^ President Woodrow Wilson's D 619 P2 Address to Congress i9i7eb April 2, 1917 Proclcimation of the President April 6, 1917 Proclamation of the Mayor of the City of New York April 6, 1917 Address of the President to his Fellow Countrymen April 16, 1917 ComplimentB of the American Exchange National Bank NEW YORK CITY l5 f ^>^„> ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES DELIVERED AT A JOINT SESSION OF THE TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS APRIL 2, 19 1 7 Address of President Woodrow Wilson Gentlemen of the Congress : I have called the Congress into extra- ordinary session because 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 of mak- ing. On the third of February last I ofificially laid before you the extraordinary announce- ment of the Imperial German Government that on and after the first day of February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use its sub- marines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by the ene- mies of Germany within the Mediterranean. That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine warfare earlier in the war, but since April of last year the Imperial Government had somewhat restrained the commanders of its undersea craft in con- formity with its promise then given to us that passeng-er boats should not be sunk and that due warning would be given to all other vessels which its submarines might seek to destroy when no resistance was of- fered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews were given at least a fair — 3 — chance to save their lives in their open boats. The precautions taken were meagre and haphazard enough, as was proved in dis- tressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint was ob- served. The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of bellig- erents. Even hospital ships and ships carry- ing relief to the sorely bereaved and strick- en people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with safe conduct through the proscribed areas by the German Gov- ernment itself and were distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have been sunk with the same reckless lack of com- passion or of principle. I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would in fact be done by any government that had hitherto sub- scribed to the humane practices of civilized nations. International law had its origin in the attempt to set up some law which would be respected and observed upon the seas, where no nation had right of dominion and where lay the free highways of the world. By painful stage after stage has that law been built up, with meagre enough results, indeed, after all was accomplished that could be accomplished, but always with a clear view, at least, of what the heart and con- science of mankind demanded. This mini- mum of right the German Government has swept aside under the plea of retaliation and necessity and because it had no weapons which it could use at sea except these which it is impossible to employ as it is employing them without throwing to the winds all scruples of humanity or of respect for the understandings that were supposed to un- derlie the intercourse of the world. I am not now thinking of the loss of property in- volved, immense and serious as that is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destruc- — 4 — tion of the lives of non-combatants, men, women, and children, engaged in pursuits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern history, been deemed in- nocent and legitimate. Property can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and innocent peo- ple cannot be. The present German sub- marine warfare against commerce is a war- fare against mankind. It is a war against all nations. Ameri- can 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. There has been no dis- crimination. The challenge is to all man- kind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a modera- tion of counsel and a temperateness of judgment befitting our character and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling away. Our motive will not be re- venge or the victorious assertion of the phy- sical might of the nation, but only the vin- dication of right, of human right, of which we are only a single champion. When I addressed the Congress on the twenty-sixth of February last 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 imprac- ticable. Because submarines are in effect outlaws when used as the German subma- rines have been used against merchant ship- ping, it is impossible to defend ships against their attacks as the law of nations has as- sumed that merchantmen would defend themselves against privateers or cruisers, visible craft giving chase upon the open sea. It is common prudence in such circum- stances, grim necessity indeed, to endeavour to destroy them before they have shown their own intention. They must be dealt with upon sight, if dealt with at all. The German Government denies the right of neutrals to use arms at all within the areas — 5 — of the sea which it has proscribed, even in the defense of rights which no modern pub- licist has ever before questioned their right to defend. The intimation is conveyed that the armed guards which we have placed on our merchant ships will be treated as be- yond the pale of law and subject to be dealt with as pirates would be. Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough at best; in such cir- cumstances and in the face of such preten- sions it is worse than ineffecual: it is likely only to produce what it was meant to pre- vent; it is practically certain to draw us into the war without either the rights or the effectiveness of belligerents. There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapa- ble of making: we will not choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or violated. The wrongs against which we now array ourselves are no com- mon wrongs; they cut to the very roots of human life. With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it involves, but in unhesitating obedi- ence to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that the Congress declare the re- cent course of the Imperial German Gov- ernment to be in fact nothing less than war against the government and people of the United States; that it formally accept the status of 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 to exert all its power and employ all its resources to bring the Government of the German Em- pire to terms and end the war. What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost practicable cooperation in counsel and action with the governments now at war with Germany, and, as incident to that, the extension to those governments of the most liberal financial credits, in or- der that our resources may so far as pos- sible be added to theirs. It will involve the organization and mobilization of all the ma- terial resources of the country to supply the — 6 — materials of war