New-York tribune. [volume], July 29, 1917, Page 2, Image 36

About New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Mr. Wilson's Evolution from
Pacifist to Warrior
THE earlier pacific attitude of Pi
dent Wilson examined in the 1
of his present militancy supplia
thock to the investigator only when
l***olutionary processes that took plac?
tabo crowded interval are ignored.
When the whole record of the Pi
ileat's spe-eches, acts, messages and n
is ?et out on the table in front of
?here is then seen to be a growth, sud
tat some dramatic points, gradual
nthers.
'As a background for his mental pie
there was the evolving posture of pu
opinion, which in turn took its color fi
the making of event?. American j
chological reaction to the war underw
a visible change as it became evident t
the war was to be a long one, that Am
din interests were to be imperilled, i
finaPy that the safety of world democr
was threatened.
This chart of the growth of the Pn
dent's "will to war" is at the same tim
chart of the growth of the American p
pjeV'will to war." The indicator mo
?low up, now down, but in surer lines I
frard to the climax. At the outset, Pr,
dent and people alike are seen to see
preparedness and patiently to boar cr
?ism. Smarting under n fresh war wro
Mr. Wilson develops a desire for "p
paredness." Presently he becomes a st ro
champion of armament. He is still the?
ponent of "prepared neutrality." Frc
wrongs move him to "armed neutralit;
Finaliy, in a never-to-be-forgotten decli
Stion of war to "make democracy safe i
the world." he puts on the whole armor.
But all the while he clings to his id?
of peace, even while he wars. There is
certain consistency to be perceived he
end each occasion found the President
least able to give a reason for the fai
that was in him. However, let tht
excerpts from his public utterances, ?
sembled here without^prejudice, speak 1
him through these three long years.
At First the President's Attitude
Was Considered Academic
In the early hours of the European w
the President was ?puoted indirectly as i
ferring to preparedness as a mert
'"academic discussion." Even as late
October 20, 1914, he is credited with ha
ing regarded such debates as "ment
exercise." A few days after war bro
he announced a neutral attitude, "an hi
toric American attitude," toward the b?
ligerents, the dispatches from Washin
ton speaking authoritatively for him thu
Washington, Aug. 1, 1914. From t
authoritative source it was learned late t
right that President Wilson, in line with tl
traditional yohcy of the Cnited Stute*, *ou
pursue a course of absolute non-interferenc
So unscrupulously neutral was the A'
ministration that in October, 1915, it pr
vented the making of loans to the Allies.
As the friend of all the belligerents I
issued this notice to the world, making r
distinction in behalf of Belgium or again:
Germany:
Washington, Aug. 18, 1914. President Wi
son in a proclamation issued to-day saic
Every man who really loves America wi
act and speak in the true spirit of neutra
ity, which is the spirit of impartiality ar
fairness and friendliness to all concerne
We must be impartial in thought as well i
action, must put a curb upon our sentimen
m* well as upon every transaction that mig
be construed as a preference of one party
the struggle before another.
A settlement at The Hague of Belgium
wrongs, after the war is over, sufficed tl
President, as indicated by his reply ?
September 16, 1914:
"Presently, 1 pray (?od very soon, this w;
will be ottt. The day of accounting will th<
come, when I take it for granted the natioi
of Europe will assemble to determine a se
?tlement. Where wrongs have been committi
?heir consequences and the relative respons
bility involved will be assessed. The Di
tioni of the world have fortunately,by agre
ment, made a plan for such a reckoning ar
settlement. **
Hoping the War Will Be Ended
By the "Light of Truth"
Replying to his critics and stressing th
value of the new Bryan treaties for arb:
trsting internstional differences, in an ad
dress delivered before the Pittsburg
Young Men's Christian Association. Octc
ber 25, 1914, President'Wilson said:
"What you haVe to do is to fight, no
with cannon, but with right. We have jus
concluded treaties of peace with a grea
many nationa, providing that we shall looi
for the light for a year. My prediction i
that after the light has shone on a disputa
for a year it will not be necessary to do any
thing."
This White House announcement indi
cates where the President originally stoot
on preparedness :
Washington. Nov. 10, 1914. Deapite th?
declaration that this country is unprepare?
for war. President Wilson let it be knowr
to-day that there would be no change in th?
naval programme put forward by the Secre
tary of the Navy, the original small navy
bill.
