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Show WILSON BEFORE CONGRESS II Allied Nations Accepted President's Principles For Peace And He If , , ; . Says It Is His Duty To Be Present ' . II Declares Taking Over Cable System by Govern- ' 1 ment Insures Removal of Restrictions Upon 1 Transmission of News; Hopes to Secure Co- operation of Congress; Ready to Return Rail- I roads After Satisfactory Plans of Readjust- j ; ment Can Be Worked Out; I ! WASHINGTON, Dec. 2. A joint resolution Tntroduced i by Representative Rodenburg, of Illinois, Republican, pro- aj poses that congress declare President Wilson's trip to Europe Jffl constitutes an inability to discharge the powers and duties of llj the office of president and that so long as he is away from fi the country, the vice-president act as president. M The resolution was dropped into the bill box without M discussion on the floor. It was referred to the judiciary com- mt mittee. m WASHINGTON, Dec. 2. Senator Cummins of Iowa, 1 Republican, introduced today a resolution proposing that a jl senate committee of four Democrats and four Republicans be , I sent to France for the peace conference, to keep the senate in- 1 formed on questions arising there. X Senator Kellogg of Minnesota, Republican, declared he R would oppose the resolution and hoped it would be sent to the i foreign affairs committee and there killed. i On motion of Senator Hitchcock of Nebraska, Chairman I of the foreign relations committee, the resolution was referred 1 ! to that committee. Except for the statement of Senator Kel- II , logg there was no discussion of the merits of the measure. - The president concluded after speaking forty-two minutes and 1 left the chamber amidst applause limited to the Democratic side. In- : I :terruptions of the address for questions which had been threatened I . by some Republican members of the house did not materialize. R 1 WASHING-TON, Dec. 2. In an address to congTess in joint ses- m I sion today, President Wilson formally announced his intention to go m to Paris for the peace conference, saying the allied governments have j ' accepted principles enunciated by him for peace and it is -his, para- j j mount duty to be present. ffi ! The president said he would be in close touch by cable and wire- M i less and that congress will know all that he does on the other side. m Referring to his announcement that the French and British gov- If ieraments had removed all cable restrictions upon the transmission l ' of news of the conference to America, the president said he had taken B over the American cable system on expert advice so as to make uni- m fied system available. He expressed the hope that he would have M the co-operation of the public and of congress, saying through the M cables and wireless constant counsel and advice would be possible. M Much of the address was devoted to the railroad problem, for W which the president said he now had no solution to offer. He recom,- jjtj mended careful study by congress, saying it would be a disservice J to the country and to the railroads to permit a return to old condi- (JS tions under private management without modifications. M The president declared he stood ready to release the railroads m from government control whenever a satisfactory plan of readjust- jMj ment could be worked out. m The president said he hoped to see a lorniai declaration oi peace n by treaty "by the time spring has come." I The new three year naval building program was endorsed be- 1 cause, the president said, it would be unwise to attempt to adjust the American program to a future world policy as yet undetermined. 3 Paying tribute to the people's conduct in war, he spoke partic- jjl ' ularly of the work of women and again appealed for woman suffrage jf by federal amendment. 1 Declaring he had no "private thought or purpose" in going to M France, but that he regarded it as his highest duty, the president 1 added: ffl "It is now my duty to play my full part in making good what 1 they (America's soldiers) offered their life's blood to obtain." M No definite program of reconstruction can be outlined now, Mr. m Wilson said. He expressed the hope that congress would not object M to conferring upon the war trade board or some other agency the m , right of fixing export priorities to assure shipment of food to starv- j ing people abroad. W i As to taxation, the president endorsed the plan for levying six J1 1 billion dollars in 1919 and for notifying the public in advance that ! the 1920 levy will be four billion dollars, (continued on page 10) j li i I I- ILL KEEP II TOUCH WITH CAPITAL , (Continued from Pago 1) WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 The prcsi-dent prcsi-dent said: "Gentlemen of the congress: The year that-has elapsed since I last stood before be-fore you to fulfill my constitutional ; duty to give the congress from time to time information on the state of the union, has been so crowded with great events, great processes and great results that I cannot hope to give you an adequate picture of its transactions transac-tions or of the far-reaching changes which have been wrought In the life of our nation and of the world. You 1 have yourselves witnessed these things, as I have. It is too soon to assess them; and we who stand in the midst of them and arc part of them arc less qualified than men of another generation will be to say what they mean or even what they have been. But some great outstanding facts arc unmistakable