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diff --git a/17427-h/17427-h.htm b/17427-h/17427-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e808e05 --- /dev/null +++ b/17427-h/17427-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9731 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of President Wilson's Addresses, edited by George McLean Harper. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + + p { /* all paragraphs unless overridden */ + margin-top: 1em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: 0; + line-height: 1.4em; + } + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .toc {margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 10%;} + .subtitle {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .subtitleshort { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: center;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's President Wilson's Addresses, by Woodrow Wilson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: President Wilson's Addresses + +Author: Woodrow Wilson + +Editor: George McLean Harper + +Release Date: December 31, 2005 [EBook #17427] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRESIDENT WILSON'S ADDRESSES *** + + + + +Produced by Melanie Lybarger, Suzanne Lybarger and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/cover.jpg" alt="President Wilson's Addresses" title="President Wilson's Addresses" /></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>ENGLISH READINGS FOR SCHOOLS</h2> + +<p style="text-align: center;">"The virtue of books is the perfecting of reason, which is indeed + the happiness of man."</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Richard De Bury.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;">"On bokès for to rede I me delyte."</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Chaucer.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3>English Readings for Schools</h3> + +<h4>GENERAL EDITOR</h4> + +<h3>WILBUR LUCIUS CROSS</h3> + +<h5>PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN YALE UNIVERSITY</h5> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/portrait.jpg" alt="Woodrow Wilson" title="Woodrow Wilson" /></p> +<p class="figcenter"><span class="caption">Woodrow Wilson</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>PRESIDENT WILSON'S ADDRESSES</h1> + +<h3>EDITED BY</h3> + +<h2>GEORGE McLEAN HARPER</h2> + +<h5>PROFESSOR IN PRINCETON UNIVERSITY; AUTHOR OF "MASTERS OF FRENCH +LITERATURE," "LIFE OF SAINTE-BEUVE," AND "WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, HIS LIFE, +WORKS, AND INFLUENCE"</h5> + +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/illus006.jpg" alt="Illustration" /></p> + +<h6>NEW YORK<br /> +HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY</h6> + +<h6>Copyright 1918, BY HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY</h6> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<p class="toc"> + +<a href="#INTRODUCTION"><b>Introduction</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#FIRST_INAUGURAL_ADDRESS"><b>First Inaugural Address</b></a><br /> +<a href="#FIRST_ADDRESS_TO_CONGRESS"><b>First Address to Congress</b></a><br /> +<a href="#ADDRESS_ON_THE_BANKING_SYSTEM"><b>Address on the Banking System</b></a><br /> +<a href="#ADDRESS_AT_GETTYSBURG"><b>Address at Gettysburg</b></a><br /> +<a href="#ADDRESS_ON_MEXICAN_AFFAIRS"><b>Address on Mexican Affairs</b></a><br /> +<a href="#UNDERSTANDING_AMERICA"><b>Understanding America</b></a><br /> +<a href="#ADDRESS_BEFORE_THE_SOUTHERN_COMMERCIAL_CONGRESS"><b>Address before the Southern Commercial Congress</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_STATE_OF_THE_UNION"><b>The State of the Union</b></a><br /> +<a href="#TRUSTS_AND_MONOPOLIES"><b>Trusts and Monopolies</b></a><br /> +<a href="#PANAMA_CANAL_TOLLS"><b>Panama Canal Tolls</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_TAMPICO_INCIDENT"><b>The Tampico Incident</b></a><br /> +<a href="#IN_THE_FIRMAMENT_OF_MEMORY"><b>In the Firmament of Memory</b></a><br /> +<a href="#MEMORIAL_DAY_ADDRESS"><b>Memorial Day Address at Arlington</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CLOSING_A_CHAPTER"><b>Closing a Chapter</b></a><br /> +<a href="#ANNAPOLIS_COMMENCEMENT_ADDRESS"><b>Annapolis Commencement Address</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_MEANING_OF_LIBERTY"><b>The Meaning of Liberty</b></a><br /> +<a href="#AMERICAN_NEUTRALITY"><b>American Neutrality</b></a><br /> +<a href="#APPEAL_FOR_ADDITIONAL_REVENUE"><b>Appeal for Additional Revenue</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_OPINION_OF_THE_WORLD"><b>The Opinion of the World</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_POWER_OF_CHRISTIAN_YOUNG_MEN"><b>The Power of Christian Young Men</b></a><br /> +<a href="#ANNUAL_ADDRESS_TO_CONGRESS"><b>Annual Address to Congress</b></a><br /> +<a href="#A_MESSAGE"><b>A Message</b></a><br /> +<a href="#ADDRESS_BEFORE_THE_UNITED_STATES_CHAMBER_OF_COMMERCE"><b>Address before the United States Chamber of Commerce</b></a><br /> +<a href="#TO_NATURALIZED_CITIZENS"><b>To Naturalized Citizens</b></a><br /> +<a href="#ADDRESS_AT_MILWAUKEE"><b>Address at Milwaukee</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_SUBMARINE_QUESTION"><b>The Submarine Question</b></a><br /> +<a href="#AMERICAN_PRINCIPLES"><b>American Principles</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_DEMANDS_OF_RAILWAY_EMPLOYEES"><b>The Demands of Railway Employees</b></a><br /> +<a href="#SPEECH_OF_ACCEPTANCE"><b>Speech of Acceptance</b></a><br /> +<a href="#LINCOLNS_BEGINNINGS"><b>Lincoln's Beginnings</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_TRIUMPH_OF_WOMENS_SUFFRAGE"><b>The Triumph of Women's Suffrage</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_TERMS_OF_PEACE"><b>The Terms of Peace</b></a><br /> +<a href="#MEETING_GERMANYS_CHALLENGE"><b>Meeting Germany's Challenge</b></a><br /> +<a href="#REQUEST_FOR_AUTHORITY"><b>Request for Authority</b></a><br /> +<a href="#SECOND_INAUGURAL_ADDRESS"><b>Second Inaugural Address</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_CALL_TO_WAR"><b>The Call to War</b></a><br /> +<a href="#TO_THE_COUNTRY"><b>To the Country</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_GERMAN_PLOT"><b>The German Plot</b></a><br /> +<a href="#REPLY_TO_THE_POPE"><b>Reply to the Pope</b></a><br /> +<a href="#LABOR_MUST_BE_FREE"><b>Labor must be Free</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_CALL_FOR_WAR_WITH_AUSTRIA-HUNGARY"><b>The Call for War with Austria-Hungary</b></a><br /> +<a href="#GOVERNMENT_ADMINISTRATION_OF_RAILWAYS"><b>Government Administration of Railways</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_CONDITIONS_OF_PEACE"><b>The Conditions of Peace</b></a><br /> +<a href="#FORCE_TO_THE_UTMOST"><b>Force to the Utmost</b></a><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h2> + + +<p>These addresses of President Woodrow Wilson represent only the most +recent phase of his intellectual activity. They are almost entirely +concerned with political affairs, and more specifically with defining +Americanism. It will not be forgotten, however, that the life of Mr. +Wilson as President of the United States is but a short period compared +with the whole of his public career as professor of jurisprudence, +history, and politics, as President of Princeton University, as Governor +of New Jersey, as an orator, and as a writer of many books.</p> + +<p>Surprise has been expressed that a man, after reaching the age of fifty, +should be able to step from the "quiet" life of a teacher and author +into the resounding regions of politics; but Mr. Wilson's life as a +scholar, professor, and author was not at all quiet in the sense of +being easy or untouched with exciting chances and changes, and, in the +second place, he carried into politics the steadying ideals and the +methodical habits of his former occupation.</p> + +<p>As these addresses themselves prove, he has retained something of the +teacher's interest in showing the relation between specific instances +and the general forms of thought or action of which they are a part. Not +fact alone, but principle, is what he seeks to discover to his +audiences. In the addresses made in 1913 it is apparent that his main +effort was to fasten attention upon the principles of international +justice and good will and to restrain the impulses of those Americans +who were inclined to hasty action with reference to Mexico. From the +beginning of the Great War to a point not much earlier than our own +entrance into the struggle, he counselled neutrality and inaction, with +what motives one must judge from his statements and from events. Only a +few speeches belonging to this period have been included in the present +collection. When it became practically certain that war between the +United States and Germany was inevitable, there came into his utterances +a new temper and a more direct kind of eloquence. With scarcely an +exception, this collection includes every one of his addresses made +between August, 1916, and February, 1918.</p> + +<p>Some of the addresses are state papers, read to Congress, and were +carefully composed. Others, delivered in various places, appear to have +been more or less extemporaneous. All are full of their author's +political philosophy, and many of them contain expressions of his +opinions on general subjects, such as personal character and conduct.</p> + +<p>In order more fully to appreciate the weight of experience and the +maturity of reflection which give value to his words, it will be worth +while to consider Mr. Wilson's entire career as a scholar and man of +letters, paying particular attention to the growth of his political +ideals and to the qualities of his style.</p> + +<p>To be a literary artist, a writer must possess a constructive +imagination. He must be a man of feeling and have the gift of imparting +to others some share of his own emotions. On almost every page of +President Wilson's writings, as in almost all his policies, whether +educational or political, is stamped the evidence of shaping, visionary +power. Those of us who have known him many years remember well that in +his daily thought and speech he habitually proceeded by this same poetic +method, first growing warm with an idea and then by analogy and figure +kindling a sympathetic heat in his hearers.</p> + +<p>The subjects that may excite an artist's imagination are infinitely +numerous and belong to every variety of conceivable life. A Coleridge or +a Renan will make literature out of polemical theology; a Huxley will +write on the physical basis of life with emotion and in such a way as to +infect others with his own feelings; a Macaulay or a Froude will give +what color he please to the story of a nation and compel all but the +most wary readers to see as through his eyes. We are too much accustomed +to reserve the title of literary artist for the creator of fiction, +whether in prose or in verse. Mr. Wilson is no less truly an artist +because the vision that fires his imagination, the vision he has spent +his life in making clear to himself and others and is now striving to +realize in action, is a political conception. He has seen it in terms of +life, as a thing that grows, that speaks, that has faced dangers, that +is full of promise, that has charm, that is fit to stir a man's blood +and demand a world's devotion; no wonder he has warmed to it, no wonder +he has clothed it in the richest garments of diction and rhythm and +figure.</p> + +<p>There are small artists and great artists. Granted an equal portion of +imagination and an equal command of verbal resources, and still there +will be this difference. It is an affair of more or less intellectual +depth and more or less character. If character were the only one of +these two things to be considered in the case of Mr. Wilson's writings, +one might with little or no hesitation predict that the best of them +would long remain classics. They are full of character, of a high and +fine character. They have a tone peculiar to themselves, like a man's +voice, which is one of the most unmistakable properties of a man. It +would be no reflection on an author to say that his point of view in +fundamental matters had changed in the course of thirty or forty years; +but the truth is that with reference to his great political ideal Mr. +Wilson's point of view has not widely changed. The scope of his survey +has been enlarged, he has filled up the intervening space with a +thousand observations, he sees his object with a more penetrating and +commanding eye; but it is the same object that drew to itself his +youthful gaze, and has had its part in making him</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"The generous spirit, who, when brought<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Upon the plan that pleased his boyish thought."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The world, in time, will judge of the amount of knowledge and the degree +of purely intellectual force that Mr. Wilson has applied in his field of +study. A contemporary cannot well pronounce such a judgment, especially +if the province be not his own.</p> + +<p>In the small space at my disposal I shall try, first, to say what I +think is the political conception or idea upon which Mr. Wilson has +looked so steadily and with so deep emotion that he has made of it a +poetical subject. And then I shall venture to distinguish those +processes of imagination, that artistic method, which we call style, by +which he has elucidated its meaning for his readers so as to win for it +their intelligent and moved regard. The inquiry will take into account +his earliest book, <i>Congressional Government</i>, published in 1885, +<i>Division and Reunion</i>, 1893, <i>An Old Master and Other Political +Essays</i>, 1893, <i>Mere Literature and Other Essays</i>, 1896, <i>George +Washington</i>, 1897, <i>The State</i>, written 1889, rewritten 1898, <i>A History +of the American People</i>, 1902, <i>Constitutional Government in the United +States</i>, 1908, and a volume, issued very recently in England, containing +some of the President's statements on the war and entitled <i>America and +Freedom</i>.</p> + +<p>Like a strong current through these works runs the doctrine that in a +good government the law-making power should be also the administering +power and should bear full and specific responsibility; safeguards +against ill-considered action being provided in two directions, by the +people on the one hand, and on the other hand by law and custom, these +latter being considered historically, as an organic growth. He finds the +elements and essentials of this doctrine in our Constitution, though +somewhat obscured by the old "literary" theory of checks and balances. +He finds it more fully acknowledged in the British Constitution. He +finds it originating in our English race, enunciated at Runnymede, +developing by a slow but natural growth in English history, sanctioned +in the Petition of Right, the Revolution of 1688, and the Declaration of +Rights, achieved for us in our own Revolution, and illustrated by the +implied powers of Congress and the more directly exercised powers of the +House of Commons. It is a corollary of this doctrine that the President +of the United States, to whom in the veto and in his peculiar relations +to the Senate our Constitution gives a very real legislative function, +should associate himself closely with Congress, not merely as one who +may annul but also as one who initiates policies and helps to translate +them into laws. In his <i>Congressional Government</i>, begun when he was a +student in Princeton and finished before he was twenty-eight years old, +Mr. Wilson clearly indicates his dissatisfaction with the tradition +which would set the executive apart from the legislative power as a +check against it and not a coöperating element; and it is a remarkable +proof of the man's integrity and persistent personality that one of his +first acts as President was to go before the Congress as if he were its +agent.</p> + +<p>If any proof of his democracy were required, one might point to his +rather surprising statement, which he has repeated more than once, that +the chief value of Congressional debate is to arouse and inform public +opinion. He regards the will of the people as the real source of +governmental policy. Yet he is very impatient of those theories of the +rights of man which found favor in France in the eighteenth century and +have been the mainspring of democratic movements on the Continent of +Europe. He regards political liberty, as we know it in this country, as +a peculiar possession of the English race to which, in all that concerns +jurisprudence, we Americans belong.</p> + +<p>The other safeguard against arbitrary action by the combined +legislative-administrative power is, he declares, national respect for +the spirit of those general legal conceptions which, through many +centuries, have been making themselves part and parcel of our racial +instinct. He perceives that the British Constitution, though unwritten, +is as effective as ours and commands obedience fully as much as ours, +and that both appeal to a certain ingrained legal sense, common to all +the English-speaking peoples. These peoples do not really have +revolutions. What we call the American Revolution was only the +reaffirming of principles which were as precious in the eyes of most +Englishmen as they were in the eyes of Washington, Hamilton, and +Madison, but which had been for a time and owing to peculiar +circumstances, neglected or contravened. Political development in this +family of nations does not, he maintains, proceed by revolution, but by +evolution. On all these points his <i>Constitutional Government in the +United States</i> is only a richer and more mature statement and +illustration of the ideas expressed in his <i>Congressional Government</i>. +The main thesis of his <i>George Washington</i> is that the great Virginian +and first American was the truest Englishman of his time, a modern +Hampden or Eliot, a Burke in action. Again and again he pays respect to +Chief Justice Marshall, who represented, in our early history, the +conception of law as something in its breadth and majesty older and more +sacred than the decrees of any particular legislature, and yet capable +of being so interpreted as to accommodate itself to progress. Mr. Wilson +has from the beginning been an admiring student of Burke. And if Burke +has been his study, Bagehot has been his schoolmaster. The choice of +book and teacher is significant. <i>Mere Literature</i> shows how Mr. Wilson +revered them in 1896; his public life proves that he learned their +lessons well. In <i>An Old Master and Other Essays</i>, he had already borne +witness to the genius of Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill, who, as +compared with Continental writers, illustrate in the field of economics +the Anglo-Saxon spirit of respect for customs that have grown by organic +processes.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wilson's <i>Division and Reunion</i> is an admirable treatment of a +question upon which a Southerner might have been expected to write as a +Southerner. He has discussed it as an American. His well-known text-book +<i>The State</i>, which has been revised and frequently reprinted, discusses +the chief theories of the origin of government, describes the +administrative systems of Greece and Rome and of the great nations of +medieval and modern Europe and of the United States, and treats in +detail of the functions and objects of government, with special +reference to law and its workings. His <i>History of the American People</i>, +though it contains many passages of insight and has the charm that comes +from intense appreciation of details, is too diffuse and repetitious. A +great history should be a combination of a chronicle and a treatise; it +should be a record of facts and at the same time a philosophical +exposition of an idea. Mr. Wilson's five-volume work is insufficient as +a chronicle and too long for an essay. Yet an essay it really is. +Moreover, unless I myself am blinded by prejudice, it makes too much of +the errors committed by our government in the reconstruction period +after the Civil War. On the whole, with all their faults, the +administrations of Grant and Hayes accomplished a task of enormous +difficulty, with remarkably little impatience and intemperance. The +disadvantage of having been written originally under pressure in monthly +instalments, for a periodical, is clearly visible in the <i>History</i>. +There is a too constant effort to catch the eye with picturesque +description. Nevertheless, in this book, as in the others, Mr. Wilson +evokes in his readers a noble image of that government, constitutional, +traditional, democratic, self-developing, which, from the days of his +youth, aroused in him a poetic enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>And now for the way his imagination works and clothes itself in +language. The quality of his mind is poetic, and his style is highly +figurative. There have been very few professors, lecturing on abstruse +subjects, such as economics, jurisprudence, and politics, who have dared +to give so free a rein to an instinct frankly artistic. In the early +days of his career, Mr. Wilson was invited to follow two courses which +were supposed to be inconsistent with each other. The so-called +"scientific" method, much admired at that time even when applied to +subjects in which philosophic insight or a sense for beauty are the +proper guides, was being urged upon the rising generation of scholars. +Perhaps the Johns Hopkins University was the center of this impulse in +America; at least it was thought to be, though the source was almost +wholly German. If he had had to be a dry-as-dust in order to be a writer +on politics and history, Mr. Wilson would have preferred to turn his +attention to biography and literary criticism. But he promptly resolved +to disregard the warnings of pedants and to be a man of letters +<i>though</i> a professor of history and politics. I well remember the +irritation, sometimes amused and sometimes angry, with which he used to +speak of those who were persuaded that scholarship was in some way +contaminated by the touch of imagination or philosophy. He at least +would run the risk. And so he set himself to work cultivating the graces +of style no less assiduously than the exactness of science. There is a +distinct filiation in his diction, by which, from Stevenson to Lamb and +from Lamb to Sir Thomas Browne, one can trace it back to the quaint old +prose writers of the seventeenth century. I remember his calling my +attention, in 1890, or thereabouts, to the delightful stylistic +qualities of those worthies. Many of his colors are from their +ink-horns, in which the pigments were of deep and varied hues. When he +is sententious and didactic he seems to have caught something of +Emerson's manner. And indeed there is in all his writings a flavor of +optimism and a slightly dogmatic, even when thoroughly gentle and +persuasive, tone which he has in common with the New England sage.</p> + +<p>But in spite of all these resemblances to older authors, Mr. Wilson +gives proof in his style of a masterful independence. He is constantly +determined to think for himself, to get to the bottom of his subject, +and finally to express the matter in terms of his own personality. +Especially is this evident in his early works, where he struggles +manfully to be himself, even in the choice of words and phrases, +weighing and analyzing the most current idioms and often making in them +some thoughtful alteration the better to express his exact meaning. His +literary training appears to have been almost wholly English. There are +few traces in his writings of any classical reading or of any first-hand +acquaintance with French, German, or Italian authors. And indeed in the +substance of his thought I wonder if he is sufficiently hospitable to +foreign ideas, especially to the vast body of comment on the French +Revolution. I imagine few Continental authorities would agree with him +in his comparatively low estimate of the importance of that great +movement, which he seems to regard with almost unmitigated disapproval.</p> + +<p>In Mr. Wilson's addresses and public letters concerning the War he +re-affirms his principles and applies them with high confidence to the +fateful problems of this time. His tone has become vastly deeper and +sounder since he made his great decision, and from his Speech to +Congress, on February 3, 1917, to his recent Baltimore appeal, it has +rung true to every good impulse in the hearts of our people. His letter +to the Pope is in every way his master-piece, in style, in temper, and +in power of thought. He has led his country to the place it ought to +occupy, by the side of that other English democracy whose institutions, +ideals, and destiny are almost identical with our own, as he has +demonstrated in the writings of half a lifetime. Let us hope there was +prophetic virtue in a passage of his <i>Constitutional Government</i>, where, +speaking of the relation between our several States and the Union that +binds them together, he says they "may yet afford the world itself the +model of federation and liberty it may in God's providence come to +seek."</p> + +<p>No one can rise from a perusal of the great mass of Mr. Wilson's +writings without an almost oppressive sense of his unremitting and +strenuous industry. From his senior year in college to the present day +he has borne the anxieties and responsibilities of authorship. The work +has been done with extreme conscientiousness in regard to accuracy and +clearness of thinking and with sedulous care for justness and beauty of +expression. It might well crown a life with honor. And when we remember +the thousands of his college lectures and the hundreds of his +miscellaneous addresses which have found no record in print, when we +recall the labors of university administration which crowded upon him in +middle life, when we consider the spectacle of his calm, prompt, +orderly, and energetic performance of public duty in these latter years, +our admiration for the literary artist is enhanced by our profound +respect for the man.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>PRESIDENT WILSON'S ADDRESSES</h1> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="FIRST_INAUGURAL_ADDRESS" id="FIRST_INAUGURAL_ADDRESS"></a>FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Delivered at the Capitol, in Washington, March 4, 1913.]</p> + + +<p>There has been a change of government. It began two years ago, when the +House of Representatives became Democratic by a decisive majority. It +has now been completed. The Senate about to assemble will also be +Democratic. The offices of President and Vice-President have been put +into the hands of Democrats. What does the change mean? That is the +question that is uppermost in our minds to-day. That is the question I +am going to try to answer, in order, if I may, to interpret the +occasion.</p> + +<p>It means much more than the mere success of a party. The success of a +party means little except when the Nation is using that party for a +large and definite purpose. No one can mistake the purpose for which the +Nation now seeks to use the Democratic Party. It seeks to use it to +interpret a change in its own plans and point of view. Some old things +with which we had grown familiar, and which had begun to creep into the +very habit of our thought and of our lives, have altered their aspect as +we have latterly looked critically upon them, with fresh, awakened eyes; +have dropped their disguises and shown themselves alien and sinister. +Some new things, as we look frankly upon them, willing to comprehend +their real character, have come to assume the aspect of things long +believed in and familiar, stuff of our own convictions. We have been +refreshed by a new insight into our own life.</p> + +<p>We see that in many things that life is very great. It is incomparably +great in its material aspects, in its body of wealth, in the diversity +and sweep of its energy, in the industries which have been conceived +and built up by the genius of individual men and the limitless +enterprise of groups of men. It is great, also, very great, in its moral +force. Nowhere else in the world have noble men and women exhibited in +more striking forms the beauty and the energy of sympathy and +helpfulness and counsel in their efforts to rectify wrong, alleviate +suffering, and set the weak in the way of strength and hope. We have +built up, moreover, a great system of government, which has stood +through a long age as in many respects a model for those who seek to set +liberty upon foundations that will endure against fortuitous change, +against storm and accident. Our life contains every great thing, and +contains it in rich abundance.</p> + +<p>But the evil has come with the good, and much fine gold has been +corroded. With riches has come inexcusable waste. We have squandered a +great part of what we might have used, and have not stopped to conserve +the exceeding bounty of nature, without which our genius for enterprise +would have been worthless and impotent, scorning to be careful, +shamefully prodigal as well as admirably efficient. We have been proud +of our industrial achievements, but we have not hitherto stopped +thoughtfully enough to count the human cost, the cost of lives snuffed +out, of energies overtaxed and broken, the fearful physical and +spiritual cost to the men and women and children upon whom the dead +weight and burden of it all has fallen pitilessly the years through. The +groans and agony of it all had not yet reached our ears, the solemn, +moving undertone of our life, coming up out of the mines and factories +and out of every home where the struggle had its intimate and familiar +seat. With the great Government went many deep secret things which we +too long delayed to look into and scrutinize with candid, fearless +eyes. The great Government we loved has too often been made use of for +private and selfish purposes, and those who used it had forgotten the +people.</p> + +<p>At last a vision has been vouchsafed us of our life as a whole. We see +the bad with the good, the debased and decadent with the sound and +vital. With this vision we approach new affairs. Our duty is to cleanse, +to reconsider, to restore, to correct the evil without impairing the +good, to purify and humanize every process of our common life without +weakening or sentimentalizing it. There has been something crude and +heartless and unfeeling in our haste to succeed and be great. Our +thought has been "Let every man look out for himself, let every +generation look out for itself," while we reared giant machinery which +made it impossible that any but those who stood at the levers of control +should have a chance to look out for themselves. We had not forgotten +our morals. We remembered well enough that we had set up a policy which +was meant to serve the humblest as well as the most powerful, with an +eye single to the standards of justice and fair play, and remembered it +with pride. But we were very heedless and in a hurry to be great.</p> + +<p>We have come now to the sober second thought. The scales of heedlessness +have fallen from our eyes. We have made up our minds to square every +process of our national life again with the standards we so proudly set +up at the beginning and have always carried at our hearts. Our work is a +work of restoration.</p> + +<p>We have itemized with some degree of particularity the things that ought +to be altered and here are some of the chief items: A tariff which cuts +us off from our proper part in the commerce of the world, violates the +just principles of taxation, and makes the Government a facile +instrument in the hands of private interests; a banking and currency +system based upon the necessity of the Government to sell its bonds +fifty years ago and perfectly adapted to concentrating cash and +restricting credits; an industrial system which, take it on all its +sides, financial as well as administrative, holds capital in leading +strings, restricts the liberties and limits the opportunities of labor, +and exploits without renewing or conserving the natural resources of the +country; a body of agricultural activities never yet given the +efficiency of great business undertakings or served as it should be +through the instrumentality of science taken directly to the farm, or +afforded the facilities of credit best suited to its practical needs; +watercourses undeveloped, waste places unreclaimed, forests untended, +fast disappearing without plan or prospect of renewal, unregarded waste +heaps at every mine. We have studied, as perhaps no other nation has, +the most effective means of production, but we have not studied cost or +economy as we should, either as organizers of industry, as statesmen, or +as individuals.</p> + +<p>Nor have we studied and perfected the means by which government may be +put at the service of humanity, in safeguarding the health of the +Nation, the health of its men and its women and its children, as well as +their rights in the struggle for existence. This is no sentimental duty. +The firm basis of government is justice, not pity. These are matters of +justice. There can be no equality of opportunity, the first essential of +justice in the body politic, if men and women and children be not +shielded in their lives, their very vitality, from the consequences of +great industrial and social processes which they cannot alter, control, +or singly cope with. Society must see to it that it does not itself +crush or weaken or damage its own constituent parts. The first duty of +law is to keep sound the society it serves. Sanitary laws, pure-food +laws, and laws determining conditions of labor which individuals are +powerless to determine for themselves are intimate parts of the very +business of justice and legal efficiency.</p> + +<p>These are some of the things we ought to do, and not leave the others +undone, the old-fashioned, never-to-be-neglected, fundamental +safeguarding of property and of individual right. This is the high +enterprise of the new day: To lift everything that concerns our life as +a Nation to the light that shines from the hearthfire of every man's +conscience and vision of the right. It is inconceivable that we should +do this as partisans; it is inconceivable we should do it in ignorance +of the facts as they are or in blind haste. We shall restore, not +destroy. We shall deal with our economic system as it is and as it may +be modified, not as it might be if we had a clean sheet of paper to +write upon; and step by step we shall make it what it should be, in the +spirit of those who question their own wisdom and seek counsel and +knowledge, not shallow self-satisfaction or the excitement of excursions +whither they cannot tell. Justice, and only justice, shall always be our +motto.</p> + +<p>And yet it will be no cool process of mere science. The Nation has been +deeply stirred, stirred by a solemn passion, stirred by the knowledge of +wrong, of ideals lost, of government too often debauched and made an +instrument of evil. The feelings with which we face this new age of +right and opportunity sweep across our heartstrings like some air out of +God's own presence, where justice and mercy are reconciled and the judge +and the brother are one. We know our task to be no mere task of politics +but a task which shall search us through and through, whether we be able +to understand our time and the need of our people, whether we be indeed +their spokesmen and interpreters, whether we have the pure heart to +comprehend and the rectified will to choose our high course of action.</p> + +<p>This is not a day of triumph; it is a day of dedication. Here muster, +not the forces of party, but the forces of humanity. Men's hearts wait +upon us; men's lives hang in the balance; men's hopes call upon us to +say what we will do. Who shall live up to the great trust? Who dares +fail to try? I summon all honest men, all patriotic, all forward-looking +men, to my side. God helping me, I will not fail them, if they will but +counsel and sustain me!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="FIRST_ADDRESS_TO_CONGRESS" id="FIRST_ADDRESS_TO_CONGRESS"></a>FIRST ADDRESS TO CONGRESS</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[Delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, at the +beginning of the first session of the Sixty-third Congress, April 8, +1913.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Congress:</span></p> + +<p>I am very glad indeed to have this opportunity to address the two Houses +directly and to verify for myself the impression that the President of +the United States is a person, not a mere department of the Government +hailing Congress from some isolated island of jealous power, sending +messages, not speaking naturally and with his own voice—that he is a +human being trying to coöperate with other human beings in a common +service. After this pleasant experience I shall feel quite normal in all +our dealings with one another.<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a></p> + +<p>I have called the Congress together in extraordinary session because a +duty was laid upon the party now in power at the recent elections which +it ought to perform promptly, in order that the burden carried by the +people under existing law may be lightened as soon as possible and in +order, also, that the business interests of the country may not be kept +too long in suspense as to what the fiscal changes are to be to which +they will be required to adjust themselves. It is clear to the whole +country that the tariff duties must be altered. They must be changed to +meet the radical alteration in the conditions of our economic life which +the country has witnessed within the last generation. While the whole +face and method of our industrial and commercial life were being changed +beyond recognition the tariff schedules have remained what they were +before the change began, or have moved in the direction they were given +when no large circumstance of our industrial development was what it is +to-day. Our task is to square them with the actual facts. The sooner +that is done the sooner we shall escape from suffering from the facts +and the sooner our men of business will be free to thrive by the law of +nature (the nature of free business) instead of by the law of +legislation and artificial arrangement.</p> + +<p>We have seen tariff legislation wander very far afield in our day—very +far indeed from the field in which our prosperity might have had a +normal growth and stimulation. No one who looks the facts squarely in +the face or knows anything that lies beneath the surface of action can +fail to perceive the principles upon which recent tariff legislation has +been based. We long ago passed beyond the modest notion of "protecting" +the industries of the country and moved boldly forward to the idea that +they were entitled to the direct patronage of the Government. For a long +time—a time so long that the men now active in public policy hardly +remember the conditions that preceded it—we have sought in our tariff +schedules to give each group of manufacturers or producers what they +themselves thought that they needed in order to maintain a practically +exclusive market as against the rest of the world. Consciously or +unconsciously, we have built up a set of privileges and exemptions from +competition behind which it was easy by any, even the crudest, forms of +combination to organize monopoly; until at last nothing is normal, +nothing is obliged to stand the tests of efficiency and economy, in our +world of big business, but everything thrives by concerted arrangement. +Only new principles of action will save us from a final hard +crystallization of monopoly and a complete loss of the influences that +quicken enterprise and keep independent energy alive.</p> + +<p>It is plain what those principles must be. We must abolish everything +that bears even the semblance of privilege or of any kind of artificial +advantage, and put our business men and producers under the stimulation +of a constant necessity to be efficient, economical, and enterprising, +masters of competitive supremacy, better workers and merchants than any +in the world. Aside from the duties laid upon articles which we do not, +and probably cannot, produce, therefore, and the duties laid upon +luxuries and merely for the sake of the revenues they yield, the object +of the tariff duties henceforth laid must be effective competition, the +whetting of American wits by contest with the wits of the rest of the +world.</p> + +<p>It would be unwise to move toward this end headlong, with reckless +haste, or with strokes that cut at the very roots of what has grown up +amongst us by long process and at our own invitation. It does not alter +a thing to upset it and break it and deprive it of a chance to change. +It destroys it. We must make changes in our fiscal laws, in our fiscal +system, whose object is development, a more free and wholesome +development, not revolution or upset or confusion. We must build up +trade, especially foreign trade. We need the outlet and the enlarged +field of energy more than we ever did before. We must build up industry +as well, and must adopt freedom in the place of artificial stimulation +only so far as it will build, not pull down. In dealing with the tariff +the method by which this may be done will be a matter of judgment, +exercised item by item. To some not accustomed to the excitements and +responsibilities of greater freedom our methods may in some respects +and at some points seem heroic, but remedies may be heroic and yet be +remedies. It is our business to make sure that they are genuine +remedies. Our object is clear. If our motive is above just challenge and +only an occasional error of judgment is chargeable against us, we shall +be fortunate.</p> + +<p>We are called upon to render the country a great service in more matters +than one. Our responsibility should be met and our methods should be +thorough, as thorough as moderate and well considered, based upon the +facts as they are, and not worked out as if we were beginners. We are to +deal with the facts of our own day, with the facts of no other, and to +make laws which square with those facts. It is best, indeed it is +necessary, to begin with the tariff. I will urge nothing upon you now at +the opening of your session which can obscure that first object or +divert our energies from that clearly defined duty. At a later time I +may take the liberty of calling your attention to reforms which should +press close upon the heels of the tariff changes, if not accompany them, +of which the chief is the reform of our banking and currency laws; but +just now I refrain. For the present, I put these matters on one side and +think only of this one thing—of the changes in our fiscal system which +may best serve to open once more the free channels of prosperity to a +great people whom we would serve to the utmost and throughout both rank +and file.</p> + +<p>I thank you for your courtesy.</p> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ADDRESS_ON_THE_BANKING_SYSTEM" id="ADDRESS_ON_THE_BANKING_SYSTEM"></a>ADDRESS ON THE BANKING SYSTEM</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, June 23, +1913.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Congress:</span></p> + +<p>It is under the compulsion of what seems to me a clear and imperative +duty that I have a second time this session sought the privilege of +addressing you in person. I know, of course, that the heated season of +the year is upon us, that work in these chambers and in the committee +rooms is likely to become a burden as the season lengthens, and that +every consideration of personal convenience and personal comfort, +perhaps, in the cases of some of us, considerations of personal health +even, dictate an early conclusion of the deliberations of the session; +but there are occasions of public duty when these things which touch us +privately seem very small, when the work to be done is so pressing and +so fraught with big consequence that we know that we are not at liberty +to weigh against it any point of personal sacrifice. We are now in the +presence of such an occasion. It is absolutely imperative that we should +give the business men of this country a banking and currency system by +means of which they can make use of the freedom of enterprise and of +individual initiative which we are about to bestow upon them.</p> + +<p>We are about to set them free; we must not leave them without the tools +of action when they are free. We are about to set them free by removing +the trammels of the protective tariff. Ever since the Civil War they +have waited for this emancipation and for the free opportunities it +will bring with it. It has been reserved for us to give it to them. Some +fell in love, indeed, with the slothful security of their dependence +upon the Government; some took advantage of the shelter of the nursery +to set up a mimic mastery of their own within its walls. Now both the +tonic and the discipline of liberty and maturity are to ensue. There +will be some readjustments of purpose and point of view. There will +follow a period of expansion and new enterprise, freshly conceived. It +is for us to determine now whether it shall be rapid and facile and of +easy accomplishment. This it cannot be unless the resourceful business +men who are to deal with the new circumstances are to have at hand and +ready for use the instrumentalities and conveniences of free enterprise +which independent men need when acting on their own initiative.</p> + +<p>It is not enough to strike the shackles from business. The duty of +statesmanship is not negative merely. It is constructive also. We must +show that we understand what business needs and that we know how to +supply it. No man, however casual and superficial his observation of the +conditions now prevailing in the country, can fail to see that one of +the chief things business needs now, and will need increasingly as it +gains in scope and vigor in the years immediately ahead of us, is the +proper means by which readily to vitalize its credit, corporate and +individual, and its originative brains. What will it profit us to be +free if we are not to have the best and most accessible +instrumentalities of commerce and enterprise? What will it profit us to +be quit of one kind of monopoly if we are to remain in the grip of +another and more effective kind? How are we to gain and keep the +confidence of the business community unless we show that we know how +both to aid and to protect it? What shall we say if we make fresh +enterprise necessary and also make it very difficult by leaving all else +except the tariff just as we found it? The tyrannies of business, big +and little, lie within the field of credit. We know that. Shall we not +act upon the knowledge? Do we not know how to act upon it? If a man +cannot make his assets available at pleasure, his assets of capacity and +character and resource, what satisfaction is it to him to see +opportunity beckoning to him on every hand, when others have the keys of +credit in their pockets and treat them as all but their own private +possession? It is perfectly clear that it is our duty to supply the new +banking and currency system the country needs, and it will need it +immediately more than it has ever needed it before.</p> + +<p>The only question is, When shall we supply it—now, or later, after the +demands shall have become reproaches that we were so dull and so slow? +Shall we hasten to change the tariff laws and then be laggards about +making it possible and easy for the country to take advantage of the +change? There can be only one answer to that question. We must act now, +at whatever sacrifice to ourselves. It is a duty which the circumstances +forbid us to postpone. I should be recreant to my deepest convictions of +public obligation did I not press it upon you with solemn and urgent +insistence.</p> + +<p>The principles upon which we should act are also clear. The country has +sought and seen its path in this matter within the last few years—sees +it more clearly now than it ever saw it before—much more clearly than +when the last legislative proposals on the subject were made. We must +have a currency, not rigid as now, but readily, elastically responsive +to sound credit, the expanding and contracting credits of everyday +transactions, the normal ebb and flow of personal and corporate +dealings. Our banking laws must mobilize reserves; must not permit the +concentration anywhere in a few hands of the monetary resources of the +country or their use for speculative purposes in such volume as to +hinder or impede or stand in the way of other more legitimate, more +fruitful uses. And the control of the system of banking and of issue +which our new laws are to set up must be public, not private, must be +vested in the Government itself, so that the banks may be the +instruments, not the masters, of business and of individual enterprise +and initiative.</p> + +<p>The committees of the Congress to which legislation of this character is +referred have devoted careful and dispassionate study to the means of +accomplishing these objects. They have honored me by consulting me. They +are ready to suggest action. I have come to you, as the head of the +Government and the responsible leader of the party in power, to urge +action now, while there is time to serve the country deliberately and as +we should, in a clear air of common counsel. I appeal to you with a deep +conviction of duty. I believe that you share this conviction. I +therefore appeal to you with confidence. I am at your service without +reserve to play my part in any way you may call upon me to play it in +this great enterprise of exigent reform which it will dignify and +distinguish us to perform and discredit us to neglect.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ADDRESS_AT_GETTYSBURG" id="ADDRESS_AT_GETTYSBURG"></a>ADDRESS AT GETTYSBURG</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[Delivered in the presence of Union and Confederate veterans, on the +occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the battle, July 4, 1913.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Friends and Fellow Citizens:</span></p> + +<p>I need not tell you what the Battle of Gettysburg meant. These gallant +men in blue and gray sit all about us here.<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a> Many of them met upon +this ground in grim and deadly struggle. Upon these famous fields and +hillsides their comrades died about them. In their presence it were an +impertinence to discourse upon how the battle went, how it ended, what +it signified! But fifty years have gone by since then, and I crave the +privilege of speaking to you for a few minutes of what those fifty years +have meant.</p> + +<p>What <i>have</i> they meant? They have meant peace and union and vigor, and +the maturity and might of a great nation. How wholesome and healing the +peace has been! We have found one another again as brothers and comrades +in arms, enemies no longer, generous friends rather, our battles long +past, the quarrel forgotten—except that we shall not forget the +splendid valor, the manly devotion of the men then arrayed against one +another, now grasping hands and smiling into each other's eyes. How +complete the union has become and how dear to all of us, how +unquestioned, how benign and majestic, as State after State has been +added to this our great family of free men! How handsome the vigor, the +maturity, the might of the great Nation we love with undivided hearts; +how full of large and confident promise that a life will be wrought out +that will crown its strength with gracious justice and with a happy +welfare that will touch all alike with deep contentment! We are debtors +to those fifty crowded years; they have made us heirs to a mighty +heritage.</p> + +<p>But do we deem the Nation complete and finished? These venerable men +crowding here to this famous field have set us a great example of +devotion and utter sacrifice. They were willing to die that the people +might live. But their task is done. Their day is turned into evening. +They look to us to perfect what they established. Their work is handed +on to us, to be done in another way, but not in another spirit. Our day +is not over; it is upon us in full tide.</p> + +<p>Have affairs paused? Does the Nation stand still? Is what the fifty +years have wrought since those days of battle finished, rounded out, and +completed? Here is a great people, great with every force that has ever +beaten in the lifeblood of mankind. And it is secure. There is no one +within its borders, there is no power among the nations of the earth, to +make it afraid. But has it yet squared itself with its own great +standards set up at its birth, when it made that first noble, naïve +appeal to the moral judgment of mankind to take notice that a government +had now at last been established which was to serve men, not masters? It +is secure in everything except the satisfaction that its life is right, +adjusted to the uttermost to the standards of righteousness and +humanity. The days of sacrifice and cleansing are not closed. We have +harder things to do than were done in the heroic days of war, because +harder to see clearly, requiring more vision, more calm balance of +judgment, a more candid searching of the very springs of right.</p> + +<p>Look around you upon the field of Gettysburg! Picture the array, the +fierce heats and agony of battle, column hurled against column, battery +bellowing to battery! Valor? Yes! Greater no man shall see in war; and +self-sacrifice, and loss to the uttermost; the high recklessness of +exalted devotion which does not count the cost. We are made by these +tragic, epic things to know what it costs to make a nation—the blood +and sacrifice of multitudes of unknown men lifted to a great stature in +the view of all generations by knowing no limit to their manly +willingness to serve. In armies thus marshaled from the ranks of free +men you will see, as it were, a nation embattled, the leaders and the +led, and may know, if you will, how little except in form its action +differs in days of peace from its action in days of war.</p> + +<p>May we break camp now and be at ease? Are the forces that fight for the +Nation dispersed, disbanded, gone to their homes forgetful of the common +cause? Are our forces disorganized, without constituted leaders and the +might of men consciously united because we contend, not with armies, but +with principalities and powers and wickedness in high places? Are we +content to lie still? Does our union mean sympathy, our peace +contentment, our vigor right action, our maturity self-comprehension and +a clear confidence in choosing what we shall do? War fitted us for +action, and action never ceases.</p> + +<p>I have been chosen the leader of the Nation. I cannot justify the choice +by any qualities of my own, but so it has come about, and here I stand. +Whom do I command? The ghostly hosts who fought upon these battlefields +long ago and are gone? These gallant gentlemen stricken in years whose +fighting days, are over, their glory won? What are the orders for them, +and who rallies them? I have in my mind another host, whom these set +free of civil strife in order that they might work out in days of peace +and settled order the life of a great Nation. That host is the people +themselves, the great and the small, without class or difference of kind +or race or origin; and undivided in interest, if we have but the vision +to guide and direct them and order their lives aright in what we do. Our +constitutions are their articles of enlistment. The orders of the day +are the laws upon our statute books. What we strive for is their +freedom, their right to lift themselves from day to day and behold the +things they have hoped for, and so make way for still better days for +those whom they love who are to come after them. The recruits are the +little children crowding in. The quartermaster's stores are in the mines +and forests and fields, in the shops and factories. Every day something +must be done to push the campaign forward; and it must be done by plan +and with an eye to some great destiny.</p> + +<p>How shall we hold such thoughts in our hearts and not be moved? I would +not have you live even to-day wholly in the past, but would wish to +stand with you in the light that streams upon us now out of that great +day gone by. Here is the nation God has builded by our hands. What shall +we do with it? Who stands ready to act again and always in the spirit of +this day of reunion and hope and patriotic fervor? The day of our +country's life has but broadened into morning. Do not put uniforms by. +Put the harness of the present on. Lift your eyes to the great tracts of +life yet to be conquered in the interest of righteous peace, of that +prosperity which lies in a people's hearts and outlasts all wars and +errors of men. Come, let us be comrades and soldiers yet to serve our +fellow-men in quiet counsel, where the blare of trumpets is neither +heard nor heeded and where the things are done which make blessed the +nations of the world in peace and righteousness and love.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ADDRESS_ON_MEXICAN_AFFAIRS" id="ADDRESS_ON_MEXICAN_AFFAIRS"></a>ADDRESS ON MEXICAN AFFAIRS</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, August 27, +1913.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen of the Congress:</span></p> + +<p>It is clearly my duty to lay before you, very fully and without +reservation, the facts concerning our present relations with the +Republic of Mexico. The deplorable posture of affairs in Mexico I need +not describe,<a name="FNanchor_D_4" id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a> but I deem it my duty to speak very frankly of what +this Government has done and should seek to do in fulfillment of its +obligation to Mexico herself, as a friend and neighbor, and to American +citizens whose lives and vital interests are daily affected by the +distressing conditions which now obtain beyond our southern border.</p> + +<p>Those conditions touch us very nearly. Not merely because they lie at +our very doors. That of course makes us more vividly and more constantly +conscious of them, and every instinct of neighborly interest and +sympathy is aroused and quickened by them; but that is only one element +in the determination of our duty. We are glad to call ourselves the +friends of Mexico, and we shall, I hope, have many an occasion, in +happier times as well as in these days of trouble and confusion, to show +that our friendship is genuine and disinterested, capable of sacrifice +and every generous manifestation. The peace, prosperity, and +contentment of Mexico mean more, much more, to us than merely an +enlarged field for our commerce and enterprise. They mean an enlargement +of the field of self-government and the realization of the hopes and +rights of a nation with whose best aspirations, so long suppressed and +disappointed, we deeply sympathize. We shall yet prove to the Mexican +people that we know how to serve them without first thinking how we +shall serve ourselves.</p> + +<p>But we are not the only friends of Mexico. The whole world desires her +peace and progress; and the whole world is interested as never before. +Mexico lies at last where all the world looks on. Central America is +about to be touched by the great routes of the world's trade and +intercourse running free from ocean to ocean at the Isthmus. The future +has much in store for Mexico, as for all the States of Central America; +but the best gifts can come to her only if she be ready and free to +receive them and to enjoy them honorably. America in particular—America +north and south and upon both continents—waits upon the development of +Mexico; and that development can be sound and lasting only if it be the +product of a genuine freedom, a just and ordered government founded upon +law. Only so can it be peaceful or fruitful of the benefits of peace. +Mexico has a great and enviable future before her, if only she choose +and attain the paths of honest constitutional government.</p> + +<p>The present circumstances of the Republic, I deeply regret to say, do +not seem to promise even the foundations of such a peace. We have waited +many months, months full of peril and anxiety, for the conditions there +to improve, and they have not improved. They have grown worse, rather. +The territory in some sort controlled by the provisional authorities at +Mexico City has grown smaller, not larger. The prospect of the +pacification of the country, even by arms, has seemed to grow more and +more remote; and its pacification by the authorities at the capital is +evidently impossible by any other means than force. Difficulties more +and more entangle those who claim to constitute the legitimate +government of the Republic. They have not made good their claim in fact. +Their successes in the field have proved only temporary. War and +disorder, devastation and confusion, seem to threaten to become the +settled fortune of the distracted country. As friends we could wait no +longer for a solution which every week seemed further away. It was our +duty at least to volunteer our good offices—to offer to assist, if we +might, in effecting some arrangement which would bring relief and peace +and set up a universally acknowledged political authority there.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, I took the liberty of sending the Hon. John Lind, formerly +governor of Minnesota, as my personal spokesman and representative, to +the City of Mexico, with <i>the following instructions</i>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Press very earnestly upon the attention of those who are now + exercising authority or wielding influence in Mexico the following + considerations and advice:</p> + +<p> The Government of the United States does not feel at liberty any + longer to stand inactively by while it becomes daily more and more + evident that no real progress is being made towards the + establishment of a government at the City of Mexico which the + country will obey and respect.</p> + +<p> The Government of the United States does not stand in the same case + with the other great Governments of the world in respect of what is + happening or what is likely to happen in Mexico. We offer our good + offices, not only because of our genuine desire to play the part of + a friend, but also because we are expected by the powers of the + world to act as Mexico's nearest friend.</p> + +<p> We wish to act in these circumstances in the spirit of the most + earnest and disinterested friendship. It is our purpose in whatever + we do or propose in this perplexing and distressing situation not + only to pay the most scrupulous regard to the sovereignty and + independence of Mexico—that we take as a matter of course to which + we are bound by every obligation of right and honor—but also to + give every possible evidence that we act in the interest of Mexico + alone, and not in the interest of any person or body of persons who + may have personal or property claims in Mexico which they may feel + that they have the right to press. We are seeking to counsel Mexico + for her own good and in the interest of her own peace, and not for + any other purpose whatever. The Government of the United States + would deem itself discredited if it had any selfish or ulterior + purpose in transactions where the peace, happiness, and prosperity + of a whole people are involved. It is acting as its friendship for + Mexico, not as any selfish interest, dictates.