The Chief Executive resisted the de?
mands of the preparationists on Decem?
ber 8, 1914, in his address to Congress, as
follows :
'Dread or the power of any other nat.on
wt ?re incapable of. We mean to live our
ow? lives as we will; but we mean also to
let live. We are, indeed, a true friend to
all the nationa of the world, bee? ? we
threaten none, coret the possessions of none,
desire to overthrow none. Therein lies our
greatness. We are the champions of peace
and of concord. And we should he very jeal?
ous of this distinction which we have sought
to earn.
"From the first we have had a clear and
settled policy w-i'h regard to military es?
tablishment?. We never have had, and
while w? retain our present principles and
ideals we never shall have, a large standing
army. If asked, Are you ready to defend
yourselves? w* reply, Moat ea-urrd?y, to the
ntaaost; and yet we shall not turn America
lato s military camp. We will not ask nur
young men to spend the best years of the:
lives staking soldiers of themselves."
On December 29| President Wilson oj
posed the belligerents in placing food udo
the conditional contraband ! t.
Europe Will Say: "You Kept Youi
Heads When We Lost Ours"
Mr. Wilson's pride in the America
peace is disclosed here:
Indianapolis, Jan. g, lili. In his Jackso
Hay spe?ch here to-day, before the militar
Democracy of Indiana, President Wilson said
"What a future it is, my friends! Loo
abroad upon the troubled world. OnlyAmei
i?*;. at ptertl Among all the great powers n
the world, only America savin'- h??r power fo
her own people! Only America using h<
great character and her great strength in th
interests of peace and of prosperity! Do * r,
not think it likely thai the world will som
time turn to America nnd say: 'You wer
right and we were wrong. You kept you
heads when we lost, ours'?"
On January 18, li?ir>, the Presiden
thanked the League to Limit Armament
for its support of his anti-prepare Ines
policy. On February <?> the Allied pr?s
?scored him unmercifully for sending thi
Kaiser birthday congratulations.
I On April !? he intimated that it was "to<
early to pronounce judgment" upon thi
belligerents. Speaking at a gathering o
Methodists in Washington, on March 26
he resisted the pressure of the war advo
cates and asked thern not to "rock th?
boat."
The Famous "Too Proud
To Fight" Utterance
It was in Philadelphia, on May 10, I'll"
that he made his famous "too proud t<
fight" declaration. This dispatch tells thi
story three days after the sinking of thi
L?sitania:
Philadelphia, May l'.i. 1911. "Not becausi
it will not fight, but because peace is thi
elevating influence of the world. There il
such a thing as a man being too proud t<
fight; there Is such a thing ?is a nation bo
ing so right that it does ne* need to con
vinco others by force that it is right," sab
President Wilson to-day, speaking before l?,
000 persons in Convention Hall.
The attacks upon neutral commerce anc
upon unarmed ships brought forth the
"strict accountability" utterance and
marked a changing phase in the Executiv.
mind. The mass opinion of the nation
also shifted toward preparedness, and
in part toward war. The President's
note to Germany on the Lusitania sinking,
delivered on May 18, 1915* bore these
phrases:
"This government has already taken occa?
sion to inform the imperial German govern?
ment that it cannot admit the adoption? of
such measures or such a warning of dangei
to operate as in any degree an abbreviation
of the rights of American shipmasters oi
American citizens bound on lawful errand.?
as passengers on merchant ships of belliger?
ent nations; and that it must hold the im?
perial government, to a strict accountability
for any infringement of those right?, inten?
tional or accidental."
Negotiations Over the Lusitania
Affair Creep Toward a Climax
The third Lusitania note, on July 28,
1915, sharply challenged Germany's meth?
ods and yet credited Germany with havinp
the same great object, freedom of the seas,
in these phrases:
"If a belligerent cannot retaliate against
an enemy without injuring the lives of neu?
trals, as well as their property, humanity, ai
well as justice and a due regard for the dig?
nity of neutral powers, should dictate thai
the practice be discontinued. If persisted in
it would in such circumstances constitute ar
unpardonable offence against the rovereigntj
of the neutral nation affected,
"The government of the United States anr
the imperial German government are con?
tending for the same great object, have lone
stood together in ursine the very principle;
upon which the government of the United
States will continue to contend, for that free
dorn, from whatever quarter violated, without
compromise and at any cost."
