is the method of the Congress of Vienna. We cannot and will not return to that. What is at stake now is the peace of the world. What we are striving for is a new in- ternational order based upon broad and uni- versal principles of right and justice — no mere peace of shreds and patches. Is it possible that Count von Hertling does not see that; does not grasp it; is, in fact, living in his thought in a world dead and gone? i66 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR Has he utterly forgotten the Reichstag resolutions of the 19th of July, or does he de- liberately ignore them? They spoke of the conditions of a general peace, not of national aggrandizement or of arrangements between state and state. The peace of the world depends upon the just settlement of each of the several problems to which I adverted in my recent address to the Congress. I, of course, do not mean that the peace of the world depends upon the acceptance of any particular set of suggestions as to the way in which those problems are to be dealt with. I mean only that those problems each and all affect the whole world; that unless they are dealt with in a spirit of unselfish and un- biased justice, with a view to the wishes, the natural connections, the racial aspirations, the security and the peace of mind of the peoples involved, no permanent peace will have been attained. They cannot be discussed separately or in comers. None of them constitutes a private or separate interest from which the opinion of the world may be shut out. Whatever af- fects the peace affects mankind, and nothing settled by military force, if settled wrong, is settled at all. It will presently have to be reopened. Is Count von Hertling not aware that he is IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 167 speaking in the court of mankind, that all the awakened nations of the world now sit in judgment on what every public man, of what- ever nation, may say on the issues of a con- flict which has spread to every region of the world? The Reichstag resolutions of July themselves frankly accepted the decisions of that court. There shall be no annexations, no contribu- tions, no punitive damages. Peoples are not to be handed about from one sovereignty to another by an international conference or an understanding between rivals and antagonists. National aspirations must be respected; peo- ples may now be dominated and governed only by their own consent. SELF-DETERMINATION VITAL ISSUE ** Self-determination" is not a mere phrase. It is an imperative principle of action, which statesmen will henceforth ignore at their peril. We cannot have general peace for the asking, or by the mere arrangements of a peace con- ference. It cannot be pieced together out of individual understandings between powerful states. All the parties to this war must join in the settlement of every issue anywhere in- volved in it; because what we are seeking is a peace that we can all unite to guarantee and maintain, and every item of it must be sub- mitted to the common judgment whether it be i68 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR right and fair, an act of justice, rather than a bargain between sovereigns. The United States has no desire to interfere in European affairs or to act as arbiter in European territorial disputes. She would dis- dain to take advantage of any internal weak- ness or disorder to impose her own will upon another people. She is quite ready to be shown that the settlements she has suggested are not the best or the most enduring. They are only her own provisional sketch of principles and of the way in which they should be applied. But she entered this war because she was made a partner, whether she wotild or not, in the suf- ferings and indignities inflicted by the military masters of Germany against the peace and security of mankind; and the conditions of peace will touch her as nearly as they will touch any other nation to which is intrusted a leading part in the maintenance of civilization. She cannot see her way to peace until the causes of this war are removed, its renewal rendered, as nearly as may be, impossible. This war had its roots in the disregard of the rights of small nations and of nationalities which lacked the union and the force to make good their claim to determine their own alle- giances and their own forms of political Hfe. Covenants must now be entered into which will render such things impossible for the IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 169 future; and those covenants must be backed by the united force of all the nations that love justice and are willing to maintain it at any cost. If territorial settlements and the political relations of great populations which have not the organized power to resist are to be de- termined by the contracts of the powerful Governments which consider themselves most directly affected, as Count von HertHng pro- poses, why may not economic questions also? peoples' rights vital as trade It has come