</p> + +<p> The present situation in Mexico is incompatible with the + fulfillment of international obligations on the part of Mexico, + with the civilized development of Mexico herself, and with the + maintenance of tolerable political and economic conditions in + Central America. It is upon no common occasion, therefore, that the + United States offers her counsel and assistance. All America cries + out for a settlement.</p> + +<p> A satisfactory settlement seems to us to be conditioned on—</p> + +<p> (<i>a</i>) An immediate cessation of fighting throughout Mexico, a + definite armistice solemnly entered into and scrupulously observed;</p> + +<p> (<i>b</i>) Security given for an early and free election in which all + will agree to take part;</p> + +<p> (<i>c</i>) The consent of Gen. Huerta to bind himself not to be a + candidate for election as President of the Republic at this + election; and</p> + +<p> (<i>d</i>) The agreement of all parties to abide by the results of the + election and coöperate in the most loyal way in organizing and + supporting the new administration.</p> + +<p> The Government of the United States will be glad to play any part + in this settlement or in its carrying out which it can play + honorably and consistently with international right. It pledges + itself to recognize and in every way possible and proper to assist + the administration chosen and set up in Mexico in the way and on + the conditions suggested.</p> + +<p> Taking all the existing conditions into consideration, the + Government of the United States can conceive of no reasons + sufficient to justify those who are now attempting to shape the + policy or exercise the authority of Mexico in declining the offices + of friendship thus offered. Can Mexico give the civilized world a + satisfactory reason for rejecting our good offices? If Mexico can + suggest any better way in which to show our friendship, serve the + people of Mexico, and meet our international obligations, we are + more than willing to consider the suggestion.</p></div> + +<p>Mr. Lind executed his delicate and difficult mission with singular tact, +firmness, and good judgment, and made clear to the authorities at the +City of Mexico not only the purpose of his visit but also the spirit in +which it had been undertaken. But the proposals he submitted were +rejected, in a note the full text of which I take the liberty of laying +before you.</p> + +<p>I am led to believe that they were rejected partly because the +authorities at Mexico City had been grossly misinformed and misled upon +two points. They did not realize the spirit of the American people in +this matter, their earnest friendliness and yet sober determination that +some just solution be found for the Mexican difficulties; and they did +not believe that the present administration spoke, through Mr. Lind, for +the people of the United States. The effect of this unfortunate +misunderstanding on their part is to leave them singularly isolated and +without friends who can effectually aid them. So long as the +misunderstanding continues we can only await the time of their awakening +to a realization of the actual facts. We cannot thrust our good offices +upon them. The situation must be given a little more time to work itself +out in the new circumstances; and I believe that only a little while +will be necessary. For the circumstances are new. The rejection of our +friendship makes them new and will inevitably bring its own alterations +in the whole aspect of affairs. The actual situation of the authorities +at Mexico City will presently be revealed.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, what is it our duty to do? Clearly, everything that we do +must be rooted in patience and done with calm and disinterested +deliberation. Impatience on our part would be childish, and would be +fraught with every risk of wrong and folly. We can afford to exercise +the self-restraint of a really great nation which realizes its own +strength and scorns to misuse it. It was our duty to offer our active +assistance. It is now our duty to show what true neutrality will do to +enable the people of Mexico to set their affairs in order again and wait +for a further opportunity to offer our friendly counsels. The door is +not closed against the resumption, either upon the initiative of Mexico +or upon our own, of the effort to bring order out of the confusion by +friendly coöperative action, should fortunate occasion offer.</p> + +<p>While we wait the contest of the rival forces will undoubtedly for a +little while be sharper than ever, just because it will be plain that an +end must be made of the existing situation, and that very promptly; and +with the increased activity of the contending factions will come, it is +to be feared, increased danger to the non-combatants in Mexico as well +as to those actually in the field of battle. The position of outsiders +is always particularly trying and full of hazard where there is civil +strife and a whole country is upset. We should earnestly urge all +Americans to leave Mexico at once, and should assist them to get away in +every way possible—not because we would mean to slacken in the least +our efforts to safeguard their lives and their interests, but because it +is imperative that they should take no unnecessary risks when it is +physically possible for them to leave the country. We should let every +one who assumes to exercise authority in any part of Mexico know in the +most unequivocal way that we shall vigilantly watch the fortunes of +those Americans who cannot get away, and shall hold those responsible +for their sufferings and losses to a definite reckoning. That can be and +will be made plain beyond the possibility of a misunderstanding.</p> + +<p>For the rest, I deem it my duty to exercise the authority conferred upon +me by the law of March 14, 1912, to see to it that neither side to the +struggle now going on in Mexico receive any assistance from this side +the border. I shall follow the best practice of nations in the matter of +neutrality by forbidding the exportation of arms or munitions of war of +any kind from the United States to any part of the Republic of Mexico—a +policy suggested by several interesting precedents and certainly +dictated by many manifest considerations of practical expediency. We +cannot in the circumstances be the partisans of either party to the +contest that now distracts Mexico, or constitute ourselves the virtual +umpire between them.</p> + +<p>I am happy to say that several of the great Governments of the world +have given this Government their generous moral support in urging upon +the provisional authorities at the City of Mexico the acceptance of our +proffered good offices in the spirit in which they were made. We have +not acted in this matter under the ordinary principles of international +obligation. All the world expects us in such circumstances to act as +Mexico's nearest friend and intimate adviser. This is our immemorial +relation towards her. There is nowhere any serious question that we have +the moral right in the case or that we are acting in the interest of a +fair settlement and of good government, not for the promotion of some +selfish interest of our own. If further motive were necessary than our +own good will towards a sister Republic and our own deep concern to see +peace and order prevail in Central America, this consent of mankind to +what we are attempting, this attitude of the great nations of the world +towards what we may attempt in dealing with this distressed people at +our doors, should make us feel the more solemnly bound to go to the +utmost length of patience and forbearance in this painful and anxious +business. The steady pressure of moral force will before many days break +the barriers of pride and prejudice down, and we shall triumph as +Mexico's friends sooner than we could triumph as her enemies—and how +much more handsomely, with how much higher and finer satisfactions of +conscience and of honor!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="UNDERSTANDING_AMERICA" id="UNDERSTANDING_AMERICA"></a>UNDERSTANDING AMERICA</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[Delivered at Philadelphia, Pa., on the occasion of the rededication of +Congress Hall, Oct. 25, 1913. The United States Congress met in this +hall till 1800. Here Washington was inaugurated the second time, and +here he made his farewell address to the American people. Here John +Adams took the oath of office when he succeeded Washington. The hall, +after being long disused, was now restored and reopened. Before Mr. +Wilson spoke, Mr. Frank Miles Day, representing the committee of +architects, had referred to the "delightful silence, order, gravity, and +personal dignity of manner" observed by the Senators of the first +Congress, and had said, "They all appeared every morning full powdered, +and dressed, as age or fancy might suggest, in the richest material."]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Your Honor, Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen:</span></p> + +<p>No American could stand in this place to-day and think of the +circumstances which we are come together to celebrate without being most +profoundly stirred. There has come over me since I sat down here a sense +of deep solemnity, because it has seemed to me that I saw ghosts +crowding—a great assemblage of spirits, no longer visible, but whose +influence we still feel as we feel the molding power of history itself. +The men who sat in this hall, to whom we now look back with a touch of +deep sentiment, were men of flesh and blood, face to face with extremely +difficult problems. The population of the United States then was hardly +three times the present population of the city of Philadelphia, and yet +that was a Nation as this is a Nation, and the men who spoke for it were +setting their hands to a work which was to last, not only that their +people might be happy, but that an example might be lifted up for the +instruction of the rest of the world.</p> + +<p>I like to read the quaint old accounts such as Mr. Day has read to us +this afternoon. Strangers came then to America to see what the young +people that had sprung up here were like, and they found men in counsel +who knew how to construct governments. They found men deliberating here +who had none of the appearance of novices, none of the hesitation of men +who did not know whether the work they were doing was going to last or +not; men who addressed themselves to a problem of construction as +familiarly as we attempt to carry out the traditions of a Government +established these 137 years.</p> + +<p>I feel to-day the compulsion of these men, the compulsion of examples +which were set up in this place. And of what do their examples remind +us? They remind us not merely of public service but of public service +shot through with principle and honor. They were not histrionic men. +They did not say—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Look upon us as upon those who shall hereafter be illustrious.</p></div> + +<p>They said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Look upon us who are doing the first free work of constitutional + liberty in the world, and who must do it in soberness and truth, or + it will not last.</p></div> + +<p>Politics, ladies and gentlemen, is made up in just about equal parts of +comprehension and sympathy. No man ought to go into politics who does +not comprehend the task that he is going to attack. He may comprehend it +so completely that it daunts him, that he doubts whether his own spirit +is stout enough and his own mind able enough to attempt its great +undertakings, but unless he comprehend it he ought not to enter it. +After he has comprehended it, there should come into his mind those +profound impulses of sympathy which connect him with the rest of +mankind, for politics is a business of interpretation, and no men are +fit for it who do not see and seek more than their own advantage and +interest.</p> + +<p>We have stumbled upon many unhappy circumstances in the hundred years +that have gone by since the event that we are celebrating. Almost all of +them have come from self-centered men, men who saw in their own interest +the interest of the country, and who did not have vision enough to read +it in wider terms, in the universal terms of equity and justice and the +rights of mankind. I hear a great many people at Fourth of July +celebrations laud the Declaration of Independence who in between Julys +shiver at the plain language of our bills of rights. The Declaration of +Independence was, indeed, the first audible breath of liberty, but the +substance of liberty is written in such documents as the declaration of +rights attached, for example, to the first constitution of Virginia, +which was a model for the similar documents read elsewhere into our +great fundamental charters. That document speaks in very plain terms. +The men of that generation did not hesitate to say that every people has +a right to choose its own forms of government—not once, but as often as +it pleases—and to accommodate those forms of government to its existing +interests and circumstances. Not only to establish but to alter is the +fundamental principle of self-government.</p> + +<p>We are just as much under compulsion to study the particular +circumstances of our own day as the gentlemen were who sat in this hall +and set us precedents, not of what to do but of how to do it. Liberty +inheres in the circumstances of the day. Human happiness consists in the +life which human beings are leading at the time that they live. I can +feed my memory as happily upon the circumstances of the revolutionary +and constitutional period as you can, but I cannot feed all my purposes +with them in Washington now. Every day problems arise which wear some +new phase and aspect, and I must fall back, if I would serve my +conscience, upon those things which are fundamental rather than upon +those things which are superficial, and ask myself this question, How +are you going to assist in some small part to give the American people +and, by example, the peoples of the world more liberty, more happiness, +more substantial prosperity; and how are you going to make that +prosperity a common heritage instead of a selfish possession? I came +here to-day partly in order to feed my own spirit. I did not come in +compliment. When I was asked to come I knew immediately upon the +utterance of the invitation that I had to come, that to be absent would +be as if I refused to drink once more at the original fountains of +inspiration for our own Government.</p> + +<p>The men of the day which we now celebrate had a very great advantage +over us, ladies and gentlemen, in this one particular: Life was simple +in America then. All men shared the same circumstances in almost equal +degree. We think of Washington, for example, as an aristocrat, as a man +separated by training, separated by family and neighborhood tradition, +from the ordinary people of the rank and file of the country. Have you +forgotten the personal history of George Washington? Do you not know +that he struggled as poor boys now struggle for a meager and imperfect +education; that he worked at his surveyor's tasks in the lonely forests; +that he knew all the roughness, all the hardships, all the adventure, +all the variety of the common life of that day; and that if he stood a +little stiffly in this place, if he looked a little aloof, it was +because life had dealt hardly with him? All his sinews had been +stiffened by the rough work of making America. He was a man of the +people, whose touch had been with them since the day he saw the light +first in the old Dominion of Virginia. And the men who came after him, +men, some of whom had drunk deep at the sources of philosophy and of +study, were, nevertheless, also men who on this side of the water knew +no complicated life but the simple life of primitive neighborhoods. Our +task is very much more difficult. That sympathy which alone interprets +public duty is more difficult for a public man to acquire now than it +was then, because we live in the midst of circumstances and conditions +infinitely complex.</p> + +<p>No man can boast that he understands America. No man can boast that he +has lived the life of America, as almost every man who sat in this hall +in those days could boast. No man can pretend that except by common +counsel he can gather into his consciousness what the varied life of +this people is. The duty that we have to keep open eyes and open hearts +and accessible understandings is a very much more difficult duty to +perform than it was in their day. Yet how much more important that it +should be performed, for fear we make infinite and irreparable blunders. +The city of Washington is in some respects self-contained, and it is +easy there to forget what the rest of the United States is thinking +about. I count it a fortunate circumstance that almost all the windows +of the White House and its offices open upon unoccupied spaces that +stretch to the banks of the Potomac and then out into Virginia and on to +the heavens themselves, and that as I sit there I can constantly forget +Washington and remember the United States. Not that I would intimate +that all of the United States lies south of Washington, but there is a +serious thing back of my thought. If you think too much about being +reëlected, it is very difficult to be worth reëlecting. You are so apt +to forget that the comparatively small number of persons, numerous as +they seem to be when they swarm, who come to Washington to ask for +things, do not constitute an important proportion of the population of +the country, that it is constantly necessary to come away from +Washington and renew one's contact with the people who do not swarm +there, who do not ask for anything, but who do trust you without their +personal counsel to do your duty. Unless a man gets these contacts he +grows weaker and weaker. He needs them as Hercules needed the touch of +mother earth. If you lift him up too high or he lifts himself too high, +he loses the contact and therefore loses the inspiration.</p> + +<p>I love to think of those plain men, however far from plain their dress +sometimes was, who assembled in this hall. One is startled to think of +the variety of costume and color which would now occur if we were let +loose upon the fashions of that age. Men's lack of taste is largely +concealed now by the limitations of fashion. Yet these men, who +sometimes dressed like the peacock, were, nevertheless, of the ordinary +flight of their time. They were birds of a feather; they were birds come +from a very simple breeding; they were much in the open heaven. They +were beginning, when there was so little to distract their attention, to +show that they could live upon fundamental principles of government. We +talk those principles, but we have not time to absorb them. We have not +time to let them into our blood, and thence have them translated into +the plain mandates of action.</p> + +<p>The very smallness of this room, the very simplicity of it all, all the +suggestions which come from its restoration, are reassuring +things—things which it becomes a man to realize. Therefore my theme +here to-day, my only thought, is a very simple one. Do not let us go +back to the annals of those sessions of Congress to find out what to do, +because we live in another age and the circumstances are absolutely +different; but let us be men of that kind; let us feel at every turn +the compulsions of principle and of honor which thy felt; let us free +our vision from temporary circumstances and look abroad at the horizon +and take into our lungs the great air of freedom which has blown through +this country and stolen across the seas and blessed people everywhere; +and, looking east and west and north and south, let us remind ourselves +that we are the custodians, in some degree, of the principles which have +made men free and governments just.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ADDRESS_BEFORE_THE_SOUTHERN_COMMERCIAL_CONGRESS" id="ADDRESS_BEFORE_THE_SOUTHERN_COMMERCIAL_CONGRESS"></a>ADDRESS BEFORE THE SOUTHERN COMMERCIAL CONGRESS</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Delivered at Mobile, Alabama, October 27, 1913.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Your Excellency, Mr. Chairman:</span></p> + +<p>It is with unaffected pleasure that I find myself here to-day. I once +before had the pleasure, in another southern city, of addressing the +Southern Commercial Congress. I then spoke of what the future seemed to +hold in store for this region, which so many of us love and toward the +future of which we all look forward with so much confidence and hope. +But another theme directed me here this time. I do not need to speak of +the South. She has, perhaps, acquired the gift of speaking for herself. +I come because I want to speak of our present and prospective relations +with our neighbors to the south. I deemed it a public duty, as well as a +personal pleasure, to be here to express for myself and for the +Government I represent the welcome we all feel to those who represent +the Latin-American States.</p> + +<p>The future, ladies and gentlemen, is going to be very different for this +hemisphere from the past. These States lying to the south of us, which +have always been our neighbors, will now be drawn closer to us by +innumerable ties, and, I hope, chief of all by the tie of a common +understanding of each other. Interest does not tie nations together; it +sometimes separates them. But sympathy and understanding does unite +them, and I believe that by the new route that is just about to be +opened, while we physically cut two continents asunder, we spiritually +unite them. It is a spiritual union which we seek.</p> + +<p>I wonder if you realize, I wonder if your imaginations have been filled +with the significance of the tides of commerce. Your Governor alluded in +very fit and striking terms to the voyage of Columbus, but Columbus took +his voyage under compulsion of circumstances. Constantinople had been +captured by the Turks, and all the routes of trade with the East had +been suddenly closed. If there was not a way across the Atlantic to open +those routes again, they were closed forever; and Columbus set out not +to discover America, for he did not know that it existed, but to +discover the eastern shores of Asia. He set sail for Cathay and stumbled +upon America. With that change in the outlook of the world, what +happened? England, that had been at the back of Europe with an unknown +sea behind her, found that all things had turned as if upon a pivot and +she was at the front of Europe; and since then all the tides of energy +and enterprise that have issued out of Europe have seemed to be turned +westward across the Atlantic. But you will notice that they have turned +westward chiefly north of the Equator, and that it is the northern half +of the globe that has seemed to be filled with the media of intercourse +and of sympathy and of common understanding.</p> + +<p>Do you not see now what is about to happen? These great tides which have +been running along parallels of latitude will now swing southward +athwart parallels of latitude, and that opening gate at the Isthmus of +Panama will open the world to a commerce that she has not known before, +a commerce of intelligence, of thought, and sympathy between North and +South. The Latin-American States which, to their disadvantage, have been +off the main lines will now be on the main lines. I feel that these +gentlemen honoring us with their presence to-day will presently find +that some part, at any rate, of the center of gravity of the world has +shifted. Do you realize that New York, for example, will be nearer the +western coast of South America than she is now to the eastern coast of +South America? Do you realize that a line drawn northward parallel with +the greater part of the western coast of South America will run only +about one hundred and fifty miles west of New York? The great bulk of +South America, if you will look at your globes (not at your Mercator's +projection), lies eastward of the continent of North America. You will +realize that when you realize that the canal will run southeast, not +southwest, and that when you get into the Pacific you will be farther +east then you were when you left the Gulf of Mexico. These things are +significant, therefore, of this, that we are closing one chapter in the +history of the world and are opening another of great, unimaginable +significance.</p> + +<p>There is one peculiarity about the history of the Latin-American States +which I am sure they are keenly aware of. You hear of "concessions" to +foreign capitalists in Latin America. You do not hear of concessions to +foreign capitalists in the United States. They are not granted +concessions. They are invited to make investments. The work is ours, +though they are welcome to invest in it. We do not ask them to supply +the capital and do the work. It is an invitation, not a privilege; and +States that are obliged, because their territory does not lie within the +main field of modern enterprise and action, to grant concessions are in +this condition, that foreign interests are apt to dominate their +domestic affairs, a condition of affairs always dangerous and apt to +become intolerable. What these States are going to see, therefore, is an +emancipation from the subordination, which has been inevitable, to +foreign enterprise and an assertion of the splendid character which, in +spite of these difficulties, they have again and again been able to +demonstrate. The dignity, the courage, the self-possession, the +self-respect of the Latin-American States, their achievements in the +face of all these adverse circumstances, deserve nothing but the +admiration and applause of the world. They have had harder bargains +driven with them in the matter of loans than any other peoples in the +world. Interest has been exacted of them that was not exacted of anybody +else, because the risk was said to be greater; and then securities were +taken that destroyed the risk—an admirable arrangement for those who +were forcing the terms! I rejoice in nothing so much as in the prospect +that they will now be emancipated from these conditions; and we ought to +be the first to take part in assisting in that emancipation. I think +some of these gentlemen have already had occasion to bear witness that +the Department of State in recent months has tried to serve them in that +wise. In the future they will draw closer and closer to us because of +circumstances of which I wish to speak with moderation and, I hope, +without indiscretion.</p> + +<p>We must prove ourselves their friends and champions upon terms of +equality and honor. You cannot be friends upon any other terms than upon +the terms of equality. You cannot be friends at all except upon the +terms of honor. We must show ourselves friends by comprehending their +interest whether it squares with our own interest or not. It is a very +perilous thing to determine the foreign policy of a nation in the terms +of material interest. It not only is unfair to those with whom you are +dealing, but it is degrading as regards your own actions.</p> + +<p>Comprehension must be the soil in which shall grow all the fruits of +friendship, and there is a reason and a compulsion lying behind all this +which is dearer than anything else to the thoughtful men of America. I +mean the development of constitutional liberty in the world. Human +rights, national integrity, and opportunity as against material +interests—that, ladies and gentlemen, is the issue which we now have to +face. I want to take this occasion to say that the United States will +never again seek one additional foot of territory by conquest. She will +devote herself to showing that she knows how to make honorable and +fruitful use of the territory she has, and she must regard it as one of +the duties of friendship to see that from no quarter are material +interests made superior to human liberty and national opportunity. I say +this, not with a single thought that anyone will gainsay it, but merely +to fix in our consciousness what our real relationship with the rest of +America is. It is the relationship of a family of mankind devoted to the +development of true constitutional liberty. We know that that is the +soil out of which the best enterprise springs. We know that this is a +cause which we are making in common with our neighbors, because we have +had to make it for ourselves.</p> + +<p>Reference has been made here to-day to some of the national problems +which confront us as a nation. What is at the heart of all our national +problems? It is that we have seen the hand of material interest +sometimes about to close upon our dearest rights and possessions. We +have seen material interests threaten constitutional freedom in the +United States. Therefore we will now know how to sympathize with those +in the rest of America who have to contend with such powers, not only +within their borders but from outside their borders also.</p> + +<p>I know what the response of the thought and heart of America will be to +the program I have outlined, because America was created to realize a +program like that. This is not America because it is rich. This is not +America because it has set up for a great population great +opportunities of material prosperity. America is a name which sounds in +the ears of men everywhere as a synonym with individual opportunity +because a synonym of individual liberty. I would rather belong to a poor +nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love +with liberty. But we shall not be poor if we love liberty, because the +nation that loves liberty truly sets every man free to do his best and +be his best, and that means the release of all the splendid energies of +a great people who think for themselves. A nation of employees cannot be +free any more than a nation of employers can be.</p> + +<p>In emphasizing the points which must unite us in sympathy and in +spiritual interest with the Latin-American peoples we are only +emphasizing the points of our own life, and we should prove ourselves +untrue to our own traditions if we proved ourselves untrue friends to +them. Do not think, therefore, gentlemen, that the questions of the day +are mere questions of policy and diplomacy. They are shot through with +the principles of life. We dare not turn from the principle that +morality and not expediency is the thing that must guide us and that we +will never condone iniquity because it is most convenient to do so. It +seems to me that this is a day of infinite hope, of confidence in a +future greater than the past has been, for I am fain to believe that in +spite of all the things that we wish to correct the nineteenth century +that now lies behind us has brought us a long stage toward the time +when, slowly ascending the tedious climb that leads to the final +uplands, we shall get our ultimate view of the duties of mankind. We +have breasted a considerable part of that climb and shall presently—it +may be in a generation or two—come out upon those great heights where +there shines unobstructed the light of the justice of God.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_STATE_OF_THE_UNION" id="THE_STATE_OF_THE_UNION"></a>THE STATE OF THE UNION</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Address delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, +December 2, 1913.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Congress:</span></p> + +<p>In pursuance of my constitutional duty to "give to the Congress +information of the state of the Union," I take the liberty of addressing +you on several matters which ought, as it seems to me, particularly to +engage the attention of your honorable bodies, as of all who study the +welfare and progress of the Nation.</p> + +<p>I shall ask your indulgence if I venture to depart in some degree from +the usual custom of setting before you in formal review the many matters +which have engaged the attention and called for the action of the +several departments of the Government or which look to them for early +treatment in the future, because the list is long, very long, and would +suffer in the abbreviation to which I should have to subject it. I shall +submit to you the reports of the heads of the several departments, in +which these subjects are set forth in careful detail, and beg that they +may receive the thoughtful attention of your committees and of all +Members of the Congress who may have the leisure to study them. Their +obvious importance, as constituting the very substance of the business +of the Government, makes comment and emphasis on my part unnecessary.</p> + +<p>The country, I am thankful to say, is at peace with all the world, and +many happy manifestations multiply about us of a growing cordiality and +sense of community of interest among the nations, foreshadowing an age +of settled peace and good will. More and more readily each decade do the +nations manifest their willingness to bind themselves by solemn treaty +to the processes of peace, the processes of frankness and fair +concession. So far the United States has stood at the front of such +negotiations. She will, I earnestly hope and confidently believe, give +fresh proof of her sincere adherence to the cause of international +friendship by ratifying the several treaties of arbitration awaiting +renewal by the Senate. In addition to these, it has been the privilege +of the Department of State to gain the assent, in principle, of no less +than thirty-one nations, representing four-fifths of the population of +the world, to the negotiation of treaties by which it shall be agreed +that whenever differences of interest or of policy arise which cannot be +resolved by the ordinary processes of diplomacy they shall be publicly +analyzed, discussed, and reported upon by a tribunal chosen by the +parties before either nation determines its course of action.</p> + +<p>There is only one possible standard by which to determine controversies +between the United States and other nations, and that is compounded of +these two elements: Our own honor and our obligations to the peace of +the world. A test so compounded ought easily to be made to govern both +the establishment of new treaty obligations and the interpretation of +those already assumed.</p> + +<p>There is but one cloud upon our horizon. That has shown itself to the +south of us, and hangs over Mexico. There can be no certain prospect of +peace in America until Gen. Huerta has surrendered his usurped authority +in Mexico; until it is understood on all hands, indeed, that such +pretended governments will not be countenanced or dealt with by the +Government of the United States. We are the friends of constitutional +government in America; we are more than its friends, we are its +champions; because in no other way can our neighbors, to whom we would +wish in every way to make proof of our friendship, work out their own +development in peace and liberty. Mexico has no Government. The attempt +to maintain one at the City of Mexico has broken down, and a mere +military despotism has been set up which has hardly more than the +semblance of national authority. It originated in the usurpation of +Victoriano Huerta, who, after a brief attempt to play the part of +constitutional President, has at last cast aside even the pretense of +legal right and declared himself dictator. As a consequence, a condition +of affairs now exists in Mexico which has made it doubtful whether even +the most elementary and fundamental rights either of her own people or +of the citizens of other countries resident within her territory can +long be successfully safeguarded, and which threatens, if long +continued, to imperil the interests of peace, order, and tolerable life +in the lands immediately to the south of us. Even if the usurper had +succeeded in his purposes, in despite of the constitution of the +Republic and the rights of its people, he would have set up nothing but +a precarious and hateful power, which could have lasted but a little +while, and whose eventual downfall would have left the country in a more +deplorable condition than ever. But he has not succeeded. He has +forfeited the respect and the moral support even of those who were at +one time willing to see him succeed. Little by little he has been +completely isolated. By a little every day his power and prestige are +crumbling and the collapse is not far away. We shall not, I believe, be +obliged to alter our policy of watchful waiting. And then, when the end +comes, we shall hope to see constitutional order restored in distressed +Mexico by the concert and energy of such of her leaders as prefer the +liberty of their people to their own ambitions.</p> + +<p>I turn to matters of domestic concern. You already have under +consideration a bill for the reform of our system of banking and +currency, for which the country waits with impatience, as for something +fundamental to its whole business life and necessary to set credit free +from arbitrary and artificial restraints. I need not say how earnestly I +hope for its early enactment into law. I take leave to beg that the +whole energy and attention of the Senate be concentrated upon it till +the matter is successfully disposed of. And yet I feel that the request +is not needed—that the Members of that great House need no urging in +this service to the country.</p> + +<p>I present to you, in addition, the urgent necessity that special +provision be made also for facilitating the credits needed by the +farmers of the country. The pending currency bill does the farmers a +great service. It puts them upon an equal footing with other business +men and masters of enterprise, as it should; and upon its passage they +will find themselves quit of many of the difficulties which now hamper +them in the field of credit. The farmers, of course, ask and should be +given no special privilege, such as extending to them the credit of the +Government itself. What they need and should obtain is legislation which +will make their own abundant and substantial credit resources available +as a foundation for joint, concerted local action in their own behalf in +getting the capital they must use. It is to this we should now address +ourselves.</p> + +<p>It has, singularly enough, come to pass that we have allowed the +industry of our farms to lag behind the other activities of the country +in its development. I need not stop to tell you how fundamental to the +life of the Nation is the production of its food. Our thoughts may +ordinarily be concentrated upon the cities and the hives of industry, +upon the cries of the crowded market place and the clangor of the +factory, but it is from the quiet interspaces of the open valleys and +the free hillsides that we draw the sources of life and of prosperity, +from the farm and the ranch, from the forest and the mine. Without these +every street would be silent, every office deserted, every factory +fallen into disrepair. And yet the farmer does not stand upon the same +footing with the forester and the miner in the market of credit. He is +the servant of the seasons. Nature determines how long he must wait for +his crops, and will not be hurried in her processes. He may give his +note, but the season of its maturity depends upon the season when his +crop matures, lies at the gates of the market where his products are +sold. And the security he gives is of a character not known in the +broker's office or as familiarly as it might be on the counter of the +banker.</p> + +<p>The Agricultural Department of the Government is seeking to assist as +never before to make farming an efficient business, of wide coöperative +effort, in quick touch with the markets for food-stuffs. The farmers and +the Government will henceforth work together as real partners in this +field, where we now begin to see our way very clearly and where many +intelligent plans are already being put into execution. The Treasury of +the United States has, by a timely and well-considered distribution of +its deposits, facilitated the moving of the crops in the present season +and prevented the scarcity of available funds too often experienced at +such times. But we must not allow ourselves to depend upon extraordinary +expedients. We must add the means by which the farmer may make his +credit constantly and easily available and command when he will the +capital by which to support and expand his business. We lag behind many +other great countries of the modern world in attempting to do this. +Systems of rural credit have been studied and developed on the other +side of the water while we left our farmers to shift for themselves in +the ordinary money market. You have but to look about you in any rural +district to see the result, the handicap and embarrassment which have +been put upon those who produce our food.</p> + +<p>Conscious of this backwardness and neglect on our part, the Congress +recently authorized the creation of a special commission to study the +various systems of rural credit which have been put into operation in +Europe, and this commission is already prepared to report. Its report +ought to make it easier for us to determine what methods will be best +suited to our own farmers. I hope and believe that the committees of the +Senate and House will address themselves selves to this matter with the +most fruitful results, and I believe that the studies and recently +formed plans of the Department of Agriculture may be made to serve them +very greatly in their work of framing appropriate and adequate +legislation. It would be indiscreet and presumptuous in anyone to +dogmatize upon so great and many-sided a question, but I feel confident +that common counsel will produce the results we must all desire.</p> + +<p>Turn from the farm to the world of business which centers in the city +and in the factory, and I think that all thoughtful observers will agree +that the immediate service we owe the business communities of the +country is to prevent private monopoly more effectually than it has yet +been prevented. I think it will be easily agreed that we should let the +Sherman antitrust law stand, unaltered, as it is, with its debatable +ground about it, but that we should as much as possible reduce the area +of that debatable ground by further and more explicit legislation; and +should also supplement that great act by legislation which will not +only clarify it but also facilitate its administration and make it +fairer to all concerned. No doubt we shall all wish, and the country +will expect, this to be the central subject of our deliberations during +the present session; but it is a subject so many-sided and so deserving +of careful and discriminating discussion that I shall take the liberty +of addressing you upon it in a special message at a later date than +this. It is of capital importance that the business men of this country +should be relieved of all uncertainties of law with regard to their +enterprises and investments and a clear path indicated which they can +travel without anxiety. It is as important that they should be relieved +of embarrassment and set free to prosper as that private monopoly should +be destroyed. The ways of action should be thrown wide open.</p> + +<p>I turn to a subject which I hope can be handled promptly and without +serious controversy of any kind. I mean the method of selecting nominees +for the Presidency of the United States. I feel confident that I do not +misinterpret the wishes or the expectations of the country when I urge +the prompt enactment of legislation which will provide for primary +elections throughout the country at which the voters of the several +parties may choose their nominees for the Presidency without the +intervention of nominating conventions. I venture the suggestion that +this legislation should provide for the retention of party conventions, +but only for the purpose of declaring and accepting the verdict of the +primaries and formulating the platforms of the parties; and I suggest +that these conventions should consist not of delegates chosen for this +single purpose, but of the nominees for Congress, the nominees for +vacant seats in the Senate of the United States, the Senators whose +terms have not yet closed, the national committees, and the candidates +for the Presidency themselves, in order that platforms may be framed by +those responsible to the people for carrying them into effect.</p> + +<p>These are all matters of vital domestic concern, and besides them, +outside the charmed circle of our own national life in which our +affections command us, as well as our consciences, there stand out our +obligations toward our territories over sea. Here we are trustees. Porto +Rico, Hawaii, the Philippines, are ours, indeed, but not ours to do what +we please with. Such territories, once regarded as mere possessions, are +no longer to be selfishly exploited; they are part of the domain of +public conscience and of serviceable and enlightened statesmanship. We +must administer them for the people who live in them and with the same +sense of responsibility to them as toward our own people in our domestic +affairs. No doubt we shall successfully enough bind Porto Rico and the +Hawaiian Islands to ourselves by ties of justice and interest and +affection, but the performance of our duty toward the Philippines is a +more difficult and debatable matter. We can satisfy the obligations of +generous justice toward the people of Porto Rico by giving them the +ample and familiar rights and privileges accorded our own citizens in +our own territories and our obligations toward the people of Hawaii by +perfecting the provisions for self-government already granted them, but +in the Philippines we must go further. We must hold steadily in view +their ultimate independence, and we must move toward the time of that +independence as steadily as the way can be cleared and the foundations +thoughtfully and permanently laid.</p> + +<p>Acting under the authority conferred upon the President by Congress, I +have already accorded the people of the islands a majority in both +houses of their legislative body by appointing five instead of four +native citizens to the membership of the commission. I believe that in +this way we shall make proof of their capacity in counsel and their +sense of responsibility in the exercise of political power, and that the +success of this step will be sure to clear our view for the steps which +are to follow. Step by step we should extend and perfect the system of +self-government in the islands, making test of them and modifying them +as experience discloses their successes and their failures; that we +should more and more put under the control of the native citizens of the +archipelago the essential instruments of their life, their local +instrumentalities of government, their schools, all the common interests +of their communities, and so by counsel and experience set up a +government which all the world will see to be suitable to a people whose +affairs are under their own control. At last, I hope and believe, we are +beginning to gain the confidence of the Filipino peoples. By their +counsel and experience, rather than by our own, we shall learn how best +to serve them and how soon it will be possible and wise to withdraw our +supervision. Let us once find the path and set out with firm and +confident tread upon it and we shall not wander from it or linger upon +it.</p> + +<p>A duty faces us with regard to Alaska which seems to me very pressing +and very imperative; perhaps I should say a double duty, for it concerns +both the political and the material development of the Territory. The +people of Alaska should be given the full Territorial form of +government, and Alaska, as a storehouse, should be unlocked. One key to +it is a system of railways. These the Government should itself build and +administer, and the ports and terminals it should itself control in the +interest of all who wish to use them for the service and development of +the country and its people.</p> + +<p>But the construction of railways is only the first step; is only +thrusting in the key to the storehouse and throwing back the lock and +opening the door. How the tempting resources of the country are to be +exploited is another matter, to which I shall take the liberty of from +time to time calling your attention, for it is a policy which must be +worked out by well-considered stages, not upon theory, but upon lines of +practical expediency. It is part of our general problem of conservation. +We have a freer hand in working out the problem in Alaska than in the +States of the Union; and yet the principle and object are the same, +wherever we touch it. We must use the resources of the country, not lock +them up. There need be no conflict or jealousy as between State and +Federal authorities, for there can be no essential difference of purpose +between them. The resources in question must be used, but not destroyed +or wasted; used, but not monopolized upon any narrow idea of individual +rights as against the abiding interests of communities. That a policy +can be worked out by conference and concession which will release these +resources and yet not jeopard or dissipate them, I for one have no +doubt; and it can be done on lines of regulation which need be no less +acceptable to the people and governments of the States concerned than to +the people and Government of the Nation at large, whose heritage these +resources are. We must bend our counsels to this end. A common purpose +ought to make agreement easy.</p> + +<p>Three or four matters of special importance and significance I beg that +you will permit me to mention in closing.</p> + +<p>Our Bureau of Mines ought to be equipped and empowered to render even +more effectual service than it renders now in improving the conditions +of mine labor and making the mines more economically productive as well +as more safe. This is an all-important part of the work of +conservation; and the conservation of human life and energy lies even +nearer to our interest than the preservation from waste of our material +resources.</p> + +<p>We owe it, in mere justice to the railway employees of the country, to +provide for them a fair and effective employers' liability act; and a +law that we can stand by in this matter will be no less to the advantage +of those who administer the railroads of the country than to the +advantage of those whom they employ. The experience of a large number of +the States abundantly proves that.</p> + +<p>We ought to devote ourselves to meeting pressing demands of plain +justice like this as earnestly as to the accomplishment of political and +economic reforms. Social justice comes first. Law is the machinery for +its realization and is vital only as it expresses and embodies it.</p> + +<p>An international congress for the discussion of all questions that +affect safety at sea is now sitting in London at the suggestion of our +own Government. So soon as the conclusions of that congress can be +learned and considered we ought to address ourselves, among other +things, to the prompt alleviation of the very unsafe, unjust, and +burdensome conditions which now surround the employment of sailors and +render it extremely difficult to obtain the services of spirited and +competent men such as every ship needs if it is to be safely handled and +brought to port.</p> + +<p>May I not express the very real pleasure I have experienced in +coöperating with this Congress and sharing with it the labors of common +service to which it has devoted itself so unreservedly during the past +seven months of uncomplaining concentration upon the business of +legislation? Surely it is a proper and pertinent part of my report on +"the state of the Union" to express my admiration for the diligence, the +good temper, and the full comprehension of public duty which has already +been manifested by both the Houses; and I hope that it may not be +deemed an impertinent intrusion of myself into the picture if I say with +how much and how constant satisfaction I have availed myself of the +privilege of putting my time and energy at their disposal alike in +counsel and in action.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="TRUSTS_AND_MONOPOLIES" id="TRUSTS_AND_MONOPOLIES"></a>TRUSTS AND MONOPOLIES</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Address delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, +January 20, 1914.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen of the Congress:</span></p> + +<p>In my report "on the state of the Union," which I had the privilege of +reading to you on the 2d of December last, I ventured to reserve for +discussion at a later date the subject of additional legislation +regarding the very difficult and intricate matter of trusts and +monopolies. The time now seems opportune to turn to that great question; +not only because the currency legislation, which absorbed your attention +and the attention of the country in December, is now disposed of, but +also because opinion seems to be clearing about us with singular +rapidity in this other great field of action. In the matter of the +currency it cleared suddenly and very happily after the much-debated Act +was passed; in respect of the monopolies which have multiplied about us +and in regard to the various means by which they have been organized and +maintained it seems to be coming to a clear and all but universal +agreement in anticipation of our action, as if by way of preparation, +making the way easier to see and easier to set out upon with confidence +and without confusion of counsel.</p> + +<p>Legislation has its atmosphere like everything else, and the atmosphere +of accommodation and mutual understanding which we now breathe with so +much refreshment is matter of sincere congratulation. It ought to make +our task very much less difficult and embarrassing than it would have +been had we been obliged to continue to act amidst the atmosphere of +suspicion and antagonism which has so long made it impossible to +approach such questions with dispassionate fairness. Constructive +legislation, when successful, is always the embodiment of convincing +experience, and of the mature public opinion which finally springs out +of that experience. Legislation is a business of interpretation, not of +origination; and it is now plain what the opinion is to which we must +give effect in this matter. It is not recent or hasty opinion. It +springs out of the experience of a whole generation. It has clarified +itself by long contest, and those who for a long time battled with it +and sought to change it are now frankly and honorably yielding to it and +seeking to conform their actions to it.</p> + +<p>The great business men who organized and financed monopoly and those who +administered it in actual everyday transactions have year after year, +until now, either denied its existence or justified it as necessary for +the effective maintenance and development of the vast business processes +of the country in the modern circumstances of trade and manufacture and +finance; but all the while opinion has made head against them. The +average business man is convinced that the ways of liberty are also the +ways of peace and the ways of success as well; and at last the masters +of business on the great scale have begun to yield their preference and +purpose, perhaps their judgment also, in honorable surrender.</p> + +<p>What we are purposing to do, therefore, is, happily, not to hamper or +interfere with business as enlightened business men prefer to do it, or +in any sense to put it under the ban. The antagonism between business +and government is over. We are now about to give expression to the best +business judgment of America, to what we know to be the business +conscience and honor of the land. The Government and business men are +ready to meet each other half-way in a common effort to square business +methods with both public opinion and the law. The best informed men of +the business world condemn the methods and processes and consequences of +monopoly as we condemn them; and the instinctive judgment of the vast +majority of business men everywhere goes with them. We shall now be +their spokesmen. That is the strength of our position and the sure +prophecy of what will ensue when our reasonable work is done.</p> + +<p>When serious contest ends, when men unite in opinion and purpose, those +who are to change their ways of business joining with those who ask for +the change, it is possible to effect it in the way in which prudent and +thoughtful and patriotic men would wish to see it brought about with as +few, as slight, as easy and simple business readjustments as possible in +the circumstances, nothing essential disturbed, nothing torn up by the +roots, no parts rent asunder which can be left in wholesome combination. +Fortunately, no measures of sweeping or novel change are necessary. It +will be understood that our object is <i>not</i> to unsettle business or +anywhere seriously to break its established courses athwart. On the +contrary, we desire the laws we are now about to pass to be the bulwarks +and safeguards of industry against the forces that have disturbed it. +What we have to do can be done in a new spirit, in thoughtful +moderation, without revolution of any untoward kind.</p> + +<p>We are all agreed that "private monopoly is indefensible and +intolerable," and our program is founded upon that conviction. It will +be a comprehensive but not a radical or unacceptable program and these +are its items, the changes which opinion deliberately sanctions and for +which business waits:</p> + +<p>It waits with acquiescence, in the first place, for laws which will +effectually prohibit and prevent such interlockings of the <i>personnel</i> +of the directorates of great corporations—banks and railroads, +industrial, commercial, and public service bodies—as in effect result +in making those who borrow and those who lend practically one and the +same, those who sell and those who buy but the same persons trading with +one another under different names and in different combinations, and +those who affect to compete in fact partners and masters of some whole +field of business. Sufficient time should be allowed, of course, in +which to effect these changes of organization without inconvenience or +confusion.</p> + +<p>Such a prohibition will work much more than a mere negative good by +correcting the serious evils which have arisen because, for example, the +men who have been the directing spirits of the great investment banks +have usurped the place which belongs to independent industrial +management working in its own behoof. It will bring new men, new +energies, a new spirit of initiative, new blood, into the management of +our great business enterprises. It will open the field of industrial +development and origination to scores of men who have been obliged to +serve when their abilities entitled them to direct. It will immensely +hearten the young men coming on and will greatly enrich the business +activities of the whole country.</p> + +<p>In the second place, business men as well as those who direct public +affairs now recognize, and recognize with painful clearness, the great +harm and injustice which has been done to many, if not all, of the great +railroad systems of the country by the way in which they have been +financed and their own distinctive interests subordinated to the +interests of the men who financed them and of other business enterprises +which those men wished to promote. The country is ready, therefore, to +accept, and accept with relief as well as approval, a law which will +confer upon the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to superintend +and regulate the financial operations by which the railroads are +henceforth to be supplied with the money they need for their proper +development to meet the rapidly growing requirements of the country for +increased and improved facilities of transportation. We cannot postpone +action in this matter without leaving the railroads exposed to many +serious handicaps and hazards; and the prosperity of the railroads and +the prosperity of the country are inseparably connected. Upon this +question those who are chiefly responsible for the actual management and +operation of the railroads have spoken very plainly and very earnestly, +with a purpose we ought to be quick to accept. It will be one step, and +a very important one, toward the necessary separation of the business of +production from the business of transportation.</p> + +<p>The business of the country awaits also, has long awaited and has +suffered because it could not obtain, further and more explicit +legislative definition of the policy and meaning of the existing +antitrust law. Nothing hampers business like uncertainty. Nothing daunts +or discourages it like the necessity to take chances, to run the risk of +falling under the condemnation of the law before it can make sure just +what the law is. Surely we are sufficiently familiar with the actual +processes and methods of monopoly and of the many hurtful restraints of +trade to make definition possible, at any rate up to the limits of what +experience has disclosed. These practices, being now abundantly +disclosed, can be explicitly and item by item forbidden by statute in +such terms as will practically eliminate uncertainty, the law itself and +the penalty being made equally plain.</p> + +<p>And the business men of the country desire something more than that the +menace of legal process in these matters be made explicit and +intelligible. They desire the advice, the definite guidance and +information which can be supplied by an administrative body, an +interstate trade commission.</p> + +<p>The opinion of the country would instantly approve of such a commission. +It would not wish to see it empowered to make terms with monopoly or in +any sort to assume control of business, as if the Government made itself +responsible. It demands such a commission only as an indispensable +instrument of information and publicity, as a clearing house for the +facts by which both the public mind and the managers of great business +undertakings should be guided, and as an instrumentality for doing +justice to business where the processes of the courts or the natural +forces of correction outside the courts are inadequate to adjust the +remedy to the wrong in a way that will meet all the equities and +circumstances of the case.</p> + +<p>Producing industries, for example, which have passed the point up to +which combination may be consistent with the public interest and the +freedom of trade, cannot always be dissected into their component units +as readily as railroad companies or similar organizations can be. Their +dissolution by ordinary legal process may oftentimes involve financial +consequences likely to overwhelm the security market and bring upon it +breakdown and confusion. There ought to be an administrative commission +capable of directing and shaping such corrective processes, not only in +aid of the courts but also by independent suggestion, if necessary.</p> + +<p>Inasmuch as our object and the spirit of our action in these matters is +to meet business half-way in its processes of self-correction and +disturb its legitimate course as little as possible, we ought to see to +it, and the judgment of practical and sagacious men of affairs +everywhere would applaud us if we did see to it, that penalties and +punishments should fall, not upon business itself, to its confusion and +interruption, but upon the individuals who use the instrumentalities of +business to do things which public policy and sound business practice +condemn. Every act of business is done at the command or upon the +initiative of some ascertainable person or group of persons. These +should be held individually responsible and the punishment should fall +upon them, not upon the business organization of which they make illegal +use. It should be one of the main objects of our legislation to divest +such persons of their corporate cloak and deal with them as with those +who do not represent their corporations, but merely by deliberate +intention break the law. Business men the country through would, I am +sure, applaud us if we were to take effectual steps to see that the +officers and directors of great business bodies were prevented from +bringing them and the business of the country into disrepute and danger.