The peace medal of the American School
Peace League was awarded to the Presi?
dent on August 24, 1915. On September I
he was indirectly quoted as saying that h?
had "a single track mind."
The First Whisper of War
In "Preparedness"
Th6 first preparedness note was struck
on May 5, 1915, following the Roosevelt
Gardner attacks. In his address before
the Manhattan Club, in New York, Presi
dent Wilson said : "*
"We feel justified in preparing ourselves
i to vindicate our right to independent and i -
? molested action by making the force that is
I in us ready for assertion. We do want to
| feel there is a great body of citizens who
have received at least the most rudimentary
and necessary forms of military training;
that they will be ready t(? form themselves
into a lighting force at the call of the nation,
and that ihe nation has the munit.ons and
supplies with which to equip them without
1 delay should it bo necessary to call them into
action. For the rest, it calls for the training
within the next three years of a force of
400,000 r.tizen soldiers, to he raised In an?
nual contingenta of 1.13,000."
We come upon transitional evidences in
Mr. Wilson's mind in this item:
Washington. Nov. r,, |M|, William .1.
Bryan's long expected rupture with Presi?
dent Wilson on the national defence issue
came to ?lav. In n formal statement Mr.
Hryan declared that the President's policy
wa? "a departure from our traditions, a re?
versal of our national policy, a menace to
our peace nnd safety .md a challenge to the
spiri' salty, which teaches us to
influenc?* others by example rather than
?
The Presbknt in hi.? speech at the an?
nual dinner of the Railway Business Asso?
ciation, at the Waldorf-Astoria, January
27, Itlt, said:
"There are nome things Americans want ,
more than peace. We won't seek war, but we
won't try to avoid it if it becomes a nrees
?>'.;."
A Review of the Emotional Processes by Which the President
of the United States, and Behind Him the
People, Became Reconciled to War
Above?The President delivering
his great war address before a joint
session of Congress.
In circle?President Wilson.
It was on November 8, 191.", that Presi?
dent Wilson "quoted Ezekiel" in support
of his new attitude on preparedness. In a
letter to Seth Low he said:
The President Quotes Ezekiel
To Justify Preparedness
"I am particularly prctitied that you should
so fully concur in the position I took in my
speech to the Manhattan Club. There is a
quotation from Ezekiel which 1 have had ver*,'
much in my mind recently in connection with
these important matters. It is the 2d, 3d,
4th, 5th and 6th verses of Chapter 83:
" 'Son of man, rpeak to the children of my
people, and say u.ito them: When I bring
the sword upon a land if the people of the
land take a man from among them and set
him for their watchman:
"'If, when he seeth the sword come upon
the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the
, people;
" 'Thi'n, whosoever heareth the sound of
the trumpet, and taketh not warning if the
sword cmtip, and take him away, his blood
shall be upon hi:? own heni!.' "
Then began a series of preparedness
speeches and the tour to convert the West
to armanent following his preparedness
?message to Congress on'December 7, 1915,
j in which he said :
"We will not maintain a standing army ex
| cept for uses which are as necessary in times
of peace as in times of war. Hut we do be?
lieve in a body of free citizens ready and
sufficient to take care of themselves and of
I the governments which they have set up to
! serve them. It seems to me very clear that
1 it will be an advantage to adopt a compre?
hensive plan for putting the navy upon a
' final footing of strength and efficiency and to
' press that plan to completion within trie next
( five years."
Mr. Wilson Goes Out to
Arouse the Nation
In Cleveland on January 29, 1916, he
said:
"I should /eel that I was guilty of an un
I pardonable omission if I did not go out and
- tell my fellow countrymen that new circum
1 stances huve arisen which make it absolutely
necessary that this country prepare herself,
i not for war, not for anything that smacks in
the least of aggression, hut for adequate na
| tional defence."
At Kansas City on February 3, 1916,
he told the Westerners that he favored
! "an impregnable navy."
At Des Moines, Iowa, where he encoun
I tered farmers, he said on February 1:
"There are actually men in America who
? are preaching war. There are men who want
the United States ti> hrve tntaBfling alli?
ances abroad."
He did not, he said, think these war agi?
tators n pre>c!itcd the voice of America.
The background at this period showed
a light at Washington over the resolution
"to warn Americans off belligerent ships,"
as indicated by this dispatch:
Washington, March 7, 1916. By a vote of
276 to 113 the House of Representatives to?
day killed the MeI?emore resolution warninp
Americans off armed belligerent ships.
