OCR Text |
Show waged Government Dec ides Upon Sweeping Measures Mea-sures to Be Put Into Effect Immedia t e 1 y Following the Expected Expect-ed Declaration When Congress Meets on April 2. MANY QUESTIONS AS YET UNSOLVED 3ether an Army Will Sent Abroad Will Def4jnd Upon Circumstances; Circum-stances; Possibility Is Being Taken Into Consideration Con-sideration by Authorities Authori-ties at Washington., . WASHINGTON, March 23. The American government has decided upon sweeping measures to be put into effect following the expected declaration by congress soon after it meets April 2 that a state of war exists between the United States and Germany. Fully appreciating Germany's policy of acting in war first and talking afterwards, aft-erwards, the government has determined deter-mined to provide against every possible emergency. Broad questions involved were discussed dis-cussed today at a long cabinet meeting meet-ing to which heads of departments carried car-ried reports on preparations already made and others contemplated. Details are being taken up between President Wilson and the individual cabinet members. mem-bers. Regretfully the government apparently apparent-ly has docided that since Germany is . making war Upon the United States M-ough ruthless killing of Americans uuuVstruction of their ships, the issue must bTmet with steps much more far-reaching far-reaching than mere attempts to protect individual merchant craft. Aggressive Measures. If anything is ahead to prevent this it is not uow foreseen. Once a state of war is declared to exist aggressive measures are expected to bo taken. , As outlined after today's cabinet meeting, the preparations of the government gov-ernment are not to be for a short war, or a war marked by half way moasures. Nothing is in bo taken for granted. A complete programme has been preparod so that everything done will be carried out in a systematic and orderly manner. man-ner. The exact measure of American participation par-ticipation in the war is not expected to be revealed until after the president addresses congress and until public, sentiment sen-timent crystallizes. So far as is known no political alliance with the entente allies is contemplated, although military mili-tary as well as naval co-operation is possible and the government will be unsparing un-sparing in both money and supplies for the allies. Will Be Specific. The president has not yet written his address to congress. Ho is expected to be specific and to make clear that the American government and people have no quarrel with the German people,' peo-ple,' but cannot tolerate the acta of the German government. Whether an army wtl! he sent abroad is one of the questions of the future. It would tjtke many months to tnUn an army fo-'r such service nnd many things may hftppen 1-that period.. But this possibility possi-bility Leins: taken into consideration a' .covernment proposes to be ready a soon as practicable. Petailerf plans requiring congressional (Continued on Page Nine.) WHR WILL BE WAGED ' TO LIMIT BY THE U. S. (Continued from Page One.) action are expected to be complete wnen congress meets. Prior to that time the Democratic and Republican leaders of the senate and house will be here to confer with the president and cabinet. Speaker Clark and Representative Kitchin returned , to Washington today. Meeting of Council. The council of nntional defense and Its advisory committee have been called to meet tomorrow. This council, with the advisory committee of men prominent In almost "every line of endeavor, is expected to plav an important part in the conduct of actual warfare. Through it and through individuals and organizations many proffers prof-fers of help and co-operation have come from all parts of the country. The measures decided upon are military, mili-tary, naval, industrial and financial. They are understood to be most comprehensive. All are receiving the personal attention of the president. The army plans have been fully drawn and a portion of them may become evident at any time. Some are contingent upon action by congress. Their first object ob-ject will be to fully protect the United States against any contingency. The navy programme, aside from the actual ac-tual movements of existing ships, contemplates con-templates the building of vessels of all classes just as rapidly as the resources of the nation will permit and the manning of them as fast as they are constructed. Secretary Daniels will confer with private pri-vate builders tomorrow. Industrial Plans. The industrial plans now being co-ordinated by the council of national defense Include the mobilization of skilled and unskilled labor for the manufacture of munitions in as large quantities as possible pos-sible and also for the continuance of all necessary industries. Secretary Wilson, in co-operation with the council of national na-tional defense, has these plans Well under way. Just how much money will be asked of congress nas not oeen revealed, a movement move-ment is well under way for furnishing the entente allies with an enormous loan, either in the form of credits or money. It also is understood that the supply of munitions mu-nitions for the allies will be augmented, rather than diminished. After the cabinet meeting the president presi-dent saw Governor McCall of Massa-; Massa-; chusetts for an hour and was told of i preliminary preparedness measures ! taken by New England states and of ; fered complete co-operation. The Massachusetts Mas-sachusetts Legislature has appropriated $1,000,000, which Governor McCall said will be spent largely to prepare the state's national guard for quick ser- vice. He will see Secretary Baker to-! to-! morrow. Conferences Planned. Conferences on the legislative programme pro-gramme will begin at the capitol early next week. Secretary McAdoo, Representative Repre-sentative Kitchin and Representative Hull are expected to talk over the fiscal fis-cal situation before next Wednesday. the tentative date set for a meeting or the Democratic members of the ways and means committee, the revenue-raising body of the house. Various mea: sures for providing additional revenue are being considered, including the possibility pos-sibility of resort to additional taxes on whisky, toacco and other specific ar- tides. A mass of data relating to in- J come tax has been prepared by experts, showing the effect of various possible extensions of the law. Suggestions placed before the president presi-dent today included the possibility of floating a loan of $5,000,000,000 for the' entente nations. The proposal made by Governor Harding of the federal reserve board in a recent speech at New York that the government lend the allies $1,-000,000,000 $1,-000,000,000 was thought to be inadequate inade-quate by some of the president's advisers. advis-ers. Huge Fund Available. The banks of the country, it was pointed out, are in a position of strength today never before approximated approxi-mated -in their history. The latest report re-port of the comptroller of the currency shows the resources of the federal reserve re-serve system to be greater than those of all the chief belligerents combined. Xearly all the huge accretions of money that have poured into the country during dur-ing the two and one-half years of war could be made available for use in war, whether expended by this government or by other governments engaged in fighting fight-ing a common enemy. Thus while an American army of sufficient suf-ficient size to conduct aggressive warfare war-fare has not yet been raised and would have to be trained and equipped, American Amer-ican dollars, it was pointed out, needed no training, and are abundant. |