</p> + +<p>Other questions remain which will need very thoughtful and practical +treatment. Enterprises, in these modern days of great individual +fortunes, are oftentimes interlocked, not by being under the control of +the same directors, but by the fact that the greater part of their +corporate stock is owned by a single person or group of persons who are +in some way ultimately related in interest. We are agreed, I take it, +that holding <i>companies</i> should be prohibited, but what of the +controlling private ownership of individuals or actually coöperative +groups of individuals? Shall the private owners of capital stock be +suffered to be themselves in effect holding companies? We do not wish, I +suppose, to forbid the purchase of stocks by any person who pleases to +buy them in such quantities as he can afford, or in any way arbitrarily +to limit the sale of stocks to bona fide purchasers. Shall we require +the owners of stock, when their voting power in several companies which +ought to be independent of one another would constitute actual control, +to make election in which of them they will exercise their right to +vote? This question I venture for your consideration.</p> + +<p>There is another matter in which imperative considerations of justice +and fair play suggest thoughtful remedial action. Not only do many of +the combinations effected or sought to be effected in the industrial +world work an injustice upon the public in general; they also directly +and seriously injure the individuals who are put out of business in one +unfair way or another by the many dislodging and exterminating forces of +combination. I hope that we shall agree in giving private individuals +who claim to have been injured by these processes the right to found +their suits for redress upon the facts and judgments proved and entered +in suits by the Government where the Government has upon its own +initiative sued the combinations complained of and won its suit, and +that the statute of limitations shall be suffered to run against such +litigants only from the date of the conclusion of the Government's +action. It is not fair that the private litigant should be obliged to +set up and establish again the facts which the Government has proved. He +cannot afford, he has not the power, to make use of such processes of +inquiry as the Government has command of. Thus shall individual justice +be done while the processes of business are rectified and squared with +the general conscience.</p> + +<p>I have laid the case before you, no doubt as it lies in your own mind, +as it lies in the thought of the country. What must every candid man say +of the suggestions I have laid before you, of the plain obligations of +which I have reminded you? That these are new things for which the +country is not prepared? No; but that they are old things, now familiar, +and must of course be undertaken if we are to square our laws with the +thought and desire of the country. Until these things are done, +conscientious business men the country over will be unsatisfied. They +are in these things our mentors and colleagues. We are now about to +write the additional articles of our constitution of peace, the peace +that is honor and freedom and prosperity.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PANAMA_CANAL_TOLLS" id="PANAMA_CANAL_TOLLS"></a>PANAMA CANAL TOLLS</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Address delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, +March 5, 1914.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen of the Congress:</span></p> + +<p>I have come to you upon an errand which can be very briefly performed, +but I beg that you will not measure its importance by the number of +sentences in which I state it. No communication I have addressed to the +Congress carried with it graver or more far-reaching implications as to +the interest of the country, and I come now to speak upon a matter with +regard to which I am charged in a peculiar degree, by the Constitution +itself, with personal responsibility.</p> + +<p>I have come to ask you for the repeal of that provision of the Panama +Canal Act of August 24, 1912, which exempts vessels engaged in the +coastwise trade of the United States from payment of tolls, and to urge +upon you the justice, the wisdom, and the large policy of such a repeal +with the utmost earnestness of which I am capable.</p> + +<p>In my own judgment, very fully considered and maturely formed, that +exemption constitutes a mistaken economic policy from every point of +view, and is, moreover, in plain contravention of the treaty with Great +Britain concerning the canal concluded on November 18, 1901. But I have +not come to urge upon you my personal views. I have come to state to you +a fact and a situation. Whatever may be our own differences of opinion +concerning this much debated measure, its meaning is not debated outside +the United States. Everywhere else the language of the treaty is given +but one interpretation, and that interpretation precludes the exemption +I am asking you to repeal. We consented to the treaty; its language we +accepted, if we did not originate it; and we are too big, too powerful, +too self-respecting a nation to interpret with a too strained or refined +reading the words of our own promises just because we have power enough +to give us leave to read them as we please. The large thing to do is the +only thing we can afford to do, a voluntary withdrawal from a position +everywhere questioned and misunderstood. We ought to reverse our action +without raising the question whether we were right or wrong, and so once +more deserve our reputation for generosity and for the redemption of +every obligation without quibble or hesitation.</p> + +<p>I ask this of you in support of the foreign policy of the +administration. I shall not know how to deal with other matters of even +greater delicacy and nearer consequence if you do not grant it to me in +ungrudging measure.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_TAMPICO_INCIDENT" id="THE_TAMPICO_INCIDENT"></a>THE TAMPICO INCIDENT</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Address delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, +April 20, 1914.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen of the Congress:</span></p> + +<p>It is my duty to call your attention to a situation which has arisen in +our dealings with General Victoriano Huerta at Mexico City which calls +for action, and to ask your advice and coöperation in acting upon it. On +the 9th of April a paymaster of the U.S.S. <i>Dolphin</i> landed at the +Iturbide Bridge landing at Tampico with a whaleboat and boat's crew to +take off certain supplies needed by his ship, and while engaged in +loading the boat was arrested by an officer and squad of men of the army +of General Huerta. Neither the paymaster nor anyone of the boat's crew +was armed. Two of the men were in the boat when the arrest took place +and were obliged to leave it and submit to be taken into custody, +notwithstanding the fact that the boat carried, both at her bow and at +her stern, the flag of the United States. The officer who made the +arrest was proceeding up one of the streets of the town with his +prisoners when met by an officer of higher authority, who ordered him to +return to the landing and await orders; and within an hour and a half +from the time of the arrest orders were received from the commander of +the Huertista forces at Tampico for the release of the paymaster and his +men. The release was followed by apologies from the commander and later +by an expression of regret by General Huerta himself. General Huerta +urged that martial law obtained at the time at Tampico; that orders had +been issued that no one should be allowed to land at the Iturbide +Bridge; and that our sailors had no right to land there. Our naval +commanders at the port had not been notified of any such prohibition; +and, even if they had been, the only justifiable course open to the +local authorities would have been to request the paymaster and his crew +to withdraw and to lodge a protest with the commanding officer of the +fleet. Admiral Mayo regarded the arrest as so serious an affront that he +was not satisfied with the apologies offered, but demanded that the flag +of the United States be saluted with special ceremony by the military +commander of the port.</p> + +<p>The incident cannot be regarded as a trivial one, especially as two of +the men arrested were taken from the boat itself—that is to say, from +the territory of the United States—but had it stood by itself it might +have been attributed to the ignorance or arrogance of a single officer. +Unfortunately, it was not an isolated case. A series of incidents have +recently occurred which cannot but create the impression that the +representatives of General Huerta were willing to go out of their way to +show disregard for the dignity and rights of this Government and felt +perfectly safe in doing what they pleased, making free to show in many +ways their irritation and contempt. A few days after the incident at +Tampico an orderly from the U.S.S. <i>Minnesota</i> was arrested at Vera Cruz +while ashore in uniform to obtain the ship's mail, and was for a time +thrown into jail. An official dispatch from this Government to its +embassy at Mexico City was withheld by the authorities of the +telegraphic service until peremptorily demanded by our chargé d'affaires +in person. So far as I can learn, such wrongs and annoyances have been +suffered to occur only against representatives of the United States. I +have heard of no complaints from other Governments of similar treatment. +Subsequent explanations and formal apologies did not and could not +alter the popular impression, which it is possible it had been the +object of the Huertista authorities to create, that the Government of +the United States was being singled out, and might be singled out with +impunity, for slights and affronts in retaliation for its refusal to +recognize the pretensions of General Huerta to be regarded as the +constitutional provisional President of the Republic of Mexico.</p> + +<p>The manifest danger of such a situation was that such offenses might +grow from bad to worse until something happened of so gross and +intolerable a sort as to lead directly and inevitably to armed conflict. +It was necessary that the apologies of General Huerta and his +representatives should go much further, that they should be such as to +attract the attention of the whole population to their significance, and +such as to impress upon General Huerta himself the necessity of seeing +to it that no further occasion for explanations and professed regrets +should arise. I, therefore, felt it my duty to sustain Admiral Mayo in +the whole of his demand and to insist that the flag of the United States +should be saluted in such a way as to indicate a new spirit and attitude +on the part of the Huertistas.</p> + +<p>Such a salute General Huerta has refused, and I have come to ask your +approval and support in the course I now purpose to pursue.</p> + +<p>This Government can, I earnestly hope, in no circumstances be forced +into war with the people of Mexico. Mexico is torn by civil strife. If +we are to accept the tests of its own constitution, it has no +government. General Huerta has set his power up in the City of Mexico, +such as it is, without right and by methods for which there can be no +justification. Only part of the country is under his control. If armed +conflict should unhappily come as a result of his attitude of personal +resentment toward this Government, we should be fighting only General +Huerta and those who adhere to him and give him their support, and our +object would be only to restore to the people of the distracted Republic +the opportunity to set up again their own laws and their own government.</p> + +<p>But I earnestly hope that war is not now in question. I believe that I +speak for the American people when I say that we do not desire to +control in any degree the affairs of our sister Republic. Our feeling +for the people of Mexico is one of deep and genuine friendship, and +everything that we have so far done or refrained from doing has +proceeded from our desire to help them, not to hinder or embarrass them. +We would not wish even to exercise the good offices of friendship +without their welcome and consent. The people of Mexico are entitled to +settle their own domestic affairs in their own way, and we sincerely +desire to respect their right. The present situation need have none of +the grave implications of interference if we deal with it promptly, +firmly, and wisely.</p> + +<p>No doubt I could do what is necessary in the circumstances to enforce +respect for our Government without recourse to the Congress, and yet not +exceed my constitutional powers as President; but I do not wish to act +in a matter possibly of so grave consequence except in close conference +and coöperation with both the Senate and House. I, therefore, come to +ask your approval that I should use the armed forces of the United +States in such ways and to such an extent as may be necessary to obtain +from General Huerta and his adherents the fullest recognition of the +rights and dignity of the United States, even amidst the distressing +conditions now unhappily obtaining in Mexico.</p> + +<p>There can in what we do be no thought of aggression or of selfish +aggrandizement. We seek to maintain the dignity and authority of the +United States only because we wish always to keep our great influence +unimpaired for the uses of liberty, both in the United States and +wherever else it may be employed for the benefit of mankind.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IN_THE_FIRMAMENT_OF_MEMORY" id="IN_THE_FIRMAMENT_OF_MEMORY"></a>IN THE FIRMAMENT OF MEMORY</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[Address at the Services in Memory of those who lost their lives at Vera +Cruz, Mexico, delivered at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, May 11, 1914. The +roster, of fifteen sailors and four marines, was presented by the +Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Daniels.]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Secretary:</span></p> + +<p>I know that the feelings which characterize all who stand about me and +the whole Nation at this hour are not feelings which can be suitably +expressed in terms of attempted oratory or eloquence. They are things +too deep for ordinary speech. For my own part, I have a singular mixture +of feelings. The feeling that is uppermost is one of profound grief that +these lads should have had to go to their death; and yet there is mixed +with that grief a profound pride that they should have gone as they did, +and, if I may say it out of my heart, a touch of envy of those who were +permitted so quietly, so nobly, to do their duty. Have you thought of +it, men? Here is the roster of the Navy—the list of the men, officers +and enlisted men and marines—and suddenly there swim nineteen stars out +of the list—men who have suddenly been lifted into a firmament of +memory where we shall always see their names shine, not because they +called upon us to admire them, but because they served us, without +asking any questions and in the performance of a duty which is laid upon +us as well as upon them.</p> + +<p>Duty is not an uncommon thing, gentlemen. Men are performing it in the +ordinary walks of life all around us all the time, and they are making +great sacrifices to perform it. What gives men like these peculiar +distinction is not merely that they did their duty, but that their duty +had nothing to do with them or their own personal and peculiar +interests. They did not give their lives for themselves. They gave their +lives for us, because we called upon them as a Nation to perform an +unexpected duty. That is the way in which men grow distinguished, and +that is the only way, by serving somebody else than themselves. And what +greater thing could you serve than a Nation such as this we love and are +proud of? Are you sorry for these lads? Are you sorry for the way they +will be remembered? Does it not quicken your pulses to think of the list +of them? I hope to God none of you may join the list, but if you do you +will join an immortal company.</p> + +<p>So, while we are profoundly sorrowful, and while there goes out of our +hearts a very deep and affectionate sympathy for the friends and +relatives of these lads who for the rest of their lives shall mourn +them, though with a touch of pride, we know why we do not go away from +this occasion cast down, but with our heads lifted and our eyes on the +future of this country, with absolute confidence of how it will be +worked out. Not only upon the mere vague future of this country, but +upon the immediate future. We have gone down to Mexico to serve mankind +if we can find out the way. We do not want to fight the Mexicans. We +want to serve the Mexicans if we can, because we know how we would like +to be free, and how we would like to be served if there were friends +standing by in such case ready to serve us. A war of aggression is not a +war in which it is a proud thing to die, but a war of service is a thing +in which it is a proud thing to die.</p> + +<p>Notice how truly these men were of our blood. I mean of our American +blood, which is not drawn from any one country, which is not drawn from +any one stock, which is not drawn from any one language of the modern +world; but free men everywhere have sent their sons and their brothers +and their daughters to this country in order to make that great +compounded Nation which consists of all the sturdy elements and of all +the best elements of the whole globe. I listened again to this list of +the dead with a profound interest because of the mixture of the names, +for the names bear the marks of the several national stocks from which +these men came. But they are not Irishmen or Germans or Frenchmen or +Hebrews or Italians any more. They were not when they went to Vera Cruz; +they were Americans, every one of them, and with no difference in their +Americanism because of the stock from which they came. They were in a +peculiar sense of our blood, and they proved it by showing that they +were of our spirit—that no matter what their derivation, no matter +where their people came from, they thought and wished and did the things +that were American; and the flag under which they served was a flag in +which all the blood of mankind is united to make a free Nation.</p> + +<p>War, gentlemen, is only a sort of dramatic representation, a sort of +dramatic symbol, of a thousand forms of duty. I never went into battle; +I never was under fire; but I fancy that there are some things just as +hard to do as to go under fire. I fancy that it is just as hard to do +your duty when men are sneering at you as when they are shooting at you. +When they shoot at you, they can only take your natural life; when they +sneer at you, they can wound your living heart, and men who are brave +enough, steadfast enough, steady in their principles enough, to go about +their duty with regard to their fellow-men, no matter whether there are +hisses or cheers, men who can do what Rudyard Kipling in one of his +poems wrote, "Meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two +impostors just the same," are men for a nation to be proud of. Morally +speaking, disaster and triumph are impostors. The cheers of the moment +are not what a man ought to think about, but the verdict of his +conscience and of the consciences of mankind.</p> + +<p>When I look at you, I feel as if I also and we all were enlisted men. +Not enlisted in your particular branch of the service, but enlisted to +serve the country, no matter what may come, even though we may sacrifice +our lives in the arduous endeavor. We are expected to put the utmost +energy of every power that we have into the service of our fellow-men, +never sparing ourselves, not condescending to think of what is going to +happen to ourselves, but ready, if need be, to go to the utter length of +complete self-sacrifice.</p> + +<p>As I stand and look at you to-day and think of these spirits that have +gone from us, I know that the road is clearer for the future. These boys +have shown us the way, and it is easier to walk on it because they have +gone before and shown us how. May God grant to all of us that vision of +patriotic service which here in solemnity and grief and pride is borne +in upon our hearts and consciences!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="MEMORIAL_DAY_ADDRESS" id="MEMORIAL_DAY_ADDRESS"></a>MEMORIAL DAY ADDRESS</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Delivered at the National Cemetery, Arlington, Va., May 30, 1914.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Ladies and Gentlemen:</span></p> + +<p>I have not come here to-day with a prepared address. The committee in +charge of the exercises of the day have graciously excused me on the +grounds of public obligations from preparing such an address, but I will +not deny myself the privilege of joining with you in an expression of +gratitude and admiration for the men who perished for the sake of the +Union. They do not need our praise. They do not need that our admiration +should sustain them. There is no immortality that is safer than theirs. +We come not for their sakes but for our own, in order that we may drink +at the same springs of inspiration from which they themselves selves +drank.</p> + +<p>A peculiar privilege came to the men who fought for the Union. There is +no other civil war in history, ladies and gentlemen, the stings of which +were removed before the men who did the fighting passed from the stage +of life. So that we owe these men something more than a legal +reëstablishment of the Union. We owe them the spiritual reëstablishment +of the Union as well; for they not only reunited States, they reunited +the spirits of men. That is their unique achievement, unexampled +anywhere else in the annals of mankind, that the very men whom they +overcame in battle join in praise and gratitude that the Union was +saved. There is something peculiarly beautiful and peculiarly touching +about that. Whenever a man who is still trying to devote himself to the +service of the Nation comes into a presence like this, or into a place +like this, his spirit must be peculiarly moved. A mandate is laid upon +him which seems to speak from the very graves themselves. Those who +serve this Nation, whether in peace or in war, should serve it without +thought of themselves. I can never speak in praise of war, ladies and +gentlemen; you would not desire me to do so. But there is this peculiar +distinction belonging to the soldier, that he goes into an enterprise +out of which he himself cannot get anything at all. He is giving +everything that he hath, even his life, in order that others may live, +not in order that he himself may obtain gain and prosperity. And just so +soon as the tasks of peace are performed in the same spirit of +self-sacrifice and devotion, peace societies will not be necessary. The +very organization and spirit of society will be a guaranty of peace.</p> + +<p>Therefore this peculiar thing comes about, that we can stand here and +praise the memory of these soldiers in the interest of peace. They set +us the example of self-sacrifice, which if followed in peace will make +it unnecessary that men should follow war any more.</p> + +<p>We are reputed to be somewhat careless in our discrimination between +words in the use of the English language, and yet it is interesting to +note that there are some words about which we are very careful. We +bestow the adjective "great" somewhat indiscriminately. A man who has +made conquest of his fellow-men for his own gain may display such genius +in war, such uncommon qualities of organization and leadership that we +may call him "great," but there is a word which we reserve for men of +another kind and about which we are very careful; that is the word +"noble." We never call a man "noble" who serves only himself; and if you +will look about through all the nations of the world upon the statues +that men have erected—upon the inscribed tablets where they have +wished to keep alive the memory of the citizens whom they desire most to +honor—you will find that almost without exception they have erected the +statue to those who had a splendid surplus of energy and devotion to +spend upon their fellow-men. Nobility exists in America without patent. +We have no House of Lords, but we have a house of fame to which we +elevate those who are the noble men of our race, who, forgetful of +themselves, study and serve the public interest, who have the courage to +face any number and any kind of adversary, to speak what in their hearts +they believe to be the truth.</p> + +<p>We admire physical courage, but we admire above all things else moral +courage. I believe that soldiers will bear me out in saying that both +come in time of battle. I take it that the moral courage comes in going +into the battle, and the physical courage in staying in. There are +battles which are just as hard to go into and just as hard to stay in as +the battles of arms, and if the man will but stay and think never of +himself there will come a time of grateful recollection when men will +speak of him not only with admiration but with that which goes deeper, +with affection and with reverence.</p> + +<p>So that this flag calls upon us daily for service, and the more quiet +and self-denying the service the greater the glory of the flag. We are +dedicated to freedom, and that freedom means the freedom of the human +spirit. All free spirits ought to congregate on an occasion like this to +do homage to the greatness of America as illustrated by the greatness of +her sons.</p> + +<p>It has been a privilege, ladies and gentlemen, to come and say these +simple words, which I am sure are merely putting your thought into +language. I thank you for the opportunity to lay this little wreath of +mine upon these consecrated graves.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CLOSING_A_CHAPTER" id="CLOSING_A_CHAPTER"></a>CLOSING A CHAPTER</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[Address in which President Wilson accepted the Monument in Memory of +the Confederate Dead, at Arlington National Cemetery, June 4, 1914.].</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Chairman, Mrs. McLaurin Stevens, Ladies and Gentlemen:</span></p> + +<p>I assure you that I am profoundly aware of the solemn significance of +the thing that has now taken place. The Daughters of the Confederacy +have presented a memorial of their dead to the Government of the United +States. I hope that you have noted the history of the conception of this +idea. It was suggested by a President of the United States who had +himself been a distinguished officer in the Union Army. It was +authorized by an act of Congress of the United States. The corner-stone +of the monument was laid by a President of the United States elevated to +his position by the votes of the party which had chiefly prided itself +upon sustaining the war for the Union, and who, while Secretary of War, +had himself given authority to erect it. And, now, it has fallen to my +lot to accept in the name of the great Government, which I am privileged +for the time to represent, this emblem of a reunited people. I am not so +much happy as proud to participate in this capacity on such an +occasion,—proud that I should represent such a people. Am I mistaken, +ladies and gentlemen, in supposing that nothing of this sort could have +occurred in anything but a democracy? The people of a democracy are not +related to their rulers as subjects are related to a government. They +are themselves the sovereign authority, and as they are neighbors of +each other, quickened by the same influences and moved by the same +motives, they can understand each other. They are shot through with some +of the deepest and profoundest instincts of human sympathy. They choose +their governments; they select their rulers; they live their own life, +and they will not have that life disturbed and discolored by fraternal +misunderstandings. I know that a reuniting of spirits like this can take +place more quickly in our time than in any other because men are now +united by an easier transmission of those influences which make up the +foundations of peace and of mutual understanding, but no process can +work these effects unless there is a conducting medium. The conducting +medium in this instance is the united heart of a great people. I am not +going to detain you by trying to repeat any of the eloquent thoughts +which have moved us this afternoon, for I rejoice in the simplicity of +the task which is assigned to me. My privilege is this, ladies and +gentlemen: To declare this chapter in the history of the United States +closed and ended, and I bid you turn with me with your faces to the +future, quickened by the memories of the past, but with nothing to do +with the contests of the past, knowing, as we have shed our blood upon +opposite sides, we now face and admire one another. I do not know how +many years ago it was that the <i>Century Dictionary</i> was published, but I +remember one day in the <i>Century Cyclopedia of Names</i> I had occasion to +turn to the name of Robert E. Lee, and I found him there in that book +published in New York City simply described as a great American general. +The generosity of our judgments did not begin to-day. The generosity of +our judgment was made up soon after this great struggle was over. Men +came and sat together again in the Congress and united in all the +efforts of peace and of government, and our solemn duty is to see that +each one of us is in his own consciousness and in his own conduct a +replica of this great reunited people. It is our duty and our privilege +to be like the country we represent and, speaking no word of malice, no +word of criticism even, stand shoulder to shoulder to lift the burdens +of mankind in the future and show the paths of freedom to all the +world.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ANNAPOLIS_COMMENCEMENT_ADDRESS" id="ANNAPOLIS_COMMENCEMENT_ADDRESS"></a>ANNAPOLIS COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[Delivered before the Graduating Class of the United States Naval +Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, June 5, 1914.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Superintendent, Young Gentlemen, Ladies and Gentlemen:</span></p> + +<p>During the greater part of my life I have been associated with young +men, and on occasions it seems to me without number have faced bodies of +youngsters going out to take part in the activities of the world, but I +have a consciousness of a different significance in this occasion from +that which I have felt on other similar occasions. When I have faced the +graduating classes at universities I have felt that I was facing a great +conjecture. They were going out into all sorts of pursuits and with +every degree of preparation for the particular thing they were expecting +to do; some without any preparation at all, for they did not know what +they expected to do. But in facing you I am facing men who are trained +for a special thing. You know what you are going to do, and you are +under the eye of the whole Nation in doing it. For you, gentlemen, are +to be part of the power of the Government of the United States. There is +a very deep and solemn significance in that fact, and I am sure that +every one of you feels it. The moral is perfectly obvious. Be ready and +fit for anything that you have to do. And keep ready and fit. Do not +grow slack. Do not suppose that your education is over because you have +received your diplomas from the academy. Your education has just begun. +Moreover, you are to have a very peculiar privilege which not many of +your predecessors have had. You are yourselves going to become +teachers. You are going to teach those 50,000 fellow-countrymen of yours +who are the enlisted men of the Navy. You are going to make them fitter +to obey your orders and to serve the country. You are going to make them +fitter to see what the orders mean in their outlook upon life and upon +the service; and that is a great privilege, for out of you is going the +energy and intelligence which are going to quicken the whole body of the +United States Navy.</p> + +<p>I congratulate you upon that prospect, but I want to ask you not to get +the professional point of view. I would ask it of you if you were +lawyers; I would ask it of you if you were merchants; I would ask it of +you whatever you expected to be. Do not get the professional point of +view. There is nothing narrower or more unserviceable than the +professional point of view, to have the attitude toward life that it +centers in your profession. It does not. Your profession is only one of +the many activities which are meant to keep the world straight, and to +keep the energy in its blood and in its muscle. We are all of us in this +world, as I understand it, to set forward the affairs of the whole +world, though we play a special part in that great function. The Navy +goes all over the world, and I think it is to be congratulated upon +having that sort of illustration of what the world is and what it +contains; and inasmuch as you are going all over the world you ought to +be the better able to see the relation that your country bears to the +rest of the world.</p> + +<p>It ought to be one of your thoughts all the time that you are sample +Americans—not merely sample Navy men, not merely sample soldiers, but +sample Americans—and that you have the point of view of America with +regard to her Navy and her Army; that she is using them as the +instruments of civilization, not as the instruments of aggression. The +idea of America is to serve humanity, and every time you let the Stars +and Stripes free to the wind you ought to realize that that is in itself +a message that you are on an errand which other navies have sometimes +tunes forgotten; not an errand of conquest, but an errand of service. I +always have the same thought when I look at the flag of the United +States, for I know something of the history of the struggle of mankind +for liberty. When I look at that flag it seems to me as if the white +stripes were strips of parchment upon which are written the rights of +man, and the red stripes the streams of blood by which those rights have +been made good. Then in the little blue firmament in the corner have +swung out the stars of the States of the American Union. So it is, as it +were, a sort of floating charter that has come down to us from +Runnymede, when men said, "We will not have masters; we will be a +people, and we will seek our own liberty."</p> + +<p>You are not serving a government, gentlemen; you are serving a people. +For we who for the time being constitute the Government are merely +instruments for a little while in the hands of a great Nation which +chooses whom it will to carry out its decrees and who invariably rejects +the man who forgets the ideals which it intended him to serve. So that I +hope that wherever you go you will have a generous, comprehending love +of the people you come into contact with, and will come back and tell +us, if you can, what service the United States can render to the +remotest parts of the world; tell us where you see men suffering; tell +us where you think advice will lift them up; tell us where you think +that the counsel of statesmen may better the fortunes of unfortunate +men; always having it in mind that you are champions of what is right +and fair all 'round for the public welfare, no matter where you are, and +that it is that you are ready to fight for and not merely on the drop +of a hat or upon some slight punctilio, but that you are champions of +your fellow-men, particularly of that great body one hundred million +strong whom you represent in the United States.</p> + +<p>What do you think is the most lasting impression that those boys down at +Vera Cruz are going to leave? They have had to use some force—I pray +God it may not be necessary for them to use any more—but do you think +that the way they fought is going to be the most lasting impression? +Have men not fought ever since the world began? Is there anything new in +using force? The new things in the world are the things that are +divorced from force. The things that show the moral compulsions of the +human conscience, those are the things by which we have been building up +civilization, not by force. And the lasting impression that those boys +are going to leave is this, that they exercise self-control; that they +are ready and diligent to make the place where they went fitter to live +in than they found it; that they regarded other people's rights; that +they did not strut and bluster, but went quietly, like self-respecting +gentlemen, about their legitimate work. And the people of Vera Cruz, who +feared the Americans and despised the Americans, are going to get a very +different taste in their mouths about the whole thing when the boys of +the Navy and the Army come away. Is that not something to be proud of, +that you know how to use force like men of conscience and like +gentlemen, serving your fellow-men and not trying to overcome them? Like +that gallant gentleman who has so long borne the heats and perplexities +and distresses of the situation in Vera Cruz—Admiral Fletcher. I +mention him, because his service there has been longer and so much of +the early perplexities fell upon him. I have been in almost daily +communication with Admiral Fletcher, and I have tested his temper. I +have tested his discretion. I know that he is a man with a touch of +statesmanship about him, and he has grown bigger in my eye each day as I +have read his dispatches, for he has sought always to serve the thing he +was trying to do in the temper that we all recognize and love to believe +is typically American.</p> + +<p>I challenge you youngsters to go out with these conceptions, knowing +that you are part of the Government and force of the United States and +that men will judge us by you. I am not afraid of the verdict. I cannot +look in your faces and doubt what it will be, but I want you to take +these great engines of force out onto the seas like adventurers enlisted +for the elevation of the spirit of the human race. For that is the only +distinction that America has. Other nations have been strong, other +nations have piled wealth as high as the sky, but they have come into +disgrace because they used their force and their wealth for the +oppression of mankind and their own aggrandizement; and America will not +bring glory to herself, but disgrace, by following the beaten paths of +history. We must strike out upon new paths, and we must count upon you +gentlemen to be the explorers who will carry this spirit and spread this +message all over the seas and in every port of the civilized world.</p> + +<p>You see, therefore, why I said that when I faced you I felt there was a +special significance. I am not present on an occasion when you are about +to scatter on various errands. You are all going on the same errand, and +I like to feel bound with you in one common organization for the glory +of America. And her glory goes deeper than all the tinsel, goes deeper +than the sound of guns and the clash of sabers; it goes down to the very +foundations of those things that have made the spirit of men free and +happy and content.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_MEANING_OF_LIBERTY" id="THE_MEANING_OF_LIBERTY"></a>THE MEANING OF LIBERTY</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Address at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, July 4, 1914.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Chairman and Fellow-Citizens:</span></p> + +<p>We are assembled to celebrate the one hundred and thirty-eighth +anniversary of the birth of the United States. I suppose that we can +more vividly realize the circumstances of that birth standing on this +historic spot than it would be possible to realize them anywhere else. +The Declaration of Independence was written in Philadelphia; it was +adopted in this historic building by which we stand. I have just had the +privilege of sitting in the chair of the great man who presided over the +deliberations of those who gave the declaration to the world. My hand +rests at this moment upon the table upon which the declaration was +signed. We can feel that we are almost in the visible and tangible +presence of a great historic transaction.</p> + +<p>Have you ever read the Declaration of Independence or attended with +close comprehension to the real character of it when you have heard it +read? If you have, you will know that it is not a Fourth of July +oration. The Declaration of Independence was a document preliminary to +war. It was a vital piece of practical business, not a piece of +rhetoric; and if you will pass beyond those preliminary passages which +we are accustomed to quote about the rights of men and read into the +heart of the document you will see that it is very express and detailed, +that it consists of a series of definite specifications concerning +actual public business of the day. Not the business of our day, for the +matter with which it deals is past, but the business of that first +revolution by which the Nation was set up, the business of 1776. Its +general statements, its general declarations cannot mean anything to us +unless we append to it a similar specific body of particulars as to what +we consider the essential business of our own day.</p> + +<p>Liberty does not consist, my fellow-citizens, in mere general +declarations of the rights of man. It consists in the translation of +those declarations into definite action. Therefore, standing here where +the declaration was adopted, reading its businesslike sentences, we +ought to ask ourselves what there is in it for us. There is nothing in +it for us unless we can translate it into the terms of our own +conditions and of our own lives. We must reduce it to what the lawyers +call a bill of particulars. It contains a bill of particulars, but the +bill of particulars of 1776. If we would keep it alive, we must fill it +with a bill of particulars of the year 1914.</p> + +<p>The task to which we have constantly to readdress ourselves is the task +of proving that we are worthy of the men who drew this great declaration +and know what they would have done in our circumstances. Patriotism +consists in some very practical things—practical in that they belong to +the life of every day, that they wear no extraordinary distinction about +them, that they are connected with commonplace duty. The way to be +patriotic in America is not only to love America but to love the duty +that lies nearest to our hand and know that in performing it we are +serving our country. There are some gentlemen in Washington, for +example, at this very moment who are showing themselves very patriotic +in a way which does not attract wide attention but seems to belong to +mere everyday obligations. The Members of the House and Senate who stay +in hot Washington to maintain a quorum of the Houses and transact the +all-important business of the Nation are doing an act of patriotism. I +honor them for it, and I am glad to stay there and stick by them until +the work is done.</p> + +<p>It is patriotic, also, to learn what the facts of our national life are +and to face them with candor. I have heard a great many facts stated +about the present business condition of this country, for example—a +great many allegations of fact, at any rate, but the allegations do not +tally with one another. And yet I know that truth always matches with +truth and when I find some insisting that everything is going wrong and +others insisting that everything is going right, and when I know from a +wide observation of the general circumstances of the country taken as a +whole that things are going extremely well, I wonder what those who are +crying out that things are wrong are trying to do. Are they trying to +serve the country, or are they trying to serve something smaller than +the country? Are they trying to put hope into the hearts of the men who +work and toil every day, or are they trying to plant discouragement and +despair in those hearts? And why do they cry that everything is wrong +and yet do nothing to set it right? If they love America and anything is +wrong amongst us, it is their business to put their hand with ours to +the task of setting it right. When the facts are known and acknowledged, +the duty of all patriotic men is to accept them in candor and to address +themselves hopefully and confidently to the common counsel which is +necessary to act upon them wisely and in universal concert.</p> + +<p>I have had some experiences in the last fourteen months which have not +been entirely reassuring. It was universally admitted, for example, my +fellow-citizens, that the banking system of this country needed +reorganization. We set the best minds that we could find to the task of +discovering the best method of reorganization. But we met with hardly +anything but criticism from the bankers of the country; we met with +hardly anything but resistance from the majority of those at least who +spoke at all concerning the matter. And yet so soon as that act was +passed there was a universal chorus of applause, and the very men who +had opposed the measure joined in that applause. If it was wrong the day +before it was passed, why was it right the day after it was passed? +Where had been the candor of criticism not only, but the concert of +counsel which makes legislative action vigorous and safe and successful?</p> + +<p>It is not patriotic to concert measures against one another; it is +patriotic to concert measures for one another.</p> + +<p>In one sense the Declaration of Independence has lost its significance. +It has lost its significance as a declaration of national independence. +Nobody outside of America believed when it was uttered that we could +make good our independence; now nobody anywhere would dare to doubt that +we are independent and can maintain our independence. As a declaration +of independence, therefore, it is a mere historic document. Our +independence is a fact so stupendous that it can be measured only by the +size and energy and variety and wealth and power of one of the greatest +nations in the world. But it is one thing to be independent and it is +another thing to know what to do with your independence. It is one thing +to come to your majority and another thing to know what you are going to +do with your life and your energies; and one of the most serious +questions for sober-minded men to address themselves to in the United +States is this: What are we going to do with the influence and power of +this great Nation? Are we going to play the old role of using that power +for our aggrandizement and material benefit only? You know what that may +mean. It may upon occasion mean that we shall use it to make the +peoples of other nations suffer in the way in which we said it was +intolerable to suffer when we uttered our Declaration of Independence.</p> + +<p>The Department of State at Washington is constantly called upon to back +up the commercial enterprises and the industrial enterprises of the +United States in foreign countries, and it at one time went so far in +that direction that all its diplomacy came to be designated as "dollar +diplomacy." It was called upon to support every man who wanted to earn +anything anywhere if he was an American. But there ought to be a limit +to that. There is no man who is more interested than I am in carrying +the enterprise of American business men to every quarter of the globe. I +was interested in it long before I was suspected of being a politician. +I have been preaching it year after year as the great thing that lay in +the future for the United States, to show her wit and skill and +enterprise and influence in every country in the world. But observe the +limit to all that which is laid upon us perhaps more than upon any other +nation in the world. We set this Nation up, at any rate we professed to +set it up, to vindicate the rights of men. We did not name any +differences between one race and another. We did not set up any barriers +against any particular people. We opened our gates to all the world and +said, "Let all men who wish to be free come to us and they will be +welcome." We said, "This independence of ours is not a selfish thing for +our own exclusive private use. It is for everybody to whom we can find +the means of extending it." We cannot with that oath taken in our youth, +we cannot with that great ideal set before us when we were a young +people and numbered only a scant 3,000,000, take upon ourselves, now +that we are 100,000,000 strong, any other conception of duty than we +then entertained. If American enterprise in foreign countries, +particularly in those foreign countries which are not strong enough to +resist us, takes the shape of imposing upon and exploiting the mass of +the people of that country it ought to be checked and not encouraged. I +am willing to get anything for an American that money and enterprise can +obtain except the suppression of the rights of other men. I will not +help any man buy a power which he ought not to exercise over his +fellow-beings.</p> + +<p>You know, my fellow-countrymen, what a big question there is in Mexico. +Eighty-five per cent of the Mexican people have never been allowed to +have any genuine participation in their own Government or to exercise +any substantial rights with regard to the very land they live upon. All +the rights that men most desire have been exercised by the other fifteen +per cent. Do you suppose that that circumstance is not sometimes in my +thought? I know that the American people have a heart that will beat +just as strong for those millions in Mexico as it will beat, or has +beaten, for any other millions elsewhere in the world, and that when +once they conceive what is at stake in Mexico they will know what ought +to be done in Mexico. I hear a great deal said about the loss of +property in Mexico and the loss of the lives of foreigners, and I +deplore these things with all my heart. Undoubtedly, upon the conclusion +of the present disturbed conditions in Mexico those who have been +unjustly deprived of their property or in any wise unjustly put upon +ought to be compensated. Men's individual rights have no doubt been +invaded, and the invasion of those rights has been attended by many +deplorable circumstances which ought sometime, in the proper way, to be +accounted for. But back of it all is the struggle of a people to come +into its own, and while we look upon the incidents in the foreground +let us not forget the great tragic reality in the background which +towers above the whole picture.</p> + +<p>A patriotic American is a man who is not niggardly and selfish in the +things that he enjoys that make for human liberty and the rights of man. +He wants to share them with the whole world, and he is never so proud of +the great flag under which he lives as when it comes to mean to other +people as well as to himself a symbol of hope and liberty. I would be +ashamed of this flag if it ever did anything outside America that we +would not permit it to do inside of America.</p> + +<p>The world is becoming more complicated every day, my fellow-citizens. No +man ought to be foolish enough to think that he understands it all. And, +therefore, I am glad that there are some simple things in the world. One +of the simple things is principle. Honesty is a perfectly simple thing. +It is hard for me to believe that in most circumstances when a man has a +choice of ways he does not know which is the right way and which is the +wrong way. No man who has chosen the wrong way ought even to come into +Independence Square; it is holy ground which he ought not to tread upon. +He ought not to come where immortal voices have uttered the great +sentences of such a document as this Declaration of Independence upon +which rests the liberty of a whole nation.</p> + +<p>And so I say that it is patriotic sometimes to prefer the honor of the +country to its material interest. Would you rather be deemed by all the +nations of the world incapable of keeping your treaty obligations in +order that you might have free tolls for American ships? The treaty +under which we gave up that right may have been a mistaken treaty, but +there was no mistake about its meaning.</p> + +<p>When I have made a promise as a man I try to keep it, and I know of no +other rule permissible to a nation. The most distinguished nation in +the world is the nation that can and will keep its promises even to its +own hurt. And I want to say parenthetically that I do not think anybody +was hurt. I cannot be enthusiastic for subsidies to a monopoly, but let +those who are enthusiastic for subsidies ask themselves whether they +prefer subsidies to unsullied honor.</p> + +<p>The most patriotic man, ladies and gentlemen, is sometimes the man who +goes in the direction that he thinks right even when he sees half the +world against him. It is the dictate of patriotism to sacrifice yourself +if you think that that is the path of honor and of duty. Do not blame +others if they do not agree with you. Do not die with bitterness in your +heart because you did not convince the rest of the world, but die happy +because you believe that you tried to serve your country by not selling +your soul. Those were grim days, the days of 1776. Those gentlemen did +not attach their names to the Declaration of Independence on this table +expecting a holiday on the next day, and that 4th of July was not itself +a holiday. They attached their signatures to that significant document +knowing that if they failed it was certain that every one of them would +hang for the failure. They were committing treason in the interest of +the liberty of 3,000,000 people in America. All the rest of the world +was against them and smiled with cynical incredulity at the audacious +undertaking. Do you think that if they could see this great Nation now +they would regret anything that they then did to draw the gaze of a +hostile world upon them? Every idea must be started by somebody, and it +is a lonely thing to start anything. Yet if it is in you, you must start +it if you have a man's blood in you and if you love the country that you +profess to be working for.</p> + +<p>I am sometimes very much interested when I see gentlemen supposing that +popularity is the way to success in America. The way to success in this +great country, with its fair judgments, is to show that you are not +afraid of anybody except God and his final verdict. If I did not believe +that, I would not believe in democracy. If I did not believe that, I +would not believe that people can govern themselves. If I did not +believe that the moral judgment would be the last judgment, the final +judgment, in the minds of men as well as the tribunal of God, I could +not believe in popular government. But I do believe these things, and, +therefore, I earnestly believe in the democracy not only of America but +of every awakened people that wishes and intends to govern and control +its own affairs.</p> + +<p>It is very inspiring, my friends, to come to this that may be called the +original fountain of independence and liberty in American and here drink +draughts of patriotic feeling which seem to renew the very blood in +one's veins. Down in Washington sometimes when the days are hot and the +business presses intolerably and there are so many things to do that it +does not seem possible to do anything in the way it ought to be done, it +is always possible to lift one's thought above the task of the moment +and, as it were, to realize that great thing of which we are all parts, +the great body of American feeling and American principle. No man could +do the work that has to be done in Washington if he allowed himself to +be separated from that body of principle. He must make himself feel that +he is a part of the people of the United States, that he is trying to +think not only for them, but with them, and then he cannot feel lonely. +He not only cannot feel lonely but he cannot feel afraid of anything.</p> + +<p>My dream is that as the years go on and the world knows more and more of +America it will also drink at these fountains of youth and renewal; that +it also will turn to America for those moral inspirations which lie at +the basis of all freedom; that the world will never fear America unless +it feels that it is engaged in some enterprise which is inconsistent +with the rights of humanity; and that America will come into the full +light of the day when all shall know that she puts human rights above +all other rights and that her flag is the flag not only of America but +of humanity.</p> + +<p>What other great people has devoted itself to this exalted ideal? To +what other nation in the world can all eyes look for an instant sympathy +that thrills the whole body politic when men anywhere are fighting for +their rights? I do not know that there will ever be a declaration of +independence and of grievances for mankind, but I believe that if any +such document is ever drawn it will be drawn in the spirit of the +American Declaration of Independence, and that America has lifted high +the light which will shine unto all generations and guide the feet of +mankind to the goal of justice and liberty and peace.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="AMERICAN_NEUTRALITY" id="AMERICAN_NEUTRALITY"></a>AMERICAN NEUTRALITY</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[An appeal to the citizens of the Republic, requesting their assistance +in maintaining a state of neutrality during the European War, August 20, +1914.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">My Fellow-Countrymen:</span></p> + +<p>I suppose that every thoughtful man in America has asked himself, during +these last troubled weeks, what influence the European war may exert +upon the United States, and I take the liberty of addressing a few words +to you in order to point out that it is entirely within our own choice +what its effects upon us will be and to urge very earnestly upon you the +sort of speech and conduct which will best safeguard the Nation against +distress and disaster.</p> + +<p>The effect of the war upon the United States will depend upon what +American citizens say and do. Every man who really loves America will +act and speak in the true spirit of neutrality, which is the spirit of +impartiality and fairness and friendliness to all concerned. The spirit +of the Nation in this critical matter will be determined largely by what +individuals and society and those gathered in public meetings do and +say, upon what newspapers and magazines contain, upon what ministers +utter in their pulpits, and men proclaim as their opinions on the +street.</p> + +<p>The people of the United States are drawn from many nations, and chiefly +from the nations now at war. It is natural and inevitable that there +should be the utmost variety of sympathy and desire among them with +regard to the issues and circumstances of the conflict. Some will wish +one nation, others another, to succeed in the momentous struggle. It +will be easy to excite passion and difficult to allay it. Those +responsible for exciting it will assume a heavy responsibility, +responsibility for no less a thing than that the people of the United +States, whose love of their country and whose loyalty to its Government +should unite them as Americans all, bound in honor and affection to +think first of her and her interests, may be divided in camps of hostile +opinion, hot against each other, involved in the war itself in impulse +and opinion if not in action.</p> + +<p>Such divisions among us would be fatal to our peace of mind and might +seriously stand in the way of the proper performance of our duty as the +one great nation at peace, the one people holding itself ready to play a +part of impartial mediation and speak the counsels of peace and +accommodation, not as a partisan, but as a friend.</p> + +<p>I venture, therefore, my fellow countrymen, to speak a solemn word of +warning to you against that deepest, most subtle, most essential breach +of neutrality which may spring out of partisanship, out of passionately +taking sides. The United States must be neutral in fact as well as in +name during these days that are to try men's souls. We must be impartial +in thought as well as in action, must put a curb upon our sentiments as +well as upon every transaction that might be construed as a preference +of one party to the struggle before another.</p> + +<p>My thought is of America. I am speaking, I feel sure, the earnest wish +and purpose of every thoughtful American that this great country of +ours, which is, of course, the first in our thoughts and in our hearts, +should show herself in this time of peculiar trial a Nation fit beyond +others to exhibit the fine poise of undisturbed judgment, the dignity of +self-control, the efficiency of dispassionate action; a Nation that +neither sits in judgment upon others nor is disturbed in her own +counsels and which keeps herself fit and free to do what is honest and +disinterested and truly serviceable for the peace of the world.</p> + +<p>Shall we not resolve to put upon ourselves the restraints which will +bring to our people the happiness and the great and lasting influence +for peace we covet for them?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="APPEAL_FOR_ADDITIONAL_REVENUE" id="APPEAL_FOR_ADDITIONAL_REVENUE"></a>APPEAL FOR ADDITIONAL REVENUE</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Address delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, +September 4, 1914.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen of the Congress:</span></p> + +<p>I come to you to-day to discharge a duty which I wish with all my heart +I might have been spared; but it is a very clear duty, and therefore I +perform it without hesitation or apology. I come to ask very earnestly +that additional revenue be provided for the Government.</p> + +<p>During the month of August there was, as compared with the corresponding +month of last year, a falling off of $10,629,538 in the revenues +collected from customs. A continuation of this decrease in the same +proportion throughout the current fiscal year would probably mean a loss +of customs revenues of from sixty to one hundred millions. I need not +tell you to what this falling off is due. It is due, in chief part, not +to the reductions recently made in the customs duties, but to the great +decrease in importations; and that is due to the extraordinary extent of +the industrial area affected by the present war in Europe. Conditions +have arisen which no man foresaw; they affect the whole world of +commerce and economic production; and they must be faced and dealt with.