The President Begins Now to
Assume a Milif&nt Attitude
Rid of Bryan and beset with demands
for preparedness on one side, by demands
for war on another and by Gorman apirres
sion at sea on a third, the President be- ',
gan ta, .-h'.'.v a militant attitude, as indi-!
cated by this note to Berlin on April 19,
1916:
"Unisse th? imperial government should '
now immnlirilily dsclaN and effect an aban- '
donment of it' present methods of submarine
warfare sgsiasl passenger and freight-carry- '
in?,' ve ??-??! , the cimrnnifnt of the I'nited
'?an have no choice hut to sever diplo- ;
mntic relations with the (?erman Kmpire al- ?
together. This action the government of the ,
United Btatee contemplate?, with the great- :
eat reluctance, but feels constrained to take !
in beh.ilf of humanity and the rights of neu?
tral nation? "
But he clung to the vision of peace ngain
in his speech at Charlotte, N. C, May ?0,
HUG, when he said:
"What are you going to do with your
power* Are you going to translate it into
| force or arc you going to translate it into
' peace and the salvation of society?
I "Does it not interest you that America has
run before the rest of the world in making
trial of this great human experiment, and i?
it not the sign and dawn of a new age that
the one thing upon which the world is now
about to fall back is the moral judgment of
mankind?"
First Expression of the "Peace
Without Victory" Proposal
His "peace without victory" attitude
found expression on May 25, 1916, when
i this dispatch came from the capital:
Washington, May 11, 1014*. President Wil
I son to-day made known the conditions on
which he would consent to intervene as a
mediator among the belligerent nations o*'
Europe. He told callers at the White Houso
that such intervention by any neutral could
come only after the nations at war were
ready to agree that the interests of all were
to be conserved?in other words, that neither
side was to gain a conclusive victory.
In his mind there was shaping a central
? idea?a league of mankind. At the ban?
quet of the League to Enforce Peace, held
at Washington on May 27? 1916, he said:
"The longer the war lasts the more deeply
do we become concerned that it should be
brought to an end and the world be permitted
to resume its normal life and course again.
We are participants, whether we would or
r.ot, in the life of the world. What affects
mankind is inevitably our affair as well as
the affair of the nations of Europe and of
Asia.
"We should labor for a universal associa
i tion of the nations to maintain the inviolate
securi*y of the highway of the ?eas for the
, common and unhindered use of all the na
{ tions of the world, and to prevent any war."
In contrast with his "too proud to fight"
speech, delivered in the same city a year
? earlier, on June 29, 1916, in Philadelphia,
; President Wilson, describing himself as
"in a fighting mood," declared that Amer
I ica, in dealing with other nations, must
"vindicate at whatever cost its principles
'. of liberty, justice? and humanity"; that
"America first" must be translated into
action.
He Clings to the Theory That
Force Is Wrong
But in the West he stil! voiced some of
hia earlier pacifism with'enthusiasm. In
D?ttrott on July 10, 1916, he said:
"I hear some men say that they want to
help Mexico, and the way they propose to
h?lp her is to overwhelm her with force.
That is the wrong way. as well as the long
way. After fighting them you would hav? a
nation full of justified suspicion. Thus you
would not help them. You uould shut every
door against you."
"Fore?* will not accomplish anything
that is permanent," said President Wils??n.
addressing the members of the New York
I rcss Club at the Waldorf on the night of
Juue 30, 1916. He cited the European
War, and then said that the permanent
things would take place after it was over,
?when the opinion of mankind crystallized.
"Getting our fighting blood up," he told
a Federation of Labor audience at Wash?
ington on July 4, 1916, "is the long way,
and not the short way, to secure our
rights."
The Arabic, Appam, Anconia and Sus?
sex incidents had by this time wrought a
profound change in the popular temper.
The effect of these reactions upon the
Wilson psychology may be traced in this
series of addresses:
Shadow Lawn, Long Branch, N. J., Sept. 30,
1916. President Wilson to-day, addressim;
upward of 1,600 young men from New York
and New Jersey, said:
"There is only on?? choice as against peace,
and that is war. Some of the supporters of
that party, a very great body of the support?
ers of the Republican party, outspokenly de?
clare that they want war; so that the cer?
tain prospect of the success of the Republi?
can party is that we shall be drawn in one
form or other into the embroilments of the
European war."
