Pktorkl Stdttl$ V .' ' GERMANY "We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling toward them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon their impulse that, their Govern ment acted in entering this war. It was not with their previous knowledge and approval." President Wilson in his address to Congress February 1, 1917. &EPUBUC ? (By CARL W.ACKERMAN EVENING LEDGER-PHILADELPHIA, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1917 i ' . CopyrUht. 1017. deorits If. Dorn Companj president Wilson Clearly Defined the Issues in r Jli8 Address to Congress Asking That Diplo matic Relations Be Broken With Germany. He Emphasized the Fact That the United States Has No Fight With the German People, but With the "Irresponsible Government" Hcccnl Events in Germany, Especially the Revolt in the Kaiser's Navy, His "Trusted Right Arm" With Which He Has Been "Defending" is People, Show More Clearly Even Than the Bread Riots and Labor Troubles in Muni tions Plants That This Is Not a People's War TN HIS historic address to Congress on February 1 the President 1 said in part: "I havo called the Congress into extraordinary session becauso there are serious, very serious, choices of policy to bo made, and made immediately, which it was neither right nor constitutionally permissible that I should assume the responsibility of making. nn the third of February last I officially laid before von i the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Govern- ment tttat on ami .iiiur iiiu mai. u.i ui j'uuruary 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 norts of Great Britain and Ireland or the Western coasts of fit Europe, or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany ! within the Mediterranean. W "The new policy has swept; every restriction aside. Vessels i, (f every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, F their destination, their errand, havo been ruthlessly sent to the I 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 tithe sorely bereaved and stricken peoplo of Belgium, though the I ' Utter were provided with safe-conduct through the prescribed areas I,. hy the German Government itself and were distinguished by unmis It'hkable marks of identity, have been sunk with the same reckless ' lack of compassion or of principle. 1? A Warfare Aaainst Mankind "I was for n little while enable to believo that such things U would in fact be done by any Government that had hitherto lutscribcd to the humane practices of civilized nations. Internn tional law had its origin in the attempt to set up some law, which ' would be respected and observed upon the seas, where no nation l had right of dominion and where lay the freo highways of the world. By painful state after stage has that law been built up with' meager enough results, indeed, after all was accomplished that ft could be accomplished, but always with a clear view at least of f'what the heart and conscience of mankind demanded. "The present German warfare against commerce is a war- f fare against mankind. It is a war against all nations. American j ihips have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and peoplo ' of other neutral and friendly nations havo been sunk and over whelmed in the waters in the same way. There has been no dis crimination, The challenge is to all mankind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for t ourselves must be made with a moderation of counsel and a ,empcratenesS of judgment befitting our character and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling away. Our motive mill not be revenge or this' 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. "With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical char acter of the step I am talcing and of the gravo responsibilities which it involves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my j constitutional duty, I advise that the Congress dcclaro tho recent k MBMjMMaMMMMMtTniTMmii-iiLii . mil 11 I ..- IHi7WhB3KHRPhViMflHEflaB IVHLrJ Ita'WCSM Mj'Aa"HnlW W w MMMI 'El Jl rai a?Mfr?lBqKMwi hB j25!. jo"w ,'ftiBnBHgyM7fc BCSSSy!SSSzBBM BLBpTKKoyy &fln!inKHHflHflH Hfc'vBPaP&MHiuj( WQhiHHE9 wi!VkL-llttHviHiHUHflflMMI!c??E "It was a war determined upon as wars used to bo determined upon in the old unhappy days, when peoples were nowhere consulted by their rulers and wars were provoked and waged In tho interest of dynasties or of llttlo groups of ambitious men who were accustomed to used their fellow men as pawns and toods." This is what President Wilson told the point session of Congress in his special message February 1, 1917, asking that diplomatic relations be broken with Germany. course of tho Imperial German Government to be in fact nothing less than war against tho Government and peoplo of tho United States; that it formally accept tho status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it, and that it tako immedlato stops not only to put the country in a more thorough stato of defenso, but also to exert all its power and employ all its resources to bring the Government of tho German Empiro to terms and end tho war. "I havo exactly tho same thing in mind now that I had in mind when I addressed the Senate on tho twenty-second of January last; the samo that I had in mind when I addressed tho Congress on the third of February and on tho twenty-sixth of February. Our object now, as then, is to vindicate tho principles of peaco and justice in the lifo of tho world as against scltish and autocratic power nnd to set up among tho really freo and solf governed peoples of tho world such a concert of purposo nnd of action as will henceforth insuro tho observanco of thoso principles. "Neutrality is no longer feasible or dcsirablo where tho peaco of the world is involved and tho freedom of its people, and tho menace to that peace and freedom lies in the existenco of auto cratic governments backed by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people. We havo seen tho last of neutrality in such circumstances. "We aro nt tho beginning of an ago in which it will bo insisted that the samo standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrong done shall bo observed among nations and their Governments that are observed among tho individual citizens of civilized states. "We have no quarrel with tho German people. Wo have no feeling toward them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon their impulse that their Government acted in entering this war. It was not with their previous knowledge or approval. "It was a war determined upon as wars used to be