</p> + +<p>It would be very unwise to postpone dealing with them. Delay in such a +matter and in the particular circumstances in which we now find +ourselves as a nation might involve consequences of the most +embarrassing and deplorable sort, for which I, for one, would not care +to be responsible. It would be very dangerous in the present +circumstances to create a moment's doubt as to the strength and +sufficiency of the Treasury of the United States, its ability to +assist, to steady, and sustain the financial operations of the country's +business. If the Treasury is known, or even thought, to be weak, where +will be our peace of mind? The whole industrial activity of the country +would be chilled and demoralized. Just now the peculiarly difficult +financial problems of the moment are being successfully dealt with, with +great self-possession and good sense and very sound judgment; but they +are only in process of being worked out. If the process of solution is +to be completed, no one must be given reason to doubt the solidity and +adequacy of the Treasury of the Government which stands behind the whole +method by which our difficulties are being met and handled.</p> + +<p>The Treasury itself could get along for a considerable period, no doubt, +without immediate resort to new sources of taxation. But at what cost to +the business of the community? Approximately $75,000,000, a large part +of the present Treasury balance, is now on deposit with national banks +distributed throughout the country. It is deposited, of course, on call. +I need not point out to you what the probable consequences of +inconvenience and distress and confusion would be if the diminishing +income of the Treasury should make it necessary rapidly to withdraw +these deposits. And yet without additional revenue that plainly might +become necessary, and the time when it became necessary could not be +controlled or determined by the convenience of the business of the +country. It would have to be determined by the operations and +necessities of the Treasury itself. Such risks are not necessary and +ought not to be run. We cannot too scrupulously or carefully safeguard a +financial situation which is at best, while war continues in Europe, +difficult and abnormal. Hesitation and delay are the worst forms of bad +policy under such conditions.</p> + +<p>And we ought not to borrow. We ought to resort to taxation, however we +may regret the necessity of putting additional temporary burdens on our +people. To sell bonds would be to make a most untimely and unjustifiable +demand on the money market; untimely, because this is manifestly not the +time to withdraw working capital from other uses to pay the Government's +bills; unjustifiable, because unnecessary. The country is able to pay +any just and reasonable taxes without distress. And to every other form +of borrowing, whether for long periods or, for short, there is the same +objection. These are not the circumstances, this is at this particular +moment and in this particular exigency not the market, to borrow large +sums of money. What we are seeking is to ease and assist every financial +transaction, not to add a single additional embarrassment to the +situation. The people of this country are both intelligent and +profoundly patriotic. They are ready to meet the present conditions in +the right way and to support the Government with generous self-denial. +They know and understand, and will be intolerant only of those who dodge +responsibility or are not frank with them.</p> + +<p>The occasion is not of our own making. We had no part in making it. But +it is here. It affects us as directly and palpably almost as if we were +participants in the circumstances which gave rise to it. We must accept +the inevitable with calm judgment and unruffled spirits, like men +accustomed to deal with the unexpected, habituated to take care of +themselves, masters of their own affairs and their own fortunes. We +shall pay the bill, though we did not deliberately incur it.</p> + +<p>In order to meet every demand upon the Treasury without delay or +peradventure and in order to keep the Treasury strong, unquestionably +strong, and strong throughout the present anxieties, I respectfully +urge that an additional revenue of $100,000,000 be raised through +internal taxes devised in your wisdom to meet the emergency. The only +suggestion I take the liberty of making is that such sources of revenue +be chosen as will begin to yield at once and yield with a certain and +constant flow.</p> + +<p>I cannot close without expressing the confidence with which I approach a +Congress, with regard to this or any other matter, which has shown so +untiring a devotion to public duty, which has responded to the needs of +the Nation throughout a long season despite inevitable fatigue and +personal sacrifice, and so large a proportion of whose Members have +devoted their whole time and energy to the business of the country.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_OPINION_OF_THE_WORLD" id="THE_OPINION_OF_THE_WORLD"></a>THE OPINION OF THE WORLD</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Address before the American Bar Association, in Continental Hall, +October 20, 1914.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. President, Gentlemen of the American Bar Association:</span></p> + +<p>I am very deeply gratified by the greeting that your president has given +me and by your response to it. My only strength lies in your confidence.</p> + +<p>We stand now in a peculiar case. Our first thought, I suppose, as +lawyers, is of international law, of those bonds of right and principle +which draw the nations together and hold the community of the world to +some standards of action. We know that we see in international law, as +it were, the moral processes by which law itself came into existence. I +know that as a lawyer I have myself at times felt that there was no real +comparison between the law of a nation and the law of nations, because +the latter lacked the sanction that gave the former strength and +validity. And yet, if you look into the matter more closely, you will +find that the two have the same foundations, and that those foundations +are more evident and conspicuous in our day than they have ever been +before.</p> + +<p>The opinion of the world is the mistress of the world; and the processes +of international law are the slow processes by which opinion works its +will. What impresses me is the constant thought that that is the +tribunal at the bar of which we all sit. I would call your attention, +incidentally, to the circumstance that it does not observe the ordinary +rules of evidence; which has sometimes suggested to me that the ordinary +rules of evidence had shown some signs of growing antique. Everything, +rumor included, is heard in this court, and the standard of judgment is +not so much the character of the testimony as the character of the +witness. The motives are disclosed, the purposes are conjectured, and +that opinion is finally accepted which seems to be, not the best founded +in law, perhaps, but the best founded in integrity of character and of +morals. That is the process which is slowly working its will upon the +world; and what we should be watchful of is not so much jealous +interests as sound principles of action. The disinterested course is +always the biggest course to pursue not only, but it is in the long run +the most profitable course to pursue. If you can establish your +character, you can establish your credit.</p> + +<p>What I wanted to suggest to this association, in bidding them very +hearty welcome to the city, is whether we sufficiently apply these same +ideas to the body of municipal law which we seek to administer. +Citations seem to play so much larger a role now than principle. There +was a time when the thoughtful eye of the judge rested upon the changes +of social circumstances and almost palpably saw the law arise out of +human life. Have we got to a time when the only way to change law is by +statute? The changing of law by statute seems to me like mending a +garment with a patch, whereas law should grow by the life that is in it, +not by the life that is outside of it.</p> + +<p>I once said to a lawyer with whom I was discussing some question of +precedent, and in whose presence I was venturing to doubt the rational +validity, at any rate, of the particular precedents he cited, "After +all, isn't our object justice?" And he said, "God forbid! We should be +very much confused if we made that our standard. Our standard is to find +out what the rule has been and how the rule that has been applies to the +case that is." I should hate to think that the law was based entirely +upon "has beens." I should hate to think that the law did not derive its +impulse from looking forward rather than from looking backward, or, +rather, that it did not derive its instruction from looking about and +seeing what the circumstances of man actually are and what the impulses +of justice necessarily are.</p> + +<p>Understand me, gentlemen, I am not venturing in this presence to impeach +the law. For the present, by the force of circumstances, I am in part +the embodiment of the law, and it would be very awkward to disavow +myself. But I do wish to make this intimation, that in this time of +world change, in this time when we are going to find out just how, in +what particulars, and to what extent the real facts of human life and +the real moral judgments of mankind prevail, it is worth while looking +inside our municipal law and seeing whether the judgments of the law are +made square with the moral judgments of mankind. For I believe that we +are custodians, not of commands, but of a spirit. We are custodians of +the spirit of righteousness, of the spirit of equal-handed justice, of +the spirit of hope which believes in the perfectibility of the law with +the perfectibility of human life itself.</p> + +<p>Public life, like private life, would be very dull and dry if it were +not for this belief in the essential beauty of the human spirit and the +belief that the human spirit could be translated into action and into +ordinance. Not entire. You cannot go any faster than you can advance the +average moral judgments of the mass, but you can go at least as fast as +that, and you can see to it that you do not lag behind the average moral +judgments of the mass. I have in my life dealt with all sorts and +conditions of men, and I have found that the flame of moral judgment +burned just as bright in the man of humble life and limited experience +as in the scholar and the man of affairs. And I would like his voice +always to be heard, not as a witness, not as speaking in his own case, +but as if he were the voice of men in general, in our courts of justice, +as well as the voice of the lawyers, remembering what the law has been. +My hope is that, being stirred to the depths by the extraordinary +circumstances of the time in which we live, we may recover from those +depths something of a renewal of that vision of the law with which men +may be supposed to have started out in the old days of the oracles, who +communed with the intimations of divinity.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_POWER_OF_CHRISTIAN_YOUNG_MEN" id="THE_POWER_OF_CHRISTIAN_YOUNG_MEN"></a>THE POWER OF CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[Address at the Young Men's Christian Association's Celebration, +Pittsburgh, October 24, 1914.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. President, Mr. Porter, Ladies and Gentlemen:</span></p> + +<p>I feel almost as if I were a truant, being away from Washington to-day, +but I thought that perhaps if I were absent the Congress would have the +more leisure to adjourn. I do not ordinarily open my office at +Washington on Saturday. Being a schoolmaster, I am accustomed to a +Saturday holiday, and I thought I could not better spend a holiday than +by showing at least something of the true direction of my affections; +for by long association with the men who have worked for this +organization I can say that it has enlisted my deep affection.</p> + +<p>I am interested in it for various reasons. First of all, because it is +an association of young men. I have had a good deal to do with young men +in my time, and I have formed an impression of them which I believe to +be contrary to the general impression. They are generally thought to be +arch radicals. As a matter of fact, they are the most conservative +people I have ever dealt with. Go to a college community and try to +change the least custom of that little world and find how the +conservatives will rush at you. Moreover, young men are embarrassed by +having inherited their fathers' opinions. I have often said that the use +of a university is to make young gentlemen as unlike their fathers as +possible. I do not say that with the least disrespect for the fathers; +but every man who is old enough to have a son in college is old enough +to have become very seriously immersed in some particular business and +is almost certain to have caught the point of view of that particular +business. And it is very useful to his son to be taken out of that +narrow circle, conducted to some high place where he may see the general +map of the world and of the interests of mankind, and there shown how +big the world is and how much of it his father may happen to have +forgotten. It would be worth while for men, middle-aged and old, to +detach themselves more frequently from the things that command their +daily attention and to think of the sweeping tides of humanity.</p> + +<p>Therefore I am interested in this association, because it is intended to +bring young men together before any crust has formed over them, before +they have been hardened to any particular occupation, before they have +caught an inveterate point of view; while they still have a searchlight +that they can swing and see what it reveals of all the circumstances of +the hidden world.</p> + +<p>I am the more interested in it because it is an association of young men +who are Christians. I wonder if we attach sufficient importance to +Christianity as a mere instrumentality in the life of mankind. For one, +I am not fond of thinking of Christianity as the means of saving +<i>individual</i> souls. I have always been very impatient of processes and +institutions which said that their purpose was to put every man in the +way of developing his character. My advice is: Do not think about your +character. If you will think about what you ought to do for other +people, your character will take care of itself. Character is a +by-product, and any man who devotes himself to its cultivation in his +own case will become a selfish prig. The only way your powers can become +great is by exerting them outside the circle of your own narrow, +special, selfish interests. And that is the reason of Christianity. +Christ came into the world to save others, not to save himself; and no +man is a true Christian who does not think constantly of how he can lift +his brother, how he can assist his friend, how he can enlighten mankind, +how he can make virtue the rule of conduct in the circle in which he +lives. An association merely of young men might be an association that +had its energies put forth in every direction, but an association of +Christian young men is an association meant to put its shoulders under +the world and lift it, so that other men may feel that they have +companions in bearing the weight and heat of the day; that other men may +know that there are those who care for them, who would go into places of +difficulty and danger to rescue them, who regard themselves as their +brother's keeper.</p> + +<p>And, then, I am glad that it is an association. Every word of its title +means an element of strength. Young men are strong. Christian young men +are the strongest kind of young men, and when they associate themselves +together they have the incomparable strength of organization. The Young +Men's Christian Association once excited, perhaps it is not too much to +say, the hostility of the organized churches of the Christian world, +because the movement looked as if it were so non-sectarian, as if it +were so outside the ecclesiastical field, that perhaps it was an effort +to draw young men away from the churches and to substitute this +organization for the great bodies of Christian people who joined +themselves in the Christian denominations. But after a while it appeared +that it was a great instrumentality that belonged to all the churches; +that it was a common instrument for sending the light of Christianity +out into the world in its most practical form, drawing young men who +were strangers into places where they could have companionship that +stimulated them and suggestions that kept them straight and occupations +that amused them without vicious practice; and then, by surrounding +themselves with an atmosphere of purity and of simplicity of life, catch +something of a glimpse of the great ideal which Christ lifted when He +was elevated upon the cross.</p> + +<p>I remember hearing a very wise man say once, a man grown old in the +service of a great church, that he had never taught his son religion +dogmatically at any time; that he and the boy's mother had agreed that +if the atmosphere of that home did not make a Christian of the boy, +nothing that they could say would make a Christian of him. They knew +that Christianity was catching, and if they did not have it, it would +not be communicated. If they did have it, it would penetrate while the +boy slept, almost; while he was unconscious of the sweet influences that +were about him, while he reckoned nothing of instruction, but merely +breathed into his lungs the wholesome air of a Christian home. That is +the principle of the Young Men's Christian Association—to make a place +where the atmosphere makes great ideals contagious. That is the reason +that I said, though I had forgotten that I said it, what is quoted on +the outer page of the program—that you can test a modern community by +the degree of its interest in its Young Men's Christian Association. You +can test whether it knows what road it wants to travel or not. You can +test whether it is deeply interested in the spiritual and essential +prosperity of its rising generation. I know of no test that can be more +conclusively put to a community than that.</p> + +<p>I want to suggest to the young men of this association that it is the +duty of young men not only to combine for the things that are good, but +to combine in a militant spirit. There is a fine passage in one of +Milton's prose writings which I am sorry to say I cannot quote, but the +meaning of which I can give you, and it is worth hearing.<a name="FNanchor_E_5" id="FNanchor_E_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_5" class="fnanchor">[E]</a> He says +that he has no patience with a cloistered virtue that does not go out +and seek its adversary. Ah, how tired I am of the men who are merely on +the defensive, who hedge themselves in, who perhaps enlarge the hedge +enough to include their little family circle and ward off all the evil +influences of the world from that loved and hallowed group. How tired I +am of the men whose virtue is selfish because it is merely +self-protective! And how much I wish that men by the hundred thousand +might volunteer to go out and seek an adversary and subdue him!</p> + +<p>I have had the fortune to take part in affairs of a considerable variety +of sorts, and I have tried to hate as few persons as possible, but there +is an exquisite combination of contempt and hate that I have for a +particular kind of person, and that is the moral coward. I wish we could +give all our cowards a perpetual vacation. Let them go off and sit on +the side lines and see us play the game; and put them off the field if +they interfere with the game. They do nothing but harm, and they do it +by that most subtle and fatal thing of all, that of taking the momentum +and the spirit and the forward dash out of things. A man who is virtuous +and a coward has no marketable virtue about him. The virtue, I repeat, +which is merely self-defensive is not serviceable even, I suspect, to +himself. For how a man can swallow and not taste bad when he is a coward +and thinking only of himself I cannot imagine.</p> + +<p>Be militant! Be an organization that is going to do things! If you can +find older men who will give you countenance and acceptable leadership, +follow them; but if you cannot, organize separately and dispense with +them. There are only two sorts of men worth associating with when +something is to be done. Those are young men and men who never grow old. +Now, if you find men who have grown old, about whom the crust has +hardened, whose hinges are stiff, whose minds always have their eye over +the shoulder thinking of things as they <i>were</i> done, do not have +anything to do with them. It would not be Christian to exclude them from +your organization, but merely use them to pad the roll. If you can find +older men who will lead you acceptably and keep you in countenance, I am +bound as an older man to advise you to follow them. But suit yourselves. +Do not follow people that stand still. Just remind them that this is not +a statical proposition; it is a movement, and if they cannot get a move +on them they are not serviceable.</p> + +<p>Life, gentlemen—the life of society, the life of the world—has +constantly to be fed from the bottom. It has to be fed by those great +sources of strength which are constantly rising in new generations. Red +blood has to be pumped into it. New fiber has to be supplied. That is +the reason I have always said that I believed in popular institutions. +If you can guess beforehand whom your rulers are going to be, you can +guess with a very great certainty that most of them will not be fit to +rule. The beauty of popular institutions is that you do not know where +the man is going to come from, and you do not care so he is the right +man. You do not know whether he will come from the avenue or from the +alley. You do not know whether he will come from the city or the farm. +You do not know whether you will ever have heard that name before or +not. Therefore you do not limit at any point your supply of new +strength. You do not say it has got to come through the blood of a +particular family or through the processes of a particular training, or +by anything except the native impulse and genius of the man himself. The +humblest hovel, therefore, may produce you your greatest man. A very +humble hovel did produce you one of your greatest men. That is the +process of life, this constant surging up of the new strength of +unnamed, unrecognized, uncatalogued men who are just getting into the +running, who are just coming up from the masses of the unrecognized +multitude. You do not know when you will see above the level masses of +the crowd some great stature lifted head and shoulders above the rest, +shouldering its way, not violently but gently, to the front and saying, +"Here am I; follow me." And his voice will be your voice, his thought +will be your thought, and you will follow him as if you were following +the best things in yourselves.</p> + +<p>When I think of an association of Christian young men I wonder that it +has not already turned the world upside down. I wonder, not that it has +done so much, for it has done a great deal, but that it has done so +little; and I can only conjecture that it does not realize its own +strength. I can only imagine that it has not yet got its pace. I wish I +could believe, and I do believe, that at seventy it is just reaching its +majority, and that from this time on a dream greater even than George +Williams<a name="FNanchor_F_6" id="FNanchor_F_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_6" class="fnanchor">[F]</a> ever dreamed will be realized in the great accumulating +momentum of Christian men throughout the world. For, gentlemen, this is +an age in which the principles of men who utter public opinion dominate +the world. It makes no difference what is done for the time being. After +the struggle is over the jury will sit, and nobody can corrupt that +jury.</p> + +<p>At one time I tried to write history. I did not know enough to write it, +but I knew from experience how hard it was to find an historian out, and +I trusted I would not be found out. I used to have this comfortable +thought as I saw men struggling in the public arena. I used to think to +myself, "This is all very well and very interesting. You probably assess +yourself in such and such a way. Those who are your partisans assess you +thus and so. Those who are your opponents urge a different verdict. But +it does not make very much difference, because after you are dead and +gone some quiet historian will sit in a secluded room and tell mankind +for the rest of time just what to think about you, and his verdict, not +the verdict of your partisans and not the verdict of your opponents, +will be the verdict of posterity." I say that I used to say that to +myself. It very largely was not so. And yet it was true in this sense: +If the historian really speaks the judgment of the succeeding +generation, then he really speaks the judgment also of the generations +that succeed it, and his assessment, made without the passion of the +time, made without partisan feeling in the matter—in other +circumstances, when the air is cool—is the judgment of mankind upon +your actions.</p> + +<p>Now, is it not very important that we who shall constitute a portion of +the jury should get our best judgments to work and base them upon +Christian forbearance and Christian principles, upon the idea that it is +impossible by sophistication to establish that a thing that is wrong is +right? And yet, while we are going to judge with the absolute standard +of righteousness, we are going to judge with Christian feeling, being +men of a like sort ourselves, suffering the same temptations, having the +same weaknesses, knowing the same passions; and while we do not +condemn, we are going to seek to say and to live the truth. What I am +hoping for is that these seventy years have just been a running start, +and that now there will be a great rush of Christian principle upon the +strongholds of evil and of wrong in the world. Those strongholds are not +as strong as they look. Almost every vicious man is afraid of society, +and if you once open the door where he is, he will run. All you have to +do is to fight, not with cannon but with light.</p> + +<p>May I illustrate it in this way? The Government of the United States has +just succeeded in concluding a large number of treaties with the leading +nations of the world, the sum and substance of which is this, that +whenever any trouble arises the light shall shine on it for a year +before anything is done; and my prediction is that after the light has +shone on it for a year it will not be necessary to do anything; that +after we know what happened, then we will know who was right and who was +wrong. I believe that light is the greatest sanitary influence in the +world. That, I suppose, is scientific commonplace, because if you want +to make a place wholesome the best instrument you can use is the sun; to +let his rays in, let him search out all the miasma that may lurk there. +So with moral light: It is the most wholesome and rectifying, as well as +the most revealing, thing in the world, provided it be genuine moral +light; not the light of inquisitiveness, not the light of the man who +likes to turn up ugly things, not the light of the man who disturbs what +is corrupt for the mere sake of the sensation that he creates by +disturbing it, but the moral light, the light of the man who discloses +it in order that all the sweet influences of the world may go in and +make it better.</p> + +<p>That, in my judgment, is what the Young Men's Christian Association can +do. It can point out to its members the things that are wrong. It can +guide the feet of those who are going astray; and when its members have +realized the power of the Christian principle, then they will not be men +if they do not unite to see that the rest of the world experiences the +same emancipation and reaches the same happiness of release.</p> + +<p>I believe in the Young Men's Christian Association because I believe in +the progress of moral ideas in the world; and I do not know that I am +sure of anything else. When you are after something and have formulated +it and have done the very best thing you know how to do you have got to +be sure for the time being that that is the thing to do. But you are a +fool if in the back of your head you do not know it is possible that you +are mistaken. All that you can claim is that that is the thing as you +see it now and that you cannot stand still; that you must push forward +the things that are right. It may turn out that you made mistakes, but +what you do know is your direction, and you are sure you are moving in +that way. I was once a college reformer, until discouraged, and I +remember a classmate of mine saying, "Why, man, can't you let anything +alone?" I said, "I let everything alone that you can show me is not +itself moving in the wrong direction, but I am not going to let those +things alone that I see are going downhill"; and I borrowed this +illustration from an ingenious writer. He says, "If you have a post that +is painted white and want to keep it white, you cannot let it alone; and +if anybody says to you, 'Why don't you let that post alone,' you will +say, 'Because I want it to stay white, and therefore I have got to paint +it at least every second year.'" There isn't anything in this world that +will not change if you absolutely let it alone, and therefore you have +constantly to be attending to it to see that it is being taken care of +in the right way and that, if it is part of the motive force of the +world, it is moving in the right direction.</p> + +<p>That means that eternal vigilance is the price, not only of liberty, but +of a great many other things. It is the price of everything that is +good. It is the price of one's own soul. It is the price of the souls of +the people you love; and when it comes down to the final reckoning you +have a standard that is immutable. What shall a man give in exchange for +his own soul? Will he sell that? Will he consent to see another man sell +his soul? Will he consent to see the conditions of his community such +that men's souls are debauched and trodden underfoot in the mire? What +shall he give in exchange for his own soul, or any other man's soul? And +since the world, the world of affairs, the world of society, is nothing +less and nothing more than all of us put together, it is a great +enterprise for the salvation of the soul in this world as well as in the +next. There is a text in Scripture that has always interested me +profoundly. It says godliness is profitable in this life as well as in +the life that is to come; and if you do not start it in this life, it +will not reach the life that is to come. Your measurements, your +directions, your whole momentum, have to be established before you reach +the next world. This world is intended as the place in which we shall +show that we know how to grow in the stature of manliness and of +righteousness.</p> + +<p>I have come here to bid Godspeed to the great work of the Young Men's +Christian Association. I love to think of the gathering force of such +things as this in the generations to come. If a man had to measure the +accomplishments of society, the progress of reform, the speed of the +world's betterment, by the few little things that happened in his own +life, by the trifling things that he can contribute to accomplish, he +would indeed feel that the cost was much greater than the result. But no +man can look at the past of the history of this world without seeing a +vision of the future of the history of this world; and when you think of +the accumulated moral forces that have made one age better than another +age in the progress of mankind, then you can open your eyes to the +vision. You can see that age by age, though with a blind struggle in the +dust of the road, though often mistaking the path and losing its way in +the mire, mankind is yet—sometimes with bloody hands and battered +knees—nevertheless struggling step after step up the slow stages to the +day when he shall live in the full light which shines upon the uplands, +where all the light that illumines mankind shines direct from the face +of God.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ANNUAL_ADDRESS_TO_CONGRESS" id="ANNUAL_ADDRESS_TO_CONGRESS"></a>ANNUAL ADDRESS TO CONGRESS</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, December 8, +1914.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen of the Congress:</span></p> + +<p>The session upon which you are now entering will be the closing session +of the Sixty-third Congress, a Congress, I venture to say, which will +long be remembered for the great body of thoughtful and constructive +work which it has done, in loyal response to the thought and needs of +the country. I should like in this address to review the notable record +and try to make adequate assessment of it; but no doubt we stand too +near the work that has been done and are ourselves too much part of it +to play the part of historians toward it.</p> + +<p>Our program of legislation with regard to the regulation of business is +now virtually complete. It has been put forth, as we intended, as a +whole, and leaves no conjecture as to what is to follow. The road at +last lies clear and firm before business. It is a road which it can +travel without fear or embarrassment. It is the road to ungrudged, +unclouded success. In it every honest man, every man who believes that +the public interest is part of his own interest, may walk with perfect +confidence.</p> + +<p>Moreover, our thoughts are now more of the future than of the past. +While we have worked at our tasks of peace the circumstances of the +whole age have been altered by war. What we have done for our own land +and our own people we did with the best that was in us, whether of +character or of intelligence, with sober enthusiasm and a confidence in +the principles upon which we were acting which sustained us at every +step of the difficult undertaking; but it is done. It has passed from +our hands. It is now an established part of the legislation of the +country. Its usefulness, its effects will disclose themselves in +experience. What chiefly strikes us now, as we look about us during +these closing days of a year which will be forever memorable in the +history of the world, is that we face new tasks, have been facing them +these six months, must face them in the months to come,—face them +without partisan feeling, like men who have forgotten everything but a +common duty and the fact that we are representatives of a great people +whose thought is not of us but of what America owes to herself and to +all mankind in such circumstances as these upon which we look amazed and +anxious.</p> + +<p>War has interrupted the means of trade not only but also the processes +of production. In Europe it is destroying men and resources wholesale +and upon a scale unprecedented and appalling. There is reason to fear +that the time is near, if it be not already at hand, when several of the +countries of Europe will find it difficult to do for their people what +they have hitherto been always easily able to do,—many essential and +fundamental things. At any rate, they will need our help and our +manifold services as they have never needed them before; and we should +be ready, more fit and ready than we have ever been.</p> + +<p>It is of equal consequence that the nations whom Europe has usually +supplied with innumerable articles of manufacture and commerce of which +they are in constant need and without which their economic development +halts and stands still can now get only a small part of what they +formerly imported and eagerly look to us to supply their all but empty +markets. This is particularly true of our own neighbors, the States, +great and small, of Central and South America. Their lines of trade have +hitherto run chiefly athwart the seas, not to our ports but to the +ports of Great Britain and of the older continent of Europe. I do not +stop to inquire why, or to make any comment on probable causes. What +interests us just now is not the explanation but the fact, and our duty +and opportunity in the presence of it. Here are markets which we must +supply, and we must find the means of action. The United States, this +great people for whom we speak and act, should be ready, as never +before, to serve itself and to serve mankind; ready with its resources, +its energies, its forces of production, and its means of distribution.</p> + +<p>It is a very practical matter, a matter of ways and means. We have the +resources, but are we fully ready to use them? And, if we can make ready +what we have, have we the means at hand to distribute it? We are not +fully ready; neither have we the means of distribution. We are willing, +but we are not fully able. We have the wish to serve and to serve +greatly, generously; but we are not prepared as we should be. We are not +ready to mobilize our resources at once. We are not prepared to use them +immediately and at their best, without delay and without waste.</p> + +<p>To speak plainly, we have grossly erred in the way in which we have +stunted and hindered the development of our merchant marine. And now, +when we need ships, we have not got them. We have year after year +debated, without end or conclusion, the best policy to pursue with +regard to the use of the ores and forests and water powers of our +national domain in the rich States of the West, when we should have +acted; and they are still locked up. The key is still turned upon them, +the door shut fast at which thousands of vigorous men, full of +initiative, knock clamorously for admittance. The water power of our +navigable streams outside the national domain also, even in the eastern +States, where we have worked and planned for generations, is still not +used as it might be, because we will and we won't; because the laws we +have made do not intelligently balance encouragement against restraint. +We withhold by regulation.</p> + +<p>I have come to ask you to remedy and correct these mistakes and +omissions, even at this short session of a Congress which would +certainly seem to have done all the work that could reasonably be +expected of it. The time and the circumstances are extraordinary, and so +must our efforts be also.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, two great measures, finely conceived, the one to unlock, +with proper safeguards, the resources of the national domain, the other +to encourage the use of the navigable waters outside that domain for the +generation of power, have already passed the House of Representatives +and are ready for immediate consideration and action by the Senate. With +the deepest earnestness I urge their prompt passage. In them both we +turn our backs upon hesitation and makeshift and formulate a genuine +policy of use and conservation, in the best sense of those words. We owe +the one measure not only to the people of that great western country for +whose free and systematic development, as it seems to me, our +legislation has done so little, but also to the people of the Nation as +a whole; and we as clearly owe the other in fulfillment of our repeated +promises that the water power of the country should in fact as well as +in name be put at the disposal of great industries which can make +economical and profitable use of it, the rights of the public being +adequately guarded the while, and monopoly in the use prevented. To have +begun such measures and not completed them would indeed mar the record +of this great Congress very seriously. I hope and confidently believe +that they will be completed.</p> + +<p>And there is another great piece of legislation which awaits and should +receive the sanction of the Senate: I mean the bill which gives a larger +measure of self-government to the people of the Philippines. How better, +in this time of anxious questioning and perplexed policy, could we show +our confidence in the principles of liberty, as the source as well as +the expression of life, how better could we demonstrate our own +self-possession and steadfastness in the courses of justice and +disinterestedness than by thus going calmly forward to fulfill our +promises to a dependent people, who will now look more anxiously than +ever to see whether we have indeed the liberality, the unselfishness, +the courage, the faith we have boasted and professed. I cannot believe +that the Senate will let this great measure of constructive justice +await the action of another Congress. Its passage would nobly crown the +record of these two years of memorable labor.</p> + +<p>But I think that you will agree with me that this does not complete the +toll of our duty. How are we to carry our goods to the empty markets of +which I have spoken if we have not the ships? How are we to build up a +great trade if we have not the certain and constant means of +transportation upon which all profitable and useful commerce depends? +And how are we to get the ships if we wait for the trade to develop +without them? To correct the many mistakes by which we have discouraged +and all but destroyed the merchant marine of the country, to retrace the +steps by which we have, it seems almost deliberately, withdrawn our flag +from the seas, except where, here and there, a ship of war is bidden +carry it or some wandering yacht displays it, would take a long time and +involve many detailed items of legislation, and the trade which we ought +immediately to handle would disappear or find other channels while we +debated the items.</p> + +<p>The case is not unlike that which confronted us when our own continent +was to be opened up to settlement and industry, and we needed long lines +of railway, extended means of transportation prepared beforehand, if +development was not to lag intolerably and wait interminably. We +lavishly subsidized the building of transcontinental railroads. We look +back upon that with regret now, because the subsidies led to many +scandals of which we are ashamed; but we know that the railroads had to +be built, and if we had it to do over again we should of course build +them, but in another way. Therefore I propose another way of providing +the means of transportation, which must precede, not tardily follow, the +development of our trade with our neighbor states of America. It may +seem a reversal of the natural order of things, but it is true, that the +routes of trade must be actually opened—by many ships and regular +sailings and moderate charges—before streams of merchandise will flow +freely and profitably through them.</p> + +<p>Hence the pending shipping bill, discussed at the last session but as +yet passed by neither House. In my judgment such legislation is +imperatively needed and cannot wisely be postponed. The Government must +open these gates of trade, and open them wide; open them before it is +altogether profitable to open them, or altogether reasonable to ask +private capital to open them at a venture. It is not a question of the +Government monopolizing the field. It should take action to make it +certain that transportation at reasonable rates will be promptly +provided, even where the carriage is not at first profitable; and then, +when the carriage has become sufficiently profitable to attract and +engage private capital, and engage it in abundance, the Government ought +to withdraw. I very earnestly hope that the Congress will be of this +opinion, and that both Houses will adopt this exceedingly important +bill.</p> + +<p>The great subject of rural credits still remains to be dealt with, and +it is a matter of deep regret that the difficulties of the subject have +seemed to render it impossible to complete a bill for passage at this +session. But it cannot be perfected yet, and therefore there are no +other constructive measures the necessity for which I will at this time +call your attention to; but I would be negligent of a very manifest duty +were I not to call the attention of the Senate to the fact that the +proposed convention for safety at sea awaits its confirmation and that +the limit fixed in the convention itself for its acceptance is the last +day of the present month. The conference in which this 15 convention +originated was called by the United States; the representatives of the +United States played a very influential part indeed in framing the +provisions of the proposed convention; and those provisions are in +themselves for the most part admirable. It would hardly be consistent +with the part we have played in the whole matter to let it drop and go +by the board as if forgotten and neglected. It was ratified in May last +by the German Government and in August by the Parliament of Great +Britain. It marks a most hopeful and decided advance in international +civilization. We should show our earnest good faith in a great matter by +adding our own acceptance of it.</p> + +<p>There is another matter of which I must make special mention, if I am to +discharge my conscience, lest it should escape your attention. It may +seem a very small thing. It affects only a single item of appropriation. +But many human lives and many great enterprises hang upon it. It is the +matter of making adequate provision for the survey and charting of our +coasts. It is immediately pressing and exigent in connection with the +immense coast line of Alaska, a coast line greater than that of the +United States themselves, though it is also very important indeed with +regard to the older coasts of the continent. We cannot use our great +Alaskan domain, ships will not ply thither, if those coasts and their +many hidden dangers are not thoroughly surveyed and charted. The work is +incomplete at almost every point. Ships and lives have been lost in +threading what were supposed to be well-known main channels. We have not +provided adequate vessels or adequate machinery for the survey and +charting. We have used old vessels that were not big enough or strong +enough and which were so nearly unseaworthy that our inspectors would +not have allowed private owners to send them to sea. This is a matter +which, as I have said, seems small, but is in reality very great. Its +importance has only to be looked into to be appreciated.</p> + +<p>Before I close may I say a few words upon two topics, much discussed out +of doors, upon which it is highly important that our judgments should be +clear, definite, and steadfast?</p> + +<p>One of these is economy in government expenditures. The duty of economy +is not debatable. It is manifest and imperative. In the appropriations +we pass we are spending the money of the great people whose servants we +are,—not our own. We are trustees and responsible stewards in the +spending. The only thing debatable and upon which we should be careful +to make our thought and purpose clear is the kind of economy demanded of +us. I assert with the greatest confidence that the people of the United +States are not jealous of the amount their Government costs if they are +sure that they get what they need and desire for the outlay, that the +money is being spent for objects of which they approve, and that it is +being applied with good business sense and management.</p> + +<p>Governments grow, piecemeal, both in their tasks and in the means by +which those tasks are to be performed, and very few Governments are +organized, I venture to say, as wise and experienced business men would +organize them if they had a clean sheet of paper to write upon. +Certainly the Government of the United States is not. I think that it is +generally agreed that there should be a systematic reorganization and +reassembling of its parts so as to secure greater efficiency and effect +considerable savings in expense. But the amount of money saved in that +way would, I believe, though no doubt considerable in itself, running, +it may be, into the millions, be relatively small,—small, I mean, in +proportion to the total necessary outlays of the Government. It would be +thoroughly worth effecting, as every saving would, great or small. Our +duty is not altered by the scale of the saving. But my point is that the +people of the United States do not wish to curtail the activities of +this Government; they wish, rather, to enlarge them; and with every +enlargement, with the mere growth, indeed, of the country itself, there +must come, of course, the inevitable increase of expense. The sort of +economy we ought to practice may be effected, and ought to be effected, +by a careful study and assessment of the tasks to be performed; and the +money spent ought to be made to yield the best possible returns in +efficiency and achievement. And, like good stewards, we should so +account for every dollar of our appropriations as to make it perfectly +evident what it was spent for and in what way it was spent.</p> + +<p>It is not expenditure but extravagance that we should fear being +criticized for; not paying for the legitimate enterprises and +undertakings of a great Government whose people command what it should +do, but adding what will benefit only a few or pouring money out for +what need not have been undertaken at all or might have been postponed +or better and more economically conceived and carried out. The Nation is +not niggardly; it is very generous. It will chide us only if we forget +for whom we pay money out and whose money it is we pay. These are large +and general standards, but they are not very difficult of application to +particular cases.</p> + +<p>The other topic I shall take leave to mention goes deeper into the +principles of our national life and policy. It is the subject of +national defense.</p> + +<p>It cannot be discussed without first answering some very searching +questions. It is said in some quarters that we are not prepared for war. +What is meant by being prepared? Is it meant that we are not ready upon +brief notice to put a nation in the field, a nation of men trained to +arms? Of course we are not ready to do that; and we shall never be in +time of peace so long as we retain our present political principles and +institutions. And what is it that it is suggested we should be prepared +to do? To defend ourselves against attack? We have always found means to +do that, and shall find them whenever it is necessary without calling +our people away from their necessary tasks to render compulsory military +service in times of peace.</p> + +<p>Allow me to speak with great plainness and directness upon this great +matter and to avow my convictions with deep earnestness. I have tried to +know what America is, what her people think, what they are, what they +most cherish and hold dear. I hope that some of their finer passions are +in my own heart,—some of the great conceptions and desires which gave +birth to this Government and which have made the voice of this people a +voice of peace and hope and liberty among the peoples of the world, and +that, speaking my own thoughts, I shall, at least in part, speak theirs +also, however faintly and inadequately, upon this vital matter.</p> + +<p>We are at peace with all the world. No one who speaks counsel based on +fact or drawn from a just and candid interpretation of realities can say +that there is reason to fear that from any quarter our independence or +the integrity of our territory is threatened. Dread of the power of any +other nation we are incapable of. We are not jealous of rivalry in the +fields of commerce or of any other peaceful achievement. We mean to live +our own lives as we will; but we mean also to let live. We are, indeed, +a true friend to all the nations of the world, because we threaten none, +covet the possessions of none, desire the overthrow of none. Our +friendship can be accepted and is accepted without reservation, because +it is offered in a spirit and for a purpose which no one need ever +question or suspect. Therein lies our greatness. We are the champions of +peace and of concord. And we should be very jealous of this distinction +which we have sought to earn. Just now we should be particularly jealous +of it, because it is our dearest present hope that this character and +reputation may presently, in God's providence, bring us an opportunity +such as has seldom been vouchsafed any nation, the opportunity to +counsel and obtain peace in the world and reconciliation and a healing +settlement of many a matter that has cooled and interrupted the +friendship of nations. This is the time above all others when we should +wish and resolve to keep our strength by self-possession, our influence +by preserving our ancient principles of action.</p> + +<p>From the first we have had a clear and settled policy with regard to +military establishments. We never have had, and while we retain our +present principles and ideals we never shall have, a large standing +army. If asked, Are you ready to defend yourselves? we reply, Most +assuredly, to the utmost; and yet we shall not turn America into a +military camp. We will not ask our young men to spend the best years of +their lives making soldiers of themselves. There is another sort of +energy in us. It will know how to declare itself and make itself +effective should occasion arise. And especially when half the world is +on fire we shall be careful to make our moral insurance against the +spread of the conflagration very definite and certain and adequate +indeed.</p> + +<p>Let us remind ourselves, therefore, of the only thing we can do or will +do. We must depend in every time of national peril, in the future as in +the past, not upon a standing army, nor yet upon a reserve army, but +upon a citizenry trained and accustomed to arms. It will be right +enough, right American policy, based upon our accustomed principles and +practices, to provide a system by which every citizen who will volunteer +for the training may be made familiar with the use of modern arms, the +rudiments or drill and maneuver, and the maintenance and sanitation of +camps. We should encourage such training and make it a means of +discipline which our young men will learn to value. It is right that we +should provide it not only, but that we should make it as attractive as +possible, and so induce our young men to undergo it at such times as +they can command a little freedom and can seek the physical development +they need, for mere health's sake, if for nothing more. Every means by +which such things can be stimulated is legitimate, and such a method +smacks of true American ideas. It is right, too, that the National Guard +of the States should be developed and strengthened by every means which +is not inconsistent with our obligations to our own people or with the +established policy of our Government. And this, also, not because the +time or occasion specially calls for such measures, but because it +should be our constant policy to make these provisions for our national +peace and safety.</p> + +<p>More than this carries with it a reversal of the whole history and +character of our polity. More than this, proposed at this time, permit +me to say, would mean merely that we had lost our self-possession, that +we had been thrown off our balance by a war with which we have nothing +to do, whose causes cannot touch us, whose very existence affords us +opportunities of friendship and disinterested service which should make +us ashamed of any thought of hostility or fearful preparation for +trouble. This is assuredly the opportunity for which a people and a +government like ours were raised up, the opportunity not only to speak +but actually to embody and exemplify the counsels of peace and amity and +the lasting concord which is based on justice and fair and generous +dealing.</p> + +<p>A powerful navy we have always regarded as our proper and natural means +of defense; and it has always been of defense that we have thought, +never of aggression or of conquest. But who shall tell us now what sort +of a navy to build? We shall take leave to be strong upon the seas, in +the future as in the past; and there will be no thought of offense or of +provocation in that. Our ships are our natural bulwarks. When will the +experts tell us just what kind we should construct—and when will they +be right for ten years together, if the relative efficiency of craft of +different kinds and uses continues to change as we have seen it change +under our very eyes in these last few months?</p> + +<p>But I turn away from the subject. It is not new. There is no new need to +discuss it. We shall not alter our attitude toward it because some +amongst us are nervous and excited. We shall easily and sensibly agree +upon a policy of defense. The question has not changed its aspect +because the times are not normal. Our policy will not be for an +occasion. It will be conceived as a permanent and settled thing, which +we will pursue at all seasons, without haste and after a fashion +perfectly consistent with the peace of the world, the abiding friendship +of states, and the unhampered freedom of all with whom we deal. Let +there be no misconception. The country has been misinformed. We have not +been negligent of national defense. We are not unmindful of the great +responsibility resting upon us. We shall learn and profit by the lesson +of every experience and every new circumstance; and what is needed will +be adequately done.</p> + +<p>I close, as I began, by reminding you of the great tasks and duties of +peace which challenge our best powers and invite us to build what will +last, the tasks to which we can address ourselves now and at all times +with free-hearted zest and with all the finest gifts of constructive +wisdom we possess. To develop our life and our resources; to supply our +own people, and the people of the world as their need arises, from the +abundant plenty of our fields and our marts of trade; to enrich the +commerce of our own States and of the world with the products of our +mines, our farms, and our factories, with the creations of our thought +and the fruits of our character,—this is what will hold our attention +and our enthusiasm steadily, now and in the years to come, as we strive +to show in our life as a nation what liberty and the inspirations of an +emancipated spirit may do for men and for societies, for individuals, +for states, and for mankind.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="A_MESSAGE" id="A_MESSAGE"></a>A MESSAGE</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[Returning to the House of Representatives without approval an act to +regulate the immigration of aliens to and the residence of aliens in the +United States.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">To the House of Representatives:</span></p> + +<p>It is with unaffected regret that I find myself constrained by clear +conviction to return this bill (H.R. 6060, "An act to regulate the +immigration of aliens to and the residence of aliens in the United +States") without my signature. Not only do I feel it to be a very +serious matter to exercise the power of veto in any case, because it +involves opposing the single judgment of the President to the judgment +of a majority of both the Houses of the Congress, a step which no man +who realizes his own liability to error can take without great +hesitation, but also because this particular bill is in so many +important respects admirable, well conceived, and desirable. Its +enactment into law would undoubtedly enhance the efficiency and improve +the methods of handling the important branch of the public service to +which it relates. But candor and a sense of duty with regard to the +responsibility so clearly imposed upon me by the Constitution in matters +of legislation leave me no choice but to dissent.</p> + +<p>In two particulars of vital consequence this bill embodies a radical +departure from the traditional and long-established policy of this +country, a policy in which our people have conceived the very character +of their Government to be expressed, the very mission and spirit of the +Nation in respect of its relations to the peoples of the world outside +their borders. It seeks to all but close entirely the gates of asylum +which have always been open to those who could find nowhere else the +right and opportunity of constitutional agitation for what they +conceived to be the natural and inalienable rights of men; and it +excludes those to whom the opportunities of elementary education have +been denied, without regard to their character, their purposes, or their +natural capacity.</p> + +<p>Restrictions like these, adopted earlier in our history as a Nation, +would very materially have altered the course and cooled the humane +ardors of our politics. The right of political asylum has brought to +this country many a man of noble character and elevated purpose who was +marked as an outlaw in his own less fortunate land, and who has yet +become an ornament to our citizenship and to our public councils. The +children and the compatriots of these illustrious Americans must stand +amazed to see the representatives of their Nation now resolved, in the +fullness of our national strength and at the maturity of our great +institutions, to risk turning such men back from our shores without test +of quality or purpose. It is difficult for me to believe that the full +effect of this feature of the bill was realized when it was framed and +adopted, and it is impossible for me to assent to it in the form in +which it is here cast.</p> + +<p>The literacy test and the tests and restrictions which accompany it +constitute an even more radical change in the policy of the Nation. +Hitherto we have generously kept our doors open to all who were not +unfitted by reason of disease or incapacity for self-support or such +personal records and antecedents as were likely to make them a menace to +our peace and order or to the wholesome and essential relationships of +life. In this bill it is proposed to turn away from tests of character +and of quality and impose tests which exclude and restrict; for the new +tests here embodied are not tests of quality or of character or of +personal fitness, but tests of opportunity. Those who come seeking +opportunity are not to be admitted unless they have already had one of +the chief of the opportunities they seek, the opportunity of education. +The object of such provisions is restriction, not selection.</p> + +<p>If the people of this country have made up their minds to limit the +number of immigrants by arbitrary tests and so reverse the policy of all +the generations of Americans that have gone before them, it is their +right to do so. I am their servant and have no license to stand in their +way. But I do not believe that they have. I respectfully submit that no +one can quote their mandate to that effect. Has any political party ever +avowed a policy of restriction in this fundamental matter, gone to the +country on it, and been commissioned to control its legislation? Does +this bill rest upon the conscious and universal assent and desire of the +American people? I doubt it. It is because I doubt it that I make bold +to dissent from it. I am willing to abide by the verdict, but not until +it has been rendered. Let the platforms of parties speak out upon this +policy and the people pronounce their wish. The matter is too +fundamental to be settled otherwise.</p> + +<p>I have no pride of opinion in this question. I am not foolish enough to +profess to know the wishes and ideals of America better than the body of +her chosen representatives know them. I only want instruction direct +from those whose fortunes, with ours and all men's, are involved.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right;"><span class="smcap">Woodrow Wilson.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">The White House</span>, <i>28 January, 1915</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ADDRESS_BEFORE_THE_UNITED_STATES_CHAMBER_OF_COMMERCE" id="ADDRESS_BEFORE_THE_UNITED_STATES_CHAMBER_OF_COMMERCE"></a>ADDRESS BEFORE THE UNITED STATES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Delivered in Washington, February 3, 1915.