Indianapolis, Oct. 12, 1916.-?"I have said,
and shall say again, that when the present
great world war is over it will be the duty
of America to join with the other nations
of the world in some kind of a league for the
maintenance of peace."
The foregoing statement was made by Presi?
dent Wilson in his address at the Centennial
celebration here to-day.
Omaha, Oct fj. --Prosident Wilson said here
to-day:
"When you are asked, "Ar? '* you willing
to fight?' reply 'Ves, I am waiting for some?
thing worth lighting for.' Ycu are not look
inc about for petty quarrels, but you are
looking about for that sort of quarrel within
whose intricacies are written all th<* texts
of the right? of man. You are looking for
some cause which will elevate your spirit."
Cincinnati, Oct. * 26, 1916. "This present
war," declared President Wilson, speaking
before the Women's City Club here to-day,
"is the last war of this or any kind involv?
ing the world that the I'nited States can keep
out of. I believe that the business of neu?
trality is over, not because I want it to bo
over, but war now has such a scale that the
position of neutrals becomes intolerable."
German Crisis Reached, Wilson
Appeals to the Neutrals
On February 1, 1916, Germany resumed
her ruthless warfare and laid out a zone
of submarine operations. The dismissal of
Ambassador Bernstorff and the recall of
Ambassador Gerard followed. Many per?
sons still looked to the President for peace.
Nor ?lid he deny them hope. His play for1
neutral support again revealed his vision!
of a League of Nations and a compact for j
peace. On February 4 his directions to our ',
diplomats nbroaal contained these phrases: I
"You will immediately notify the govern- *
nient to which you are accredited that the ,
I'niteal States, because of the German gov- '
erriment's recent announcement of its inten-1
tion to renew unrestricted submarine war?
fare, has no choice but to follow the courte I
laid down in its note of April 18. 191*5 [m*0
Sussex note!. It has. therefore, recalled thj
American Ambassador to Berlin and has de?
livered passports to the German Ambassador
to the United States.
"The course taken is, in the President's
view, entirely in conformity with the princi?
ples he enunciated in his address to the Sen?
ate on January 12. The address proposing
a World League for Peace.: He believe? It
will make for the peace of the world if other
neutral powers c?n find i*. possible to take
similar action."
Only Destruction of American
Life Can Bring on \?*? ar
Then came the fight for "armed ships"
and for "military training," as outlined in
those dispatches:
Washington, Feb. 20, 1917, At a meeting
of the Cabinet this afternoon the President
indicated his firm purpose to go to the ex?
treme of patience. He will insist on the long?
est possible delay on the matter of arming
ships, and when he again goes before Con?
gress he will make plain that only as a last
recourse, in the face of actual destruction of
American life and property, will this country
go to war.
Washington. Feb. 21, 1917- President Wil?
son and Secretary Baker, it is officially inti?
mated, will go on record in favor of the prin?
ciple of universal military training.
Washington, Feb. M, 1017. -In his message
to Congress to-day President Wilson said:
"The overt act which I have ventured to
hope the German commanders would in fact
avoid has not occurred.
"I am not now proposing or contemplating
war or any steps that need lead to it. N'o
course of my choosing or of theirs will lead
to war. War can come only by the wilful
acts and aggressions of others."
Washington, Feb. 2-", 1917. The pacifist
propaganda in Washington reached a climax
! to-day with the arrival of William Jennings
, Bryan and the reception by President Wilson
of two delegations of pacifists. The Presi?
dent spent more than two hours with the
propagandists, after which no statement
1 could be obtained from either the agitator
j or the White House further than that the
1 President had assured them he would do
i everything possible to avoid war honorably.
Washington, March 4, 1917. President Wil?
son to-night informed the country in a state
I ment that he is without power to arm mer
' chant ships. In this statement he scored "the
! wilful Senators."