and constitute in a sense part of the public business with which it is cur duty to deal. To state them is to set the stage for the legislative and executive action which must growj out of them and which we have yet . to shape" and determine. "A year ago we had sent 145.91S men overseas. Since then wc have sent 1,950,513, an average of 162,512 each month, the number in fact rising In May last to 245,951; in June to 27S,760; in July to 307.1S2and continuing con-tinuing to reach similar figures in August and September In August 2S9.570 and in September 257.43S, No such movement of troops ever took place before, across throe thousand miles of sea, followed by adequate equipment and supplies and carried safely through extraordinary dangers of attack dangers which were alike strange and infinitely difficult to guard against. In all this movement only 75S men were lost by enemy attacks at-tacks 630 of whom were upon a single sin-gle English transport which was sunk near the Orkney islands. U. S. Actly Promptly "I need not tell you what lay back of this great movement of men and material". It is not Invidious to say that back of it lay a supporting organization or-ganization of tho industries of the country and all its productive activities activi-ties more complete, more thorough in II method and effective in result!?, more j spirited and unanimous in purpose and 1 effort than any other great belliger ent had ever been able to effect. We profited greatly by the experience of tho nations which had already been engaged for nearly three years In the exigent and exacting business, their every resources and every executive proficiency taxed to the utmost. We were tho pupils. But we learned quickly and acted with a promptness and a readiness of co-operation that I justify our great pride that we were I able to serve the world with unparal- I! leled energy and quick accomplish - 11 Ready in Battle MJlh "But it is not the physical scale and I $1 Up executive efficiency of preparation, jif j P supply, equipment and despatch that Mm I would cdwell upon, but the mettle 'J?I3 II and fIuality oC tne officers and men mi i we sent over and of the sailors who ! jjlj kept the seas, and the spirit of the is j nation that stood behind them. No Is j soldiers or sailors ever proved themes them-es j selves more quickly ready for the HH test of battle or acquitted themselves jijjy with more splendid courage and 1,1 1 achievement when put to the test Mu Those of us who played some part in IjU directing the great processes by Ik 3 which the war was pushed irresistibly mm forward to the final triumph may now I j.uisei. au mux ana ueugni our inougnts i with the story of what our men did. ijj Their officers understood the grim and y exacting task they had undertaken and h performed with audacity, efficiency E and unhesitating courage that touch the story of convoy and battle with h imperishable distinction at every turn, itj whether the enterprises were great or small from their chiefs, Pershing a and Sims, down to the youngest lieu- 3 tenant; and their men were worthy of g them such men as hardly need to be S3 commanded, and go to their terrible i adventure blithely and with the quick , W intelligence of those who know just till What it is they would accomplish. Hi Proud of the Men "I am proud to be the fellow council coun-cil 1 tryman of men of such 3tuff and va-&$ va-&$ lor Th08e o us wno stayed at homo ffifg did our duty; the war could not havo tm l,ecn v,on or G &allant men who fi fought it given their opportunity to ) WtM win it otherwise; but for many a "long j$jf I day we shall think ourselves "accurs'd Wm ' we were not there and hold our man- Ittfjjj i hoods cheap while any speaks that MM I fought," with these at St- Mihiel or fjtpl i Thierry. The memory of those days 1 1 ijij . r triumphant battle will go with these i Bigs fortunate men to their graves ; and Mi each will have his favorite memorv. tHIS ! " '01cl men forset; yet all shall" be mm forgot but he'll remember with advan- wM tages wbat feats he dld that da'-' afjil "What we all thank God for with ijlfj deepest gratitude is that our men went MM in force into the line of battle just Wmi at tnc crItlcal nioment when the whole tKIS fat( of tho T,'orld seemed to hang in Mil thevbalance and threw their fresh ' strength into the ranks of freedom in isml tImc t0 turn the "whole tide and sweep IHI o the fateful struggle turn it once img for all so that thenceforth it was back, fijlny back, back for their enemies, always Wm back, never again forward! After that Mlffl it was only a scant four months be- gljrl fore the commanders of the Central tjilj empires knew themselves beaten; and fttH llow tIlGlr very empiros are in liquida- in tion I i'HH Gratitude for Workers 119 "And inrouShout it all how fine the n spirit of the nation was. What unity HI of PUI'Pose, what untiring zeal! What elevation of purpose ran through all Mm its splendid display of strength, its PI untiring accomplishment. I have said y that those of us who stood at home M .tq do tho work' of organizations and MM supply will always wish that we had M been with the men whom we sustained M by our labor; but we can never be Kl ashamed. It has been an inspiring 1 thing to be here in the midst of fine in men who had turned aside from every mm private interest of their own and de- flWf voted the whole of their trained ca-lltJf ca-lltJf pacity to the tasks that supplied the ilUI sinews of the whole great undertak-llfli