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:</span></p> + +<p>I feel that it is hardly fair to you for me to come in in this casual +fashion among a body of men who have been seriously discussing great +questions, and it is hardly fair to me, because I come in cold, not +having had the advantage of sharing the atmosphere of your deliberations +and catching the feeling of your conference. Moreover, I hardly know +just how to express my interest in the things you are undertaking. When +a man stands outside an organization and speaks to it he is too apt to +have the tone of outside commendation, as who should say, "I would +desire to pat you on the back and say 'Good boys; you are doing well!'" +I would a great deal rather have you receive me as if for the time being +I were one of your own number.</p> + +<p>Because the longer I occupy the office that I now occupy the more I +regret any lines of separation; the more I deplore any feeling that one +set of men has one set of interests and another set of men another set +of interests; the more I feel the solidarity of the Nation—the +impossibility of separating one interest from another without +misconceiving it; the necessity that we should all understand one +another, in order that we may understand ourselves.</p> + +<p>There is an illustration which I have used a great many times. I will +use it again, because it is the most serviceable to my own mind. We +often speak of a man who cannot find his way in some jungle or some +desert as having "lost himself." Did you never reflect that that is the +only thing he has not lost? <i>He</i> is <i>there</i>. He has lost the rest of the +world. He has no fixed point by which to steer. He does not know which +is north, which is south, which is east, which is west; and if he did +know, he is so confused that he would not know in which of those +directions his goal lay. Therefore, following his heart, he walks in a +great circle from right to left and comes back to where he started—to +himself again. To my mind that is a picture of the world. If you have +lost sight of other interests and do not know the relation of your own +interests to those other interests, then you do not understand your own +interests, and have lost yourself. What you want is orientation, +relationship to the points of the compass; relationship to the other +people in the world; vital connections which you have for the time being +severed.</p> + +<p>I am particularly glad to express my admiration for the kind of +organization which you have drawn together. I have attended banquets of +chambers of commerce in various parts of the country and have got the +impression at each of those banquets that there was only one city in the +country. It has seemed to me that those associations were meant in order +to destroy men's perspective, in order to destroy their sense of +relative proportions. Worst of all, if I may be permitted to say so, +they were intended to boost something in particular. Boosting is a very +unhandsome thing. Advancing enterprise is a very handsome thing, but to +exaggerate local merits in order to create disproportion in the general +development is not a particularly handsome thing or a particularly +intelligent thing. A city cannot grow on the face of a great state like +a mushroom on that one spot. Its roots are throughout the state, and +unless the state it is in, or the region it draws from, can itself +thrive and pulse with life as a whole, the city can have no healthy +growth. You forget the wide rootages of everything when you boost some +particular region. There are dangers which probably you all understand +in the mere practice of advertisement. When a man begins to advertise +himself there are certain points that are somewhat exaggerated, and I +have noticed that men who exaggerate most, most quickly lose any proper +conception of what their own proportions are. Therefore, these local +centers of enthusiasm may be local centers of mistake if they are not +very wisely guided and if they do not themselves realize their relations +to the other centers of enthusiasm and of advancement.</p> + +<p>The advantage about a Chamber of Commerce of the United States is that +there is only one way to boost the United States, and that is by seeing +to it that the conditions under which business is done throughout the +whole country are the best possible conditions. There cannot be any +disproportion about that. If you draw your sap and your vitality from +all quarters, then the more sap and vitality there is in you the more +there is in the commonwealth as a whole, and every time you lift at all +you lift the whole level of manufacturing and mercantile enterprise. +Moreover, the advantage of it is that you cannot boost the United States +in that way without understanding the United States. You learn a great +deal. I agreed with a colleague of mine in the Cabinet the other day +that we had never attended in our lives before a school to compare with +that we were now attending for the purpose of gaining a liberal +education.</p> + +<p>Of course, I learn a great many things that are not so, but the +interesting thing about that is this: Things that are not so do not +match. If you hear enough of them, you see there is no pattern whatever; +it is a crazy quilt. Whereas, the truth always matches, piece by piece, +with other parts of the truth. No man can lie consistently, and he +cannot lie about everything if he talks to you long. I would guarantee +that if enough liars talked to you, you would get the truth; because the +parts that they did not invent would match one another, and the parts +that they did invent would <i>not</i> match one another. Talk long enough, +therefore, and see the connections clearly enough, and you can patch +together the case as a whole. I had somewhat that experience about +Mexico, and that was about the only way in which I learned anything that +was true about it. For there had been vivid imaginations and many +special interests which depicted things as they wished me to believe +them to be.</p> + +<p>Seriously, the task of this body is to match all the facts of business +throughout the country and to see the vast and consistent pattern of it. +That is the reason I think you are to be congratulated upon the fact +that you cannot do this thing without common counsel. There isn't any +man who knows enough to comprehend the United States. It is coöperative +effort, necessarily. You cannot perform the functions of this Chamber of +Commerce without drawing in not only a vast number of men, but men, and +a number of men, from every region and section of the country. The +minute this association falls into the hands, if it ever should, of men +from a single section or men with a single set of interests most at +heart, it will go to seed and die. Its strength must come from the +uttermost parts of the land and must be compounded of brains and +comprehensions of every sort. It is a very noble and handsome picture +for the imagination, and I have asked myself before I came here to-day, +what relation you could bear to the Government of the United States and +what relation the Government could bear to you?</p> + +<p>There are two aspects and activities of the Government with which you +will naturally come into most direct contact. The first is the +Government's power of inquiry, systematic and disinterested inquiry, and +its power of scientific assistance. You get an illustration of the +latter, for example, in the Department of Agriculture. Has it occurred +to you, I wonder, that we are just upon the eve of a time when our +Department of Agriculture will be of infinite importance to the whole +world? There is a shortage of food in the world now. That shortage will +be much more serious a few months from now than it is now. It is +necessary that we should plant a great deal more; it is necessary that +our lands should yield more per acre than they do now; it is necessary +that there should not be a plow or a spade idle in this country if the +world is to be fed. And the methods of our farmers must feed upon the +scientific information to be derived from the State departments of +agriculture, and from that taproot of all, the United States Department +of Agriculture. The object and use of that department is to inform men +of the latest developments and disclosures of science with regard to all +the processes by which soils can be put to their proper use and their +fertility made the greatest possible. Similarly with the Bureau of +Standards. It is ready to supply those things by which you can set +norms, you can set bases, for all the scientific processes of business.</p> + +<p>I have a great admiration for the scientific parts of the Government of +the United States, and it has amazed me that so few men have discovered +them. Here in these departments are quiet men, trained to the highest +degree of skill, serving for a petty remuneration along lines that are +infinitely useful to mankind; and yet in some cases they waited to be +discovered until this Chamber of Commerce of the United States was +established. Coming to this city, officers of that association found +that there were here things that were infinitely useful to them and with +which the whole United States ought to be put into communication.</p> + +<p>The Government of the United States is very properly a great +instrumentality of inquiry and information. One thing we are just +beginning to do that we ought to have done long ago: We ought long ago +to have had our Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. We ought long +ago to have sent the best eyes of the Government out into the world to +see where the opportunities and openings of American commerce and +American genius were to be found—men who were not sent out as the +commercial agents of any particular set of business men in the United +States, but who were eyes for the whole business community. I have been +reading consular reports for twenty years. In what I came to regard as +an evil day the Congressman from my district began to send me the +consular reports, and they ate up more and more of my time. They are +very interesting, but they are a good deal like what the old lady said +of the dictionary, that it was very interesting but a little +disconnected. You get a picture of the world as if a spotlight were +being dotted about over the surface of it. Here you see a glimpse of +this, and here you see a glimpse of that, and through the medium of some +consuls you do not see anything at all. Because the consul has to have +eyes and the consul has to know what he is looking for. A literary +friend of mine said that he used to believe in the maxim that +"everything comes to the man who waits," but he discovered after awhile +by practical experience that it needed an additional clause, "provided +he knows what he is waiting for." Unless you know what you are looking +for and have trained eyes to see it when it comes your way, it may pass +you unnoticed. We are just beginning to do, systematically and +scientifically, what we ought long ago to have done, to employ the +Government of the United States to survey the world in order that +American commerce might be guided.</p> + +<p>But there are other ways of using the Government of the United States, +ways that have long been tried, though not always with conspicuous +success or fortunate results. You can use the Government of the United +States by influencing its legislation. That has been a very active +industry, but it has not always been managed in the interest of the +whole people. It is very instructive and useful for the Government of +the United States to have such means as you are ready to supply for +getting a sort of consensus of opinion which proceeds from no particular +quarter and originates with no particular interest. Information is the +very foundation of all right action in legislation.</p> + +<p>I remember once, a good many years ago, I was attending one of the local +chambers of commerce of the United States at a time when everybody was +complaining that Congress was interfering with business. If you have +heard that complaint recently and supposed that it was original with the +men who made it, you have not lived as long as I have. It has been going +on ever since I can remember. The complaint came most vigorously from +men who were interested in large corporate development. I took the +liberty to say to that body of men, whom I did not know, that I took it +for granted that there were a great many lawyers among them, and that it +was likely that the more prominent of those lawyers were the intimate +advisors of the corporations of that region. I said that I had met a +great many lawyers from whom the complaint had come most vigorously, not +only that there was too much legislation with regard to corporations, +but that it was ignorant legislation. I said, "Now, the responsibility +is with you. If the legislation is mistaken, you are on the inside and +know where the mistakes are being made. You know not only the innocent +and right things that your corporations are doing, but you know the +other things, too. Knowing how they are done, you can be expert advisors +as to how the wrong things can be prevented. If, therefore, this thing +is handled ignorantly, there is nobody to blame but yourselves." If we +on the outside cannot understand the thing and cannot get advice from +the inside, then we will have to do it with the flat hand and not with +the touch of skill and discrimination. Isn't that true? Men on the +inside of business know how business is conducted and they cannot +complain if men on the outside make mistakes about business if they do +not come from the inside and give the kind of advice which is necessary.</p> + +<p>The trouble has been that when they came in the past—for I think the +thing is changing very rapidly—they came with all their bristles out; +they came on the defensive; they came to see, not what they could +accomplish, but what they could prevent. They did not come to guide; +they came to block. That is of no use whatever to the general body +politic. What has got to pervade us like a great motive power is that we +cannot, and must not, separate our interests from one another, but must +pool our interests. A man who is trying to fight for his single hand is +fighting against the community and not fighting with it. There are a +great many dreadful things about war, as nobody needs to be told in this +day of distress and of terror, but there is one thing about war which +has a very splendid side, and that is the consciousness that a whole +nation gets that they must all act as a unit for a common end. And when +peace is as handsome as war there will be no war. When men, I mean, +engage in the pursuits of peace in the same spirit of self-sacrifice and +of conscious service of the community with which, at any rate, the +common soldier engages in war, then shall there be wars no more. You +have moved the vanguard for the United States in the purposes of this +association just a little nearer that ideal. That is the reason I am +here, because I believe it.</p> + +<p>There is a specific matter about which I, for one, want your advice. Let +me say, if I may say it without disrespect, that I do not think you are +prepared to give it right away. You will have to make some rather +extended inquiries before you are ready to give it. What I am thinking +of is competition in foreign markets as between the merchants of +different nations.</p> + +<p>I speak of the subject with a certain degree of hesitation, because the +thing farthest from my thought is taking advantage of nations now +disabled from playing their full part in that competition, and seeking a +sudden selfish advantage because they are for the time being disabled. +Pray believe me that we ought to eliminate all that thought from our +minds and consider this matter as if we and the other nations now at war +were in the normal circumstances of commerce.</p> + +<p>There is a normal circumstance of commerce in which we are apparently at +a disadvantage. Our anti-trust laws are thought by some to make it +illegal for merchants in the United States to form combinations for the +purpose of strengthening themselves in taking advantage of the +opportunities of foreign trade. That is a very serious matter for this +reason: There are some corporations, and some firms for all I know, +whose business is great enough and whose resources are abundant enough +to enable them to establish selling agencies in foreign countries; to +enable them to extend the long credits which in some cases are necessary +in order to keep the trade they desire; to enable them, in other words, +to organize their business in foreign territory in a way which the +smaller man cannot afford to do. His business has not grown big enough +to permit him to establish selling agencies. The export commission +merchant, perhaps, taxes him a little too highly to make that an +available competitive means of conducting and extending his business.</p> + +<p>The question arises, therefore, how are the smaller merchants, how are +the younger and weaker corporations going to get a foothold as against +the combinations which are permitted and even encouraged by foreign +governments in this field of competition? There are governments which, +as you know, distinctly encourage the formation of great combinations in +each particular field of commerce in order to maintain selling agencies +and to extend long credits, and to use and maintain the machinery which +is necessary for the extension of business; and American merchants feel +that they are at a very considerable disadvantage in contending against +that. The matter has been many times brought to my attention, and I have +each time suspended judgment. I want to be shown this: I want to be +shown how such a combination can be made and conducted in a way which +will not close it against the use of everybody who wants to use it. A +combination has a tendency to exclude new members. When a group of men +get control of a good thing, they do not see any particular point in +letting other people into the good thing. What I would like very much to +be shown, therefore, is a method of coöperation which is not a method of +combination. Not that the two words are mutually exclusive, but we have +come to have a special meaning attached to the word "combination." Most +of our combinations have a safety lock, and you have to know the +combination to get in. I want to know how these coöperative methods can +be adopted for the benefit of everybody who wants to use them, and I say +frankly if I can be shown that, I am for them. If I cannot be shown +that, I am against them. I hasten to add that I hopefully expect I <i>can</i> +be shown that.</p> + +<p>You, as I have just now intimated, probably cannot show it to me +offhand, but by the methods which you have the means of using you +certainly ought to be able to throw a vast deal of light on the subject. +Because the minute you ask the small merchant, the small banker, the +country man, how he looks upon these things and how he thinks they ought +to be arranged in order that he can use them, if he is like some of the +men in country districts whom I know, he will turn out to have had a +good deal of thought upon that subject and to be able to make some very +interesting suggestions whose intelligence and comprehensiveness will +surprise some city gentlemen who think that only the cities understand +the business of the country. As a matter of fact, you do not have time +to think in a city. It takes time to think. You can get what you call +opinions by contagion in a city and get them very quickly, but you do +not always know where the germ came from. And you have no scientific +laboratory method by which to determine whether it is a good germ or a +bad germ.</p> + +<p>There are thinking spaces in this country, and some of the thinking done +is very solid thinking indeed, the thinking of the sort of men that we +all love best, who think for themselves, who do not see things as they +are told to see them, but look at them and see them independently; who, +if they are told they are white when they are black, plainly say that +they are black—men with eyes and with a courage back of those eyes to +tell what they see. The country is full of those men. They have been +singularly reticent sometimes, singularly silent, but the country is +full of them. And what I rejoice in is that you have called them into +the ranks. For your methods are bound to be democratic in spite of you. +I do not mean democratic with a big "D," though I have a private +conviction that you cannot be democratic with a small "d" long without +becoming democratic with a big "D." Still that is just between +ourselves. The point is that when we have a <i>consensus</i> of opinion, when +we have this common counsel, then the legislative processes of this +Government will be infinitely illuminated.</p> + +<p>I used to wonder when I was Governor of one of the States of this great +country where all the bills came from. Some of them had a very private +complexion. I found upon inquiry—it was easy to find—that practically +nine-tenths of the bills that were introduced had been handed to the +members who introduced them by some constituent of theirs, had been +drawn up by some lawyer whom they might or might not know, and were +intended to do something that would be beneficial to a particular set of +persons. I do not mean, necessarily, beneficial in a way that would be +hurtful to the rest; they may have been perfectly honest, but they came +out of cubby-holes all over the State. They did not come out of public +places where men had got together and compared views. They were not the +products of common counsel, but the products of private counsel, a very +necessary process if there is no other, but a process which it would be +a very happy thing to dispense with if we could get another. And the +only other process is the process of common counsel.</p> + +<p>Some of the happiest experiences of my life have been like this. We had +once when I was president of a university to revise the whole course of +study.<a name="FNanchor_G_7" id="FNanchor_G_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_7" class="fnanchor">[G]</a> Courses of study are chronically in need of revision. A +committee of, I believe, fourteen men was directed by the faculty of the +university to report a revised curriculum. Naturally, the men who had +the most ideas on the subject were picked out and, naturally, each man +came with a very definite notion of the kind of revision he wanted, and +one of the first discoveries we made was that no two of us wanted +exactly the same revision. I went in there with all my war paint on to +get the revision I wanted, and I dare say, though it was perhaps more +skillfully concealed, the other men had their war paint on, too. We +discussed the matter for six months. The result was a report which no +one of us had conceived or foreseen, but with which we were all +absolutely satisfied. There was not a man who had not learned in that +committee more than he had ever known before about the subject, and who +had not willingly revised his prepossessions; who was not proud to be a +participant in a genuine piece of common counsel. I have had several +experiences of that sort, and it has led me, whenever I confer, to hold +my particular opinion provisionally, as my contribution to go into the +final result but not to dominate the final result.</p> + +<p>That is the ideal of a government like ours, and an interesting thing is +that if you only talk about an idea that will not work long enough, +everybody will see perfectly plainly that it will not work; whereas, if +you do not talk about it, and do not have a great many people talk about +it, you are in danger of having the people who handle it think that it +will work. Many minds are necessary to compound a workable method of +life in a various and populous country; and as I think about the whole +thing and picture the purposes, the infinitely difficult and complex +purposes which we must conceive and carry out, not only does it +minister to my own modesty, I hope, of opinion, but it also fills me +with a very great enthusiasm. It is a splendid thing to be part of a +great wide-awake Nation. It is a splendid thing to know that your own +strength is infinitely multiplied by the strength of other men who love +the country as you do. It is a splendid thing to feel that the wholesome +blood of a great country can be united in common purposes, and that by +frankly looking one another in the face and taking counsel with one +another, prejudices will drop away, handsome understandings will arise, +a universal spirit of service will be engendered, and that with this +increased sense of community of purpose will come a vastly enhanced +individual power of achievement; for we will be lifted by the whole mass +of which we constitute a part.</p> + +<p>Have you never heard a great chorus of trained voices lift the voice of +the prima donna as if it soared with easy grace above the whole +melodious sound? It does not seem to come from the single throat that +produces it. It seems as if it were the perfect accent and crown of the +great chorus. So it ought to be with the statesman. So it ought to be +with every man who tries to guide the counsels of a great nation. He +should feel that his voice is lifted upon the chorus and that it is only +the crown of the common theme.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="TO_NATURALIZED_CITIZENS" id="TO_NATURALIZED_CITIZENS"></a>TO NATURALIZED CITIZENS</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[Address delivered at Convention Hall, Philadelphia, May 10, 1915. The +audience included four thousand newly naturalized citizens. This speech +attracted great attention because in it no reference was made to the +sinking of the "Lusitania," three days before.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Mayor, Fellow-Citizens:</span></p> + +<p>It warms my heart that you should give me such a reception; but it is +not of myself that I wish to think to-night, but of those who have just +become citizens of the United States.</p> + +<p>This is the only country in the world which experiences this constant +and repeated rebirth. Other countries depend upon the multiplication of +their own native people. This country is constantly drinking strength +out of new sources by the voluntary association with it of great bodies +of strong men and forward-looking women out of other lands. And so by +the gift of the free will of independent people it is being constantly +renewed from generation to generation by the same process by which it +was originally created. It is as if humanity had determined to see to it +that this great Nation, founded for the benefit of humanity, should not +lack for the allegiance of the people of the world.</p> + +<p>You have just taken an oath of allegiance to the United States. Of +allegiance to whom? Of allegiance to no one, unless it be God—certainly +not of allegiance to those who temporarily represent this great +Government. You have taken an oath of allegiance to a great ideal, to a +great body of principles, to a great hope of the human race. You have +said, "We are going to America not only to earn a living, not only to +seek the things which it was more difficult to obtain where we were +born, but to help forward the great enterprises of the human spirit—to +let men know that everywhere in the world there are men who will cross +strange oceans and go where a speech is spoken which is alien to them if +they can but satisfy their quest for what their spirits crave; knowing +that whatever the speech there is but one longing and utterance of the +human heart, and that is for liberty and justice." And while you bring +all countries with you, you come with a purpose of leaving all other +countries behind you—bringing what is best of their spirit, but not +looking over your shoulders and seeking to perpetuate what you intended +to leave behind in them. I certainly would not be one even to suggest +that a man cease to love the home of his birth and the nation of his +origin—these things are very sacred and ought not to be put out of our +hearts—but it is one thing to love the place where you were born and it +is another thing to dedicate yourself to the place to which you go. You +cannot dedicate yourself to America unless you become in every respect +and with every purpose of your will thorough Americans. You cannot +become thorough Americans if you think of yourselves in groups. America +does not consist of groups. A man who thinks of himself as belonging to +a particular national group in America has not yet become an American, +and the man who goes among you to trade upon your nationality is no +worthy son to live under the Stars and Stripes.</p> + +<p>My urgent advice to you would be, not only always to think first of +America, but always, also, to think first of humanity. You do not love +humanity if you seek to divide humanity into jealous camps. Humanity can +be welded together only by love, by sympathy, by justice, not by +jealousy and hatred. I am sorry for the man who seeks to make personal +capital out of the passions of his fellow-men. He has lost the touch +and ideal of America, for America was created to unite mankind by those +passions which lift and not by the passions which separate and debase. +We came to America, either ourselves or in the persons of our ancestors, +to better the ideals of men, to make them see finer things than they had +seen before, to get rid of the things that divide and to make sure of +the things that unite. It was but an historical accident no doubt that +this great country was called the "United States"; yet I am very +thankful that it has that word "United" in its title, and the man who +seeks to divide man from man, group from group, interest from interest +in this great Union is striking at its very heart.</p> + +<p>It is a very interesting circumstance to me, in thinking of those of you +who have just sworn allegiance to this great Government, that you were +drawn across the ocean by some beckoning finger of hope, by some belief, +by some vision of a new kind of justice, by some expectation of a better +kind of life. No doubt you have been disappointed in some of us. Some of +us are very disappointing. No doubt you have found that justice in the +United States goes only with a pure heart and a right purpose as it does +everywhere else in the world. No doubt what you found here did not seem +touched for you, after all, with the complete beauty of the ideal which +you had conceived beforehand. But remember this: If we had grown at all +poor in the ideal, you brought some of it with you. A man does not go +out to seek the thing that is not in him. A man does not hope for the +thing that he does not believe in, and if some of us have forgotten what +America believed in, you, at any rate, imported in your own hearts a +renewal of the belief. That is the reason that I, for one, make you +welcome. If I have in any degree forgotten what America was intended +for, I will thank God if you will remind me. I was born in America. You +dreamed dreams of what America was to be, and I hope you brought the +dreams with you. No man that does not see visions will ever realize any +high hope or undertake any high enterprise. Just because you brought +dreams with you, America is more likely to realize dreams such as you +brought. You are enriching us if you came expecting us to be better than +we are.</p> + +<p>See, my friends, what that means. It means that Americans must have a +consciousness different from the consciousness of every other nation in +the world. I am not saying this with even the slightest thought of +criticism of other nations. You know how it is with a family. A family +gets centered on itself if it is not careful and is less interested in +the neighbors than it is in its own members. So a nation that is not +constantly renewed out of new sources is apt to have the narrowness and +prejudice of a family; whereas, America must have this consciousness, +that on all sides it touches elbows and touches hearts with all the +nations of mankind. The example of America must be a special example. +The example of America must be the example not merely of peace because +it will not fight, but of peace because peace is the healing and +elevating influence of the world and strife is not. There is such a +thing as a man being too proud to fight. There is such a thing as a +nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force +that it is right.</p> + +<p>You have come into this great Nation voluntarily seeking something that +we have to give, and all that we have to give is this: We cannot exempt +you from work. No man is exempt from work anywhere in the world. We +cannot exempt you from the strife and the heartbreaking burden of the +struggle of the day—that is common to mankind everywhere; we cannot +exempt you from the loads that you must carry. We can only make them +light by the spirit in which they are carried. That is the spirit of +hope, it is the spirit of liberty, it is the spirit of justice.</p> + +<p>When I was asked, therefore, by the Mayor and the committee that +accompanied him to come up from Washington to meet this great company of +newly admitted citizens, I could not decline the invitation. I ought not +to be away from Washington, and yet I feel that it has renewed my spirit +as an American to be here. In Washington men tell you so many things +every day that are not so, and I like to come and stand in the presence +of a great body of my fellow-citizens, whether they have been +fellow-citizens a long time or a short time, and drink, as it were, out +of the common fountains with them and go back feeling what you have so +generously given me—the sense of your support and of the living +vitality in your hearts of the great ideals which have made America the +hope of the world.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ADDRESS_AT_MILWAUKEE" id="ADDRESS_AT_MILWAUKEE"></a>ADDRESS AT MILWAUKEE</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[Between January 27 and February 3, 1916, President Wilson made a series +of speeches in New York, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Chicago, Des +Moines, Topeka, Kansas City, and St. Louis. The address made at +Milwaukee, on January 31, has been chosen as representing the general +tenor and spirit of the whole series.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Chairman And Fellow-Citizens:</span></p> + +<p>I need not inquire whether the citizens of Milwaukee and Wisconsin are +interested in the subject of my errand. The presence of this great body +in this vast hall sufficiently attests your interest, but I want at the +outset to remove a misapprehension that I fear may exist in your mind. +There is no sudden crisis; nothing new has happened; I am not out upon +this errand because of any unexpected situation. I have come to confer +with you upon a matter upon which it would, in any circumstances, be +necessary for us to confer when all the rest of the world is on fire and +our own house is not fireproof. Everywhere the atmosphere of the world +is thrilling with the passion of a disturbance such as the world has +never seen before, and it is wise, in the words just uttered by your +chairman, that we should see that our own house is set in order and that +everything is done to make certain that we shall not suffer by the +general conflagration.</p> + +<p>There were some dangers to which this Nation seemed at the outset of the +war to be exposed, which, I think I can say with confidence, are now +passed and overcome. America has drawn her blood and her strength out of +almost all the nations of the world. It is true of a great many of us +that there lies deep in our hearts the recollection of an origin which +is not American. We are aware that our roots, our traditions, run back +into other national soils. There are songs that stir us; there are some +far-away historical recollections which engage our affections and stir +our memories. We cannot forget our forbears; we cannot altogether ignore +the fact of our essential blood relationship; and at the outset of this +war it did look as if there were a division of domestic sentiment which +might lead us to some errors of judgment and some errors of action; but +I, for one, believe that that danger is passed. I never doubted that the +danger was exaggerated, because I had learned long ago, and many of you +will corroborate me by your experience, that it is not the men who are +doing the talking always who represent the real sentiments of the +Nation. I for my part always feel a serene confidence in waiting for the +declaration of the principles and sentiments of the men who are not +vociferous, do not go about seeking to make trouble, do their own +thinking, attend to their own business, and love their own country.</p> + +<p>I have at no time supposed that the men whose voices seemed to contain +the threat of division amongst us were really uttering the sentiments +even of those whom they pretended to represent. I for my part have no +jealousy of family sentiment. I have no jealousy of that deep affection +which runs back through long lineage. It would be a pity if we forget +the fine things that our ancestors have done. But I also know the magic +of America; I also know the great principles which thrill men in the +singular body politic to which we belong in the United States. I know +the impulses which have drawn men to our shores. They have not come +idly; they have not come without conscious purpose to be free; they have +not come without voluntary desire to unite themselves with the great +nation on this side of the sea; and I know that whenever the test comes +every man's heart will be first for America. It was principle and +affection and ambition and hope that drew men to these shores, and they +are not going to forget the errand upon which they came and allow +America, the home of their refuge and hope, to suffer by any +forgetfulness on their part. And so the trouble makers have shot their +bolt, and it has been ineffectual. Some of them have been vociferous; +all of them have been exceedingly irresponsible. Talk was cheap, and +that was all it cost them. They did not have to do anything. But you +will know without my telling you that the man whom for the time being +you have charged with the duties of President of the United States must +talk with a deep sense of responsibility, and he must remember, above +all things else, the fine traditions of his office which some men seem +to have forgotten. There is no precedent in American history for any +action of aggression on the part of the United States or for any action +which might mean that America is seeking to connect herself with the +controversies on the other side of the water. Men who seek to provoke us +to such action have forgotten the traditions of the United States, but +it behooves those with whom you have entrusted office to remember the +traditions of the United States and to see to it that the actions of the +Government are made to square with those traditions.</p> + +<p>But there are other dangers, my fellow-citizens, which are not past and +which have not been overcome, and they are dangers which we cannot +control. We can control irresponsible talkers amidst ourselves. All we +have got to do is to encourage them to hire a hall and their folly will +be abundantly advertised by themselves. But we cannot in this simple +fashion control the dangers that surround us now and have surrounded us +since this titanic struggle on the other side of the water began. I say +on the other side of the water; you will ask me, "On the other side of +which water," for this great struggle has extended to all quarters of +the globe. There is no continent outside, I was about to say, of this +Western Hemisphere which is not touched with it, but I recollected as I +began the sentence that a part of our own continent was touched with it, +because it involves our neighbors to the north in Canada. There is no +part of the world, except South America, to which the direct influences +of this struggle have not extended, so that now we are completely +surrounded by this tremendous disturbance and you must realize what that +involves.</p> + +<p>Our thoughts are concentrated upon our own affairs and our own relations +to the rest of the world, but the thoughts of the men who are engaged in +this struggle are concentrated upon the struggle itself, and there is +daily and hourly danger that they will feel themselves constrained to do +things which are absolutely inconsistent with the rights of the United +States. They are not thinking of us. I am not criticising them for not +thinking of us. I dare say if I were in their place neither would I +think of us. They believe that they are struggling for the lives and +honor of their nations, and that if the United States puts its interests +in the path of this great struggle, she ought to know beforehand that +there is danger of very serious misunderstanding and difficulty. So that +the very uncalculating, unpremeditated, one might almost say accidental, +course of affairs may touch us to the quick at any moment, and I want +you to realize that, standing in the midst of these difficulties, I feel +that I am charged with a double duty of the utmost difficulty. In the +first place, I know that you are depending upon me to keep this Nation +out of the war. So far I have done so, and I pledge you my word that, +God helping me, I will if it is possible. But you have laid another duty +upon me. You have bidden me to see it that nothing stains or impairs +the honor of the United States, and that is a matter not within my +control; that depends upon what others do, not upon what the Government +of the United States does. Therefore there may at any moment come a time +when I cannot preserve both the honor and the peace of the United +States. Do not exact of me an impossible and contradictory thing, but +stand ready and insistent that everybody who represents you should stand +ready to provide the necessary means for maintaining the honor of the +United States.</p> + +<p>I sometimes think that it is true that no people ever went to war with +another people. Governments have gone to war with one another. Peoples, +so far as I remember, have not, and this is a government of the people, +and this people is not going to choose war. But we are not dealing with +people; we are dealing with Governments. We are dealing with Governments +now engaged in a great struggle, and therefore we do not know what a day +or an hour will bring forth. All that we know is the character of our +own duty. We do not want the question of peace and war, or the conduct +of war, entrusted too entirely to our Government. We want war, if it +must come, to be something that springs out of the sentiments and +principles and actions of the people themselves; and it is on that +account that I am counseling the Congress of the United States not to +take the advice of those who recommend that we should have, and have +very soon, a great standing Army, but, on the contrary, to see to it +that the citizens of this country are so trained and that the military +equipment is so sufficiently provided for them that when they choose +they can take up arms and defend themselves.</p> + +<p>The Constitution of the United States makes the President the Commander +in Chief of the Army and Navy of the Nation, but I do not want a big +Army subject to my personal command. If danger comes, I want to turn to +you and the rest of my fellow-countrymen and say, "Men, are you ready?" +and I know what the response will be. I know that there will spring up +out of the body of the Nation a great host of free men, and I want those +men not to be mere targets for shot and shell. I want them to know +something of the arms they have in their hands. I want them to know +something about how to guard against the diseases that creep into camps, +where men are unaccustomed to live. I want them to know something of +what the orders mean that they will be under when they enlist under arms +for the Government of the United States. I want them to be men who can +comprehend and easily and intelligently step into the duty of national +defense. That is the reason that I am urging upon the Congress of the +United States at any rate the beginnings of a system by which we may +give a very considerable body of our fellow-citizens the necessary +training.</p> + +<p>I have not forgotten the great National Guard of this country, but in +this country of 100,000,000 people there are only 129,000 men in the +National Guard; and the National Guard, fine as it is, is not subject to +the orders of the President of the United States. It is subject to the +orders of the Governors of the several States, and the Constitution +itself says that the President has no right to withdraw them from their +States even, except in the case of actual invasion of the soil of the +United States. I want the Congress of the United States to do a great +deal for the National Guard, but I do not see how the Congress of the +United States can put the National Guard at the disposal of the national +authorities. Therefore it seems to me absolutely necessary that in +addition to the National Guard there should be a considerable body of +men with some training in the military art who will have pledged +themselves to come at the call of the Nation.</p> + +<p>I have been told by those who have a greater knack at guessing +statistics than I have that there are probably several million men in +the United States who, either in this country or in other countries from +which they have come to the United States, have received training in +arms. It may be; I do not know, and I suspect that they do not either, +but even if it be true, these men are not subject to the call of the +Federal Government. They would have to be found; they would have to be +induced to enlist; they would have to be organized; their numbers are +indefinite; and they would have to be equipped. Such are not the +materials which we need. We want to know who these men are and where +they are and to have everything ready for them if they should come to +our assistance. For we have now got down, not to the sentiment of +national defense, but to the business of national defense. It is a +business proposition and it must be treated as such. And there are +abundant precedents for the proposals which have been made to the +Congress. Even that arch-Democrat, Thomas Jefferson, believed that there +ought to be compulsory military training for the adult men of the +Nation, because he believed, as every true believer in democracy +believes, that it is upon the voluntary action of the men of a great +Nation like this that it must depend for its military force.</p> + +<p>There is another misapprehension that I want to remove from your minds: +Do not think that I have come to talk to you about these things because +I doubt whether they are going to be done or not. I do not doubt it for +a moment, but I believe that when great things of this sort are going to +be done the people of this country are entitled to know just what is +being proposed. As a friend of mine says, I am not arguing with you; I +am telling you. I am not trying to convert you to anything, because I +know that in your hearts you are converted already, but I want you to +know the motives of what is proposed and the character of what is +proposed, in order that we should have only one attitude and counsel +with regard to this great matter.</p> + +<p>It is being very sedulously spread abroad in this country that the +impulse back of all this is the desire of men who make the materials of +warfare to get money out of the Treasury of the United States. I wish +the people that say that could see meetings like this. Did you come here +for that purpose? Did you come here because you are interested to see +some of your fellow-citizens make money out of the present situation? Of +course you did not. I am ready to admit that probably the equipment of +those men whom we are training will have to be bought from somebody, and +I know that if the equipment is bought, it will have to be paid for; and +I dare say somebody will make some money out of it. It is also true, +ladies and gentlemen, that there are men now, a great many men, in the +belligerent countries who are growing rich out of the sale of the +materials needed by the armies of those countries. If the Government +itself does not manufacture everything that an army needs, somebody has +got to make money out of it, and I for my part have been urging the +Congress of the United States to make the necessary preparations by +which the Government can manufacture armor plate and munitions, so that, +being in the business itself and having the ability to manufacture all +it needs, if it is put upon a business basis, it can at any rate keep +the price that it pays within moderate and reasonable limits. The +Government of the United States is not going to be imposed upon by +anybody, and you may rest assured, therefore, that while I believe you +prefer that private capital and private initiative should bestir +themselves in these matters, it is also possible, and I assure you that +it is most likely, that the Government of the United States will have +adequate means of controlling this matter very thoroughly indeed. There +need be no fear on that side. Let nobody suppose that this is a +money-making agitation. I would for one be ashamed to be such a dupe as +to be engaged in it if it had any suspicion of that about it, but I am +not as innocent as I look; and I believe that I can say for my +colleagues in Washington that they are just as watchful in such matters +as you would desire them to be.</p> + +<p>And there is another misapprehension that I do not wish you to +entertain. Do not suppose that there is any new or sudden or recent +inadequacy on the part of this Government in respect of preparation for +national defense. I have heard some gentlemen say that we had no coast +defenses worth talking about. Coast defenses are not nowadays +advertised, you understand, and they are not visible to the naked eye, +so that if you passed them and nothing exploded, you would not know they +were there. The coast defenses of the United States, while not numerous +enough, are equipped in the most modern and efficient fashion. You are +told that there has been some sort of neglect about the Navy. There has +not been any sort of neglect about the Navy. We have been slowly +building up a Navy which in quality is second to no navy in the world. +The only thing it lacks is quantity. In size it is the fourth navy in +the world, though I have heard it said by some gentlemen in this very +region that it was the second. In fighting force, though not in quality, +it is reckoned by experts to be the fourth in rank in the world; and yet +when I go on board those ships and see their equipment and talk with +their officers I suspect that they could give an account of themselves +which would raise them above the fourth class. It reminds me of that +very quaint saying of the old darky preacher, "The Lord says unto Moses, +come fourth, and he came fifth and lost the race." But I think this Navy +would not come fourth in the race, but higher.</p> + +<p>What we are proposing now is not the sudden creation of a Navy, for we +have a splendid Navy, but the definite working out of a program by which +within five years we shall bring the Navy to a fighting strength which +otherwise might have taken eight or ten years; along exactly the same +lines of development that have been followed and followed diligently and +intelligently for at least a decade past. There is no sudden panic, +there is no sudden change of plan; all that has happened is that we now +see that we ought more rapidly and more thoroughly than ever before to +do the things which have always been characteristic of America. For she +has always been proud of her Navy and has always been addicted to the +principle that her citizenship must do the fighting on land. We are +working out American principle a little faster, because American pulses +are beating a little faster, because the world is in a whirl, because +there are incalculable elements of trouble abroad which we cannot +control or alter. I would be derelict to the duty which you have laid +upon me if I did not tell you that it was absolutely necessary to carry +out our principles in this matter now and at once.</p> + +<p>And yet all the time, my fellow-citizens, I believe that in these things +we are merely interpreting the spirit of America. Who shall say what the +spirit of America is? I have many times heard orators apostrophize this +beautiful flag which is the emblem of the Nation. I have many times +heard orators and philosophers speak of the spirit which was resident in +America. I have always for my own part felt that it was an act of +audacity to attempt to characterize anything of that kind, and when I +have been outside of the country in foreign lands and have been asked if +this, that, or the other was true of America I have habitually said, +"Nothing stated in general terms is true of America, because it is the +most variegated and varied and multiform land under the sun." Yet I know +that if you turn away from the physical aspects of the country, if you +turn away from the variety of the strains of blood that make up our +great population, if you turn away from the great variations of +occupation and of interest among our fellow-citizens, there is a +spiritual unity in America. I know that there are some things which stir +every heart in America, no matter what the racial derivation or the +local environment, and one of the things that stirs every American is +the love of individual liberty. We do not stand for occupations. We do +not stand for material interests. We do not stand for any narrow +conception even of political institutions; but we do stand for this, +that we are banded together in America to see to it that no man shall +serve any master who is not of his own choosing. And we have been very +liberal and generous about this idea. We have seen great peoples, for +the most part not of the same blood with ourselves, to the south of us +build up polities in which this same idea pulsed and was regnant, this +idea of free institutions and individual liberty, and when we have seen +hands reached across the water from older political polities to +interfere with the development of free institutions on the Western +Hemisphere we have said: "No; we are the champions of the freedom of +popular sovereignty wherever it displays or exercises itself throughout +both Americas." We are the champions of a particular sort of freedom, +the sort of freedom which is the only foundation and guarantee of +peace.</p> + +<p>Peace lies in the hearts of great industrial and agricultural +populations, and we have arranged a government on this side of the water +by which their preferences and their predilections and their interests +are the mainsprings of government itself. And so when we prepare for +national defense we prepare for national political integrity; we prepare +to take care of the great ideals which gave birth to this Government; we +are going back in spirit and in energy to those great first generations +in America, when men banded themselves together, though they were but a +handful upon a single coast of the Atlantic, to set up in the world the +standards which have ever since floated everywhere that Americans +asserted the power of their Government. As I came along the line of the +railway to-day, I was touched to observe that everywhere, upon every +railway station, upon every house, where a flag could be procured, some +temporary standard had been raised from which there floated the stars +and stripes. They seemed to have divined the errand upon which I had +come, to remind you that we must subordinate every individual interest +and every local interest to assert once more, if it should be necessary +to assert them, the great principles for which that flag stands.</p> + +<p>Do not deceive yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, as to where the colors +of that flag came from. Those lines of red are lines of blood, nobly and +unselfishly shed by men who loved the liberty of their fellow-men more +than they loved their own lives and fortunes. God forbid that we should +have to use the blood of America to freshen the color of that flag; but +if it should ever be necessary again to assert the majesty and integrity +of those ancient and honorable principles, that flag will be colored +once more, and in being colored will be glorified and purified.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_SUBMARINE_QUESTION" id="THE_SUBMARINE_QUESTION"></a>THE SUBMARINE QUESTION</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[Address delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, +April 19, 1916.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen of the Congress:</span></p> + +<p>A situation has arisen in the foreign relations of the country of which +it is my plain duty to inform you very frankly.</p> + +<p>It will be recalled that in February, 1915, the Imperial German +Government announced its intention to treat the waters surrounding Great +Britain and Ireland as embraced within the seat of war and to destroy +all merchant ships owned by its enemies that might be found within any +part of that portion of the high seas, and that it warned all vessels, +of neutral as well as of belligerent ownership, to keep out of the +waters it had thus proscribed or else enter them at their peril. The +Government of the United States earnestly protested. It took the +position that such a policy could not be pursued without the practical +certainty of gross and palpable violations of the law of nations, +particularly if submarine craft were to be employed as its instruments, +inasmuch as the rules prescribed by that law, rules founded upon +principles of humanity and established for the protection of the lives +of non-combatants at sea, could not in the nature of the case be +observed by such vessels. It based its protest on the ground that +persons of neutral nationality and vessels of neutral ownership would be +exposed to extreme and intolerable risks, and that no right to close any +part of the high seas against their use or to expose them to such risks +could lawfully be asserted by any belligerent government. The law of +nations in these matters, upon which the Government of the United States +based its protest, is not of recent origin or founded upon merely +arbitrary principles set up by convention. It is based, on the contrary, +upon manifest and imperative principles of humanity and has long been +established with the approval and by the express assent of all civilized +nations.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the earnest protest of our Government, the Imperial +German Government at once proceeded to carry out the policy it had +announced. It expressed the hope that the dangers involved, at any rate +the dangers to neutral vessels, would be reduced to a minimum by the +instructions which it had issued to its submarine commanders, and +assured the Government of the United States that it would take every +possible precaution both to respect the rights of neutrals and to +safeguard the lives of non-combatants.</p> + +<p>What has actually happened in the year which has since elapsed has shown +that those hopes were not justified, those assurances insusceptible of +being fulfilled. In pursuance of the policy of submarine warfare against +the commerce of its adversaries, thus announced and entered upon by the +Imperial German Government in despite of the solemn protest of this +Government, the commanders of German undersea vessels have attacked +merchant ships with greater and greater activity, not only upon the high +seas surrounding Great Britain and Ireland but wherever they could +encounter them, in a way that has grown more and more ruthless, more and +more indiscriminate as the months have gone by, less and less observant +of restraints of any kind; and have delivered their attacks without +compunction against vessels of every nationality and bound upon every +sort of errand. Vessels of neutral ownership, even vessels of neutral +ownership bound from neutral port to neutral port, have been destroyed +along with vessels of belligerent ownership in constantly increasing +numbers. Sometimes the merchantman attacked has been warned and summoned +to surrender before being fired on or torpedoed; sometimes passengers or +crews have been vouchsafed the poor security of being allowed to take to +the ship's boats before she was sent to the bottom. But again and again +no warning has been given, no escape even to the ship's boats allowed to +those on board. What this Government foresaw must happen has happened. +Tragedy has followed tragedy on the seas in such fashion, with such +attendant circumstances, as to make it grossly evident that warfare of +such a sort, if warfare it be, cannot be carried on without the most +palpable violation of the dictates alike of right and of humanity. +Whatever the disposition and intention of the Imperial German +Government, it has manifestly proved impossible for it to keep such +methods of attack upon the commerce of its enemies within the bounds set +by either the reason or the heart of mankind.</p> + +<p>In February of the present year the Imperial German Government informed +this Government and the other neutral governments of the world that it +had reason to believe that the Government of Great Britain had armed all +merchant vessels of British ownership and had given them secret orders +to attack any submarine of the enemy they might encounter upon the seas, +and that the Imperial German Government felt justified in the +circumstances in treating all armed merchantmen of belligerent ownership +as auxiliary vessels of war, which it would have the right to destroy +without warning. The law of nations has long recognized the right of +merchantmen to carry arms for protection and to use them to repel +attack, though to use them, in such circumstances, at their own risk; +but the Imperial German Government claimed the right to set these +understandings aside in circumstances which it deemed extraordinary. +Even the terms in which it announced its purpose thus still further to +relax the restraints it had previously professed its willingness and +desire to put upon the operations of its submarines carried the plain +implication that at least vessels which were not armed would still be +exempt from destruction without warning and that personal safety would +be accorded their passengers and crews; but even that limitation, if it +was ever practicable to observe it, has in fact constituted no check at +all upon the destruction of ships of every sort.</p> + +<p>Again and again the Imperial German Government has given this Government +its solemn assurances that at least passenger ships would not be thus +dealt with, and yet it has again and again permitted its undersea +commanders to disregard those assurances with entire impunity. Great +liners like the <i>Lusitania</i> and the <i>Arabic</i> and mere ferryboats like +the <i>Sussex</i> have been attacked without a moment's warning, sometimes +before they had even become aware that they were in the presence of an +armed vessel of the enemy, and the lives of non-combatants, passengers +and crew, have been sacrificed wholesale, in a manner which the +Government of the United States cannot but regard as wanton and without +the slightest color of justification. No limit of any kind has in fact +been set to the indiscriminate pursuit and destruction of merchantmen of +all kinds and nationalities within the waters, constantly extending in +area, where these operations have been carried on; and the roll of +Americans who have lost their lives on ships thus attacked and destroyed +has grown month by month until the ominous toll has mounted into the +hundreds.