"The Senate of the United States is the
? only legislative body in the world which can
', not act when Its majority is ready for ac?
tion. A little group of wilful men, repre?
senting no opinion but their own, have rcn
1 dered the great government of the United
1 States helpless and contemptible."
War now seemed imminent. President
Wilson is at once the champion of "armed
I neutrality" and of peace. At Washington,
March 5, 1917, following his second oath
< of office, he said, in part:
"We have been deeply wronged upon the
sea?, but we have not wished to wrong or
injure in return. We stand firm iir armed
neutrality, since it stems that in no other
way can we demonstrate what it is we insist
upon and cannot forego. We may even be
drawn on, by circumstances, not by our own
purpose or desire, to a more active assertion
I of our rights as we see them and a more
immediate association with the great strug?
gle itself.'*
The World Must Be Made
Safe for Democracy
Finally here is war and here is Wilson,
the warrior. On April 2, 1917, President
Wilson, addressing both branches of the
Sixty-fifth Congre.ss, assembled in the
House of Representatives, called for war
rgainst Germany. From the memorable
document these pregnant paragraphs are
taken :
The present German warfare against com?
merce is a warfare against mankind. It is
a war against all nations. American ships
have been sunk, American lives taken, in
ways which it has stirred us very deeply to
learn of, but the ships and people of other
neutral and friendly nations have, been sunk
and overwhelmed in the waters in the same
way.
"I thought that it would suffice to assert
our neutral rights with arms, our right to
use the seas against unlawful Interference,
our right to keep our people safe against !
unlawful violence. But armed neutrality, it
now appears, is impracticable.
"With a profound sense of the solemn and.
even tragical character of the step I am tak?
ing, and of the grave responsibilities whict.
it involves, but in unhesitating obedience to
what I deem my constitutional duty, I ad?
vise that the Congress declare the recent
course of the imperial German government
to be in fact nothing less than war against
the government and people of the United
States; that it formally accept the status of
bellifereat which has thus been thrust
upon it,
"Neutrality is no longer feasible or desira?
ble whore the peace of the world is involved
and the freedom of its people, and the men?
ace to that peace and freedom lies in the
existence of autocratic governments, backe?!
by organized force which is controlled
wholly by their will, not by the will of their
people. We have seen the last neutrality in
such circumstances. ?
"We have no quarrel with the German peo?
ple. We have no feeling toward them but
one of sympathy and friendship.
" \ ?eadfast concert for peace can never be
maintained except by a partnership ?>*' demo
cratic nations. N'o autocratic government
could be trusted to keep fafth within it or
observe Us covenants.
"The Russian people have been added in
all their native majesty and might to the
forces that are fighting for freedom in the
world, for justice and for peace. Here is a
tit partner for B league of honor.
"The world must he made safe for democ?
racy. Its peace must be planted upon the
trusted foundations of political liberty.
"We enter this war only wher*- \?e are
clearly forced into it because there'are no
other means of defending our rights. We
are, let me say again, the sincere friends of
the German people."
The Next Step Is the Decision
To Adopt Conscription
After first trying the expedient of call?
ing for volunteers the President as a con
scriptionist now stands revealed for the
first time in these two dispatches;
Washington, April 9, 1917. PrtiidentVi?
son to-day began his campaign to driva i|J
! pacifists, little army men and opponenU ?*
i universal service into line behind hi? ni
i for conscription in the present war u
' called Chairr-un Dent of the House |fl**t,
j Affairs Committee, prot?g? of ex-Chairm??
Hay, to the White House, and insisted on tk
? passage of the Administration army bill Tv.
t President warned Mr. Dent of the i?ri91!
consequences which would attend the r-iua-j
! of the House to grant the President tki
j war measure.
Washington. April 19. 1917. President W,l.
i son to-day sent a letter to Repr?sent?t;-?
; He'vermg, of Kansas, strongiy supportin- %*.
?ective conscription. It read in part:
"The principle of the Selectiva draft j*
short, has at its heart Ihis idea: that that*?
is a universal obligation to serve. *]?*,, ^.?,
if adopted, will do more, I believe, than tor
other single instrumentality to create tht im.
pression of universal service in the array ana
out of it, and, if properly administered, -.t'l
he a great source of stimulation."
His address before the Red Cress ?>
Washington on March 12, 11*17, was re?
garded as being too gentle. Later he took
occasion to correct the impression it gsvi
He said in part:
"I believe that the American peep]? n^..
haps hardly yet realize the sacrifices and auf.
fennga that are before them. I say tha
heart of the country is in this war becaai?
it would not have gone into it. if its heart
had not been prepared for it. We "-?ve g.0R|
in with no special grievance of our own. b?.
cause we have always said that w? ??,-?-. ?ij,
friends and servants of mankind."
