OCR Text |
Show lw arlrn J! 'blah p pMI - , jpi nllv A' &S" l&vM.r- &ryn M&;jh&r ' Mimn. frmi,,..,, ,.B 7-J .f .... ,,.;,,, ,-, fT ,..,.,, J Q i President Woodrow Wilson delivering; his war message to congress, April 2, 1917. already knew three more American ships had been sunk by German submarines. Several American seamen were missing. These were "overt acts." What was the next step for the American Ameri-can government to take? The congress was due to convene on April 16. Should he call it in extra session before that date? Unanimous for War. Their advice was that he should. They were unanimous for war. So he issued a proclamation proclama-tion calling congress together on April 2. Then followed a period of waitingwaitingwaiting. wait-ingwaitingwaiting. The cabinet cab-inet met at regular intervals but the matter of war was not discussed. dis-cussed. Between meetings the President spent most of his time in his study on the second floor of the White House. There, day after day and far into the night, Woodrow Wison wrestled with his problem, went through his Geth-semane Geth-semane alone. Came the second of April. The senate, a continuing body, convened con-vened officially and after 12 minutes min-utes adjourned. Over in the house order, the doors at the rear of the chamber opened and a doorkeeper announced: "The vice president of the United States and the members of the United States senate." In the midst of a hushed silence Vice President Marshall and the elder statesmen of the republic filed into the room and took their seats. Then, as the slight figure of a scholarly-looking man appeared, ap-peared, congressmen and spectators spec-tators alike surged to their feet in a storm of handclapping and cheers. Wilson's Momentous Message. It died down as Woodrow Wilson Wil-son stepped to the reading desk just below the dais where Marshall and Clark sat. He began to read. . "I have called the congress into extraordinary session because be-cause 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 responsibil-ity of making." His hands trembled slightly as tience. What was he going to ask of the congress? And then . . . "With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities respon-sibilities 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 government to be in fact nothing less than war against the government and people of the United States; that it formally accept the status sta-tus of a 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 exert all its power and employ all its resources to bring the government of the German empire to terms and end the war." So it was to be war! As the President uttered those words, Chief Justice White, who was sitting sit-ting in the front row of chairs below be-low the speaker, dropped the hat he had been holding and brought his hands together high over his head. That explosive sound set off a torrent of noise which filled the chamber for a moment, then died down quickly as the low voice continued: "... 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 upon entering this war ... "... 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 libera-tion of its people, the German peoples included; for the rights of the nations great and small and the privilege of men everywhere every-where to choose their way of life and obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the trusted foundation of liberty . . ." And so on the quiet voice continued con-tinued for 32 minutes interrupted interrupt-ed no less than 23 times by the applause of its hearers. At last it came to that most splendid passage of all: "It is a distressing and oppressive oppres-sive duty, gentlemen of the congress, con-gress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of Tt ia a fearful thinff to lead I SCOTT WATSON r two months it tad been apparent hat the march of fevents was slowly Sut surely turning 'the footsteps of a 'nation toward the 'path which would lead it into the gi- Igantic conflict raging rag-ing across the At-nd, At-nd, ironically, this lation whose people months earlier had fits Chief Executive ' Icause of the plea in if: "He kept us" out M st significant step in rch of events had ;en on January 31, e German high com-ambling com-ambling desperately the two-year stale-mounced stale-mounced that on the it would begin unre-warfare unre-warfare and., that !n shipping entering zone would be limit-vessel limit-vessel a week. ' ecretary Joe Tumulty the office of the Presi-Je Presi-Je White House and laid I k a copy of the Associ-f3 Associ-f3 dispatch containing J, Woodrow Wilson read I then re-read it. A look pv then incredulity, n determination passed s face. "Tumulty, this t," he exclaimed. "The t we have tried so hard nowseemr inevitable." ;t day the President met 'abinet and told them of Mding surprise" of this !i of that "madman. who curbed"-Germany. But 1 this crisis thrust upon was determined not to nan sever diplomatic re- n Berlin nor take any was an "overt if part of the Central W repeated that deter-IttiefoHowing deter-IttiefoHowing day when d before the congress f at we had broken, dip-p. dip-p. with Berlin. f First Overt Act. f,hf next month that Ian TS commied. The i X frrican shjp- had ""son appeared before fiwf? granted mous Vn noU8h t0 bl ifE ter t0 a vote-I? vote-I? day3" The" t Weal, n Mar 4 d bv Han FUr e United T02 which ad no p States techni- " Con !dent- The" White d- b6f0re ini and J '- ra,sed his "ffice to Bagam t00k the tte four8 t the nati" P - ' - Y:' " ' . . - ; - i 1 u ' ' f ' , v. :nH2 ;' . v , 4 1 - J ' J ' ' I " ... X-- t 1 1 ' " trJU , ( .vi r 1 1 - - - s V ' " ' b'A ! ' s ' 11 - if v f', y, ' M Hi, N . . i , 1 . -; v a i v -list A. i J f-K-;- J .... :. .i . PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON this great peaceful country into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization civiliza-tion 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 au-thority 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 people as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at least 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." H, Western Newspaper union. of representatives they were electing a speaker and other officers offi-cers and ratifying committees. After eight hours and ten roll-calls roll-calls they were ready for business.' busi-ness.' In the White House the President was dining with members mem-bers of his family. As they finished, fin-ished, a delegation from congress arrived with the message that the senate and the house were ready to receive a communication communica-tion from the President. Outside the Capitol a great throng milled about, kept in order or-der by two troops of cavalry that had ridden pver from Fort Myer. Inside, the galleries of the house were packed. Even the seldom-used seldom-used diplomatic gallery was filled. Two outstanding figures in it were Ambassador Jusserand of France and Ambassador Spring-Rice Spring-Rice of Great Britain. The day they had long hoped for had arrived. ar-rived. A moment - after Speaker Clark had called the house to he turned the pages of his manuscript. manu-script. His voice was low. His listeners leaned forward to catch every word as he recounted the events of the past twa months and stated his bill of particulars against the German government. "The present German submarine subma-rine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind. It is a war against all nations ... The challenge is to all mankind. Each nation must decide for itself it-self how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation modera-tion of counsel and a temperate-ness temperate-ness of judgment befitting our character and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling feel-ing away. Our motive will not be revenge, but only the vind.ca-tton vind.ca-tton of right, of human right, of which we are only a single cham- P Through the hushed chamber there was a rustle of uncertainty, just the slightest hint of unpa- |