</p> + +<p>One of the latest and most shocking instances of this method of warfare +was that of the destruction of the French cross-Channel steamer +<i>Sussex</i>. It must stand forth, as the sinking of the steamer <i>Lusitania</i> +did, as so singularly tragical and unjustifiable as to constitute a +truly terrible example of the inhumanity of submarine warfare as the +commanders of German vessels have for the past twelvemonth been +conducting it. If this instance stood alone, some explanation, some +disavowal by the German Government, some evidence of criminal mistake or +wilful disobedience on the part of the commander of the vessel that +fired the torpedo might be sought or entertained; but unhappily it does +not stand alone. Recent events make the conclusion inevitable that it is +only one instance, even though it be one of the most extreme and +distressing instances, of the spirit and method of warfare which the +Imperial German Government has mistakenly adopted, and which from the +first exposed that Government to the reproach of thrusting all neutral +rights aside in pursuit of its immediate objects.</p> + +<p>The Government of the United States has been very patient. At every +stage of this distressing experience of tragedy after tragedy in which +its own citizens were involved it has sought to be restrained from any +extreme course of action or of protest by a thoughtful consideration of +the extraordinary circumstances of this unprecedented war, and actuated +in all that it said or did by the sentiments of genuine friendship which +the people of the United States have always entertained and continue to +entertain towards the German nation. It has of course accepted the +successive explanations and assurances of the Imperial German Government +as given in entire sincerity and good faith, and has hoped, even against +hope, that it would prove to be possible for the German Government so to +order and control the acts of its naval commanders as to square its +policy with the principles of humanity as embodied in the law of +nations. It has been willing to wait until the significance of the facts +became absolutely unmistakable and susceptible of but one +interpretation.</p> + +<p>That point has now unhappily been reached. The facts are susceptible of +but one interpretation. The Imperial German Government has been unable +to put any limits or restraints upon its warfare against either freight +or passenger ships. It has therefore become painfully evident that the +position which this Government took at the very outset is inevitable, +namely, that the use of submarines for the destruction of an enemy's +commerce is of necessity, because of the very character of the vessels +employed and the very methods of attack which their employment of course +involves, incompatible with the principles of humanity, the long +established and incontrovertible rights of neutrals, and the sacred +immunities of non-combatants.</p> + +<p>I have deemed it my duty, therefore, to say to the Imperial German +Government that if it is still its purpose to prosecute relentless and +indiscriminate warfare against vessels of commerce by the use of +submarines, notwithstanding the now demonstrated impossibility of +conducting that warfare in accordance with what the Government of the +United States must consider the sacred and indisputable rules of +international law and the universally recognized dictates of humanity, +the Government of the United States is at last forced to the conclusion +that there is but one course it can pursue; and that unless the Imperial +German Government should now immediately declare and effect an +abandonment of its present methods of warfare against passenger and +freight carrying vessels this Government can have no choice but to sever +diplomatic relations with the Government of the German Empire +altogether.</p> + +<p>This decision I have arrived at with the keenest regret; the possibility +of the action contemplated I am sure all thoughtful Americans will look +forward to with unaffected reluctance. But we cannot forget that we are +in some sort and by the force of circumstances the responsible spokesmen +of the rights of humanity, and that we cannot remain silent while those +rights seem in process of being swept utterly away in the maelstrom of +this terrible war. We owe it to a due regard for our own rights as a +nation, to our sense of duty as a representative of the rights of +neutrals the world over, and to a just conception of the rights of +mankind to take this stand now with the utmost solemnity and firmness.</p> + +<p>I have taken it, and taken it in the confidence that it will meet with +your approval and support. All sober-minded men must unite in hoping +that the Imperial German Government, which has in other circumstances +stood as the champion of all that we are now contending for in the +interest of humanity, may recognize the justice of our demands and meet +them in the spirit in which they are made.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="AMERICAN_PRINCIPLES" id="AMERICAN_PRINCIPLES"></a>AMERICAN PRINCIPLES</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[Address delivered at the First Annual Assemblage of the League to +Enforce Peace, May 27, 1916.]</p> + + +<p>When the invitation to be here to-night came to me, I was glad to accept +it,—not because it offered me an opportunity to discuss the program of +the League,—that you will, I am sure, not expect of me,—but because +the desire of the whole world now turns eagerly, more and more eagerly, +towards the hope of peace, and there is just reason why we should take +our part in counsel upon this great theme. It is right that I, as +spokesman of our Government, should attempt to give expression to what I +believe to be the thought and purpose of the people of the United States +in this vital matter.</p> + +<p>This great war that broke so suddenly upon the world two years ago, and +which has swept within its flame so great a part of the civilized world, +has affected us very profoundly, and we are not only at liberty, it is +perhaps our duty, to speak very frankly of it and of the great interests +of civilization which it affects.</p> + +<p>With its causes and its objects we are not concerned. The obscure +fountains from which its stupendous flood has burst forth we are not +interested to search for or explore. But so great a flood, spread far +and wide to every quarter of the globe, has of necessity engulfed many a +fair province of right that lies very near to us. Our own rights as a +Nation, the liberties, the privileges, and the property of our people +have been profoundly affected. We are not mere disconnected lookers-on. +The longer the war lasts, the more deeply do we become concerned that +it should be brought to an end and the world be permitted to resume its +normal life and course again. And when it does come to an end we shall +be as much concerned as the nations at war to see peace assume an aspect +of permanence, give promise of days from which the anxiety of +uncertainty shall be lifted, bring some assurance that peace and war +shall always hereafter be reckoned part of the common interest of +mankind. We are participants, whether we would or not, in the life of +the world. The interests of all nations are our own also. We are +partners with the rest. What affects mankind is inevitably our affair as +well as the affair of the nations of Europe and of Asia.</p> + +<p>One observation on the causes of the present war we are at liberty to +make, and to make it may throw some light forward upon the future, as +well as backward upon the past. It is plain that this war could have +come only as it did, suddenly and out of secret counsels, without +warning to the world, without discussion, without any of the deliberate +movements of counsel with which it would seem natural to approach so +stupendous a contest. It is probable that if it had been foreseen just +what would happen, just what alliances would be formed, just what forces +arrayed against one another, those who brought the great contest on +would have been glad to substitute conference for force. If we ourselves +had been afforded some opportunity to apprise the belligerents of the +attitude which it would be our duty to take, of the policies and +practices against which we would feel bound to use all our moral and +economic strength, and in certain circumstances even our physical +strength also, our own contribution to the counsel which might have +averted the struggle would have been considered worth weighing and +regarding.</p> + +<p>And the lesson which the shock of being taken by surprise in a matter so +deeply vital to all the nations of the world has made poignantly clear +is, that the peace of the world must henceforth depend upon a new and +more wholesome diplomacy. Only when the great nations of the world have +reached some sort of agreement as to what they hold to be fundamental to +their common interest, and as to some feasible method of acting in +concert when any nation or group of nations seeks to disturb those +fundamental things, can we feel that civilization is at last in a way of +justifying its existence and claiming to be finally established. It is +clear that nations must in the future be governed by the same high code +of honor that we demand of individuals.</p> + +<p>We must, indeed, in the very same breath with which we avow this +conviction admit that we have ourselves upon occasion in the past been +offenders against the law of diplomacy which we thus forecast; but our +conviction is not the less clear, but rather the more clear, on that +account. If this war has accomplished nothing else for the benefit of +the world, it has at least disclosed a great moral necessity and set +forward the thinking of the statesmen of the world by a whole age. +Repeated utterances of the leading statesmen of most of the great +nations now engaged in war have made it plain that their thought has +come to this, that the principle of public right must henceforth take +precedence over the individual interests of particular nations, and that +the nations of the world must in some way band themselves together to +see that that right prevails as against any sort of selfish aggression; +that henceforth alliance must not be set up against alliance, +understanding against understanding, but that there must be a common +agreement for a common object, and that at the heart of that common +object must lie the inviolable rights of peoples and of mankind. The +nations of the world have become each other's neighbors. It is to their +interest that they should understand each other. In order that they may +understand each other, it is imperative that they should agree to +coöperate in a common cause, and that they should so act that the +guiding principle of that common cause shall be even-handed and +impartial justice.</p> + +<p>This is undoubtedly the thought of America. This is what we ourselves +will say when there comes proper occasion to say it. In the dealings of +nations with one another arbitrary force must be rejected and we must +move forward to the thought of the modern world, the thought of which +peace is the very atmosphere. That thought constitutes a chief part of +the passionate conviction of America.</p> + +<p>We believe these fundamental things: First, that every people has a +right to choose the sovereignty under which they shall live. Like other +nations, we have ourselves no doubt once and again offended against that +principle when for a little while controlled by selfish passion, as our +franker historians have been honorable enough to admit; but it has +become more and more our rule of life and action. Second, that the small +states of the world have a right to enjoy the same respect for their +sovereignty and for their territorial integrity that great and powerful +nations expect and insist upon. And, third, that the world has a right +to be free from every disturbance of its peace that has its origin in +aggression and disregard of the rights of peoples and nations.</p> + +<p>So sincerely do we believe in these things that I am sure that I speak +the mind and wish of the people of America when I say that the United +States is willing to become a partner in any feasible association of +nations formed in order to realize these objects and make them secure +against violation.</p> + +<p>There is nothing that the United States wants for itself that any other +nation has. We are willing, on the contrary, to limit ourselves along +with them to a prescribed course of duty and respect for the rights of +others which will check any selfish passion of our own, as it will check +any aggressive impulse of theirs.</p> + +<p>If it should ever be our privilege to suggest or initiate a movement for +peace among the nations now at war, I am sure that the people of the +United States would wish their Government to move along these lines: +First, such a settlement with regard to their own immediate interests as +the belligerents may agree upon. We have nothing material of any kind to +ask for ourselves, and are quite aware that we are in no sense or degree +parties to the present quarrel. Our interest is only in peace and its +future guarantees. Second, an universal association of the nations to +maintain the inviolate security of the highway of the seas for the +common and unhindered use of all the nations of the world, and to +prevent any war begun either contrary to treaty covenants or without +warning and full submission of the causes to the opinion of the +world,—a virtual guarantee of territorial integrity and political +independence.</p> + +<p>But I did not come here, let me repeat, to discuss a program. I came +only to avow a creed and give expression to the confidence I feel that +the world is even now upon the eve of a great consummation, when some +common force will be brought into existence which shall safeguard right +as the first and most fundamental interest of all peoples and all +governments, when coercion shall be summoned not to the service of +political ambition or selfish hostility, but to the service of a common +order, a common justice, and a common peace. God grant that the dawn of +that day of frank dealing and of settled peace, concord, and coöperation +may be near at hand!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_DEMANDS_OF_RAILWAY_EMPLOYEES" id="THE_DEMANDS_OF_RAILWAY_EMPLOYEES"></a>THE DEMANDS OF RAILWAY EMPLOYEES</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[Address delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, +August 29, 1916.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen of the Congress:</span></p> + +<p>I have come to you to seek your assistance in dealing with a very grave +situation which has arisen out of the demand of the employees of the +railroads engaged in freight train service that they be granted an +eight-hour working day, safeguarded by payment for an hour and a half of +service for every hour of work beyond the eight.</p> + +<p>The matter has been agitated for more than a year. The public has been +made familiar with the demands of the men and the arguments urged in +favor of them, and even more familiar with the objections of the +railroads and their counter demand that certain privileges now enjoyed +by their men and certain bases of payment worked out through many years +of contest be reconsidered, especially in their relation to the adoption +of an eight-hour day. The matter came some three weeks ago to a final +issue and resulted in a complete deadlock between the parties. The means +provided by law for the mediation of the controversy failed and the +means of arbitration for which the law provides were rejected. The +representatives of the railway executives proposed that the demands of +the men be submitted in their entirety to arbitration, along with +certain questions of readjustment as to pay and conditions of employment +which seemed to them to be either closely associated with the demands or +to call for reconsideration on their own merits; the men absolutely +declined arbitration, especially if any of their established privileges +were by that means to be drawn again in question. The law in the matter +put no compulsion upon them. The four hundred thousand men from whom the +demands proceeded had voted to strike if their demands were refused; the +strike was imminent; it has since been set for the fourth of September +next. It affects the men who man the freight trains on practically every +railway in the country. The freight service throughout the United States +must stand still until their places are filled, if, indeed, it should +prove possible to fill them at all. Cities will be cut off from their +food supplies, the whole commerce of the nation will be paralyzed, men +of every sort and occupation will be thrown out of employment, countless +thousands will in all likelihood be brought, it may be, to the very +point of starvation, and a tragical national calamity brought on, to be +added to the other distresses of the time, because no basis of +accommodation or settlement has been found.</p> + +<p>Just so soon as it became evident that mediation under the existing law +had failed and that arbitration had been rendered impossible by the +attitude of the men, I considered it my duty to confer with the +representatives of both the railways and the brotherhoods, and myself +offer mediation, not as an arbitrator, but merely as spokesman of the +nation, in the interest of justice, indeed, and as a friend of both +parties, but not as judge, only as the representative of one hundred +millions of men, women, and children who would pay the price, the +incalculable price, of loss and suffering should these few men insist +upon approaching and concluding the matters in controversy between them +merely as employers and employees, rather than as patriotic citizens of +the United States looking before and after and accepting the larger +responsibility which the public would put upon them.</p> + +<p>It seemed to me, in considering the subject-matter of the controversy, +that the whole spirit of the time and the preponderant evidence of +recent economic experience spoke for the eight-hour day. It has been +adjudged by the thought and experience of recent years a thing upon +which society is justified in insisting as in the interest of health, +efficiency, contentment, and a general increase of economic vigor. The +whole presumption of modern experience would, it seemed to me, be in its +favor, whether there was arbitration or not, and the debatable points to +settle were those which arose out of the acceptance of the eight-hour +day rather than those which affected its establishment. I, therefore, +proposed that the eight-hour day be adopted by the railway managements +and put into practice for the present as a substitute for the existing +ten-hour basis of pay and service; that I should appoint, with the +permission of the Congress, a small commission to observe the results of +the change, carefully studying the figures of the altered operating +costs, not only, but also the conditions of labor under which the men +worked and the operation of their existing agreements with the +railroads, with instructions to report the facts as they found them to +the Congress at the earliest possible day, but without recommendation; +and that, after the facts had been thus disclosed, an adjustment should +in some orderly manner be sought of all the matters now left unadjusted +between the railroad managers and the men.</p> + +<p>These proposals were exactly in line, it is interesting to note, with +the position taken by the Supreme Court of the United States when +appealed to to protect certain litigants from the financial losses which +they confidently expected if they should submit to the regulation of +their charges and of their methods of service by public legislation. The +Court has held that it would not undertake to form a judgment upon +forecasts, but could base its action only upon actual experience; that +it must be supplied with facts, not with calculations and opinions, +however scientifically attempted. To undertake to arbitrate the question +of the adoption of an eight-hour day in the light of results merely +estimated and predicted would be to undertake an enterprise of +conjecture. No wise man could undertake it, or, if he did undertake it, +could feel assured of his conclusions.</p> + +<p>I unhesitatingly offered the friendly services of the administration to +the railway managers to see to it that justice was done the railroads in +the outcome. I felt warranted in assuring them that no obstacle of law +would be suffered to stand in the way of their increasing their revenues +to meet the expenses resulting from the change so far as the development +of their business and of their administrative efficiency did not prove +adequate to meet them. The public and the representatives of the public, +I felt justified in assuring them, were disposed to nothing but justice +in such cases and were willing to serve those who served them.</p> + +<p>The representatives of the brotherhoods accepted the plan; but the +representatives of the railroads declined to accept it. In the face of +what I cannot but regard as the practical certainty that they will be +ultimately obliged to accept the eight-hour day by the concerted action +of organized labor, backed by the favorable judgment of society, the +representatives of the railway management have felt justified in +declining a peaceful settlement which would engage all the forces of +justice, public and private, on their side to take care of the event. +They fear the hostile influence of shippers, who would be opposed to an +increase of freight rates (for which, however, of course, the public +itself would pay); they apparently feel no confidence that the +Interstate Commerce Commission could withstand the objections that would +be made. They do not care to rely upon the friendly assurances of the +Congress or the President. They have thought it best that they should be +forced to yield, if they must yield, not by counsel, but by the +suffering of the country. While my conferences with them were in +progress, and when to all outward appearance those conferences had come +to a standstill, the representatives of the brotherhoods suddenly acted +and set the strike for the fourth of September.</p> + +<p>The railway managers based their decision to reject my counsel in this +matter upon their conviction that they must at any cost to themselves or +to the country stand firm for the principle of arbitration which the men +had rejected. I based my counsel upon the indisputable fact that there +was no means of obtaining arbitration. The law supplied none; earnest +efforts at mediation had failed to influence the men in the least. To +stand firm for the principle of arbitration and yet not get arbitration +seemed to me futile, and something more than futile, because it involved +incalculable distress to the country and consequences in some respects +worse than those of war, and that in the midst of peace.</p> + +<p>I yield to no man in firm adherence, alike of conviction and of purpose, +to the principle of arbitration in industrial disputes; but matters have +come to a sudden crisis in this particular dispute and the country had +been caught unprovided with any practicable means of enforcing that +conviction in practice (by whose fault we will not now stop to inquire). +A situation had to be met whose elements and fixed conditions were +indisputable. The practical and patriotic course to pursue, as it seemed +to me, was to secure immediate peace by conceding the one thing in the +demands of the men which society itself and any arbitrators who +represented public sentiment were most likely to approve, and +immediately lay the foundations for securing arbitration with regard to +everything else involved. The event has confirmed that judgment.</p> + +<p>I was seeking to compose the present in order to safeguard the future; +for I wished an atmosphere of peace and friendly coöperation in which to +take counsel with the representatives of the nation with regard to the +best means for providing, so far as it might prove possible to provide, +against the recurrence of such unhappy situations in the future,—the +best and most practicable means of securing calm and fair arbitration of +all industrial disputes in the days to come. This is assuredly the best +way of vindicating a principle, namely, having failed to make certain of +its observance in the present, to make certain of its observance in the +future.</p> + +<p>But I could only propose. I could not govern the will of others who took +an entirely different view of the circumstances of the case, who even +refused to admit the circumstances to be what they have turned out to +be.</p> + +<p>Having failed to bring the parties to this critical controversy to an +accommodation, therefore, I turn to you, deeming it clearly our duty as +public servants to leave nothing undone that we can do to safeguard the +life and interests of the nation. In the spirit of such a purpose, I +earnestly recommend the following legislation:</p> + +<p>First, immediate provision for the enlargement and administrative +reorganization of the Interstate Commerce Commission along the lines +embodied in the bill recently passed by the House of Representatives and +now awaiting action by the Senate; in order that the Commission may be +enabled to deal with the many great and various duties now devolving +upon it with a promptness and thoroughness which are with its present +constitution and means of action practically impossible.</p> + +<p>Second, the establishment of an eight-hour day as the legal basis alike +of work and of wages in the employment of all railway employees who are +actually engaged in the work of operating trains in interstate +transportation.</p> + +<p>Third, the authorization of the appointment by the President of a small +body of men to observe the actual results in experience of the adoption +of the eight-hour day in railway transportation alike for the men and +for the railroads; its effects in the matter of operating costs, in the +application of the existing practices and agreements to the new +conditions, and in all other practical aspects, with the provision that +the investigators shall report their conclusions to the Congress at the +earliest possible date, but without recommendation as to legislative +action; in order that the public may learn from an unprejudiced source +just what actual developments have ensued.</p> + +<p>Fourth, explicit approval by the Congress of the consideration by the +Interstate Commerce Commission of an increase of freight rates to meet +such additional expenditures by the railroads as may have been rendered +necessary by the adoption of the eight-hour day and which have not been +offset by administrative readjustments and economies, should the facts +disclosed justify the increase.</p> + +<p>Fifth, an amendment of the existing federal statute which provides for +the mediation, conciliation, and arbitration of such controversies as +the present by adding to it a provision that in case the methods of +accommodation now provided for should fail, a full public investigation +of the merits of every such dispute shall be instituted and completed +before a strike or lockout may lawfully be attempted.</p> + +<p>And, sixth, the lodgment in the hands of the Executive of the power, in +case of military necessity, to take control of such portions and such +rolling stock of the railways of the country as may be required for +military use and to operate them for military purposes, with authority +to draft into the military service of the United States such train crews +and administrative officials as the circumstances require for their safe +and efficient use.</p> + +<p>This last suggestion I make because we cannot in any circumstances +suffer the nation to be hampered in the essential matter of national +defense. At the present moment circumstances render this duty +particularly obvious. Almost the entire military force of the nation is +stationed upon the Mexican border to guard our territory against hostile +raids. It must be supplied, and steadily supplied, with whatever it +needs for its maintenance and efficiency. If it should be necessary for +purposes of national defense to transfer any portion of it upon short +notice to some other part of the country, for reasons now unforeseen, +ample means of transportation must be available, and available without +delay. The power conferred in this matter should be carefully and +explicitly limited to cases of military necessity, but in all such cases +it should be clear and ample.</p> + +<p>There is one other thing we should do if we are true champions of +arbitration. We should make all arbitral awards judgments by record of a +court of law in order that their interpretation and enforcement may lie, +not with one of the parties to the arbitration, but with an impartial +and authoritative tribunal.</p> + +<p>These things I urge upon you, not in haste or merely as a means of +meeting a present emergency, but as permanent and necessary additions to +the law of the land, suggested, indeed, by circumstances we had hoped +never to see, but imperative as well as just, if such emergencies are to +be prevented in the future. I feel that no extended argument is needed +to commend them to your favorable consideration. They demonstrate +themselves. The time and the occasion only give emphasis to their +importance. We need them now and we shall continue to need them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SPEECH_OF_ACCEPTANCE" id="SPEECH_OF_ACCEPTANCE"></a>SPEECH OF ACCEPTANCE</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[On being offered the nomination for President by the Democratic Party. +Delivered at Shadow Lawn, Sea Girt, N.J., Saturday, September 2, 1916.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Senator James, Gentlemen of the Notification Committee, Fellow-Citizens:</span></p> + +<p>I cannot accept the leadership and responsibility which the National +Democratic Convention has again, in such generous fashion, asked me to +accept without first expressing my profound gratitude to the party for +the trust it reposes in me after four years of fiery trial in the midst +of affairs of unprecedented difficulty, and the keen sense of added +responsibility with which this honor fills (I had almost said burdens) +me as I think of the great issues of national life and policy involved +in the present and immediate future conduct of our Government. I shall +seek, as I have always sought, to justify the extraordinary confidence +thus reposed in me by striving to purge my heart and purpose of every +personal and of every misleading party motive and devoting every energy +I have to the service of the nation as a whole, praying that I may +continue to have the counsel and support of all forward-looking men at +every turn of the difficult business.</p> + +<p>For I do not doubt that the people of the United States will wish the +Democratic Party to continue in control of the Government. They are not +in the habit of rejecting those who have actually served them for those +who are making doubtful and conjectural promises of service. Least of +all are they likely to substitute those who promised to render them +particular services and proved false to that promise for those who have +actually rendered those very services.</p> + +<p>Boasting is always an empty business, which pleases nobody but the +boaster, and I have no disposition to boast of what the Democratic Party +has accomplished. It has merely done its duty. It has merely fulfilled +its explicit promises. But there can be no violation of good taste in +calling attention to the manner in which those promises have been +carried out or in adverting to the interesting fact that many of the +things accomplished were what the opposition party had again and again +promised to do but had left undone. Indeed that is manifestly part of +the business of this year of reckoning and assessment. There is no means +of judging the future except by assessing the past. Constructive action +must be weighed against destructive comment and reaction. The Democrats +either have or have not understood the varied interests of the country. +The test is contained in the record.</p> + +<p>What is that record? What were the Democrats called into power to do? +What things had long waited to be done, and how did the Democrats do +them? It is a record of extraordinary length and variety, rich in +elements of many kinds, but consistent in principle throughout and +susceptible of brief recital.</p> + +<p>The Republican Party was put out of power because of failure, practical +failure and moral failure; because it had served special interests and +not the country at large; because, under the leadership of its preferred +and established guides, of those who still make its choices, it had lost +touch with the thoughts and the needs of the nation and was living in a +past age and under a fixed illusion, the illusion of greatness. It had +framed tariff laws based upon a fear of foreign trade, a fundamental +doubt as to American skill, enterprise, and capacity, and a very tender +regard for the profitable privileges of those who had gained control of +domestic markets and domestic credits; and yet had enacted anti-trust +laws which hampered the very things they meant to foster, which were +stiff and inelastic, and in part unintelligible. It had permitted the +country throughout the long period of its control to stagger from one +financial crisis to another under the operation of a national banking +law of its own framing which made stringency and panic certain and the +control of the larger business operations of the country by the bankers +of a few reserve centers inevitable; had made as if it meant to reform +the law but had faint-heartedly failed in the attempt, because it could +not bring itself to do the one thing necessary to make the reform +genuine and effectual, namely, break up the control of small groups of +bankers. It had been oblivious, or indifferent, to the fact that the +farmers, upon whom the country depends for its food and in the last +analysis for its prosperity, were without standing in the matter of +commercial credit, without the protection of standards in their market +transactions, and without systematic knowledge of the markets +themselves; that the laborers of the country, the great army of men who +man the industries it was professing to father and promote, carried +their labor as a mere commodity to market, were subject to restraint by +novel and drastic process in the courts, were without assurance of +compensation for industrial accidents, without federal assistance in +accommodating labor disputes, and without national aid or advice in +finding the places and the industries in which their labor was most +needed. The country had no national system of road construction and +development. Little intelligent attention was paid to the army, and not +enough to the navy. The other republics of America distrusted us, +because they found that we thought first of the profits of American +investors and only as an afterthought of impartial justice and helpful +friendship. Its policy was provincial in all things; its purposes were +out of harmony with the temper and purpose of the people and the timely +development of the nation's interests.</p> + +<p>So things stood when the Democratic Party came into power. How do they +stand now? Alike in the domestic field and in the wide field of the +commerce of the world, American business and life and industry have been +set free to move as they never moved before.</p> + +<p>The tariff has been revised, not on the principle of repelling foreign +trade, but upon the principle of encouraging it, upon something like a +footing of equality with our own in respect of the terms of competition, +and a Tariff Board has been created whose function it will be to keep +the relations of American with foreign business and industry under +constant observation, for the guidance alike of our business men and of +our Congress. American energies are now directed towards the markets of +the world.</p> + +<p>The laws against trusts have been clarified by definition, with a view +to making it plain that they were not directed against big business but +only against unfair business and the pretense of competition where there +was none; and a Trade Commission has been created with powers of +guidance and accommodation which have relieved business men of unfounded +fears and set them upon the road of hopeful and confident enterprise.</p> + +<p>By the Federal Reserve Act the supply of currency at the disposal of +active business has been rendered elastic, taking its volume, not from a +fixed body of investment securities, but from the liquid assets of daily +trade; and these assets are assessed and accepted, not by distant groups +of bankers in control of unavailable reserves, but by bankers at the +many centers of local exchange who are in touch with local conditions +everywhere.</p> + +<p>Effective measures have been taken for the re-creation of an American +merchant marine and the revival of the American carrying trade +indispensable to our emancipation from the control which foreigners have +so long exercised over the opportunities, the routes, and the methods of +our commerce with other countries.</p> + +<p>The Interstate Commerce Commission is about to be reorganized to enable +it to perform its great and important functions more promptly and more +efficiently. We have created, extended and improved the service of the +parcels post.</p> + +<p>So much we have done for business. What other party has understood the +task so well or executed it so intelligently and energetically? What +other party has attempted it at all? The Republican leaders, apparently, +know of no means of assisting business but "protection." How to +stimulate it and put it upon a new footing of energy and enterprise they +have not suggested.</p> + +<p>For the farmers of the country we have virtually created commercial +credit, by means of the Federal Reserve Act and the Rural Credits Act. +They now have the standing of other business men in the money market. We +have successfully regulated speculation in "futures" and established +standards in the marketing of grains. By an intelligent Warehouse Act we +have assisted to make the standard crops available as never before both +for systematic marketing and as a security for loans from the banks. We +have greatly added to the work of neighborhood demonstration on the farm +itself of improved methods of cultivation, and, through the intelligent +extension of the functions of the Department of Agriculture, have made +it possible for the farmer to learn systematically where his best +markets are and how to get at them.</p> + +<p>The workingmen of America have been given a veritable emancipation, by +the legal recognition of a man's labor as part of his life, and not a +mere marketable commodity; by exempting labor organizations from +processes of the courts which treated their members like fractional +parts of mobs and not like accessible and responsible individuals; by +releasing our seamen from involuntary servitude; by making adequate +provision for compensation for industrial accidents; by providing +suitable machinery for mediation and conciliation in industrial +disputes; and by putting the Federal Department of Labor at the disposal +of the workingman when in search of work.</p> + +<p>We have effected the emancipation of the children of the country by +releasing them from hurtful labor. We have instituted a system of +national aid in the building of highroads such as the country has been +feeling after for a century. We have sought to equalize taxation by +means of an equitable income tax. We have taken the steps that ought to +have been taken at the outset to open up the resources of Alaska. We +have provided for national defense upon a scale never before seriously +proposed upon the responsibility of an entire political party. We have +driven the tariff lobby from cover and obliged it to substitute solid +argument for private influence.</p> + +<p>This extraordinary recital must sound like a platform, a list of +sanguine promises; but it is not. It is a record of promises made four +years ago and now actually redeemed in constructive legislation.</p> + +<p>These things must profoundly disturb the thoughts and confound the plans +of those who have made themselves believe that the Democratic Party +neither understood nor was ready to assist the business of the country +in the great enterprises which it is its evident and inevitable destiny +to undertake and carry through. The breaking up of the lobby must +especially disconcert them: for it was through the lobby that they +sought and were sure they had found the heart of things. The game of +privilege can be played successfully by no other means.</p> + +<p>This record must equally astonish those who feared that the Democratic +Party had not opened its heart to comprehend the demands of social +justice. We have in four years come very near to carrying out the +platform of the Progressive Party as well as our own; for we also are +progressives.</p> + +<p>There is one circumstance connected with this program which ought to be +very plainly stated. It was resisted at every step by the interests +which the Republican Party had catered to and fostered at the expense of +the country, and these same interests are now earnestly praying for a +reaction which will save their privileges,—for the restoration of their +sworn friends to power before it is too late to recover what they have +lost. They fought with particular desperation and infinite +resourcefulness the reform of the banking and currency system, knowing +that to be the citadel of their control; and most anxiously are they +hoping and planning for the amendment of the Federal Reserve Act by the +concentration of control in a single bank which the old familiar group +of bankers can keep under their eye and direction. But while the "big +men" who used to write the tariffs and command the assistance of the +Treasury have been hostile,—all but a few with vision,—the average +business man knows that he has been delivered, and that the fear that +was once every day in his heart, that the men who controlled credit and +directed enterprise from the committee rooms of Congress would crush +him, is there no more, and will not return,—unless the party that +consulted only the "big men" should return to power,—the party of +masterly inactivity and cunning resourcefulness in standing pat to +resist change.</p> + +<p>The Republican Party is just the party that <i>cannot</i> meet the new +conditions of a new age. It does not know the way and it does not wish +new conditions. It tried to break away from the old leaders and could +not. They still select its candidates and dictate its policy, still +resist change, still hanker after the old conditions, still know no +methods of encouraging business but the old methods. When it changes its +leaders and its purposes and brings its ideas up to date it will have +the right to ask the American people to give it power again; but not +until then. A new age, an age of revolutionary change, needs new +purposes and new ideas.</p> + +<p>In foreign affairs we have been guided by principles clearly conceived +and consistently lived up to. Perhaps they have not been fully +comprehended because they have hitherto governed international affairs +only in theory, not in practice. They are simple, obvious, easily +stated, and fundamental to American ideals.</p> + +<p>We have been neutral not only because it was the fixed and traditional +policy of the United States to stand aloof from the politics of Europe +and because we had had no part either of action or of policy in the +influences which brought on the present war, but also because it was +manifestly our duty to prevent, if it were possible, the indefinite +extension of the fires of hate and desolation kindled by that terrible +conflict and seek to serve mankind by reserving cur strength and our +resources for the anxious and difficult days of restoration and healing +which must follow, when peace will have to build its house anew.</p> + +<p>The rights of our own citizens of course became involved: that was +inevitable. Where they did this was our guiding principle: that property +rights can be vindicated by claims for damages and no modern nation can +decline to arbitrate such claims; but the fundamental rights of humanity +cannot be. The loss of life is irreparable. Neither can direct +violations of a nation's sovereignty await vindication in suits for +damages. The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to +be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It +at once makes the quarrel in part our own. These are plain principles +and we have never lost sight of them or departed from them, whatever the +stress or the perplexity of circumstance or the provocation to hasty +resentment. The record is clear and consistent throughout and stands +distinct and definite for anyone to judge who wishes to know the truth +about it.</p> + +<p>The seas were not broad enough to keep the infection of the conflict out +of our own politics. The passions and intrigues of certain active groups +and combinations of men amongst us who were born under foreign flags +injected the poison of disloyalty into our own most critical affairs, +laid violent hands upon many of our industries, and subjected us to the +shame of divisions of sentiment and purpose in which America was +contemned and forgotten. It is part of the business of this year of +reckoning and settlement to speak plainly and act with unmistakable +purpose in rebuke of these things, in order that they may be forever +hereafter impossible. I am the candidate of a party, but I am above all +things else an American citizen. I neither seek the favor nor fear the +displeasure of that small alien element amongst us which puts loyalty to +any foreign power before loyalty to the United States.</p> + +<p>While Europe was at war our own continent, one of our own neighbors, was +shaken by revolution. In that matter, too, principle was plain and it +was imperative that we should live up to it if we were to deserve the +trust of any real partisan of the right as free men see it. We have +professed to believe, and we do believe, that the people of small and +weak states have the right to expect to be dealt with exactly as the +people of big and powerful states would be. We have acted upon that +principle in dealing with the people of Mexico.</p> + +<p>Our recent pursuit of bandits into Mexican territory was no violation of +that principle. We ventured to enter Mexican territory only because +there were no military forces in Mexico that could protect our border +from hostile attack and our own people from violence, and we have +committed there no single act of hostility or interference even with the +sovereign authority of the Republic of Mexico herself. It was a plain +case of the violation of our own sovereignty which could not wait to be +vindicated by damages and for which there was no other remedy. The +authorities of Mexico were powerless to prevent it.</p> + +<p>Many serious wrongs against the property, many irreparable wrongs +against the persons of Americans have been committed within the +territory of Mexico herself during this confused revolution, wrongs +which could not be effectually checked so long as there was no +constituted power in Mexico which was in a position to check them. We +could not act directly in that matter ourselves without denying Mexicans +the right to any revolution at all which disturbed us and making the +emancipation of her own people await our own interest and convenience.</p> + +<p>For it is their emancipation that they are seeking,—blindly, it may be, +and as yet ineffectually, but with profound and passionate purpose and +within their unquestionable right, apply what true American principle +you will,—any principle that an American would publicly avow. The +people of Mexico have not been suffered to own their own country or +direct their own institutions. Outsiders, men out of other nations and +with interests too often alien to their own, have dictated what their +privileges and opportunities should be and who should control their +land, their lives, and their resources,—some of them Americans, +pressing for things they could never have got in their own country. The +Mexican people are entitled to attempt their liberty from such +influences; and so long as I have anything to do with the action of our +great Government I shall do everything in my power to prevent anyone +standing in their way. I know that this is hard for some persons to +understand; but it is not hard for the plain people of the United States +to understand. It is hard doctrine only for those who wish to get +something for themselves out of Mexico. There are men, and noble women, +too, not a few, of our own people, thank God! whose fortunes are +invested in great properties in Mexico who yet see the case with true +vision and assess its issues with true American feeling. The rest can be +left for the present out of the reckoning until this enslaved people has +had its day of struggle towards the light. I have heard no one who was +free from such influences propose interference by the United States with +the internal affairs of Mexico. Certainly no friend of the Mexican +people has proposed it.</p> + +<p>The people of the United States are capable of great sympathies and a +noble pity in dealing with problems of this kind. As their spokesman and +representative, I have tried to act in the spirit they would wish me +show. The people of Mexico are striving for the rights that are +fundamental to life and happiness,—15,000,000 oppressed men, +overburdened women, and pitiful children in virtual bondage in their own +home of fertile lands and inexhaustible treasure! Some of the leaders of +the revolution may often have been mistaken and violent and selfish, but +the revolution itself was inevitable and is right. The unspeakable +Huerta betrayed the very comrades he served, traitorously overthrew the +government of which he was a trusted part, impudently spoke for the very +forces that had driven his people to the rebellion with which he had +pretended to sympathize. The men who overcame him and drove him out +represent at least the fierce passion of reconstruction which lies at +the very heart of liberty; and so long as they represent, however +imperfectly, such a struggle for deliverance, I am ready to serve their +ends when I can. So long as the power of recognition rests with me the +Government of the United States will refuse to extend the hand of +welcome to any one who obtains power in a sister republic by treachery +and violence. No permanency can be given the affairs of any republic by +a title based upon intrigue and assassination. I declared that to be the +policy of this Administration within three weeks after I assumed the +presidency. I here again vow it. I am more interested in the fortunes of +oppressed men and pitiful women and children than in any property rights +whatever. Mistakes I have no doubt made in this perplexing business, but +not in purpose or object.</p> + +<p>More is involved than the immediate destinies of Mexico and the +relations of the United States with a distressed and distracted people. +All America looks on. Test is now being made of us whether we be sincere +lovers of popular liberty or not and are indeed to be trusted to respect +national sovereignty among our weaker neighbors. We have undertaken +these many years to play big brother to the republics of this +hemisphere. This is the day of our test whether we mean, or have ever +meant, to play that part for our own benefit wholly or also for theirs. +Upon the outcome of that test (its outcome in their minds, not in ours) +depends every relationship of the United States with Latin America, +whether in politics or in commerce and enterprise. These are great +issues and lie at the heart of the gravest tasks of the future, tasks +both economic and political and very intimately inwrought with many of +the most vital of the new issues of the politics of the world. The +republics of America have in the last three years been drawing together +in a new spirit of accommodation, mutual understanding, and cordial +coöperation. Much of the politics of the world in the years to come will +depend upon their relationships with one another. It is a barren and +provincial statesmanship that loses sight of such things!</p> + +<p>The future, the immediate future, will bring us squarely face to face +with many great and exacting problems which will search us through and +through whether we be able and ready to play the part in the world that +we mean to play. It will not bring us into their presence slowly, +gently, with ceremonious introduction, but suddenly and at once, the +moment the war in Europe is over. They will be new problems, most of +them; many will be old problems in a new setting and with new elements +which we have never dealt with or reckoned the force and meaning of +before. They will require for their solution new thinking, fresh courage +and resourcefulness, and in some matters radical reconsiderations of +policy. We must be ready to mobilize our resources alike of brains and +of materials.</p> + +<p>It is not a future to be afraid of. It is, rather, a future to stimulate +and excite us to the display of the best powers that are in us. We may +enter it with confidence when we are sure that we understand it,—and we +have provided ourselves already with the means of understanding it.</p> + +<p>Look first at what it will be necessary that the nations of the world +should do to make the days to come tolerable and fit to live and work +in; and then look at our part in what is to follow and our own duty of +preparation. For we must be prepared both in resources and in policy.</p> + +<p>There must be a just and settled peace, and we here in America must +contribute the full force of our enthusiasm and of our authority as a +nation to the organization of that peace upon world-wide foundations +that cannot easily be shaken. No nation should be forced to take sides +in any quarrel in which its own honor and integrity and the fortunes of +its own people are not involved; but no nation can any longer remain +neutral as against any wilful disturbance of the peace of the world. The +effects of war can no longer be confined to the areas of battle. No +nation stands wholly apart in interest when the life and interests of +all nations are thrown into confusion and peril. If hopeful and generous +enterprise is to be renewed, if the healing and helpful arts of life are +indeed to be revived when peace comes again, a new atmosphere of justice +and friendship must be generated by means the world has never tried +before. The nations of the world must unite in joint guarantees that +whatever is done to disturb the whole world's life must first be tested +in the court of the whole world's opinion before it is attempted.</p> + +<p>These are the new foundations the world must build for itself, and we +must play our part in the reconstruction, generously and without too +much thought of our separate interests. We must make ourselves ready to +play it intelligently, vigorously, and well.</p> + +<p>One of the contributions we must make to the world's peace is this: We +must see to it that the people in our insular possessions are treated in +their own lands as we would treat them here, and make the rule of the +United States mean the same thing everywhere,—the same justice, the +same consideration for the essential rights of men.</p> + +<p>Besides contributing our ungrudging moral and practical support to the +establishment of peace throughout the world we must actively and +intelligently prepare ourselves to do our full service in the trade and +industry which are to sustain and develop the life of the nations in the +days to come.</p> + +<p>We have already been provident in this great matter and supplied +ourselves with the instrumentalities of prompt adjustment. We have +created, in the Federal Trade Commission, a means of inquiry and of +accommodation in the field of commerce which ought both to coördinate +the enterprises of our traders and manufacturers and to remove the +barriers of misunderstanding and of a too technical interpretation of +the law. In the new Tariff Commission we have added another +instrumentality of observation and adjustment which promises to be +immediately serviceable. The Trade Commission substitutes counsel and +accommodation for the harsher processes of legal restraint, and the +Tariff Commission ought to substitute facts for prejudices and theories. +Our exporters have for some time had the advantage of working in the new +light thrown upon foreign markets and opportunities of trade by the +intelligent inquiries and activities of the Bureau of Foreign and +Domestic Commerce which the Democratic Congress so wisely created in +1912. The Tariff Commission completes the machinery by which we shall be +enabled to open up our legislative policy to the facts as they develop.</p> + +<p>We can no longer indulge our traditional provincialism. We are to play a +leading part in the world drama whether we wish it or not. We shall +lend, not borrow; act for ourselves, not imitate or follow; organize and +initiate, not peep about merely to see where we may get in.</p> + +<p>We have already formulated and agreed upon a policy of law which will +explicitly remove the ban now supposed to rest upon coöperation amongst +our exporters in seeking and securing their proper place in the markets +of the world. The field will be free, the instrumentalities at hand. It +will only remain for the masters of enterprise amongst us to act in +energetic concert, and for the Government of the United States to insist +upon the maintenance throughout the world of those conditions of +fairness and of even-handed justice in the commercial dealings of the +nations with one another upon which, after all, in the last analysis, +the peace and ordered life of the world must ultimately depend.</p> + +<p>At home also we must see to it that the men who plan and develop and +direct our business enterprises shall enjoy definite and settled +conditions of law, a policy accommodated to the freest progress. We have +set the just and necessary limits. We have put all kinds of unfair +competition under the ban and penalty of the law. We have barred +monopoly. These fatal and ugly things being excluded, we must now +quicken action and facilitate enterprise by every just means within our +choice. There will be peace in the business world, and, with peace, +revived confidence and life.</p> + +<p>We ought both to husband and to develop our natural resources, our +mines, our forests, our water power. I wish we could have made more +progress than we have made in this vital matter; and I call once more, +with the deepest earnestness and solicitude, upon the advocates of a +careful and provident conservation, on the one hand, and the advocates +of a free and inviting field for private capital, on the other, to get +together in a spirit of genuine accommodation and agreement and set this +great policy forward at once.</p> + +<p>We must hearten and quicken the spirit and efficiency of labor +throughout our whole industrial system by everywhere and in all +occupations doing justice to the laborer, not only by paying a living +wage but also by making all the conditions that surround labor what they +ought to be. And we must do more than justice. We must safeguard life +and promote health and safety in every occupation in which they are +threatened or imperilled. That is more than justice, and better, because +it is humanity and economy.</p> + +<p>We must coördinate the railway systems of the country for national use, +and must facilitate and promote their development with a view to that +coördination and to their better adaptation as a whole to the life and +trade and defense of the nation. The life and industry of the country +can be free and unhampered only if these arteries are open, efficient, +and complete.</p> + +<p>Thus shall we stand ready to meet the future as circumstance and +international policy effect their unfolding, whether the changes come +slowly or come fast and without preface.</p> + +<p>I have not spoken explicitly, Gentlemen, of the platform adopted at St. +Louis; but it has been implicit in all that I have said. I have sought +to interpret its spirit and meaning. The people of the United States do +not need to be assured now that that platform is a definite pledge, a +practical program. We have proved to them that our promises are made to +be kept.</p> + +<p>We hold very definite ideals. We believe that the energy and initiative +of our people have been too narrowly coached and superintended; that +they should be set free, as we have set them free, to disperse +themselves throughout the nation; that they should not be concentrated +in the hands of a few powerful guides and guardians, as our opponents +have again and again, in effect if not in purpose, sought to concentrate +them. We believe, moreover,—who that looks about him now with +comprehending eye can fail to believe?—that the day of Little +Americanism, with its narrow horizons, when methods of "protection" and +industrial nursing were the chief study of our provincial statesmen, are +past and gone and that a day of enterprise has at last dawned for the +United States whose field is the wide world.</p> + +<p>We hope to see the stimulus of that new day draw all America, the +republics of both continents, on to a new life and energy and initiative +in the great affairs of peace. We are Americans for Big America, and +rejoice to look forward to the days in which America shall strive to +stir the world without irritating it or drawing it on to new +antagonisms, when the nations with which we deal shall at last come to +see upon what deep foundations of humanity and justice our passion for +peace rests, and when all mankind shall look upon our great people with +a new sentiment of admiration, friendly rivalry and real affection, as +upon a people who, though keen to succeed, seeks always to be at once +generous and just and to whom humanity is dearer than profit or selfish +power.</p> + +<p>Upon this record and in the faith of this purpose we go to the country.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LINCOLNS_BEGINNINGS" id="LINCOLNS_BEGINNINGS"></a>LINCOLN'S BEGINNINGS</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[Address delivered September 4, 1916, on the acceptance of a deed of +gift to the Nation, by the Lincoln Farm Association, of the Lincoln +Birthplace Farm, at Hodgenville, Kentucky.]</p> + + +<p>No more significant memorial could have been presented to the nation +than this. It expresses so much of what is singular and noteworthy in +the history of the country; it suggests so many of the things that we +prize most highly in our life and in our system of government. How +eloquent this little house within this shrine is of the vigor of +democracy! There is nowhere in the land any home so remote, so humble, +that it may not contain the power of mind and heart and conscience to +which nations yield and history submits its processes. Nature pays no +tribute to aristocracy, subscribes to no creed of caste, renders fealty +to no monarch or master of any name or kind. Genius is no snob. It does +not run after titles or seek by preference the high circles of society. +It affects humble company as well as great. It pays no special tribute +to universities or learned societies or conventional standards of +greatness, but serenely chooses its own comrades, its own haunts, its +own cradle even, and its own life of adventure and of training. Here is +proof of it. This little hut was the cradle of one of the great sons of +men, a man of singular, delightful, vital genius who presently emerged +upon the great stage of the nation's history, gaunt, shy, ungainly, but +dominant and majestic, a natural ruler of men, himself inevitably the +central figure of the great plot. No man can explain this, but every man +can see how it demonstrates the vigor of democracy, where every door is +open, in every hamlet and countryside, in city and wilderness alike, +for the ruler to emerge when he will and claim his leadership in the +free life. Such are the authentic proofs of the validity and vitality of +democracy.