No Self-Respecting Nation Could
Longer Avoid War
This "correcting" letter written by Pro.
ident Wilson to Representative Heflin, of
Alabama, was made public on May 22,
1917, at the White House. It wss in part
as follows:
"It ii incomprehensible to me how any
frank or honeit person could doubt or quas?
tion my position with regard to the war an*
its objects. I have aj-ain ami again stated
the very serious and long continued wrongs
whiclj the imperial OsmUfl gOftlOSNOt ha?
perpetrated against the rights, the comm>rca
and the citizens of the l'ui'ed States. Th?
list is long and overwhelming. No nation
that respected itself or the rights of human,
ity could have borne those wrongs any
longer.
"There is no hate in our heart? fir tha
German people, but there is a resolve
cannot be shaken even by misrepresentation
to overcome the pretensions o* the autocratie
government which acts upon purposes to
which the German people have never con?
sented."
The text of the second explanation, in
the form of a letter sent by President Wl?
son to Representative Pou on May Zb, 1 - * 17,
\ is as follows:
"Your interpretation of my message I sup
: posed would be the interpretat.nn everybody
wouK! give it. I meant just what you say,
that our grievance, while entirely su? -
I was the same as that of other neutral na
l.tions, perhaps aggravated by the fact that
I Germany has made us special promises wheh
?he has grossly ignored."
The Wilson attitude toward war tad
peace finds culmination in his mesgaj*e to
the Provisional Government of Russia out?
lining American aims, made public at
Washington on June 9, 1917. These are
significant sentences on "Annexations ani
Indemnities":
"The meshes of that intriga" muit be
broken, but cannot be broken unies? wrongs
already done are unaone; and adequate meas?
ures must be taken to prevent :'? ttttt *?'*'
again being rewoven or rep I
"Of course, the imperial German ?*overn>
ment nnd those whom it is ssing :or their
own undoing are seeking to obtsis platlps
that the war will end in the n ?.'oration of
the status quo ante.
"It was the status quo ante out of which
this iniquitous war issued forth, th? povaer
of the imperial German government within
the empire and its widespread domination
and influence outside of that empire. fm%
status must be altered in such fashion al
to prevent any such hideous thing from **,*r
happening again."
Navy Yard Activities
WE ARE hearing a good deal about
the production of merchant
tonnage to feed the submarine,
but we have been told less about the ex?
pansion of our naval tonnage. UbcV Ssss*
however, has come to the ro-vue with *oma
specific information, as poblishod ir. "1"S
Official Bulletin," from which we quote:
"The shipbuilding facilities of the ' m\
States navy yards are being expanded >?
that eventually sixteen war vessel* ray M
on the ways at one time, whale tally *l"rtT"
two may be in course of construe".!'*. Ti!"
number does not include sehsssi SSI *ru*
submarine chasers.
"With the shipways now being built tt
projected. 1'nited States navy yards will ?**?
able to have in course of construction on
the ways at one time sixteen w.?r
in addition to submarines and submartu*
chasers. Seven of these could bt
ships, two auxiliaries, such as trar.-p'*-***.
fuel ships, hospital ships.? etc, snd *-*v*a
destroyers.
"There are now urder constructa.-r*. in f****
ernment yards thro?* Satt'. ?' ''"
stroyers and a number of submarines *'i
submarine chasers.
"In 1912 the shipbuilding facilities of the
navy yards consisted of one ways for bat?
tleships at New York and or.e ?ays ?t Mar?
Island for auxiliaries.
"At the beginning of the pieSSn? '?'*?* thi
facilities available were: n.'sron, one auxil?
iary; New York, one battleship; **b*\?mw*
phia, one auxiliary; Norfolk, one d?grever!
Charleston, one gunboat; Marc Island. onS
battleship and one ?lestroyer.
"At Portsmouth. N. H.. we now have foul
V.HV-? fair mi bu* :? lines, which means taat fror*
six to eight will be u-.der rn.??tnieti<**n ?*
one time. The navy yard a? MetM has ?*?*??
ways for auxiliaries
"The navy yard at New York now has ?
waya for large-sized battleship* and ? *****
ond is being built for battleships. At **m*m*
delphia there will be two ways, one for large
battleships or battle cruisers and anothel
for large battleships. A third. alread*j
built, is used for auxiliary v?asela."