undertak-llfli Tne Patriotism, the unselfish- n hose, the thorough -going devotion and distinguished capacity that marked their toilsome labor day after day, mouth after month, have mado them fit mates and comrades of tho men in the trenches and on the sea. And not the men here in Washington only. They havo but diroctcd the vast achievement. Throughout Innumerable factories, upon innumerable farms, in the depths of coal mines nnd Iron mines and copper mines wherever the results of Industry were to be obtained and prepared, in the shipyards, on the railways, at the docks, on the sea, In everj labor that was needed to sustain these battle lines, men have vied with each other to do their part and do it jwell. They can look any man-at-j arms in the face and say, we also , (strove to win and gave the best that was in us to make our fleets and ar-1 (mies sure of their triumph"! To the Women I "Ami tvhnt chnll ho snv nf tlm W'n- men of thejr instant intelligence, quickening every task that they touched; touch-ed; their capacity for organization and I co-operation which gave their action discipline and enhanced the effectiveness effective-ness of everything they attempted; their aptitude at tasks to which they had never before set their hands; their utter self-sacrifice alike in what they did and 5n what they gave? Their contribution to tho great result is beyond be-yond appraisal. They have added a now lustre to the annals of American Womanhood. " The least tribute we can pay them is to make them the equals of men in political rights as they have proved themselves their equals in every field of practical work they have entered, whether for themselves or for their; country. Theso great days of completed com-pleted achievement would be sadly marred were wo to omit that act of justice. Besides the immense practical prac-tical services they have jendered, tho women bf the country have been tho moving spirits in the systematic ecou- omles by which our peoplo havo voluntarily vol-untarily insisted to supply tho suffering suffer-ing peoples of tho world and the armies arm-ies upon every front with food and j everything else that wo had that might serve the common cause. The details of such a story can nover be fully written, but we carry them at our hearts and thank God that we can say that we are the kinsmen of such. And now wo are sure of tho great triumph for Vhich every sacrifice has been made. It has come, come -in its completeness and with tho prido and inspiration of these days of achievement achieve-ment quick within us wo turn to the tasks of poaco again a peaco sure against tluflfrvlolence of irresponsible monarchs and ambitious military coteries co-teries and make ready for a now order, or-der, for new foundations of justice and fair dealing. We are about to give order and or- ourselves, but for the other peoples of tho world as well, so far as they will suffer us to servo them. It Is instrumental instru-mental justice that wo seek, not domestic do-mestic safety merely. Our thoughts have dwelt of lato upon Europe, upon Asia, upon the Near and tho Far East, very little' upon the acts of peace and accommodation that wait to bo performed per-formed at our own doors. While we are adjusting our relations with the rest of the world is it not of capital importance that we should clear away all grounds of misunderstanding with our immediate neighbors and give proof of the friendship wo really feel? I hope that the members of the senate sen-ate will permit me to speak onco more of the unratified treaty of friendship and adjustment with tho republic of Colombia. I very earnestly urge upon them an early and favorable action upon that vital matter. I believe that they will feel, with me, that tho stage of affairs is now set for such action as will be not only just, but generous and in the spirit of the now age upon which we have so happily entered. So far as our domestic affairs are concerned the problem of our return to peace is a problem of economic and industrial readjustment. That problem prob-lem is less serious for us than it may turn out to be for the nations which have suffered the disarrangements nnrl the losses of war longer than we. Our people, moreover, do not wait to be coached and led. They know their own business, are quick and resourceful resource-ful at every readjustment, definite in purpose and self-reliant In action. Any leading strings wo might seek to put them would speedily become hopelessly hopeless-ly tangled because they would pay no attention to them and go their own way. All that we can do as their legislative leg-islative and executive servants Is to mediate the process of change here, there and elsewhere as we may. I have heard much counsel as to" the plans that should be performed dnd personally conducted to a happy consummation con-summation but from no quarter have I seen any general scheme of "reconstruction" "recon-struction" which I thought likely we could force our spirited business men and self-reliant labourers to accept .with due pliancy and obedience. 