about in the altered world in which we now find ourselves that justice and the rights of peoples affect the whole field of international dealing as much as access to raw materials and fair and equal conditions of trade. Count von Hertling wants the essential bases of commercial and industrial life to be safe- guarded by common agreement and guarantee, but he cannot expect that to be conceded him if the other matters to be determined by the articles of peace are not handled in the same way as items in the final accounting. He cannot ask the benefit of common agree- ment in the one field without according it in the other. I take it for granted that he sees that separate and selfish compacts with regard I70 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR to trade and the essential materials of manu- facture would afford no foundation for peace. Neither, he may rest assured, will separate and selfish compacts with regard to provinces and peoples. Count Czemin seems to see the funda- mental elements of peace with clear eyes and does not seek to obscure them. He sees that an independent Poland, made up of all the indisputably Polish peoples who lie contiguous to one another, is a matter of European con- cern and must of course be conceded; that Belgium must be evacuated and restored, no matter what sacrifices and concessions that may involve; and that national aspirations must be satisfied, even within his own empire, in the common interest of Europe and man- kind. If he is silent about questions which touch the interest and purpose of his allies more nearly than they touch those of Austria only, it must, of course, be because he feels con- strained, I suppose, to defer to Germany and Turkey in the circumstances. Seeing and conceding as he does the essen- tial principles involved and the necessity of candidly applying them, he naturally feels that Austria can respond to the purpose of peace as expressed by the United States with less embarrassment than could Germany. He would probably have gone much further had IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 171 it not been for the embarrassments of Austria's alliances and of her dependence upon Ger- many. FOUR PRINCIPLES TO BE APPLIED After all, the test of whether it is possible for either Government to go any further in this comparison of views is simple and obvious. The principles to be applied are these: First — That each part of the final settlement must be based upon the essential justice of that particular case and upon such adjust- ments as are most likely to bring a peace that will be permanent. Second — That peoples and provinces are not to be bartered about from sovereignty to sovereignty as if they were mere chattels and pawns in a game, even the great game, now forever discredited, of the balance of power; but that Third — Every territorial settlement involved in this war must be made in the interest and for the benefit of the populations concerned, and not as part of any mere adjustment or compromise of claims among rival states; and Fourth — That all well-defined national as- pirations shall be accorded the utmost satis- faction that can be accorded them without in- troducing new or perpetuating old elements of discord and antagonism that would be 172 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR likely in time to break the peace of Europe and consequently of the world. A general peace erected upon such founda- tions can be discussed. Until such a peace can be secured we have no choice but to go on. So far as we can judge, these principles that we regard as fundamental are already every- where accepted as imperative except among the spokesmen of the military and annexa- tionist party in Germany. If they have any- where else been rejected, the objectors have not been sufficiently numerous or influential to make their voices audible. The tragical circumstance is that this one party in Germany is apparently willing and able to send millions of men to their death to prevent what all the world now sees to be just. WILL NOT TURN BACK FROM COURSE I would not be a true spokesman of the people of the United States if I did not say once more that we entered this war upon no small occasion, and that we can never turn back from a course chosen upon principle. Our resources are in part mobilized now, and we shall not pause until they are mobilized in their entirety. Our armies are rapidly going to the fighting front, and will go more and more rapidly. Our whole strength will be put into this war of emancipation — emancipation from the IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 173 threat and attempted mastery of selfish groups of autocratic rulers — whatever the difficulties and present partial delays. We are indomitable in our power of in- dependent action and can in no circumstances consent to live in a world governed by intrigue and force. We believe that our own desire for a new international order under which reason and justice and the common