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President Asks Declaration of State of War

In Message to Congress He Urges the Employment of All Resources of the Nation Until Germany is Brought to Terms

By Special to The Christian Science Monitor from its Washington Bureau

Washington, DC –

President Wilson, protecting friendship for the democracies of the world and the people of all nations, the German included, spoke the word Monday night that will lead the United Sates into war against the outlaw German Government. He asked Congress to declare that a state of war exists between the United States and Germany. This will be done speedily, and measures taken that will place at the disposal of the Government the entire resources of the Nation, if needed, to crush Prussian autocracy.

He urged this action, not from motives of militancy or because he would have his country enter the ranks of the belligerents from a choice for war. He took the action because the United States is forced into this position and having been forced into it, he urged that a war be waged that will speedily bring victory to the forces of civilization.

It was in keeping with his general declaration in behalf of the growing cause of democracy that the President felicitated the people of Russia in their recent triumph, and this sentiment also brought applause.

To the German-Americans of the United States he also gave a word of assurance and of warning. That word was that the United States places full faith in their loyalty of purpose, but that on the first show of disloyalty a firm and vigorous hand of authority will be shown.

The Government’s policy with respect to Austria-Hungary was made clear when the President said that a decision with respect to the Vienna Government is held in abeyance, for the time.

The President sounded the doom of autocracy, and raised the standard of democracy. The step taken by the Executive, and which will be followed by appropriate action by Congress, was considered as the most momentous ever taken by this country, for in consequences it involves not only the future of the people of this generation, but of other yet unborn; momentous because of the sacrifices that are to come in the carrying out of the vast program laid out for the accomplishment.

It was spoken in the midst of the most distinguished men of the Nation. Immediately in front, sat the members of the Supreme Court of the United States, each of whom applauded on many occasions the proposals and conclusions spoken by the Chief Magistrate. To the left, in seats reserved for them, sat the ambassadors and ministers of other nations accredited to this Government, while in front of them sat the members of the Cabinet. The first three rows of seats were occupied by the Senate, while in back of them were the members of the House.

The House had met at 8 o’clock, and recessed to allow a joint committee of the House and the Senate to go to the White House and acquaint the President with the fact that Congress was ready to receive any message was might choose to communicate. At 8:30 the President appeared, and immediately commenced to speak.

The address was divided into two general divisions. The first constituted the indictment of the German Government, and had as its conclusion the request of Congress to recognize that a state of war exists. The other part of the address dealt with the consequences that are to be expected from the action and the duties and purposes of the people of the United Sates as a democracy.

The President shows that by the declaration of the prohibited zone, and destruction of all shipping that enters that zone, the German Government is making war against all nations, and yet he urged that the decision, in these circumstances, must rest with each individual nation.

The President made it clear to the Congress that his preliminary plan of armed neutrality he had found to be impracticable, because it is impossible to defend ships against the attacks of outlaw submarines.

The first, general outburst of applause came at this juncture when the President declared: “There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making; we will not choose a path of submission and suffer the most sacred right of our Nation and our people to be ignored or violated.” The galleries, senators, and representatives, both Democrats and Republicans, cheered and shouted their approval. Senators Stone and La Follette, however, kept their arms folded. The Wisconsin Senator sat throughout the address with a sneering smile on his face.

Then, when the great assemblage has resumed its quiet, came the words, “With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragic character of the step I am taking and of the grave responsibility which it involves, it is in unhesitating obedience to which I deem my constitutional duty I ask that congress declare the recent course of the Imperial German Government to be nothing less than war against the Government and People of the United States, that it formally accept the terms of battlement which has been thrown upon it, and that it take immediate action not only to put the country in a more thorough state of defense but to exert all its power and employ all its resources to bring the government of the German Empire to terms and end the war.”

The President declared that this action will involve close cooperation with the governments now at war with Germany, and, in view of their position, the extension of the most liberal credits, the organization and mobilization of the material resources of the country to supply the materials of war: It would involve the immediate and full equipment of the Navy in all respects, to deal with the enemy’s submarines; it would involve the immediate addition to the armed forces of the United Sates. Already provided for by the law, of at least 500,000 men the granting of adequate credits to the Government, sustained by well-conceived taxation.

The President urged, in this connection, that a great duty will present itself in making preparations here to interfere as little as possible with the flow of supplied to the Allies. He pointed out that they are in the field, and it is the duty of the United States to help them in every way to be effective.

Having dealt with these very practical things incidental to the entrance of the United States into the war, the President reasserted some of the fundamentals of his plan for a concert of nations which, he said, are the real purpose for which the United States is to do battle.

He then entered upon a discussion of the fact that is apparent to him as set forth in these columns on Saturday, that the time has come when the United States must array itself against autocracy and on the side of democracies. Neutrality is no longer feasible, he said, 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 mere organized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people.

He went on to speak of the good will that ought to prevail among nations, and then paid his respects to the spy system of Germany, in these words:

“Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbor’s states with spies, or set the course of the 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.”

To the activities of the German Embassy and the numerous intrigues carried on by Count von Bernstorff, the President made reference when he said that one of the things that has served to convince to Government that the Prussian autocracy was not, and could not ever be, its friend, is that from the very outset of the present war it has filled unsuspecting communities, and even offices of the government with spies and set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against national unity of counsel, the peace within and without the country’s industries and 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 the courts of justice that the intrigues which have more than once come … to disturbing the peace and disclosing the industries of the country have been carried on under the investigation with the support and even under the personal direction of official agents of the Imperial Government accredited to the Government of the United States.

The President said, after outlining the details of this relentless undermining of a Nation that has run amok, the challenge of hostile purpose has been accepted because the Administration is convinced that it never will be possible to have such a Government as the Prussian autocracy as a friend, and the United States will if necessary, spend all the resources of the Nation to put down such a government.

Word is sent out to all the world by the President that the United States fights in this war without rancor, but with the high resolve to rid the world of government like that which now ages in Berlin.

“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 had 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.”