</p> + +<p>Here, no less, hides the mystery of democracy. Who shall guess this +secret of nature and providence and a free polity? Whatever the vigor +and vitality of the stock from which he sprang, its mere vigor and +soundness do not explain where this man got his great heart that seemed +to comprehend all mankind in its catholic and benignant sympathy, the +mind that sat enthroned behind those brooding, melancholy eyes, whose +vision swept many an horizon which those about him dreamed not of,—that +mind that comprehended what it had never seen, and understood the +language of affairs with the ready ease of one to the manner born,—or +that nature which seemed in its varied richness to be the familiar of +men of every way of life. This is the sacred mystery of democracy, that +its richest fruits spring up out of soils which no man has prepared and +in circumstances amidst which they are the least expected. This is a +place alike of mystery and of reassurance.</p> + +<p>It is likely that in a society ordered otherwise than our own Lincoln +could not have found himself or the path of fame and power upon which he +walked serenely to his death. In this place it is right that we should +remind ourselves of the solid and striking facts upon which our faith in +democracy is founded. Many another man besides Lincoln has served the +nation in its highest places of counsel and of action whose origins were +as humble as his. Though the greatest example of the universal energy, +richness, stimulation, and force of democracy, he is only one example +among many. The permeating and all-pervasive virtue of the freedom which +challenges us in America to make the most of every gift and power we +possess every page of our history serves to emphasize and illustrate. +Standing here in this place, it seems almost the whole of the stirring +story.</p> + +<p>Here Lincoln had his beginnings. Here the end and consummation of that +great life seem remote and a bit incredible. And yet there was no break +anywhere between beginning and end, no lack of natural sequence +anywhere. Nothing really incredible happened. Lincoln was unaffectedly +as much at home in the White House as he was here. Do you share with me +the feeling, I wonder, that he was permanently at home nowhere? It seems +to me that in the case of a man,—I would rather say of a spirit,—like +Lincoln the question <i>where</i> he was is of little significance, that it +is always <i>what</i> he was that really arrests our thought and takes hold +of our imagination. It is the spirit always that is sovereign. Lincoln, +like the rest of us, was put through the discipline of the world,—a +very rough and exacting discipline for him, an indispensable discipline +for every man who would know what he is about in the midst of the +world's affairs; but his spirit got only its schooling there. It did not +derive its character or its vision from the experiences which brought it +to its full revelation. The test of every American must always be, not +where he is, but what he is. That, also, is of the essence of democracy, +and is the moral of which this place is most gravely expressive.</p> + +<p>We would like to think of men like Lincoln and Washington as typical +Americans, but no man can be typical who is so unusual as these great +men were. It was typical of American life that it should produce such +men with supreme indifference as to the manner in which it produced +them, and as readily here in this hut as amidst the little circle of +cultivated gentlemen to whom Virginia owed so much in leadership and +example. And Lincoln and Washington were typical Americans in the use +they made of their genius. But there will be few such men at best, and +we will not look into the mystery of how and why they come. We will only +keep the door open for them always, and a hearty welcome,—after we have +recognized them.</p> + +<p>I have read many biographies of Lincoln; I have sought out with the +greatest interest the many intimate stories that are told of him, the +narratives of nearby friends, the sketches at close quarters, in which +those who had the privilege of being associated with him have tried to +depict for us the very man himself "in his habit as he lived;" but I +have nowhere found a real intimate of Lincoln's. I nowhere get the +impression in any narrative or reminiscence that the writer had in fact +penetrated to the heart of his mystery, or that any man could penetrate +to the heart of it. That brooding spirit had no real familiars. I get +the impression that it never spoke out in complete self-revelation, and +that it could not reveal itself completely to anyone. It was a very +lonely spirit that looked out from underneath those shaggy brows and +comprehended men without fully communing with them, as if, in spite of +all its genial efforts at comradeship, it dwelt apart, saw its visions +of duty where no man looked on. There is a very holy and very terrible +isolation for the conscience of every man who seeks to read the destiny +in affairs for others as well as for himself, for a nation as well as +for individuals. That privacy no man can intrude upon. That lonely +search of the spirit for the right perhaps no man can assist. This +strange child of the cabin kept company with invisible things, was born +into no intimacy but that of its own silently assembling and deploying +thoughts.</p> + +<p>I have come here to-day, not to utter a eulogy on Lincoln; he stands in +need of none, but to endeavor to interpret the meaning of this gift to +the nation of the place of his birth and origin. Is not this an altar +upon which we may forever keep alive the vestal fire of democracy as +upon a shrine at which some of the deepest and most sacred hopes of +mankind may from age to age be rekindled? For these hopes must +constantly be rekindled, and only those who live can rekindle them. The +only stuff that can retain the life-giving heat is the stuff of living +hearts. And the hopes of mankind cannot be kept alive by words merely, +by constitutions and doctrines of right and codes of liberty. The object +of democracy is to transmute these into the life and action of society, +the self-denial and self-sacrifice of heroic men and women willing to +make their lives an embodiment of right and service and enlightened +purpose. The commands of democracy are as imperative as its privileges +and opportunities are wide and generous. Its compulsion is upon us. It +will be great and lift a great light for the guidance of the nations +only if we are great and carry that light high for the guidance of our +own feet. We are not worthy to stand here unless we ourselves be in deed +and in truth real democrats and servants of mankind, ready to give our +very lives for the freedom and justice and spiritual exaltation of the +great nation which shelters and nurtures us.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_TRIUMPH_OF_WOMENS_SUFFRAGE" id="THE_TRIUMPH_OF_WOMENS_SUFFRAGE"></a>THE TRIUMPH OF WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[Address at the Suffrage Convention, Atlantic City, New Jersey, +September 8, 1916.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Madam President, Ladies of the Association:</span></p> + +<p>I have found it a real privilege to be here to-night and to listen to +the addresses which you have heard. Though you may not all of you +believe it, I would a great deal rather hear somebody else speak than +speak myself; but I should feel that I was omitting a duty if I did not +address you to-night and say some of the things that have been in my +thought as I realized the approach of this evening and the duty that +would fall upon me.</p> + +<p>The astonishing thing about the movement which you represent is, not +that it has grown so slowly, but that it has grown so rapidly. No doubt +for those who have been a long time in the struggle, like your honored +president, it seems a long and arduous path that has been trodden, but +when you think of the cumulating force of this movement in recent +decades, you must agree with me that it is one of the most astonishing +tides in modern history. Two generations ago, no doubt Madam President +will agree with me in saying, it was a handful of women who were +fighting this cause. Now it is a great multitude of women who are +fighting it.</p> + +<p>And there are some interesting historical connections which I would like +to attempt to point out to you. One of the most striking facts about the +history of the United States is that at the outset it was a lawyers' +history. Almost all of the questions to which America addressed itself, +say a hundred years ago, were legal questions, were questions of +method, not questions of what you were going to do with your Government, +but questions of how you were going to constitute your Government,—how +you were going to balance the powers of the States and the Federal +Government, how you were going to balance the claims of property against +the processes of liberty, how you were going to make your governments up +so as to balance the parts against each other so that the legislature +would check the executive, and the executive the legislature, and the +courts both of them put together. The whole conception of government +when the United States became a Nation was a mechanical conception of +government, and the mechanical conception of government which underlay +it was the Newtonian theory of the universe. If you pick up the +Federalist, some parts of it read like a treatise on astronomy instead +of a treatise on government. They speak of the centrifugal and the +centripetal forces, and locate the President somewhere in a rotating +system. The whole thing is a calculation of power and an adjustment of +parts. There was a time when nobody but a lawyer could know enough to +run the Government of the United States, and a distinguished English +publicist once remarked, speaking of the complexity of the American +Government, that it was no proof of the excellence of the American +Constitution that it had been successfully operated, because the +Americans could run any constitution. But there have been a great many +technical difficulties in running it.</p> + +<p>And then something happened. A great question arose in this country +which, though complicated with legal elements, was at bottom a human +question, and nothing but a question of humanity. That was the slavery +question. And is it not significant that it was then, and then for the +first time, that women became prominent in politics in America? Not many +women; those prominent in that day were so few that you can name them +over in a brief catalogue, but, nevertheless, they then began to play a +part in writing, not only, but in public speech, which was a very novel +part for women to play in America. After the Civil War had settled some +of what seemed to be the most difficult legal questions of our system, +the life of the Nation began not only to unfold, but to accumulate. Life +in the United States was a comparatively simple matter at the time of +the Civil War. There was none of that underground struggle which is now +so manifest to those who look only a little way beneath the surface. +Stories such as Dr. Davis has told to-night were uncommon in those +simpler days. The pressure of low wages, the agony of obscure and +unremunerated toil, did not exist in America in anything like the same +proportions that they exist now. And as our life has unfolded and +accumulated, as the contacts of it have become hot, as the populations +have assembled in the cities, and the cool spaces of the country have +been supplanted by the feverish urban areas, the whole nature of our +political questions has been altered. They have ceased to be legal +questions. They have more and more become social questions, questions +with regard to the relations of human beings to one another,—not merely +their legal relations, but their moral and spiritual relations to one +another. This has been most characteristic of American life in the last +few decades, and as these questions have assumed greater and greater +prominence, the movement which this association represents has gathered +cumulative force. So that, if anybody asks himself, "What does this +gathering force mean," if he knows anything about the history of the +country, he knows that it means something that has not only come to +stay, but has come with conquering power.</p> + +<p>I get a little impatient sometimes about the discussion of the channels +and methods by which it is to prevail. It is going to prevail, and that +is a very superficial and ignorant view of it which attributes it to +mere social unrest. It is not merely because the women are discontented. +It is because the women have seen visions of duty, and that is something +which we not only cannot resist, but, if we be true Americans, we do not +wish to resist. America took its origin in visions of the human spirit, +in aspirations for the deepest sort of liberty of the mind and of the +heart, and as visions of that sort come up to the sight of those who are +spiritually minded in America, America comes more and more into her +birthright and into the perfection of her development.</p> + +<p>So that what we have to realize in dealing with forces of this sort is +that we are dealing with the substance of life itself. I have felt as I +sat here to-night the wholesome contagion of the occasion. Almost every +other time that I ever visited Atlantic City, I came to fight somebody. +I hardly know how to conduct myself when I have not come to fight +against anybody, but with somebody. I have come to suggest, among other +things, that when the forces of nature are steadily working and the tide +is rising to meet the moon, you need not be afraid that it will not come +to its flood. We feel the tide; we rejoice in the strength of it; and we +shall not quarrel in the long run as to the method of it. Because, when +you are working with masses of men and organized bodies of opinion, you +have got to carry the organized body along. The whole art and practice +of government consists not in moving individuals, but in moving masses. +It is all very well to run ahead and beckon, but, after all, you have +got to wait for the body to follow. I have not come to ask you to be +patient, because you have been, but I have come to congratulate you that +there was a force behind you that will beyond any peradventure be +triumphant, and for which you can afford a little while to wait.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_TERMS_OF_PEACE" id="THE_TERMS_OF_PEACE"></a>THE TERMS OF PEACE</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Address to the Senate of the United States, delivered January 22, +1917.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen of the Senate:</span></p> + +<p>On the eighteenth of December last I addressed an identic note to the +governments of the nations now at war requesting them to state, more +definitely than they had yet been stated by either group of +belligerents, the terms upon which they would deem it possible to make +peace. I spoke on behalf of humanity and of the rights of all neutral +nations like our own, many of whose most vital interests the war puts in +constant jeopardy. The Central Powers united in a reply which stated +merely that they were ready to meet their antagonists in conference to +discuss terms of peace. The Entente Powers have replied much more +definitely and have stated, in general terms, indeed, but with +sufficient definiteness to imply details, the arrangements, guarantees, +and acts of reparation which they deem to be the indispensable +conditions of a satisfactory settlement. We are that much nearer a +definite discussion of the peace which shall end the present war. We are +that much nearer the discussion of the international concert which must +thereafter hold the world at peace. In every discussion of the peace +that must end this war it is taken for granted that that peace must be +followed by some definite concert of power which will make it virtually +impossible that any such catastrophe should ever overwhelm us again. +Every lover of mankind, every sane and thoughtful man must take that for +granted.</p> + +<p>I have sought this opportunity to address you because I thought that I +owed it to you, as the council associated with me in the final +determination of our international obligations, to disclose to you +without reserve the thought and purpose that have been taking form in my +mind in regard to the duty of our Government in the days to come when it +will be necessary to lay afresh and upon a new plan the foundations of +peace among the nations.</p> + +<p>It is inconceivable that the people of the United States should play no +part in that great enterprise. To take part in such a service will be +the opportunity for which they have sought to prepare themselves by the +very principles and purposes of their polity and the approved practices +of their Government ever since the days when they set up a new nation in +the high and honorable hope that it might in all that it was and did +show mankind the way to liberty. They cannot in honor withhold the +service to which they are now about to be challenged. They do not wish +to withhold it. But they owe it to themselves and to the other nations +of the world to state the conditions under which they will feel free to +render it.</p> + +<p>That service is nothing less than this, to add their authority and their +power to the authority and force of other nations to guarantee peace and +justice throughout the world. Such a settlement cannot now be long +postponed. It is right that before it comes this Government should +frankly formulate the conditions upon which it would feel justified in +asking our people to approve its formal and solemn adherence to a League +for Peace. I am here to attempt to state those conditions.</p> + +<p>The present war must first be ended; but we owe it to candor and to a +just regard for the opinion of mankind to say that, so far as our +participation in guarantees of future peace is concerned, it makes a +great deal of difference in what way and upon what terms it is ended. +The treaties and agreements which bring it to an end must embody terms +which will create a peace that is worth guaranteeing and preserving, a +peace that will win the approval of mankind, not merely a peace that +will serve the several interests and immediate aims of the nations +engaged. We shall have no voice in determining what those terms shall +be, but we shall, I feel sure, have a voice in determining whether they +shall be made lasting or not by the guarantees of a universal covenant; +and our judgment upon what is fundamental and essential as a condition +precedent to permanency should be spoken now, not afterwards when it may +be too late.</p> + +<p>No covenant of coöperative peace that does not include the peoples of +the New World can suffice to keep the future safe against war; and yet +there is only one sort of peace that the peoples of America could join +in guaranteeing. The elements of that peace must be elements that engage +the confidence and satisfy the principles of the American governments, +elements consistent with their political faith and with the practical +convictions which the peoples of America have once for all embraced and +undertaken to defend.</p> + +<p>I do not mean to say that any American government would throw any +obstacle in the way of any terms of peace the governments now at war +might agree upon, or seek to upset them when made, whatever they might +be. I only take it for granted that mere terms of peace between the +belligerents will not satisfy even the belligerents themselves. Mere +agreements may not make peace secure. It will be absolutely necessary +that a force be created as a guarantor of the permanency of the +settlement so much greater than the force of any nation now engaged or +any alliance hitherto formed or projected that no nation, no probable +combination of nations could face or withstand it. If the peace +presently to be made is to endure, it must be a peace made secure by the +organized major force of mankind.</p> + +<p>The terms of the immediate peace agreed upon will determine whether it +is a peace for which such a guarantee can be secured. The question upon +which the whole future peace and policy of the world depends is this: Is +the present war a struggle for a just and secure peace, or only for a +new balance of power? If it be only a struggle for a new balance of +power, who will guarantee, who can guarantee, the stable equilibrium of +the new arrangement? Only a tranquil Europe can be a stable Europe. +There must be, not a balance of power, but a community of power; not +organized rivalries, but an organized common peace.</p> + +<p>Fortunately we have received very explicit assurances on this point. The +statesmen of both of the groups of nations now arrayed against one +another have said, in terms that could not be misinterpreted, that it +was no part of the purpose they had in mind to crush their antagonists. +But the implications of these assurances may not be equally clear to +all,—may not be the same on both sides of the water. I think it will be +serviceable if I attempt to set forth what we understand them to be.</p> + +<p>They imply, first of all, that it must be a peace without victory. It is +not pleasant to say this. I beg that I may be permitted to put my own +interpretation upon it and that it may be understood that no other +interpretation was in my thought. I am seeking only to face realities +and to face them without soft concealments. Victory would mean peace +forced upon the loser, a victor's terms imposed upon the vanquished. It +would be accepted in humiliation, under duress, at an intolerable +sacrifice, and would leave a sting, a resentment, a bitter memory upon +which terms of peace would rest, not permanently, but only as upon +quicksand. Only a peace between equals can last. Only a peace the very +principle of which is equality and a common participation in a common +benefit. The right state of mind, the right feeling between nations, is +as necessary for a lasting peace as is the just settlement of vexed +questions of territory or of racial and national allegiance.</p> + +<p>The equality of nations upon which peace must be founded if it is to +last must be an equality of rights; the guarantees exchanged must +neither recognize nor imply a difference between big nations and small, +between those that are powerful and those that are weak. Right must be +based upon the common strength, not upon the individual strength, of the +nations upon whose concert peace will depend. Equality of territory or +of resources there of course cannot be; nor any other sort of equality +not gained in the ordinary peaceful and legitimate development of the +peoples themselves. But no one asks or expects anything more than an +equality of rights. Mankind is looking now for freedom of life, not for +equipoises of power.</p> + +<p>And there is a deeper thing involved than even equality of right among +organized nations. No peace can last, or ought to last, which does not +recognize and accept the principle that governments derive all their +just powers from the consent of the governed, and that no right anywhere +exists to hand peoples about from sovereignty to sovereignty as if they +were property. I take it for granted, for instance, if I may venture +upon a single example, that statesmen everywhere are agreed that there +should be a united, independent, and autonomous Poland, and that +henceforth inviolable security of life, of worship, and of industrial +and social development should be guaranteed to all peoples who have +lived hitherto under the power of governments devoted to a faith and +purpose hostile to their own.</p> + +<p>I speak of this, not because of any desire to exalt an abstract +political principle which has always been held very dear by those who +have sought to build up liberty in America, but for the same reason that +I have spoken of the other conditions of peace which seem to me clearly +indispensable,—because I wish frankly to uncover realities. Any peace +which does not recognize and accept this principle will inevitably be +upset. It will not rest upon the affections or the convictions of +mankind. The ferment of spirit of whole populations will fight subtly +and constantly against it, and all the world will sympathize. The world +can be at peace only if its life is stable, and there can be no +stability where the will is in rebellion, where there is not +tranquillity of spirit and a sense of justice, of freedom, and of right.</p> + +<p>So far as practicable, moreover, every great people now struggling +towards a full development of its resources and of its powers should be +assured a direct outlet to the great highways of the sea. Where this +cannot be done by the cession of territory, it can no doubt be done by +the neutralization of direct rights of way under the general guarantee +which will assure the peace itself. With a right comity of arrangement +no nation need be shut away from free access to the open paths of the +world's commerce.</p> + +<p>And the paths of the sea must alike in law and in fact be free. The +freedom of the seas is the <i>sine qua non</i> of peace, equality, and +coöperation. No doubt a somewhat radical reconsideration of many of the +rules of international practice hitherto thought to be established may +be necessary in order to make the seas indeed free and common in +practically all circumstances for the use of mankind, but the motive for +such changes is convincing and compelling. There can be no trust or +intimacy between the peoples of the world without them. The free, +constant, unthreatened intercourse of nations is an essential part of +the process of peace and of development. It need not be difficult either +to define or to secure the freedom of the seas if the governments of the +world sincerely desire to come to an agreement concerning it.</p> + +<p>It is a problem closely connected with the limitation of naval armaments +and the coöperation of the navies of the world in keeping the seas at +once free and safe. And the question of limiting naval armaments opens +the wider and perhaps more difficult question of the limitation of +armies and of all programs of military preparation. Difficult and +delicate as these questions are, they must be faced with the utmost +candor and decided in a spirit of real accommodation if peace is to come +with healing in its wings, and come to stay. Peace cannot be had without +concession and sacrifice. There can be no sense of safety and equality +among the nations if great preponderating armaments are henceforth to +continue here and there to be built up and maintained. The statesmen of +the world must plan for peace and nations must adjust and accommodate +their policy to it as they have planned for war and made ready for +pitiless contest and rivalry. The question of armaments, whether on land +or sea, is the most immediately and intensely practical question +connected with the future fortunes of nations and of mankind.</p> + +<p>I have spoken upon these great matters without reserve and with the +utmost explicitness because it has seemed to me to be necessary if the +world's yearning desire for peace was anywhere to find free voice and +utterance. Perhaps I am the only person in high authority amongst all +the peoples of the world who is at liberty to speak and hold nothing +back. I am speaking as an individual, and yet I am speaking also, of +course, as the responsible head of a great government, and I feel +confident that I have said what the people of the United States would +wish me to say. May I not add that I hope and believe that I am in +effect speaking for liberals and friends of humanity in every nation and +of every program of liberty? I would fain believe that I am speaking for +the silent mass of mankind everywhere who have as yet had no place or +opportunity to speak their real hearts out concerning the death and ruin +they see to have come already upon the persons and the homes they hold +most dear.</p> + +<p>And in holding out the expectation that the people and Government of the +United States will join the other civilized nations of the world in +guaranteeing the permanence of peace upon such terms as I have named I +speak with the greater boldness and confidence because it is clear to +every man who can think that there is in this promise no breach in +either our traditions or our policy as a nation, but a fulfilment, +rather, of all that we have professed or striven for.</p> + +<p>I am proposing, as it were, that the nations should with one accord +adopt the doctrine of President Monroe as the doctrine of the world: +that no nation should seek to extend its polity over any other nation or +people, but that every people should be left free to determine its own +polity, its own way of development, unhindered, unthreatened, unafraid, +the little along with the great and powerful.</p> + +<p>I am proposing that all nations henceforth avoid entangling alliances +which would draw them into competitions of power, catch them in a net of +intrigue and selfish rivalry, and disturb their own affairs with +influences intruded from without. There is no entangling alliance in a +concert of power. When all unite to act in the same sense and with the +same purpose all act in the common interest and are free to live their +own lives under a common protection.</p> + +<p>I am proposing government by the consent of the governed; that freedom +of the seas which in international conference after conference +representatives of the United States have urged with the eloquence of +those who are the convinced disciples of liberty; and that moderation of +armaments which makes of armies and navies a power for order merely, not +an instrument of aggression or of selfish violence.</p> + +<p>These are American principles, American policies. We could stand for no +others. And they are also the principles and policies of forward looking +men and women everywhere, of every modern nation, of every enlightened +community. They are the principles of mankind and must prevail.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="MEETING_GERMANYS_CHALLENGE" id="MEETING_GERMANYS_CHALLENGE"></a>MEETING GERMANY'S CHALLENGE</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Address delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, +February 3, 1917.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen of the Congress:</span></p> + +<p>The Imperial German Government on the thirty-first of January announced +to this Government and to the governments of the other neutral nations +that on and after the first day of February, the present month, it would +adopt a policy with regard to the use of submarines against all shipping +seeking to pass through certain designated areas of the high seas to +which it is clearly my duty to call your attention.</p> + +<p>Let me remind the Congress that on the eighteenth of April last, in view +of the sinking on the twenty-fourth of March of the cross-Channel +passenger steamer <i>Sussex</i> by a German submarine, without summons or +warning, and the consequent loss of the lives of several citizens of the +United States who were passengers aboard her, this Government addressed +a note to the Imperial German Government in which it made the following +declaration:</p> + +<p>"If it is still the purpose of the Imperial Government to prosecute +relentless and indiscriminate warfare against vessels of commerce by the +use of submarines without regard to what the Government of the United +States must consider the sacred and indisputable rules of international +law and the universally recognized dictates of humanity, the Government +of the United States is at last forced to the conclusion that there is +but one course it can pursue. Unless the Imperial Government should now +immediately declare and effect an abandonment of its present methods of +submarine warfare against passenger and freight-carrying vessels, the +Government of the United States can have no choice but to sever +diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether."</p> + +<p>In reply to this declaration the Imperial German Government gave this +Government the following assurance:</p> + +<p>"The German Government is prepared to do its utmost to confine the +operations of war for the rest of its duration to the fighting forces of +the belligerents, thereby also insuring the freedom of the seas, a +principle upon which the German Government believes, now as before, to +be in agreement with the Government of the United States.</p> + +<p>"The German Government, guided by this idea, notifies the Government of +the United States that the German naval forces have received the +following orders: In accordance with the general principles of visit and +search and destruction of merchant vessels recognized by international +law, such vessels, both within and without the area declared as naval +war zone, shall not be sunk without warning and without saving human +lives, unless these ships attempt to escape or offer resistance.</p> + +<p>"But," it added, "neutrals cannot expect that Germany, forced to fight +for her existence, shall, for the sake of neutral interest, restrict the +use of an effective weapon if her enemy is permitted to continue to +apply at will methods of warfare violating the rules of international +law. Such a demand would be incompatible with the character of +neutrality, and the German Government is convinced that the Government +of the United States does not think of making such a demand, knowing +that the Government of the United States has repeatedly declared that it +is determined to restore the principle of the freedom of the seas, from +whatever quarter it has been violated."</p> + +<p>To this the Government of the United States replied on the eighth of +May, accepting, of course, the assurances given, but adding,</p> + +<p>"The Government of the United States feels it necessary to state that it +takes it for granted that the Imperial German Government does not intend +to imply that the maintenance of its newly announced policy is in any +way contingent upon the course or result of diplomatic negotiations +between the Government of the United States and any other belligerent +Government, notwithstanding the fact that certain passages in the +Imperial Government's note of the fourth instant might appear to be +susceptible of that construction. In order, however, to avoid any +possible misunderstanding, the Government of the United States notifies +the Imperial Government that it cannot for a moment entertain, much less +discuss, a suggestion that respect by German naval authorities for the +rights of citizens of the United States upon the high seas should in any +way or in the slightest degree be made contingent upon the conduct of +any other Government affecting the rights of neutrals and +non-combatants. Responsibility in such matters is single, not joint; +absolute, not relative."</p> + +<p>To this note of the eighth of May the Imperial German Government made no +reply.</p> + +<p>On the thirty-first of January, the Wednesday of the present week, the +German Ambassador handed to the Secretary of State, along with a formal +note, a memorandum which contains the following statement:</p> + +<p>"The Imperial Government, therefore, does not doubt that the Government +of the United States will understand the situation thus forced upon +Germany by the Entente-Allies' brutal methods of war and by their +determination to destroy the Central Powers, and that the Government of +the United States will further realize that the now openly disclosed +intentions of the Entente-Allies give back to Germany the freedom of +action which she reserved in her note addressed to the Government of the +United States on May 4, 1916.</p> + +<p>"Under these circumstances Germany will meet the illegal measures of her +enemies by forcibly preventing after February 1, 1917, in a zone around +Great Britain, France, Italy, and in the Eastern Mediterranean all +navigation, that of neutrals included, from and to England and from and +to France, etc., etc. All ships met within the zone will be sunk."</p> + +<p>I think that you will agree with me that, in view of this declaration, +which suddenly and without prior intimation of any kind deliberately +withdraws the solemn assurance given in the Imperial Government's note +of the fourth of May, 1916, this Government has no alternative +consistent with the dignity and honor of the United States but to take +the course which, in its note of the eighteenth of April, 1916, it +announced that it would take in the event that the German Government did +not declare and effect an abandonment of the methods of submarine +warfare which it was then employing and to which it now purposes again +to resort.</p> + +<p>I have, therefore, directed the Secretary of State to announce to His +Excellency the German Ambassador that all diplomatic relations between +the United States and the German Empire are severed, and that the +American Ambassador at Berlin will immediately be withdrawn; and, in +accordance with this decision, to hand to His Excellency his passports.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding this unexpected action of the German Government, this +sudden and deeply deplorable renunciation of its assurances, given this +Government at one of the most critical moments of tension in the +relations of the two governments, I refuse to believe that it is the +intention of the German authorities to do in fact what they have warned +us they will feel at liberty to do. I cannot bring myself to believe +that they will indeed pay no regard to the ancient friendship between +their people and our own or to the solemn obligations which have been +exchanged between them and destroy American ships and take the lives of +American citizens in the willful prosecution of the ruthless naval +program they have announced their intention to adopt. Only actual overt +acts on their part can make me believe it even now.</p> + +<p>If this inveterate confidence on my part in the sobriety and prudent +foresight of their purpose should unhappily prove unfounded; if American +ships and American lives should in fact be sacrificed by their naval +commanders in heedless contravention of the just and reasonable +understandings of international law and the obvious dictates of +humanity, I shall take the liberty of coming again before the Congress, +to ask that authority be given me to use any means that may be necessary +for the protection of our seamen and our people in the prosecution of +their peaceful and legitimate errands on the high seas. I can do nothing +less. I take it for granted that all neutral governments will take the +same course.</p> + +<p>We do not desire any hostile conflict with the Imperial German +Government. We are the sincere friends of the German people and +earnestly desire to remain at peace with the Government which speaks for +them. We shall not believe that they are hostile to us unless and until +we are obliged to believe it; and we purpose nothing more than the +reasonable defense of the undoubted rights of our people. We wish to +serve no selfish ends. We seek merely to stand true alike in thought and +in action to the immemorial principles of our people which I sought to +express in my address to the Senate only two weeks ago,—seek merely to +vindicate our right to liberty and justice and an unmolested life. These +are the bases of peace, not war. God grant we may not be challenged to +defend them by acts of wilful injustice on the part of the Government of +Germany!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="REQUEST_FOR_AUTHORITY" id="REQUEST_FOR_AUTHORITY"></a>REQUEST FOR AUTHORITY</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Address delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, +February 26, 1917.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen of the Congress:</span></p> + +<p>I have again asked the privilege of addressing you because we are moving +through critical times during which it seems to me to be my duty to keep +in close touch with the Houses of Congress, so that neither counsel nor +action shall run at cross purposes between us.</p> + +<p>On the third of February I officially informed you of the sudden and +unexpected action of the Imperial German Government in declaring its +intention to disregard the promises it had made to this Government in +April last and undertake immediate submarine operations against all +commerce, whether of belligerents or of neutrals, that should seek to +approach Great Britain and Ireland, the Atlantic coasts of Europe, or +the harbors of the eastern Mediterranean, and to conduct those +operations without regard to the established restrictions of +international practice, without regard to any considerations of humanity +even which might interfere with their object. That policy was forthwith +put into practice. It has now been in active execution for nearly four +weeks.</p> + +<p>Its practical results are not yet fully disclosed. The commerce of other +neutral nations is suffering severely, but not, perhaps, very much more +severely than it was already suffering before the first of February, +when the new policy of the Imperial Government was put into operation. +We have asked the coöperation of the other neutral governments to +prevent these depredations, but so far none of them has thought it wise +to join us in any common course of action. Our own commerce has +suffered, is suffering, rather in apprehension than in fact, rather +because so many of our ships are timidly keeping to their home ports +than because American ships have been sunk.</p> + +<p>Two American vessels have been sunk, the <i>Housatonic</i> and the <i>Lyman M. +Law</i>. The case of the <i>Housatonic,</i> which was carrying food-stuffs +consigned to a London firm, was essentially like the case of the <i>Fry</i>, +in which, it will be recalled, the German Government admitted its +liability for damages, and the lives of the crew, as in the case of the +<i>Fry</i>, were safeguarded with reasonable care. The case of the <i>Law</i>, +which was carrying lemon-box staves to Palermo, disclosed a ruthlessness +of method which deserves grave condemnation, but was accompanied by no +circumstances which might not have been expected at any time in +connection with the use of the submarine against merchantmen as the +German Government has used it.</p> + +<p>In sum, therefore, the situation we find ourselves in with regard to the +actual conduct of the German submarine warfare against commerce and its +effects upon our own ships and people is substantially the same that it +was when I addressed you on the third of February, except for the tying +up of our shipping in our own ports because of the unwillingness of our +shipowners to risk their vessels at sea without insurance or adequate +protection, and the very serious congestion of our commerce which has +resulted, a congestion which is growing rapidly more and more serious +every day. This in itself might presently accomplish, in effect, what +the new German submarine orders were meant to accomplish, so far as we +are concerned. We can only say, therefore, that the overt act which I +have ventured to hope the German commanders would in fact avoid has not +occurred.</p> + +<p>But, while this is happily true, it must be admitted that there have +been certain additional indications and expressions of purpose on the +part of the German press and the German authorities which have increased +rather than lessened the impression that, if our ships and our people +are spared, it will be because of fortunate circumstances or because the +commanders of the German submarines which they may happen to encounter +exercise an unexpected discretion and restraint rather than because of +the instructions under which those commanders are acting. It would be +foolish to deny that the situation is fraught with the gravest +possibilities and dangers. No thoughtful man can fail to see that the +necessity for definite action may come at any time, if we are in fact, +and not in word merely, to defend our elementary rights as a neutral +nation. It would be most imprudent to be unprepared.</p> + +<p>I cannot in such circumstances be unmindful of the fact that the +expiration of the term of the present Congress is immediately at hand, +by constitutional limitation; and that it would in all likelihood +require an unusual length of time to assemble and organize the Congress +which is to succeed it. I feel that I ought, in view of that fact, to +obtain from you full and immediate assurance of the authority which I +may need at any moment to exercise. No doubt I already possess that +authority without special warrant of law, by the plain implication of my +constitutional duties and powers; but I prefer, in the present +circumstances, not to act upon general implication. I wish to feel that +the authority and the power of the Congress are behind me in whatever it +may become necessary for me to do. We are jointly the servants of the +people and must act together and in their spirit, so far as we can +divine and interpret it.</p> + +<p>No one doubts what it is our duty to do. We must defend our commerce +and the lives of our people in the midst of the present trying +circumstances, with discretion but with clear and steadfast purpose. +Only the method and the extent remain to be chosen, upon the occasion, +if occasion should indeed arise. Since it has unhappily proved +impossible to safeguard our neutral rights by diplomatic means against +the unwarranted infringements they are suffering at the hands of +Germany, there may be no recourse but to <i>armed</i> neutrality, which we +shall know how to maintain and for which there is abundant American +precedent.</p> + +<p>It is devoutly to be hoped that it will not be necessary to put armed +force anywhere into action. The American people do not desire it, and +our desire is not different from theirs. I am sure that they will +understand the spirit in which I am now acting, the purpose I hold +nearest my heart and would wish to exhibit in everything I do. I am +anxious that the people of the nations at war also should understand and +not mistrust us. I hope that I need give no further proofs and +assurances than I have already given throughout nearly three years of +anxious patience that I am the friend of peace and mean to preserve it +for America so long as I am able. I am not now proposing or +contemplating war or any steps that need lead to it. I merely request +that you will accord me by your own vote and definite bestowal the means +and the authority to safeguard in practice the right of a great people +who are at peace and who are desirous of exercising none but the rights +of peace to follow the pursuits of peace in quietness and good +will,—rights recognized time out of mind by all the civilized nations +of the world. No course of my choosing or of theirs will lead to war. +War can come only by the wilful acts and aggressions of others.</p> + +<p>You will understand why I can make no definite proposals or forecasts +of action now and must ask for your supporting authority in the most +general terms. The form in which action may become necessary cannot yet +be foreseen. I believe that the people will be willing to trust me to +act with restraint, with prudence, and in the true spirit of amity and +good faith that they have themselves displayed throughout these trying +months; and it is in that belief that I request that you will authorize +me to supply our merchant ships with defensive arms, should that become +necessary, and with the means of using them, and to employ any other +instrumentalities or methods that may be necessary and adequate to +protect our ships and our people in their legitimate and peaceful +pursuits on the seas. I request also that you will grant me at the same +time, along with the powers I ask, a sufficient credit to enable me to +provide adequate means of protection where they are lacking, including +adequate insurance against the present war risks.</p> + +<p>I have spoken of our commerce and of the legitimate errands of our +people on the seas, but you will not be misled as to my main thought, +the thought that lies beneath these phrases and gives them dignity and +weight. It is not of material interests merely that we are thinking. It +is, rather, of fundamental human rights, chief of all the right of life +itself. I am thinking, not only of the rights of Americans to go and +come about their proper business by way of the sea, but also of +something much deeper, much more fundamental than that. I am thinking of +those rights of humanity without which there is no civilization. My +theme is of those great principles of compassion and of protection which +mankind has sought to throw about human lives, the lives of +non-combatants, the lives of men who are peacefully at work keeping the +industrial processes of the world quick and vital, the lives of women +and children and of those who supply the labor which ministers to their +sustenance. We are speaking of no selfish material rights but of rights +which our hearts support and whose foundation is that righteous passion +for justice upon which all law, all structures alike of family, of +state, and of mankind must rest, as upon the ultimate base of our +existence and our liberty. I cannot imagine any man with American +principles at his heart hesitating to defend these things.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SECOND_INAUGURAL_ADDRESS" id="SECOND_INAUGURAL_ADDRESS"></a>SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Washington, March 4, 1917.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">My Fellow-Citizens:</span></p> + +<p>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 +consequence. Perhaps no equal period in our history 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 interests. It is a record of +singular variety and 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It has been impossible to avoid them. They have affected the life of +the whole world. They have shaken men everywhere with a passion 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 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.</p> + +<p>And yet all the while we have been conscious that we were not part of +it. In that consciousness, 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 retained throughout the +consciousness of standing 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.</p> + +<p>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 vindicate 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 and cannot forego. We may even be drawn on, by circumstances, not +by our own purpose or desire, to a more active assertion of our rights +as we see them and a more immediate 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 unselfish purpose and we covet the +opportunity to prove that our professions are sincere.</p> + +<p>There are many things still to do at home, to clarify our own politics +and give new vitality to the industrial processes of our own life, and +we shall do them as time and opportunity serve; but we realize that the +greatest things that remain to be done must be done with the whole world +for stage and in coöperation 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 world. There can be no turning back. Our own +fortunes as a nation are involved, whether we would have it so or not.</p> + +<p>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 principles of a province or of a single +continent. We have known and boasted all along that they were the +principles of a liberated mankind. These, therefore, are the things we +shall stand for, whether in war or in peace:</p> + +<p>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;</p> + +<p>That the essential principle of peace is the actual equality of nations +in all matters of right or privilege;</p> + +<p>That peace cannot securely or justly rest upon an armed balance of +power;</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 that, +so far as practicable, they should be accessible to all upon equal +terms;</p> + +<p>That national armaments should be limited to the necessities of national +order and domestic safety;</p> + +<p>That the community of interest and of power upon which peace must +henceforth depend imposes upon each nation the duty of seeing to it that +all influences proceeding from its own citizens meant to encourage or +assist revolution in other states should be sternly and effectually +suppressed and prevented.</p> + +<p>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 +purpose and of action we can stand together.</p> + +<p>And it is imperative that we should stand together. We are being forged +into a new unity amidst the fires that now blaze throughout 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 +his own mind, ruler of his own will and desire.</p> + +<p>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 responsibility 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 +feeling, 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 Government be kept pure and incorrupt in all its parts. United +alike in the conception of our 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 hand. For myself I beg your tolerance, your +countenance, and your united aid. The shadows 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 and in the thought of all those who +love liberty and justice and the right exalted.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_CALL_TO_WAR" id="THE_CALL_TO_WAR"></a>THE CALL TO WAR</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Address delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, +April 2, 1917.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen of the Congress:</span></p> + +<p>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 constitutionally permissible +that I should assume the responsibility of making.</p> + +<p>On the third of February last I officially laid before you the +extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government that on and +after the first day of February it was its purpose to put aside all +restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every +vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and +Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled +by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. That had seemed to +be the object of the German submarine warfare earlier in the war, but +since April of last year the Imperial Government had somewhat restrained +the commanders of its undersea craft in conformity with its promise then +given to us that passenger boats should not be sunk and that due warning +would be given to all other vessels which its submarines might seek to +destroy, when no resistance was offered or escape attempted, and care +taken that their crews were given at least a fair chance to save their +lives in their open boats. The precautions taken were meager and +haphazard enough, as was proved in distressing instance after instance +in the progress of the cruel and unmanly business, but a certain degree +of restraint was observed. The new policy has swept every restriction +aside. Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, +their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent +to the bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy for +those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of +belligerents. Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the +sorely bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the 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.</p> + +<p>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 accomplished, but always with a clear view, +at least, of what the heart and conscience of mankind demanded. This +minimum of right the German Government has swept aside under the plea of +retaliation 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 +employing 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. Property +can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people cannot be. +The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare +against mankind.</p> + +<p>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 overwhelmed in the waters in the same way. There has been no +discrimination. The challenge is to all mankind. 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 victorious 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.</p> + +<p>When I addressed the Congress on the twenty-sixth 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 neutrality, it +now appears, is impracticable. Because submarines are in effect outlaws +when used as the German submarines have been used against merchant +shipping, it is impossible 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 circumstances, 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 modern publicist has ever before questioned their +right to defend. 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 +only 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. 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 ignored or violated. +The wrongs against which we now array ourselves are no common wrongs; +they cut to the very roots of human life.</p> + +<p>With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the +step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it involves, +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 +resources to bring the Government of the German Empire to terms and end +the war.</p> + +<p>What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost practicable +coöperation in counsel and action with the governments now at war with +Germany, and, as incident to that, the extension to those governments of +the most liberal financial credits, in order that our resources may so +far as possible be added to theirs. It will involve the organization and +mobilization 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 provided 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 subsequent 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, sustained, I +hope, so far as they can equitably be sustained by the present +generation, by well conceived taxation.</p> + +<p>I say sustained so far as may be equitable by taxation because it seems +to me that it would be most unwise to base the credits which will now be +necessary entirely 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the several executive +departments of the Government, for the consideration of your committees, +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.</p> + +<p>While we do these things, these deeply momentous 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 +believe that the thought of the nation has been altered or clouded by +them. I have exactly the same things in mind now that I had in mind when +I addressed the Senate on the twenty-second of January last; the same +that I had in mind when I addressed the Congress on the third of +February and on the twenty-sixth 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 concert of +purpose and of action as will henceforth ensure 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 organized force which is controlled wholly by +their will, not by the will of their people. We have seen the last of +neutrality in such circumstances. 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.</p> + +<p>We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling towards +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 +previous 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 +accustomed to use their fellow-men as pawns and tools. Self-governed +nations do not fill their neighbor states with spies or set the course +of intrigue to bring about some critical posture of affairs which will +give them an opportunity to strike and make conquest. Such designs can +be successfully worked out only under cover and where no one has the +right to ask questions. Cunningly contrived plans of deception or +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 confidences 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.</p> + +<p>A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a +partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic government could be +trusted to keep faith within it or observe 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 mankind to any narrow interest of +their own.</p> + +<p>Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to our hope +for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and heartening things +that have been happening within the last few weeks in Russia? Russia was +known by those who knew it best to have been always in fact democratic +at heart, in all the vital habits of her thought, in all the intimate +relationships of her people that spoke their natural instinct, their +habitual attitude towards life. The 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, character, or +purpose; and now it has been shaken off and the great, generous Russian +people have been added in all their naïve 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.</p> + +<p>One of the things that has served to convince 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 national unity of counsel, 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 unhappily +not a matter of conjecture but a fact proved in our courts of justice +that the intrigues which have more than once come perilously near to +disturbing the peace and dislocating the industries of the country have +been carried on at the instigation, with the support, and even under the +personal direction of official agents of the Imperial Government +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 +towards 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 Government 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 intercepted note to the German Minister at Mexico City is +eloquent evidence.</p> + +<p>We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know that +in such a government, following such methods, we can never have a +friend; and that in the presence of its organized power, always lying in +wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no assured +security for the democratic governments of the world. We are now about +to accept gauge of battle with this natural foe to liberty and shall, if +necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to check and nullify its +pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that we see the facts with +no veil of false pretense about them, to fight thus for the ultimate +peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German +peoples 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 tested foundations of political liberty. We have no +selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no +indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices +we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of +mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as +secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them.</p> + +<p>Just because we fight without rancor and without selfish object, seeking +nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all free +peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as +belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio +the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for.</p> + +<p>I have said nothing of the governments allied 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, indeed, avowed its unqualified endorsement and +acceptance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare adopted now +without disguise by the Imperial German Government, and it has therefore +not been possible for this Government to receive Count Tarnowski, the +Ambassador recently accredited to this Government 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. We enter +this war only where we are clearly forced into it because there are no +other means of defending our rights.