interests of mankind shall prevail is the desire of en- lightened men everyivhere. Without that new order the world will be without peace and human life will lack toler- able conditions of existence and development. Having set our hand to the task of achieving it, we shall not turn back. I hope that it is not necessary for me to add that no word of what I have said is in- tended as a threat. That is not the temper of our people. I have spoken thus only that the whole world may know the true spirit of America— that men everywhere may know that our passion for justice and for self-government is no mere passion of words, but a passion which, once set in action, must be satisfied. The power of the United States is a menace to no nation or people. It will never be used in aggression or for the aggrandizement of any selfish interest of our own. It springs out of freedom and is for the service of freedom. XXIII "FORCE, FORCE TO THE UTMOST" (An Address Delivered by the President at Baltimore on the Evening of April 6, 1918^ on the Opening of the Third Liberty Loan Campaign) Fellow-citizens, — This is the anniversary of our acceptance of Germany's challenge to fight for our right to live and be free, and for the sacred rights of free men everywhere. The Nation is awake. There is no need to call to it. We know what the war must coct, our utmost sacrifice, the lives of our fittest men and, if need be, all that we possess. The loan we are met to discuss is one of the least parts of what we are called upon to give and to do, though in itself imperative. The people 1 of the whole country are alive to the necessity / of it, and are ready to lend to the utmost, even j where it involves a sharp skimping and daily sacrifice to lend^t^ofmeager earnings. They will look with reprobation and contempt jupon those who can and will not, upon those who demand a higher rate of interest, upon those who think of it as a mere commercial transac- tion. I have not come, therefor.e, to urge the' >j IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 175 loan. I have come only to give you, if I can, a more vivid conception of what it is for. THE CAUSE WE ARE FIGHTING FOR MORE SHARPLY REVEALED THAN EVER The reasons for this great war, the reason why it had to come, the need to fight it through, and the issues that hang upon its outcome, are more clearly disclosed now than ever before. It is easy to see just what this particular loan means because the cause we are fighting for stands more sharply revealed than at any previous crisis of the momentous struggle. The man who knows least can now see plainly how the cause of justice stands and what the imperishable thing is he is asked to invest in. Men in America may be more sure than they ever were before that the cause is their own, and that, if it should be lost, their own great nation's place and mission in the world would be lost with it. I call you to witness, my fellow-countrymen, that at no stage of this terrible business have I judged the purposes of Germany intem- perately. I should be ashamed in the presence of affairs so grave, so fraught with the destinies of mankind throughout all the world, to speak with truculence, to use the weak language of hatred or vindictive purpose. We must judge as we would be judged. I have sought to learn the objects Germany has in this war from the 176 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR mouths of her own spokesmen, and to deal as frankly with them as I wished them to deal with me. I have laid bare our own ideals, our own purposes, without reserve or doubtful phrase, and have asked them to say as plainly what it is that they seek. WE HAVE OURSELVES PROPOSED NO INJUSTICE, NO AGGRESSION We have ourselves proposed no injustice, no aggression. We are ready, whenever the final reckoning is made, to be just to the German people, deal fairly with the German power, as with all others. There can be no difference between peoples in the final judg- ment, if it is indeed to be a righteous judg- ment. To propose anything but justice, even- handed and dispassionate justice, to Germany at any time, whatever the outcome of the war, would be to renounce and dishonor our own cause. For we ask nothing that we are not willing to accord. It has been with this thought that I have sought to learn from those who spoke for Germany whether it was justice or dominion and the execution of their own will upon the other nations of the world that the German leaders were seeking. They have answered, answered in unmistakable terms. They have avowed that it was not justice but dominion and the unhindered execution of their own will. IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 177 AVOWAL OF DOMINION CAME NOT FROM STATESMEN BUT MILITARY RULERS The avowal has not come from Germany's statesmen. It has come from her military leaders, who are her real rulers. Her states- men have said that they wished peace, and were ready to discuss its terms whenever their opponents were willing to sit