1 Direct War Industries. "While the war lasted we set up many agencies by which to direct the Industries of the country in tho services ser-vices it was necessary for them to render; by which to make sure of an abundant supply of the matters needed; need-ed; by which to check undertakings that could for the time be dispensed with and, stimulate those that were most serviceable in war; 'by which to gain for the purchasing departments of the government a certain control over the prices of ;essential articles and materials; by which to restrain trade .with alien enemies, make the most of the avallablo shipping and systematizing financial transactions, both public and private, so that there would be no unnecessary conflict or confusion by which, in short, to put every material energy of the country in harness to draw the common load and make of us one team in the accomplishment ac-complishment of a great task. But the moment we knew the armistice to have been signed, we took the harness off. Raw .materials, upon which the government gov-ernment had kept its hand for-fear there should not be enough for the industries that supplied the armies, havo been released, and put in to the. general market again. Great industrial indus-trial plants, whose whole output and machinery had been taken over for the uses of the government, have been set free to return to the uses to which they were put before the war. It has not been possible to remove so readily read-ily or so quickly the control of foodstuffs food-stuffs and of shipping, because the world has still to be fed from our granaries and the ships are still needed need-ed to send supplies to our men over-' over-' seas and to bring the men back as fast as tho disturbed conditions on the other side of tho water permit; but i oven there restraints aro bojng relaxed as much v as possible and more and more as the weeks go by. : ."Never btoca 1. tMre . boon agencies In existence in this country which knew so much of the flold of supply, of labor, and of industry as the war industi'ios board, the war trade board, the labor department, the food administration and the fuel administration ad-ministration have known since their labors became thoroughly systematized; systemat-ized; and they have not been isolated agencies; they havo been directed by men who represented the pormanent departments of the government and so have been the centers of unified and co-operative action. It has been the policy of the executive, therefore, since the armistice was assured 1 (which is in effect a complete submission sub-mission of tho enemy) to put the knowledge of these bodies at the disposal dis-posal of the business men of the country coun-try and to offer their intelligent mediation me-diation at every point and in every mattor where it was desired. It isl surprising how fast tho progress of ! return to peace footing has moved in ( the three weeks since the fichtinci stopped. It promises to outrun any In -1 qulry that may be instituted and any! aid that may be offered. It will not be easy to direct it any better than, it will direct itself. The American business man is of quick initiative. Employment of Men. "The ordinary and normal processes I of private initiative will not however. provide immediate employment for all-of all-of tho men of our returning armies. Those who are of trained capacity, those who aro skilled workmen, those; who .have acquired familiarity with es-j j tablished businesses; those who arc J I ready and willing to go to the farms; all thoso whose aptitudes are known, or will be sought out by employers and will find no difficulty, it is safe to say.t in finding place and employment Butl there will be others who will bo at af loss where to gain a livelihood unless pain3 are taken to guide them and put them in the way of work. There will bo a large floating residuum of labor which should not be left wholly to shift for itself. It seems to me, therefore, there-fore, that the development of public works of every sort should be promptly prompt-ly resumed, in order that opportunities opportuni-ties should be created for unskilled labor in particular, and that plans should be made for such developments of our unused lands and our natural resources as wc havo hitherto lacked stimulation to undertake. Opportunities for Soldiers "I particularly direct your attention to tho very practical plans which the secretary of the interior has developed develop-ed in his annual report adopted by your committees for tho reclamation of arid, swamp, and cut-over which might, if tho states wore willing and able to co-operate, redeem somo three hundred million acres of land for cultivation. cul-tivation. There arke said to bo fifteen or twenty million acres of land in the ll'npt nf !.l r ...1 lamation water is available if properly conserved. There are about two hundred hun-dred and thirty million acres from which the forests have been cut, but which have never yet been cleared for the plow and which lie waste and desolate. des-olate. Theso lie scattered all over the union. And thoro are nearly eighty million acres of land that lie under swamps or subject to periodical overflow over-flow or too wet for anything but grazing graz-ing which it is perfectly feasible to drain and protect and redeem. Tho congress can at once direct thousands of the returning soldiers to tho reclamation recla-mation of the arid lands which it has already undertaken, If It will but enlarge en-large the plans and the appropriations which it lias entrusted to the department depart-ment of tho interior. It is possible, In dealing with our unused land, to effect a great rural and agricultural development which will afford the best sort of opportunity to men who want to help themselves; and tho secretary sec-retary of the interior has thought the possible methods out in a way which Is worthy of your friendly attention. Helping the Hclplecs "I have spoken of the control