</p> + +<p>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 animus, not +in enmity towards a people or with the desire to bring any injury or +disadvantage 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 reëstablishment of intimate 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 patience 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 towards 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 towards +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 stern repression; but, if it lifts its +head at all, it will lift it only here and there and without countenance +except from a lawless and malignant few.</p> + +<p>It is a distressing and oppressive duty, Gentlemen of the Congress, +which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, +many months of fiery trial and sacrifice 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, civilization 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 democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority +to have a voice in their own governments, 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.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="TO_THE_COUNTRY" id="TO_THE_COUNTRY"></a>TO THE COUNTRY</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[President Wilson's Address to his Fellow-Countrymen, April 16, 1917.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">My Fellow-Countrymen:</span></p> + +<p>The entrance of our own beloved country into the grim and terrible war +for democracy 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.</p> + +<p>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 simplest parts +of the great task to which we have addressed ourselves. There is not a +single selfish element, so far as I can see, in the cause we are +fighting for. We are fighting for what we believe and wish to be the +rights of mankind 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 advantage 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.</p> + +<p>These, then, are the things we must do, and do well, besides +fighting,—the things without which mere fighting would be fruitless:</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 coöperating in Europe, and to +keep the looms and manufactories there in raw material; coal to keep the +fires going in ships at sea and in the furnaces of hundreds of factories +across the sea; steel out of which to make arms and ammunition both here +and there; rails for worn-out 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 themselves but cannot now afford the men, +the materials, or the machinery to make.</p> + +<p>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 +battlefield or in the trenches. The industrial forces of the country, +men and women alike, will be a great national, a great international, +Service Army,—a notable and honored host engaged in the service of the +nation and the world, the efficient friends and saviors of free men +everywhere. Thousands, nay, hundreds of thousands, of men otherwise +liable 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.</p> + +<p>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 coöperating is an +abundance of supplies, and especially of food-stuffs. The importance of +an adequate food supply, especially for the present year, is +superlative. Without abundant food, alike 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 harvests in America. Upon the farmers of this country, +therefore, in large measure, rests the fate of the war and the fate of +the nations. May the nation not count upon them to omit no step that +will increase the production of their land or that will bring about the +most effectual coöperation 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.</p> + +<p>I particularly appeal to the farmers of the South to plant abundant +food-stuffs as well as cotton. They can show their patriotism in no +better or more convincing way than by resisting the great temptation of +the present price of cotton and helping, helping upon a great scale, to +feed the nation and the peoples everywhere 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.</p> + +<p>The Government of the United States and the governments of the several +States stand ready to coöperate. They will do everything possible to +assist farmers in securing an adequate supply of seed, an adequate force +of laborers when they are most needed, at harvest time, and the means of +expediting shipments of fertilizers and farm machinery, as well as 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 Democracy and we shall not fall short of it!</p> + +<p>This let me say to the middlemen of every sort, whether they are +handling our food-stuffs or our 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 expects you, as it expects all +others, to forego unusual profits, to organize and expedite shipments 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 themselves. I shall confidently expect +you to deserve and win the confidence of people of every sort and +station.</p> + +<p>To the men who run the railways of the country, whether they be managers +or operative employees, let me say that the railways are the arteries of +the nation's life and that upon them rests the immense responsibility of +seeing to it that those arteries suffer 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 supplied +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 Service 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.</p> + +<p>Let me suggest, also, that everyone who creates or cultivates a garden +helps, and helps greatly, to solve the problem of the feeding of the +nations; and that every housewife who practices strict economy puts +herself in the ranks of those who serve the nation. This is the time for +America to correct her unpardonable fault of wastefulness and +extravagance. 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 excused or forgiven +for ignoring.</p> + +<p>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 prominent 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 clergymen will not think the +theme of it an unworthy or inappropriate subject of comment and homily +from their pulpits.</p> + +<p>The supreme test of the nation has come. We must all speak, act, and +serve together!</p> + +<p style="text-align: right;">WOODROW WILSON.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_GERMAN_PLOT" id="THE_GERMAN_PLOT"></a>THE GERMAN PLOT</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Speech in Washington Monument Grounds, June 14, 1917.]</p> + + +<p>We know now clearly, as we knew before we ourselves were engaged in the +War, that we are not enemies of the German people, and 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 themselves, as +well as our own. They themselves are in the grip of the same sinister +power that has stretched its ugly talons out and drawn blood from us.</p> + +<p>The War was begun by the military masters of Germany, who have proved +themselves to be also the masters of Austria-Hungary. These men never +regarded nations as peoples of men, women, and children of like blood +and frame as themselves, for whom Governments existed and in whom +Governments had their life. They regarded them merely as serviceable +organizations, which they could, either by force or intrigue, bend or +corrupt to their own purpose. They regarded the smaller States, +particularly, and those peoples, who could be overwhelmed by force, as +their natural tools and instruments of domination.</p> + +<p>Their purpose had long been avowed. The statesmen of other nations, to +whom that purpose was incredible, paid little attention, and regarded +what the German professors expounded in their class-rooms and the German +writers set forth to the world as the goal of German policy as rather +the dream of minds detached from practical affairs and the preposterous +private conceptions of Germany's destiny than the actual plans of +responsible rulers. But the rulers of Germany knew all the while what +concrete plans, what well-advanced intrigue, lay at the back of what +professors and writers were saying, and were glad to go forward +unmolested, filling the thrones of the Balkan States with German +princes, putting German officers at the service of Turkey, developing +plans of sedition and rebellion in India and Egypt, and setting their +fires in Persia.</p> + +<p>The demands made by Austria upon Serbia were a mere single step in the +plan which compassed Europe and Asia from Berlin to Bagdad. They hoped +that these 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. Their plan was to throw a belt of German military +power and political control across the very center of Europe and beyond +the Mediterranean into the heart of Asia, and Austria-Hungary was to be +as much their tool and pawn as Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, or the +ponderous States of the East. Austria-Hungary, indeed, was to become a +part of the Central German Empire, absorbed and dominated by the same +forces and influences that originally cemented the German States +themselves.</p> + +<p>The dream had its heart at Berlin. It could have had its heart nowhere +else. It rejected entirely the idea of the solidarity of race. The +choice of peoples played no part at all in the contemplated binding +together of the racial and political units, which could keep together +only by force. And they actually carried the greater part of that +amazing plan into execution.</p> + +<p>Look how things stand. Austria, at their mercy, has acted, not upon its +own initiative or upon the choice of its own people, but at Berlin's +dictation ever since the War began. Its people now desire peace, but +they 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 consented to its +will; Rumania is overrun by the Turkish armies, which the Germans +trained into serving Germany, and the guns of the German warships lying +in the harbor at Constantinople remind the Turkish statesmen every day +that they have no choice but to take their orders from Berlin.</p> + +<p>From Hamburg to the Persian Gulf the net is spread. Is it not easy to +understand the eagerness for peace that has been manifested by Berlin +ever since the snare was set and sprung? "Peace, peace, peace" has been +the talk of her Foreign Office for a year or 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 in all sorts of guises, but never with the terms +disclosed which the German Government would be willing to accept.</p> + +<p>That Government has other valuable pawns in its hands besides those I +have mentioned. It still holds a valuable part of France, though with a +slowly relaxing grasp, and practically the whole of Belgium. Its armies +press close on Russia and overrun Poland. 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 abroad and at home will fall to pieces. It is their +power at home of which they are thinking now more than of their power +abroad. It is that power which is trembling under their very feet.</p> + +<p>Deep fear has entered 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 advantage +still in their hands, they will have justified themselves before the +German people. They will have gained by force what they promised to gain +by it—an immense expansion of German power and an immense enlargement +of German industrial and commercial opportunities. Their prestige will +be secure, and with their prestige their political power.</p> + +<p>If they fail, their people will thrust them aside. A Government +accountable to the people themselves will be set up in Germany, as has +been the case in England, the United States, and France—in all great +countries of modern times except Germany. If they succeed they are safe, +and Germany and the world are undone. If they fail, Germany is saved and +the world will be at peace. If they succeed, America will fall within +the menace, and 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.</p> + +<p>Do you not now understand the new intrigue for peace, and why the +masters of Germany do not hesitate to use any agency that promises to +effect their purpose, the deceit of 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 liberalism are gathering out +of this war. They are employing Liberals in their enterprises. Let them +once succeed, and these men, now their tools, will be ground to powder +beneath the weight of the great military Empire; the Revolutionists of +Russia will be cut off from all succour and the coöperation of Western +Europe, and a counter-revolution will be fostered and supported; Germany +herself will lose her chance of freedom, and all Europe will arm for the +next final struggle.</p> + +<p>The sinister intrigue is being no less actively conducted in this +country than in Russia and in every country of Europe into which the +agents and dupes of the Imperial German Government can get access. That +Government has many spokesmen here, in places both high and low. They +have learned discretion; they keep within the law. It is opinion they +utter now, not sedition. They proclaim the liberal purposes of their +masters, and they declare that this is a foreign war, which can touch +America with no danger either to her lands or institutions. They set +England at the center of the stage, and talk of her ambition to assert +her economic dominion throughout the world. They appeal to our ancient +tradition of isolation, and seek to undermine the Government with false +professions of loyalty to its principles.</p> + +<p>But they will make no headway. Falsehood betrays them in every accent. +These facts are patent to all the world, and nowhere more plainly than +in the United States, where we are accustomed to deal with facts, not +sophistries; and the great fact that stands out above all the rest is +that this is a peoples' war for freedom, justice and self-government +among all the nations of the world, a war to make the world safe for the +peoples who live upon it, the German people included, and that with us +rests the choice to break through all these hypocrisies, the patent +cheats and masks of brute force, and help set the world free, or else +stand aside and let it be dominated through sheer weight of arms and the +arbitrary choices of the self-constituted masters by the nation which +can maintain the biggest armies, the most irresistible armaments, a +power to which the world has afforded no parallel, in the face of which +political freedom must wither and perish.</p> + +<p>For us there was but one choice. We have made it, and woe be to that +man, or that group of men, 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 nation. 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 are born, and a new glory shall shine in the face of our +people.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="REPLY_TO_THE_POPE" id="REPLY_TO_THE_POPE"></a>REPLY TO THE POPE</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[This important and eloquent document, though signed by the Secretary of +State, was of course authorized by the President, and indeed bears +internal marks of being his own composition. The Pope had made a plea +for peace, which was by our government deemed premature.]</p> + + +<p style="text-align: right;">AUGUST 27, 1917.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">To His Holiness Benedictus XV, Pope:</span></p> + +<p>In acknowledgment of the communication of Your Holiness to the +belligerent peoples, dated August 1, 1917, the President of the United +States requests me to transmit the following reply:</p> + +<p>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 stern facts and upon nothing else. It is not a mere +cessation of arms he desires; it is a stable and enduring peace. This +agony must not be gone through with again, and it must be a matter of +very sober judgment that will insure us against it.</p> + +<p>His Holiness in substance proposes that we return to the status quo ante +bellum, and that then there be a general condonation, disarmament, 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 Poland +be left to such conciliatory adjustments as may be possible in the new +temper of such a peace, due regard being paid to the aspirations of the +peoples whose political fortunes and affiliations will be involved.</p> + +<p>It is manifest that no part of this program can be successfully carried +out unless the restitution 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, proceeded to carry the +plan out without regard either to the sacred obligations of treaty or +the long-established practices and long-cherished principles of +international action and honor; which chose its own time for the war; +delivered its 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 temporary zest to the domination of its purpose; but it +is our business to see to it that the history of the rest of the world +is no longer left to its handling.</p> + +<p>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 instruments; and would result in abandoning the +newborn Russia to the intrigue, the manifold subtle interference, and +the certain counter-revolution which would 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 power or upon +any word of honor it could pledge in a treaty of settlement and +accommodation?</p> + +<p>Responsible statesmen must now everywhere see, if they never saw before, +that no peace can rest securely upon political or economic restrictions +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 suffered intolerable wrongs at the +hands of the Imperial German Government, but they desire no reprisal +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-government 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 repaired, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of any +people—rather a vindication of the sovereignty both of those that are +weak and of those that are strong. Punitive damages, the dismemberment +of empires, the establishment 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.</p> + +<p>We cannot take the word of the present rulers of Germany as a guaranty +of anything that is to endure, unless explicitly supported by such +conclusive evidence of the will and purpose of the German people +themselves as the other peoples of the world would be justified in +accepting. Without such guaranties treaties of settlement, agreements +for disarmament, 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 evidence 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 confidence of all peoples everywhere in the faith of nations and the +possibility of a covenanted peace.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right;"><span class="smcap">Robert Lansing,</span></p> + +<p style="text-align: right;"><i>Secretary of State of the United States of America</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LABOR_MUST_BE_FREE" id="LABOR_MUST_BE_FREE"></a>LABOR MUST BE FREE</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Address to the American Federation of Labor Convention, Buffalo, New +York, November 12, 1917.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. President, Delegates of the American Federation of Labor, Ladies and +Gentlemen:</span></p> + +<p>I esteem it a great privilege and a real honor to be thus admitted to +your public counsels. When your executive committee 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 our history, is the +time for common counsel, for the drawing together not only of the +energies but of the minds of the Nation. I thought that it was a welcome +opportunity for disclosing to you some of the thoughts that have been +gathering in my mind during these last momentous months.</p> + + +<h3>CRITICAL TIME IN HISTORY</h3> + +<p>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 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 nobility of a great national +and world conception, and act upon a new platform elevated above the +ordinary affairs of life and lifted to where men have views of the long +destiny of mankind.</p> + +<p>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 principle of power and the new principle +of freedom.</p> + + +<h3>WAR STARTED BY GERMANY</h3> + +<p>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. And the thing that needs to be explained is why +Germany started the war. Remember what the position of Germany in the +world was—as enviable a position as any nation has ever occupied. The +whole world stood at admiration of her wonderful intellectual and +material achievements. All the intellectual men of the world went to +school to her. As a university man I have been surrounded by men trained +in Germany, men who had resorted to Germany because nowhere else could +they get such thorough and searching training, particularly in the +principles of science and the principles that underlie modern material +achievement. Her men of science had made her industries perhaps the most +competent industries of 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 nation who traded in those +markets feared Germany because of her effective and almost irresistible +competition. She had a "place in the sun."</p> + + +<h3>GERMANY'S INDUSTRIAL GROWTH</h3> + +<p>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 statistics of Germany. Her old cities took on youth and grew +faster than any American cities ever grew. Her old industries opened +their eyes and saw a new world and went out for its conquest. And yet +the authorities of Germany were not satisfied.</p> + +<p>You have one part of the answer to the question why she was not +satisfied in her methods of competition. There is no important industry +in Germany upon which the Government has not laid its hands, to direct +it and, when necessity arose, control it; and 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 national competition to find out the +methods of competition which the German manufacturers 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 tried 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 anyhow, and the conditions of competition were thus +controlled in large measure by the German Government itself.</p> + + +<h3>BERLIN-BAGDAD RAILWAY</h3> + +<p>But that did not satisfy the German Government. All the while there was +lying behind its thought and in its dreams of the future a political +control which would enable it in the long run to dominate the labor and +the industry of the world. They were not content with success by +superior achievement; they wanted success by authority. I suppose very +few of you have thought much about the Berlin-to-Bagdad Railway. The +Berlin-Bagdad Railway was constructed 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.</p> + +<p>Look at the map of Europe now! Germany is thrusting upon us again and +again the discussion of peace talks,—about what? Talks about Belgium; +talks about northern France; talks about Alsace-Lorraine. Well, those +are deeply interesting subjects to us and to them, but they are not the +heart of the matter. Take the map and look at it. Germany has absolute +control of Austria-Hungary, practical control of the Balkan States, +control of Turkey, control of Asia Minor. I saw a map in which the whole +thing was printed in appropriate black the other day, and the black +stretched all the way from Hamburg to Bagdad—the bulk of German power +inserted into the heart of the world. If she can keep that, 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 proviso in—always provided the +present influences that control the German Government continue to +control it. I believe that the spirit of freedom can get 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.</p> + + +<h3>PEACE RUMORS</h3> + +<p>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 of all +the peoples of that part of the world, and notwithstanding the fact that +they do not wish in their pride and proper spirit of nationality to be +so absorbed and dominated. 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.</p> + +<p>May I not say that it is amazing to me that any group of persons should +be so ill-informed as to suppose, as some groups in Russia apparently +suppose, that any reforms planned in the interest of the people can live +in the presence of 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 compounding for its own destruction. But +that is not the whole of the story. Any man in America or anywhere else +that 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 in 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.</p> + + +<h3>COLONEL HOUSE'S MISSION</h3> + +<p>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 didn't +send him on a peace mission yet. 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.</p> + +<p>All of this is a preface to the conference that I have referred to with +regard to what we are going to do. 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 is allowed to stand in the way I do not mean that they +shall be prevented by the power of the Government but by the power of +the American 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 of +the world—is to stand together night and day until the job is finished.</p> + + +<h3>LABOR MUST BE FREE</h3> + +<p>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 conditions of labor are not rendered more onerous by the war, +but also that we shall see to it that the instrumentalities by which the +conditions of labor are improved are not blocked or checked. That we +must do. That has been the matter about which I have taken pleasure 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 admiration of his +patriotic courage, his large vision, and his statesmanlike sense of what +has to be done. I like to lay my mind alongside of a mind that knows how +to pull in harness. The horses that kick over the traces will have to be +put in corral.</p> + +<p>Now, to stand together means that nobody must interrupt the processes of +our energy 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, and I +believe I am speaking from my own experience not only, but from the +experience of others when I say that you are reasonable in a larger +number of cases than the capitalists. I am not saying these things to +them personally yet, because I have not 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 now +got to transact business, and a settlement is never impossible when both +sides want to do the square and right thing.</p> + + +<h3>SETTLEMENT HARD TO AVOID</h3> + +<p>Moreover, a settlement is always hard to avoid when the parties can be +brought face to face. I can differ from a man much more radically when +he is not in the room than I can when he is in the room, because then +the awkward thing is 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. +Therefore, we must insist in every instance that the parties come into +each other's presence and there discuss the issues between them, and not +separately in places which have no communication with each other. I +always like to remind myself of a delightful saying of an Englishman of +the past generation, Charles Lamb. He stuttered a little bit, and once +when he was with a group of friends he spoke very harshly of some man +who was not present. One of his friends said: "Why, Charles, I didn't +know that you knew so and so." "O-o-oh," he said, "I-I d-d-don't; I-I +can't h-h-h hate a m-m-man I-I know." There is a great deal of human +nature, of very pleasant human nature, in the 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 believe in, but they are jolly +good fellows, and if they only would not talk the wrong kind of politics +to me, I would love to be with them.</p> + + +<h3>NO SYMPATHY WITH MOB SPIRIT</h3> + +<p>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. 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 coöperate +with all other classes and all other groups in the common enterprise +which is to release the spirits of the world 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 +fellow-citizens, by some of the things that have happened recently. The +mob spirit is displaying 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 who take their punishment into their own hands; and I want to +say to every man who does join such a mob that I do not recognize him as +worthy of the free institutions of the United States. There are some +organizations in this country whose object is anarchy and the +destruction of law, but I would not meet their efforts by making myself +partner in destroying the law. I despise and hate their purposes 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.</p> + + +<h3>MUST OBEY COMMON COUNSEL</h3> + +<p>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 democratic government. A man who takes the law into +his own hands is not the right man to coöperate in any formation or +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 in this manifestation of +the unwillingness to coöperate, and that 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. 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 ought not to go on. +There are various processes of the dilution of labor and the unnecessary +substitution of labor and the bidding in distant markets and unfairly +upsetting the whole competition of labor which ought not to go on. I +mean now on the part of employers, and we must interject some +instrumentality of coöperation by which the fair thing will be done all +around. I am hopeful that some such instrumentalities may be devised, +but whether they are or not, we must use those that we have and upon +every occasion where it is necessary have such an instrumentality +originated upon that occasion.</p> + +<p>So, my fellow-citizens, the reason I came away from Washington is that I +sometimes get lonely down there. So many people come to Washington who +know things that are not so, and so few people who know anything about +what the people of the United States are thinking about. I have to come +away and get reminded of the rest of the country. I have to 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." And 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 United States.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_CALL_FOR_WAR_WITH_AUSTRIA-HUNGARY" id="THE_CALL_FOR_WAR_WITH_AUSTRIA-HUNGARY"></a>THE CALL FOR WAR WITH AUSTRIA-HUNGARY</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Address delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, +December 4, 1917.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen of the Congress:</span></p> + +<p>Eight months have elapsed since I last had the honor of addressing you. +They have been months crowded with events of immense and grave +significance for us. I shall not undertake to retail or even to +summarize those events. The practical 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.</p> + +<p>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 a very grave scrutiny our objectives and the measures by which +we mean to attain them; for the purpose of discussion here in this place +is action, and our action must move straight towards definite ends. Our +object is, of course, to win the war; and we shall not slacken or suffer +ourselves to be diverted until it is won. But it is worth while asking +and answering the question, When shall we consider the war won?</p> + +<p>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 purpose 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 +not the way in which we may attain it with uplifted eyes and unbroken +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 their +uneasy hour and be forgotten.</p> + +<p>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 settlement of its searching issues. +We are the spokesmen of the American people and they have a right to +know whether their purpose is ours. They desire peace by the overcoming +of evil, by the defeat once for all of the sinister forces that +interrupt peace and render it impossible, 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.</p> + +<p>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 when this Thing and its +power are indeed defeated and the time comes that we can discuss +peace,—when the German people have spokesmen 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 settlement must affect, our enemies as well as our friends.</p> + +<p>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 vindictive 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 contributions, no +punitive indemnities." Just because this crude formula expresses the +instinctive judgment as to right of plain 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.</p> + +<p>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 undefeated as the +present masters of Germany command. Not until that has been done can +Right be set up as arbiter and peace-maker 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.</p> + +<p>Let there be no misunderstanding. Our present and immediate task is to +win the war, 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 counsel to carry their advice +elsewhere. We will not entertain it. We shall regard the war as won only +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 +established a power over other lands and peoples than their own,—over +the great Empire of Austria-Hungary, over hitherto free Balkan states, +over Turkey, and within Asia,—which must be relinquished.</p> + +<p>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 influence, secured by the peace of +the world. We were content to abide the rivalries of manufacture, +science, and commerce that were involved for us in her success and stand +or fall as we had 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 establish in their stead what +the world will no longer permit to be established, military and +political domination 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 menace, +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 dominion of the Prussian military and +commercial autocracy.</p> + +<p>We owe it, however, to ourselves to say that we do not wish in any way +to impair or to rearrange 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 or desire to dictate to them in any way. +We only desire to see that their affairs 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 opportunity to make their own lives safe, their own fortunes secure +against oppression or injustice and from the dictation of foreign courts +or parties.</p> + +<p>And our attitude and purpose with regard to Germany herself are of a +like kind. We intend no wrong against the German Empire, 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.</p> + +<p>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 the +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 falseness. We are in fact fighting for +their emancipation 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 existence or the +independence or the peaceful enterprise of the German Empire.</p> + +<p>The worst that can happen to the detriment of the German people is this, +that if they should 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 +partnership of nations which must henceforth guarantee 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 +untoward circumstances, to admit Germany to the free economic +intercourse which must inevitably spring out of the other partnerships +of a real peace. But there would be no aggression in that; and such a +situation, inevitable because of distrust, would in the very nature of +things sooner or later cure itself, by processes which would assuredly +set in.</p> + +<p>The wrongs, the very deep wrongs, committed 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 similar wrongs as a means of +reparation and settlement. Statesmen must by this time have learned that +the opinion of the world is everywhere wide awake and fully comprehends +the issues involved. No representative of any self-governed nation will +dare disregard it by attempting 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 henceforth +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 everywhere. Its conclusions will run +with those tides.</p> + +<p>All these things have been true from the very beginning of this +stupendous war; and I cannot help thinking that if they had been made +plain at the very outset the sympathy and enthusiasm of the Russian +people might have been once for all enlisted on the side of the Allies, +suspicion and distrust swept away, and a real and lasting union of +purpose effected. Had they believed these things at the very moment of +their revolution and had they been confirmed in that belief since, the +sad reverses which have recently marked the progress of their affairs +towards an ordered and stable government of free men might have been +avoided. 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.</p> + +<p>From every point of view, therefore, it has seemed to be my duty to +speak these declarations of purpose, to add these specific +interpretations to what I took the liberty of saying to the Senate in +January. Our entrance into the war has not altered our attitude towards +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 pathways +upon the sea but also to assured and unmolested access to those pathways +I was thinking, and I am thinking now, not of the smaller and weaker +nations alone, which need 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 equality 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.</p> + +<p>What shall we do, then, to push this great war of freedom and justice to +its righteous conclusion? We must clear away with a thorough hand all +impediments to success and we must make every adjustment of law that +will facilitate the full and free use of our whole capacity and force +as a fighting unit.</p> + +<p>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 earnestly +recommend that the Congress immediately declare the United States in a +state of war with Austria-Hungary. Does it seem strange to you that this +should be the conclusion 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 simply +the vassal of the German Government. We must face the facts as they are +and act upon them without sentiment in this stern 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.</p> + +<p>The financial and military measures which must be adopted will suggest +themselves as the war and its undertakings develop, but I will take the +liberty 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.</p> + +<p>It will be necessary to extend in certain particulars the legislation +of the last session with 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.</p> + +<p>Legislation should be enacted defining as a criminal offense every +wilful violation of the presidential proclamations relating to alien +enemies promulgated under section 4067 of the Revised Statutes and +providing appropriate punishments; and women as well as men should be +included under the terms of the acts placing restraints upon alien +enemies. It is likely that as time goes on many alien 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.</p> + +<p>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 profiteering in +several branches of industry it still runs impudently rampant in others. +The farmers, for example, complain with a great deal 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.</p> + +<p>It is imperatively necessary that the consideration 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 immediately resumed and affirmatively and +constructively dealt with at the earliest possible moment. The pressing +need of such legislation is daily becoming more obvious.</p> + +<p>The legislation proposed at the last session with regard to regulated +combinations among our exporters, in order to provide for our foreign +trade a more effective organization and method of coöperation, ought by +all means to be completed at this session.</p> + +<p>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 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 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.</p> + +<p>Additional legislation may also become necessary before the present +Congress again adjourns in order to effect the most efficient +coördination and operation of the railway and other transportation +systems of the country; but to that I shall, if circumstances should +demand, call the attention of the Congress upon another occasion.</p> + +<p>If I have overlooked anything that ought to be done for the more +effective conduct of the war, your own counsels will supply the +omission. What I am perfectly clear about is that in the present session +of the Congress our whole attention and energy should be concentrated on +the vigorous, rapid, and successful prosecution of the great task of +winning the war.</p> + +<p>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 straight at the very heart of everything we believe in; +their methods of warfare outrage every principle of humanity and of +knightly honor; their intrigue has corrupted the very thought and 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 contempt were we to permit their triumph. They are striking +at the very existence of democracy and liberty.</p> + +<p>It is because it is for us a war of high, disinterested purpose, in +which all the free peoples of the world are banded together for the +vindication 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 irreproachable intention, for our foes as well as +for our friends. The cause being just and holy, the settlement 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 will we battle until the last gun is fired.</p> + +<p>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 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.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="GOVERNMENT_ADMINISTRATION_OF_RAILWAYS" id="GOVERNMENT_ADMINISTRATION_OF_RAILWAYS"></a>GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION OF RAILWAYS</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Address delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, +January 4, 1918.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen of the Congress:</span></p> + +<p>I have asked the privilege of addressing you in order to report to you +that on the twenty-eighth of December last, during the recess of the +Congress, acting through the Secretary of War and under the authority +conferred upon me by the Act of Congress approved August 29, 1916, I +took possession and assumed control of the railway lines of the country +and the systems of water transportation 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 own experience develops difficulties and makes it clear +what they are, I have deemed it my duty to remove those difficulties +wherever I have the legal power to do so. To assume control of the vast +railway systems of the country is, I realize, a very great +responsibility, but to fail to do so in the existing circumstances would +have been a much greater. I assumed the less responsibility rather than +the weightier.</p> + +<p>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 +means as can be found. Transportation supplies all the arteries of, +mobilization. Unless it be under a single and unified direction, the +whole process of the nation's action is embarrassed.</p> + +<p>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 action +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 railway executives who were charged with the +task of actual coördination and general direction performed their +difficult duties with patriotic 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 circumstances. If I have taken the task out of their +hands, it has not been because of any dereliction or failure on their +part but only 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.</p> + +<p>It had become unmistakably plain that only under government +administration can the entire equipment of the several systems of +transportation be fully and unreservedly thrown into a common service +without injurious discrimination against particular properties. Only +under government administration can an absolutely unrestricted and +unembarrassed common use be made of all tracks, terminals, terminal +facilities and equipment of every kind. Only under that authority can +new terminals be constructed and developed without regard to the +requirements or limitations of particular roads. But under government +administration all 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.</p> + +<p>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 it is not necessary +to disturb. We are serving the public interest and safeguarding 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 +mobilization of the energies and resources of the country, should be +first considered, but it is clearly in the public interest also that the +ordinary activities and the normal industrial and commercial life of the +country should be interfered with and dislocated as little as possible, +and the public may rest assured that the interest and convenience of the +private shipper will be as carefully served and safeguarded as it is +possible to serve and safeguard it in the present extraordinary +circumstances.</p> + +<p>While the present authority of the Executive suffices for all purposes +of administration, and while of course all private interests must for +the present give way to the public necessity, it is, I am sure you will +agree with me, right and necessary that the owners and creditors of the +railways, the holders of their stocks and bonds, should receive from the +Government an unqualified guarantee that their properties will be +maintained throughout the period of federal control in as good repair +and as complete equipment as at present, and that the several roads will +receive under federal management such compensation as is equitable and +just alike to their owners and to the general public. I would suggest +the average net railway operating income of the three years ending June +30, 1917. I earnestly recommend that these guarantees be given by +appropriate legislation, and given as promptly as circumstances permit.</p> + +<p>I need not point out the essential justice of such guarantees and their +great influence and significance as elements in the present financial +and industrial situation of the country. Indeed, one of the strong +arguments for assuming 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 large +financial operations every year necessary in connection with the +maintenance, operation and development 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 also an obligation 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 coördinated with the financial operations of the +Government. No borrowing should run athwart the borrowings of the +federal treasury, and no fundamental industrial values should anywhere +be unnecessarily impaired. In the hands of many thousands of small +investors in the country, as well as in national banks, in insurance +companies, in savings banks, in trust companies, in financial agencies +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.</p> + +<p>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 Honorable William G. McAdoo was the right man +to assume direct administrative control of this new executive task. At +our request, he consented to assume the authority and duties of +organizer and Director General of the new Railway Administration. He has +assumed those duties and his work is in active progress.</p> + +<p>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 resorting 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 Treasury will +advise with your committees with regard 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 ungrudgingly. We are dealing with great matters +and will, I am sure, deal with them greatly.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_CONDITIONS_OF_PEACE" id="THE_CONDITIONS_OF_PEACE"></a>THE CONDITIONS OF PEACE</h2> + +<p class="subtitleshort">[Address delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress, +January 8, 1918.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen of the Congress:</span></p> + +<p>Once more, as repeatedly before, the spokesmen of the Central Empires +have indicated their desire to discuss the objects of the war and the +possible bases of a general peace. Parleys have been in progress at +Brest-Litovsk between Russian representatives and representatives of the +Central Powers to which the attention of all the belligerents has been +invited for the purpose of ascertaining whether it may be possible to +extend these parleys into a general conference with regard to terms of +peace and settlement. The Russian representatives presented not only a +perfectly definite statement of the principles upon which they would be +willing to conclude peace but also an equally definite 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 populations with whose fortunes 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 vantage,—as a permanent addition to their territories +and their power. It is a reasonable conjecture that the general +principles of settlement 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 peoples' 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 proposals of conquest and +domination.</p> + +<p>The whole incident is full of significance. It is also full of +perplexity. With whom are 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 imperialistic minority which has so +far dominated their whole policy and controlled the affairs of Turkey +and of 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 Resolutions of +the German Reichstag of the ninth 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 intention and insist upon conquest and +subjugation? Or are we listening, in fact, to both, unreconciled and in +open and hopeless contradiction? These are very serious and pregnant +questions. Upon the answer to them depends the peace of the world.</p> + +<p>But, whatever the results of the parleys at Brest-Litovsk, whatever the +confusions of counsel and of purpose in the utterances of the spokesmen +of the Central Empires, they have again attempted to acquaint the world +with their objects in the war and have again challenged their +adversaries to say what their objects 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. Within the last week Mr. Lloyd George has spoken with admirable +candor and in admirable 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 vagueness of detail. The +only secrecy of counsel, the only lack of fearless frankness, the only +failure to make definite statement of the objects 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 +tragical and appalling outpouring of blood and treasure unless he is +sure beyond a peradventure 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.</p> + +<p>There is, moreover, a voice calling for these definitions of principle +and of purpose which is, it seems to me, more thrilling and more +compelling 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 yield either in principle or in action. Their conception +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 +admiration of every friend of mankind; and they have refused to compound +their ideals or desert others that they themselves may be safe. 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 that the +people of the United States would wish me to respond, with utter +simplicity and frankness. Whether their present leaders believe 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.</p> + +<p>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 understandings 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 purposes are consistent with +justice and the peace of the world to avow now or at any other time the +objects it has in view.</p> + +<p>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 all against +their recurrence. What we demand in this war, therefore, 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 life, determine its own +institutions, 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 program of the world's peace, therefore, +is our program; and that program, the only possible program, as we see +it, is this:</p> + +<p>I. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall +be no private international understandings of any kind, but diplomacy +shall proceed always frankly and in the public view.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>III. The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the +establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the nations +consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance.</p> + +<p>IV. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be +reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety.</p> + +<p>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 sovereignty the interests of the +populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims +of the government whose title is to be determined.</p> + +<p>VI. The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of all +questions affecting Russia as will secure the best and freest +coöperation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an +unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the independent +determination of her own political development and national policy and +assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free nations 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 in the months to come +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.</p> + +<p>VII. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and +restored, without any attempt to limit the sovereignty which she enjoys +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 determined for the government of +their relations with one another. Without this healing act the whole +structure and validity of international law is forever impaired.</p> + +<p>VIII. All French territory should be freed and the invaded portions +restored, and the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871 in the matter +of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled 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 all.</p> + +<p>IX. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along +clearly recognizable lines of nationality.</p> + +<p>X. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish +to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest +opportunity of autonomous development.</p> + +<p>XI. Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated; occupied +territories restored; Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea; +and the relations of the several Balkan states to one another determined +by friendly counsel along historically established lines of allegiance +and nationality; and international guarantees of the political and +economic independence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan +states should be entered into.</p> + +<p>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 development and the +Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships +and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.</p> + +<p>XIII. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include +the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which +should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose +political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be +guaranteed by international covenant.</p> + +<p>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 alike.</p> + +<p>In regard to these essential rectifications of wrong and assertions of +right we feel ourselves to be intimate partners of all the governments +and peoples associated together against the Imperialists. We cannot be +separated in interest or divided in purpose. We stand together until the +end.</p> + +<p>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 enviable. 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 covenants 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.</p> + +<p>Neither do we presume to suggest to her any alteration or modification +of her institutions. But it is necessary, we must frankly say, and +necessary as a preliminary to any intelligent dealings with her on our +part, that we should know whom her spokesmen speak for when they speak +to us, whether for the Reichstag majority or for the military party and +the men whose creed is imperial domination.</p> + +<p>We have spoken now, surely, in terms too concrete to admit of any +further doubt or question. An evident principle runs through the whole +program I have outlined. It is the principle 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 +international justice can stand. The people of the United States could +act upon no other principle; and to the vindication of this principle +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 devotion to the test.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="FORCE_TO_THE_UTMOST" id="FORCE_TO_THE_UTMOST"></a>FORCE TO THE UTMOST</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">[Speech at the Opening of the Third Liberty Loan Campaign, delivered in +the Fifth Regiment Armory, Baltimore, April 6, 1918.]</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Fellow-Citizens:</span></p> + +<p>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 +freemen everywhere. The nation is awake. There is no need to call to it. +We know what the war must cost, our utmost sacrifice, the lives of our +fittest men, and, if need be, all that we possess.</p> + +<p>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 +of the whole country are alive to the necessity of it, and are ready to +lend to the utmost, even where it involves a sharp skimping and daily +sacrifice to lend out of meagre earnings. They will look with +reprobation and contempt upon 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 transaction. I have not come, therefore, to urge the loan. I +have come only to give you, if I can, a more vivid conception of what it +is for.</p> + +<p>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 is the imperishable thing 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.</p> + +<p>I call you to witness, my fellow-countrymen, that at no stage of this +terrible business have I judged the purposes of Germany intemperately. 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 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.</p> + +<p>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 judgment, if it is indeed to be +a righteous judgment. 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.</p> + +<p>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. The avowal has not come from +Germany's statesmen. It has come from her military leaders, who are her +real rulers. Her statesmen 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 uncertain 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.</p> + +<p>At Brest-Litovsk her civilian delegates spoke in similar terms; +professed their desire to conclude 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 profession. +Their military masters, the men who act for Germany and exhibit her +purpose in execution, proclaimed a very different conclusion. We can not +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.</p> + +<p>They are enjoying in Russia a cheap 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!</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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, subject 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 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.</p> + +<p>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 modern 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.</p> + +<p>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. Everything that America has lived for and +loved and grown great to vindicate and bring to a glorious realization +will have fallen in utter ruin and the gates of mercy once more +pitilessly shut upon mankind!</p> + +<p>The thing is preposterous and impossible; and yet is not that what the +whole course and action of the German armies has meant wherever 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.</p> + +<p>What, then are we to do? For myself, I am ready, ready still, ready even +now, to discuss 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 +alike. But the answer, when I proposed such a peace, came from the +German commanders in Russia and I cannot mistake the meaning of the +answer.</p> + +<p>I accept the challenge. I know that you accept it. All the world shall +know that you accept it. It shall appear in the utter sacrifice and +self-forgetfulness with which we shall give all that we love and all +that we have to redeem the world and make it fit for free men like +ourselves to live in. This now is the meaning of all that we do. Let +everything that we say, my fellow-countrymen, everything that we +henceforth plan and accomplish, ring true to this response till the +majesty and might of our concerted power shall fill the thought and +utterly defeat the force of those who flout and misprize what we honor +and hold dear.</p> + +<p>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 dominion down in the +dust.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> A considerable part of this Introduction appeared originally as an +article in <i>The Princeton Alumni Weekly</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> It had been the practice of our Presidents to send their Messages to +Congress and not to read them in person.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> The speech was made from a rostrum in the National Cemetery, on the +battlefield.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> General Victoriano Huerta had, on Feb. 18, deposed President Madero, +and had been, on the 20th, elected President by the Mexican Congress. +Three days later Madero was assassinated while in the custody of the new +government. An army calling themselves Constitutionalists under General +Villa, defeated the Mexican Federal forces in May. On August 20, Huerta +declined the proposal of the United States government that he should +cease to be a candidate for the Presidency.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_5" id="Footnote_E_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_5"><span class="label">[E]</span></a> In the <i>Areopagitica</i>: "I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered +virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her +adversary, but slinks out of the race, where that immortal garland is to +be run for, not without dust and heat."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_6" id="Footnote_F_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_6"><span class="label">[F]</span></a> Sir George Williams, 1821-1905, an English philanthropist, founder +of the Young Men's Christian Association.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_7" id="Footnote_G_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_7"><span class="label">[G]</span></a> This was at Princeton, in 1902 and 1903.</p></div> + +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>ENGLISH READINGS FOR SCHOOLS</h2> + +<p style="text-align: center;">"Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an + exact man."</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Bacon</i>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;">"'Tis the good reader that makes the good book."</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Emerson</i>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's President Wilson's Addresses, by Woodrow Wilson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRESIDENT WILSON'S ADDRESSES *** + +***** This file should be named 17427-h.htm or 17427-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/4/2/17427/ + +Produced by Melanie Lybarger, Suzanne Lybarger and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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