down at the conference table with them. Her present Chancellor has said, — in indefinite and uncer- tain terms, indeed, and in phrases that often seem, to deny their own meaning, but with as much plainness as he thought prudent, — that he believed that peace should be based upon the principles which we had declared would be our own in the final settlement. At Brest-Litovsk her civilian delegates spoke in similar terms; professed their desire to con- clude a fair peace and accord to the peoples with whose fortunes they were dealing the right to choose their own allegiances. But action accompanied and followed the profes- sion. Their military masters, the men who act for Germany and exhibit her purpose in execution, proclaimed a very different con- clusion. We cannot mistake what they have done — ^in Russia, in Finland, in the Ukraine, in Rumania. The real test of their justice and fair play has come. From this we may judge the rest. They are enjoying in Russia a cheap 178 IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR triumph in which no brave or gallant nation can long take pride. A great people, helpless by their own act, lies for the time at their mercy. Their fair professions are forgotten. They nowhere set up justice, but everywhere impose their power and exploit everything for their own use and aggrandizement; and the peoples of conquered provinces are invited to be free under their dominion! MIGHT DO THE SAME AT WESTERN FRONT BUT FOR ARMIES THEY CANNOT OVERCOME Are we not justified in believing that they would do the same things at their western front if they were not there face to face with armies whom even their countless divisions cannot overcome? If, when they have felt their check to be final, they should propose favorable and equitable terms with regard to Belgium and France and Italy, could they blame us if we concluded that they did so only to assure themselves of a free hand in Russia and the East? Their purpose is undoubtedly to make all the Slavic peoples, all the free and ambitious nations of the Baltic peninsula, all the lands that Turkey has dominated and misruled, sub- ject to their will and ambition and build upon that dominion an empire of force upon which they fancy that they can then erect an empire of gain and commercial supremacy — an empire IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR 179 as hostile to the Americas as to the Europe which it will overawe — an empire which will ultimately master Persia, India, and the peoples of the Far East. In such a program our ideals, the ideals of justice and humanity and liberty, the principle of the free self- determination of nations upon which all the modem world insists, can play no part. They are rejected for the ideals of power, for the principle that the strong must rule the weak, that trade must follow the flag, whether those to whom it is taken welcome it or not, that the peoples of the world are to be made subject to the patronage and overlordship of those who have the power to enforce it. That program once carried out, America and all who care or dare to stand with her must arm and prepare themselves to contest the mastery of the world, a mastery in which the rights of common men, the rights of women and of all who are weak, must for the time being be trodden underfoot and disregarded, and the old, age-long struggle for freedom and right begin again at its beginning. Every- thing that America has Hved for and loved and grown great to vindicate and bring to a glorious reaHzation will have fallen in utter ruin and the gates of mercy once more piti- lessly shut upon mankind. The thing is preposterous and impossible; and yet is not that what the whole course and i8o IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR action of the German armies has meant wher- ever they have moved? I do not wish, even in this moment of utter disillusionment, to judge harshly or unrighteously. I judge only what the German arms have accomplished with unpitying thoroughness throughout every fair region they have touched. What, then, are we to do? For myself, I am ready, ready still, ready even now, to dis- cuss a fair and just and honest peace at any time that it is sincerely purposed — a peace in which the strong and the weak shall fare aHke. But the answer, when I proposed such a peace, came from the German commanders in Rus- sia, and I cannot mistake the meaning of the answer. HAS ONCE MORE SAID THAT FORCE, AND FORCE ALONE, SHALL REIGN I accept the challenge. I know that you accept it All the world shall know that you accept it. It shall ap pear in the utter sacri- fice and self-forgetfulness ^^th whi di we~sEall giv£ffi3feM>we fove and all that we have, to redeem thej^Hd'iHdlhake it fit for free men like Ourselves to live in. This now is the meaning of^ITthat we do. Let everything that we say, my fellow-countrymen, every- thing that we henceforth plan and accomplish, ring true to this response till the majesty and might of our concerted power shall fill