which must yet for a while, perhaps for a long while, be exercised over shipping because of the priority of service to which our forces overseas are entitled OTlfl ilthlnV. nl..,t.) 1 1 uuu nuiiiu aiiuum iwsu ue accoraeu tne shipments which are to savo recently liberated peoples from starvation and many devastated regions from permanent perma-nent ruin. May I not say a special word about the needs of Belgium and northern France? No sums of money paid by way of indemnity will serve of themselves to save them from hopeless hope-less disadvantage for years to come. Something more must be done than merely find them money. If they had money and raw materialsjn abundance tomorrow, they could not"" resume their place in the Industry of the world tomorrow to-morrow the very important place they held before the flame of war swept over them. Many of their factories fac-tories have been razed to the ground. Much of their machinery is destroyed or has been taken away. Their peoplo peo-plo are scattered and many of their best workmen are dead. Their markets mar-kets will be taken by others, if they are not in some special way assisted to rebuild their factories and replace their lost Instruments of manufacture. They should not be left to the vicissitudes vicissi-tudes of the sharp competition for materials ma-terials and for industrial facilities which is now to set in. I hope, therefore, there-fore, that the congress will not be unwilling, if it should become necessary, neces-sary, to grant some such legislative power so the war trade board be given giv-en the right to establish priorities of export and supply for the benefit of these people whom wc have been so happy to assist 4 in saving frpm the German terror and whom we must not thoughtlessly leave to shift for themselves them-selves in a pitiless competitive market. mar-ket. Taxes Just Ahead "For the steadying and facilitation of our domestic readjustments, nothing noth-ing is more important as the immediate immed-iate determination of the taxes that are to be levied for 1918, 1919 and 1920. As much of the burden of taxation must be lifted from business, as sound methods of financing the government will permit, and those who conduct the great essential industries of tho country must be told as exactly as possiblo what obligations to the government gov-ernment they will bo expected to meet in the years Immediately ahead of them. It will be of serious consequence conse-quence to the country to delay removing remov-ing all uncertainties in this mattor a single day longer than the right processes pro-cesses of debate justify. It is idle to talk of successful and progressive business bus-iness reconstruction before those uncertainties un-certainties are solved. Would Need Eight Billion. "If tho war had continued it would have been necessary to raise at least eight billion dollars by-taxation payable pay-able in the year 3919; but tho war has ended and I agree with the secre-, tary of -tho treasury that It will be safe to reduce the-amount to six bil- lions. An immediate rapid decline in tho expenses of the government is not to bo looked for. Contracts for wai department supplies will, indeed, be rapidly cancelled and liquidated but their immediate liquidation will make heavy drains on the treasury for the months just ahead of us. Tho maintenance main-tenance of our forces on the other side of the sea is still necessary. A considerable proportion of those forces must remain in Europe during the period of occupation, and thoso which are brought homo will be transported and demobilized at heavy expenses for months to come. The Interest on our war debt must, of course, be paid and provision made for the retirement of the obligations of the government which represent it But these de- mnnli .;! 1 nf nmtyc foil Unl.rr 111U11UJ 1,111, Ul WUlJt, 141 u UIUU1 UCIU II what a continuation of military operations opera-tions would havo entailed. "I entirely concur with the secretary of tho treasury in recommending that the two billions needed, in addition to the four billions provided by existing exist-ing law, be obtained from the profits which havo accrued and shall accrue from war contracts and distinctively war business, but that these taxes he confined to the war profits accruing in 191S or in 1919 from business originating orig-inating In war contracts. I urge your acceptance 01 his recommendation that provision be made now, not subsequently, subse-quently, that the taxes to be paid in 1920 should be reduced from six to four billions. Any arrangements less definite than these would add elements ele-ments of doubt and confusion to the critical period of industrial readjustment readjust-ment through which the country must now immediately pass, and which no true friend of the nation's essential business interests can afford to be responsible re-sponsible for creating or prolonging. Clearly determined conditions, clearly and simply charted, are indispensable to the economic revival and rapid industrial in-dustrial development which may confidently con-fidently be expected, if we act now and sweep all Interrogation points away. Naval Program. "I take it for granted that congress will carry out the naval program which was undertaken before we entered en-tered the war. The secretary of the navy has submitted to your committees commit-tees for authorization that part of the programme which covers the building plans of the next three years. These plans havo been prepared along the lines, and