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Show GONGRESS DECLARES STATE OF WAR BETWEEN U. S. AND GERMANY Adopts Joint Resolution That Places This Country in the Ranks of the Belligerents Six Senators Vote Against Measure After Hot Debate Great Majority in the House Favors the Action. oooooooooooooooooooooooooo o s g Text of the joint resolution g 8 adopted by congress, declaring O 0 a state of war between the X O United States and Germany: O 0 "Whereas, The imperial Ger- X 3 man government has committed j O repeated acts of war against the 5 government and the people of X O the United States of America ; g jR therefore, be it Q 9 "Resolved, by the senate and Q o house of representatives of the Q United States of America in 2 congress assembled, That the O x state of war between the Unlt- X 0 ed States and the imperial Ger-" Q jR man government which has thus X O been thrust upon the United R States is hereby formally de- Q W clared; and that the president g jR be, and he is hereby, authorized o O and directed to employ the en- Q 5 tire, .naval and military forces of o Q the United States and the re- O p sources of the government to Q X carry on war against the lmpe- Q n rial German government; and O 8 to bring the conflict to a sue- X D cessful termination, all of the o 2 resources of the country are g ft hereby pledged by the congress 0 of the United States." 8 the shoulders of the German government, govern-ment, charged with repeated acts of war against the United States. "We want no more territory. We will demand no '.ndemnity. We have no grudge to settle, nor racial antipathy. anti-pathy. We will spend our treasure and our blood and sacrifice our Uvea without the thought of gain. We are going to war to vindicate our honor and independence as a great nation and In defense of humanity. "Such quarrel as we have with Germany Ger-many is not of our choosing. It was forced upon us and we did much to avoid it. For nearly three years the president, congress, and the American people have hoped to avoid it. But one desperate act by the imperial German Ger-man government has followed another." an-other." German Pledges Broken. Senator Hitchcock was followed Ky Senator Swanson of Virginia, who said the German government "has repeatedly repeat-edly and grossly violated its treaty obligations ob-ligations to us, and wantonly broken solemn assurances." "The Issue is not peace or war," Senator Sen-ator Swanson continued. "War has already al-ready been declared upon us. The Issue Is-sue Is whether we shall accept war or abject and cowardly submission." Reciting the sinking of American ships, German plots, and outrages in this country, Senator Swanson said the Zimmermann plot to Incite Mexico against this country "reaches the lowest low-est depths of national turpitude." Many other senators took part in the debate, Gronna, Stone, Vardaman, Norrls and LaFollette, all opposing the resolution. Senator Smoot made the last speech a short prayer that God would "hasten the day when liberty will be enjoyed by all the peoples of the earth." The roll call was taken w'xile the senators and spectators sat solemn. A few cheers greeted the result and then all filed quietly out of the chamber. House Vote, 373 to 50. The house, after a debate lasting about seventeen hours, adopted the joint resolution by a vote of 373 to 50. Nearly a hundred representatives made speeches. In offering the senate resolution as a substitute for Its own, the house foreign for-eign affairs committee submitted a long report reviewing the history of submarine warfare and America's futile fu-tile protests against it, German Intrigues In-trigues and bomb plots in this country, the effort to ally Japan and Mexico against the Uplted States and the mistreatment mis-treatment of American officials and citizens in Germany. "It is with the deepest sense of responsibility re-sponsibility for the momentous results which will follow the passage of this resolution," said the report, "that your committee reports it to the house, with the recommendation that it be passed. "The conduct of the imperial German Ger-man government toward this government, govern-ment, its citizens and its interests, has been so discourteous, unjust, cruel, barbarous, and so lacking in honesty and practice that it has constituted a violation of the course of conduct which should obtain between friendly nations. "In addition to this the German gov. eminent Is actually making war upon the people and commerce of this conn-try, conn-try, and leaves no course open to this government but to accept its gage of battle and declare that a state of war exists." Flood Opens the Debate. Under the unanimous consent rule by which the resolution was considered Representative Flood could move the previous question at any time after one hour and, If sustained, bring the measure meas-ure to a vote. He was disposed, however, how-ever, to give members every opportunity opportu-nity to speak throughout the.day. The debate began without any limitation. "War is being made upon our country coun-try and its people," Representative Flood said In opening. "Our ships are being sunk. Our noncombatant citizens, citi-zens, Including men, women and children, chil-dren, are being murdered, our merchantmen mer-chantmen are denied the freedom of the seas. There is no choice as to our course. We are compelled by the acts of the German government to enter Into In-to this most colossal war. "AVe should take our stand by the side of the allied nations who have been fighting humanity's battles for two and one-half years, determined that our power shall be so employed that complete victory shall crown their efforts and that Prussian militarism shall be crushed and the world shall be delivered from the threat and danger of the Hohenzollern dynasty." Washington, April 6. The United States is now formally enlisted among the belligerents In the great war, for congress has adopted the resolution declaring a state of war between this country and Germany, brought on by the imperial government's repeated hostile acts. The senate was the first to act on the war resolution and adopted It by a vote of 82 to 6. The six senators who voted against the resolution for war were : ASLE J. GRONNA, Republican, North Dakota. HARRY LANE, Democrat, Oregon. v R. M. LA FOLLETTE, Republican, Wisconsin. G. W. NORRIS, Republican, Nebraska. Ne-braska. WILLIAM J. STONE, Democrat, Missouri. J. K. VARDAMAN, Democrat, Mis-sissippi. Mis-sissippi. ' There were eight senators absent or paired. They were : Bankhead, Goff, Gore, Hollis, Newlands, Smith of Maryland, Thomas, and Tillman. Of those absent it was announced that all except Senator Gore of Oklahoma against the resolution were members would have voted for the resolution if present. All six of the senators who voted against the resolution were members of the group of twelve which defeated de-feated the armed neutrality bill at the last session. There was no attempt to filibuster this time, however. Thirteen Hour Debate. Thirteen hours of heated debate preceded the vote. Party lines disappeared dis-appeared In this discussion and Republicans Repub-licans joined with Democrats in sounding sound-ing the call to the nation to support the president unitedly. The little group opposed to the resolution reso-lution drew fire from every side. Senator Sen-ator La Follette, defending Germany and heaping blame upon England, was Informed by Senator Williams that Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg, the German chancellor, would have made the same speech" in the reichstag had he been Imbued with sufficient effrontery. Senator Norris, charging that the United States is going to war at the behest of the munition barons of Wall street, drew from Senator Reed the retort re-tort that such an accusation is "almost "al-most treason." The assertion that the nation was going go-ing to war on the demand of gold, he said, was "an Indictment of the president presi-dent of the United States, an Indictment Indict-ment of congress, of the American people, peo-ple, and of the truth." "The president is not calling America Amer-ica to arms for the sake of a few paltry dollars," Senator Reed continued, contin-ued, "but for the life, honor, and Integrity In-tegrity of this country." Introduced by Hitchcock. In Introducing the resolution Into the senate, Senator Hitchcock made a brief statement in which he said that the present time was one "for action, not discussion." "The time for discussion has passed," he said. "The president has stated clearly, effectively, more conclusively con-clusively the reasons which make this grave step necessary. The resolution provides for war against the Imperial German government. It places responsibility re-sponsibility for the war squarely upon |