deter mined upon in the old unhappy days, when peoples wero nowhere consulted by their rulers and wars were provoked and waged in the Interest of dynasties or of little groups of ambitious men who wero accustomed to uso their fellow men as pawns and tools. "Sclf-governed nations do not fill their neighbor states with spies or sot' tho courso of intrigue to bring about somo critical posturo of nffnirs which will give them an opportunity to strike and mako conquest. Such designs can bo successfully worked only under cover nnd where no ono has tho right to ask questions. "Cunningly contrived plans of deception or aggression, car ried, it may be, from generation to generation, can bo worked out and kept from tho light only within the privacy of courts or behind the carefully guarded confidences of a narrow and privileged class. They aro happily impossiblo where public opinion commands and insists upon full information concerning all tho nation's affairs. "A steadfast concert for peaco can novcr bo maintained except by a partnership of democratic nations. No nutocratic government could bo trusted, to keep faith Avithln it or obscrvo Us covenants. "It must bo n leaguo 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 ono would bo a corruption seated at its very heart. "Only freo peoples can hold their purpose and their honor steady to n common end nnd prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow interest of their own. "Ono of tho things that have served to convinco us that the Prussian autocracy was not and could never be our- friend is tha,t from tho very outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspect ing communities and even our offices of government with spies and set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of council, our peace within and without, our industries and our commerce. German Intrigues Against the U. S. "Indeed, it is now evident that its spies wero here even before tho war began; and it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture, but a fact proved in our courts of justice, that the Intrigues, which havo moro than onco come perilously near to disturbing the peaco and dislocating tho industries of tho country, have been carried on at tho instigation, with the support, and even under tho personal direction of official agents of tho Imperial Government accredited to the Government of tho United States. "Even in checking theso things and trying to extirpate them wo havo sought to put tho most generous interpretation possible upon them, becauso wo knew that their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or purposo of the German people toward us (who wero, no doubt, as ignorant of them as wo 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 peaco and security at its convenience. "That it means to atlr up enemies ngainst us at our very doors tho intercepted noto to the German Minister at Mexico City is eloquent evidence. "We are accepting this challenge of hostile purposo because we know that in such n 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 wo knowvriot what pur pose, thero can bo no assured security for tho democratic govern ments of the world. "Wo are now about to accept gage of baltlo with this natural foe to liberty nnd shall, if necessary, spend tho wholo forco of tho nation to check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that wo sco tho facts with no veil of falsa pretense about them, to fight thus for tho 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 lifo and of obedience. "Tho world must be mado safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon tho trusted foundations of political liberty. "Wo have no selfish ends to Berve. Wo deslro no conquest, no dominion. Wo seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material com pensation for tho sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of tho champions of tho rights of mankind. Wo shall be satisfied when those rights have been as securo as the faith and tho free dom of the nation can mako them. "Just becauso we fight without rancor and without selfish objects, seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all freo people, wo 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 bo fighting for. "It is a distressing and oppressivo duty, gentlemen of the Con gress, which I havo performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial nnd sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terriblo and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seemin to be in tho balance. "But the right is more precious than peace, and wo shall fight for the things which we havo 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 tho rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such n concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and mako tho world itself at last free. ft "To such a task wo can dedicate our lives and ou$nwtunea, everything that we aro nnd everything that we have, with theriprida of thoso who know that the day has come when America is.rivi leged to spend her blood and her might for the principles tha gave her birth and happiness and tho peace which sho has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other." ', (CONTINUED TOMOimOW) NOTABLE GOLF MATCH FOR BENEFIT OF THE RED CROSS P. O. S. OF A. AT NATIONAL CAMP 1. 1 - . i iiib i : iiiumi j '"."." TV ' ' ' .'. "'I""'" -" " '-" ' i iiiii.ii i II- . J. M. BARNES MAKING A PRETTY APPROACH DURING YESTERDAY'S GOLF MATCH AT THE WHITEMARSH VALLEY COUNTRY CLUB FOR BENEFIT OF THE RED CROSS $4HE &KyE v ff y0Hb W&&& &i 3x 1 lVX p -n ! Hfffrr,M----Brfl-r bqa r tBf. -fjT Timft- c -P-"'- 3?i 1$'v?'' , -9VJJ) UiBBaJmKmiKKkS ,lflflHria"w--i-H-!--M SYkB9LdHiHHBki J ns&Knc hILBm BL fiHn9ft Jn Hf'-.BNBat 1rM Bfc. JBB. BIi3ri nrt3h-P-nBff"r &7'B MtSml9BlS'BBtKt0SM HBBF8BPsHBBffKH8 ssyjHE&t $$!in&MJ WHraB 9Hn -& iMw2SV ? -JwHtr iflpOm2l.rTSBw Tkk ,WJ!g k39HBhH9L EXV toI W BflPgaMMgiryi-r M3gMBiLMlilBMMMBHillHg,wMiBr MlaaWMaBr i JHBMiHHVH-flHIHflBB!Hl-H7MiHIHHKHHIBlLH HHKT-MgBKiiMBfflL rliBMiflWm-Bt-Mi i jjlTP!i 'HtflBPyj WRTftrrwWK H TjrMWi mBBHw ArfUjoPfjgjy fflMDMoWiMalffrAHr HIMBhFm WBBKHBKcTOiHmWy -TwBMMWlJMrWMBBMLWSB Mll3RHBHkStt i,SiKrHSfl'B mDkNhBKHhw!BB aaE-uTlBB&eBIHIv lB3l'fi!iBBwflBiHBr Su'?'''' - I, , ' -; l , , , , . VrTtl '- l ITT . - - - -y-. (PHILADELPHIA'S REPRESENTATION AT THE RECENT ANNUAL CONVENTION AT CHICAGO OF THE PATRIOTIC ORDER SONS OF AMERICA IS ON THE EXTREME LEFT OF THIS GROUP OF DELEGATES m "& i ti ? i. s t- ' IK . -t 1 I
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