in accordance with the policy, pol-icy, which the congress established, not under the exceptional conditions of the war but with the intention of adhering ad-hering to a definite method of development devel-opment for the navy; I-earnestly recommend re-commend the uninterrupted pursuit of that policy. It would celarly be unwise un-wise for us to attempt to adjust our programmes to a future world policy as yet undetermined. "The question which causes me the great concern is the question of the policy to be adopted towards the railroads. rail-roads. I frankly turn, to you for counsel coun-sel upon it. I have no confident judgment judg-ment of my own. I do not sec how any thoughtful man can have who knows anything of the complexity of the problem. It Is a problem which must be studied, studied Immediately and studied without bias or prejudice. Nothing can be gained by becoming partisans of any particular plan of settlement set-tlement About Railroads. "It was necessary that the administration admin-istration of the railways should be taken over by the government so long as the war lasted. It would have been impossible otherwise to establish and carry through under a single direction direc-tion the necessary priorities of shipments. ship-ments. It would have been impossible otherwise to combine maximum production pro-duction at the factories and mines and farms with the maximum possiblo car supply to take tho products to tho ports and markets; impossible to route troop shipments and freight shipments without regard to the advantage or disadvantage of the roads employed; impossible to subordinate, when necessary, nec-essary, all Questions of aconvenience to the public necessity; impossible to give tho necessary financial support to tho roads from the public treasury. But all these necessities have now been served and the quostlon is, what is best for the railroads and for the public pub-lic In tho future. "Exceptional circumstances and exceptional ex-ceptional methods of administration wore not needed to convince that the railroads were not equal to tho immense im-mense tasks of transportation imposed impos-ed upon them by the rapid and continuous con-tinuous development of the industries of the country. We know that already al-ready And wc knew that they were unequal to it partly because their full co-operation was rendered impossible by law and iholr competition made obligatory, ob-ligatory, so that it has been impossible to assign to them severally the traffic which best could bo carried by their respective lines in the interest of expedition ex-pedition and national economy. Release of Railroads "Wc may hope, I believe, for the formal conclusion of tho war by treaty by the time spring has come. The twenty-one months to which tho present pres-ent control of tho railways is limited after formal proclamation of peace shall havo been mado will run at the farthest, I take it for granted, only to tho January of 1921. Tho full equipment of the railways which the federal administration had planned could not be completed within any such period. Thcjiresent law does not permit the use of the revenues of the several roads for the execution of such plans except by formal contract with their directors, somo of whom will consont, whilo some will not, and therefore does not afford sufficient authority au-thority to undertake improvements upon the scale upon which it would be necessary to undertake them. "Every approach to this difficult subject-matter of decision brSngs us fnce to face, therefore, with Jhis unanswered un-answered question: What is right that we should do with tho railroads, in the interest of the public and fairness to their owners? "Lot me say at onco that I have no answer readj The only thing that is perfectly clear to me is that it is not fair either to the public or to the owners own-ers of the railroads to leave the question ques-tion unanswered and that it will presently pres-ently become my duty to relinquish control of the roads, even before the expiration of the statutory period, unless un-less there should appear some clear prospect in the meantime of a legislative legis-lative solution. Their release would at least produce one clement of a solution, so-lution, namely, certainty and a quick stimulation of private initiative. Modify Regulations "I believe that it will bo serviceable for me to set forth as explicitly as possiblo tho alternative courses that Hit nnnrt tn mi. nintnn "Ttr,. ly release the roads and go back to tho old conditions of private management) manage-ment) unrestricted competition and multiform regulation by both state and federal authorities; or we can go to the opposite extreme and establish complete government control, accompanied, accom-panied, if necessary, by actual government govern-ment ownership; or wo can adopt an intermediate course of modified private pri-vate control under a more unified and affirmative public regulation and under un-der such alterations of the law as will permit wasteful competition to be avoided and a considerable degree of unification of administration to be of- J fected, as, for example, by regional 1 corporations under which the railways of a definable area would bo in effect combined in single systems. "The one conclusion that I am ready to state with confidence Is that il would ,be a disservice alike to the country and to the owners of the railroads rail-roads to return to the old conditions unmodified. Those arc conditions of restraint without