IN OUR FIRST YEAR OF WAR i8i the thought and utterly defeat the force of those who flout and misprize what we honor and hold dear. Germany has once more said that force, and force alone, shall decide whether justice and peace shall reign in the affairs of men, whether right as America conceives it or dominion as she conceives it shall determine the destinies of mankind. There is, therefore, but one response possible from us: force, force to the utmost, force without stint or limit, the righteous and triumphant force which shall make right the law of the world, and cast every selfish domin- ion down in the dust. APPENDIX STATE DEPARTMENT'S REVISED LIST OF NATIONS AT WAR WHICH HAVE BROKEN RELATIONS DECLARATIONS OF WAR The country declaring war is named first. Austria — Belgium, Aug. 28, 1914. Austria — ^Japan, Aug. 27, 19 14. Austria — Montenegro, Aug. 9, 1914. Austria — Russia, Aug. 6, 19 14. Austria — Serbia, July 28, 19 14. Brazil — Qermany, Oct. 26, 1917. Bulgaria — Serbia, Oct. 14, 1915. China — ^Austria, Aug. 14, 191 7. China — Germany, Aug. 14, 1917. Cuba — Germany, April 7, 191 7. France — ^Austria, Aug. 13, 19 14. France — Bulgaria, Oct. 16, 1915. France — Germany, Aug. 3, 19 14. France — ^Turkey, Nov. 5, 1914. Germany — Belgiiun, Aug. 4, 1914. Germany — France, Aug. 3, 1914. Germany — ^Portugal, March 9, 1916. Germany — ^Rumania, Sept. 14, 1916. Germany — Russia, Aug. i, 1914. Great Britain — ^Austria, Aug. 13, 1914. APPENDIX 183 Great Britain — Bulgaria, Oct. 15, 1915. Great Britain — Germany, Aug. 4, 1914. Great Britain — Turkey, Nov. 5, 1914. Greece — Bulgaria, Nov. 28, 1916. (Provisional Govern- ment.) Greece — Bulgaria, July 2, 191 7. (Government of Alex- ander.) Greece — Germany, Nov. 28, 1916. (Provisional Gov- ernment.) Greece — Germany, July 2, 191 7. (Government of Alex- ander.) Italy — ^Austria, May 24, 1915. Italy — Bulgaria, Oct. 19, 191 5. Italy — Germany, Aug. 28, 1916. Italy — ^Turkey, Aug. 21, 1915. Japan — Germany, Aug. 28, 19 14. Liberia — Germany, Aug. 4, 1917. Montenegro — ^Austria, Aug. 8, 1914. Montenegro — Germany, Aug. 9, 19 14. Panama — Germany, April 7, 191 7. Panama — Austria, Dec. 10, 191 7. Portugal — Germany, Nov. 23, 19 14. (Resolutions passed authorizing military intervention as ally of England.) Portugal — Germany, May 19, 191 5. (Military aid granted.) Rumania — Austria, Aug. 27, 1916. (Allies of Austria also consider it a declaration.) Russia — Bulgaria, Oct. 19, 1915. Russia — Turkey, Nov. 3, 19 14. San Marino — ^Austria, May 24, 1915. Serbia — Bulgaria, Oct. 16, 1915. Serbia — Germany, Aug. 6, 1914. Serbia — Turkey, Dec. 2, 1914. Siam — Austria, July 22, 191 7. Siam — Germany, July 22, 191 7. Turkey — Allies, Nov. 23, 19 14. Turkey — Rumania, Aug. 29, 1916. i84 APPENDIX United States — ^Austria-Hungary, Dec. 7, 191 7. United States — Germany, April 6, 191 7. SEVERANCE OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS Austria — ^Japan, Aug. 26, 1914. Austria — Portugal, March 16, 19 16. Austria — Serbia, July 26, 1914. Austria — United States, April 8, 1917. Bolivia — Germany, April 14, 1917. Brazil — Germany, April 11, 1917. China — Germany, March 14, 191 7. Costa Rica — Germany, Sept. 21, 191 7, Ecuador — Germany, Dec. 7, 191 7. Egypt— Germany, Aug. 13, 1914. France — Austria, Aug. 10, 1914. Greece — Turkey, July 2, 191 7. (Government of Alex- ander.) Greece — ^Austria, July 2, 191 7. (Government of Alex- ander.) Guatemala — Germany, April 27, 191 7. Haiti — Germany, June 17, 191 7. Honduras — Germany, May 17, 191 7. Nicaragua — Germany, May 18, 19 17. Peru— Germany, Oct. 6, 191 7. Turkey — United States, April 20, 191 7. United States — Germany, Feb. 3, 1917. Uruguay — Germany, Oct. 7, 191 7. — From the Official Bulletin of the Committee on Public Information, POPULATION OF THE NATIONS Austria (including Hungary) 50,000,000 Belgium 7,57i,387 Bolivia 2,520,538 Brazil 22,992,937 APPENDIX i8s Bulgaria 4,755,000 China 413,000,000 Costa Rica 427,604 Cuba 2,406,117 Ecuador 1,500,000 Egypt 12,170,000 France 39,601,509 Germany 66,715,000 Great Britain 40,834,790 Greece 5,000,000 Guatemala 2,092,824 Haiti 2,030,000 Honduras 592,675 Italy 35,598,000 Japan 53,696,358 Liberia 2,060,000 Montenegro 520,000 Nicaragua 689,891 Panama 386,891 Peru 4,500,000 Portugal 5,857,895 Rumania 7,600,000 Russia 175,137,000 San Marino 10,655 Serbia 4,600,000 Siam 6,000,000 Turkey 21,274,000 United States 102,826,309 Uruguay i,25S,9i4 THE END \ RETURN TO the circulation desk of any University of California Library or to the NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY BIdg. 400, Richmond Field Station University of California Richmond, CA 94804-4698 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS • 2-month loans may be renewed by calling (510)642-6753 • 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books to NRLF • Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date DUE AS STAMPED BELOW ^ APR 2 2003 I •• wi ■ ^ DD20 15M 4-02 U.C. 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