development There is nothing affirmative or helpful about them. What the country chiefly needs is that all Its means of transportation should be developed, its railways, its waterways, its highways, and Its countryside roads. Some new element of policy, therefore, is absolutely i uv,tjoui j miueooiw,) lui iu at'l VIUc of the public, necessary for the release re-lease of credit to those who are administering ad-ministering the railways, necessary for the protection of their security holders. The old policy may be cbauged much or little, but surely it cannot wisely be left as it was. I hopo that the congress will have a complete com-plete and impartial study of the whole problem instituted at once and prosecuted prose-cuted as rapidly as possible. I stand ready and anxious to release the roads from the present control and I must! do so at a very early date if by waiting wait-ing until the statutory limit of time is reached I shall be merely prolonging! the period of doubt nnd uncertainty which is hurtful to every interest concerned. con-cerned. "1 welcome this occasion to announce an-nounce to the congress my purpose to join in Paris the representatives of tho governments with which we have been associated in the war against tho central empires for the purpose of discussing with them, the main features feat-ures of the treaty ofTjeace. I realize the great inconveniences' that will attend at-tend my leaving the country particularly particular-ly at this time, but the conclusion that it was my paramount duty to go has been forced upon me by considerations which I hope will seem as conclusive to you as they have seemed to me. "The allies governments have accepted accept-ed the bases of peaco which I outlined out-lined to the congress on the eighth of January, last, as the central empires also have, and very reasonably desire my personal counsel in their interpretation interpre-tation and application, and it is highly desirable that I should give it in order that the sincere desire of our government govern-ment to contribute without selfish purpose pur-pose of any kind to settlements that will be of common benefit to all the na-tlons na-tlons concerned may be made fully manifest. Tho peace settlements which are now to be agreed upon are of transcondence importance both to us and to the rest of the world, and I ' know of no business or interest which should take precedence of them. Tho gallant men of our armed forces on land and sea have consciously fought for the ideals which they knew to be tho ideals of their country; I have sought to express those ideals; they have accepted my statements, of them i as the substance of their own thought and purpose as the associated governments govern-ments have accepted them; I owe It to them to seo to it, so far as in me lies that no false or mistaken interpreti- 1 tion is put upon them, nnd no possible t effort ohiitted to realize them. It Is ii now my duty to play my full part in c making good what they offered tholr ii life's blood to obtain. I can think of no call to service which could tran- t scend this. r "I shall be in close touch with you and with affairs oa this sjde of tha water, and you will know all that I s do. At my request, the French and " English governments have absolutely 3 removed the censorship of cable news. f which until within a fortnight they 3 had maintained and there is now no t censorship whatever exercised at this 3 end except upon attempted trade com-J com-J munications with enemy countries. It has been necessary to keep an open wire constantly available between ; Paris and the department of stale and another between Franco and the de-- de-- partment of war. In order that this might be done with tho least possible r interference with the other uses of the cables, I have temporarily taken over control of both cables in order ' that they may be used a single system. ' I did so at the advice of the most 1 experienced cable officials and I hope that the results will justify my hope that the news of the next few months may pass with tho utmost freedom and i with the least possible delays from each side of the sea to the other. "May I not hope, gentlemen of the congress, that in the delicate tasks I jshall have to perform on the other side of the sea in my efforts truly and faithfully faith-fully to interpret the principles and purposes of the country we love, I may have the encouragement and the added strength of your united support? I realize the magnitude and difficulty of the duty I am undertaking! I am poignantly poig-nantly aware of its grave responsibilities. responsibili-ties. I am the servant of tho nation. I can have no private thought or purpose pur-pose of my own in performing such an errand. I go to lvo the best that is in me to the common settlements which I must now assist in arriving at in conference with the other working heads of the associated governments. I shall count upon your friendly countenance coun-tenance and encouragement I shall not be inaccessible. Tho cables and the wireless will render me available for any counsel or service you may desire de-sire of me, and I shall be happy in the thought that I am constantly in touch with the weighty matters of domestic do-mestic policy with which we shall have to deal. I sail make my absence as brief as possible and shall hope to return re-turn with the happy assurance that it has been possible to translate into action ac-tion the great ideals for which America Amer-ica has striven." |