and serve the incidental needs of the nation in the most abundant and yet the most economical and efficient way possible. It will involve the immediate full equipment of the navy in all respects but particularly in supplying it with the best means of dealing with the enemy's sub- marines. It will involve the immediate ad- dition to the armed forces of the United States already provided for by law in case of war at least five hundred thousand men, who should, in my opinion, be chosen upon the principle of universal liability to service, and also the authorization of subsequent additional increments of equal force so soon as they may be needed and can be handled in training. It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate credits to the Gov- ernment, sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably be sustained by the present generation, by well conceived taxation. I say sustained so far as may be equitable by taxation because it seems to me that it would be most unwise to base the credits which will now be necessary entirely on money borrowed. It is our duty, I most respectfully urge, to protect our people so far as we may against the very serious hard- ships and evils which would be likely to arise out of the inflation which would be produced by vast loans. In carrying out the measures by which these things are to be accomplished we should keep constantly in mind the wisdom of interfering as little as possible in our own preparation and in the equipment of our own military forces with the duty, — for it will be a very practical duty, — of supplying the nations already at war with Germany with the materials which they can obtain only from us or by our assistance. They are in the field and we should help them in every way to be effective there. I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the several executive departments of the Government, for the consideration of your committees, measures for the accom- plishment of the several objects I have men- tioned. I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with them as having been framed — 7 — after very careful thought by the branch of the Government upon which the responsi- bility of conducting the war and safeguard- ing the nation will most directly fall. While we do these things, these deeply momentous things, let us be very clear, and make very clear to all the world what our motives and our objects are. My own thought has not been driven from its habitual and normal course by the unhappy events of the last two months, and I do not believe that the thought of the nation has been altered or clouded by them. I have exactly the same things in mind now that I had in mind when I addressed the Senate on the twenty-second of January last; the same that I had in mind when I addressed the Congress on the third of February and on the twenty-sixth of February. Our ob- ject now, as then, is to vindicate the prin- ciples of peace and justice in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic pow- er and to set up amongst the really free and self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose and of action as will henceforth ensure the observance of those principles. Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the world is involved and the freedom of its peoples, and the menace to that peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic govern- ments backed by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people. We have seen the last of neutrality in such circumstances. We are at the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted that the same standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrong done shall be observed among nations and their governments that are observed among the individual citizens of civilized states. 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 govern- ment acted in entering this war. It was not with their previous knowledge or ap- proval. It was a war determined upon as wars used to be determined upon in the old, unhappy days when peoples were nowhere consulted by their rulers and wars were pro- voked and waged in the interest of dynasties or of little groups of ambitious men who were accustomed to use their fellow men as pawns and tools. Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbour states with spies or set the course of intrigue to bring about some critical posture of affairs which will give them an opportunity to strike and make conquest. Such designs can be suc- cessfully worked out only under cover and where no one has the right to ask ques- tions. Cunningly contrived plans of decep- tion or aggression, carried, it may be, from generation to generation, can be worked out and kept from the light only within the privacy of courts or behind the carefully guarded confidences of a narrow and privi- leged class. They are happily impossible where public opinion commands and insists upon full information concerning all the nation's affairs. A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic govern- ment could be trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. It must be a league of honour, a partnership of opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals away ; the plot- tings of inner circles who could plan what they would and render account to no one would be a corruption seated at its very heart. Only free peoples can hold their pur- pose and their honour steady to a common end and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow interest of their own. Does not every American feel that assur- ance has been added to our hope for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and heartening things that have been hap- pening within the last few weeks in Rus- sia? Russia was known by those who knew it best to have been always in fact demo- cratic at heart, in all the vital habits of her thought, in all the intimate relationships of her people that spoke their natural instinct, their habitual attitude towards life. The autocracy that crowned the summit of her political structure, long as it had stood and terrible as was the reality of its power, was — 9 — not in fact Russian in origin, character, or purpose; and now it has been shaken oiif and the great, generous Russian people have been added in all their naive majesty and might to the forces that are fighting for freedom in the world, for justice, and for peace. Here is a fit partner for a League of Honour. One of the things that has served to con- vince us that the Prussian autocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from the very outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities and even our offices of government with spies and set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of counsel, our peace within and without, our industries and our commerce. Indeed it is now evi- dent that its spies were here even before the war began ; and it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture but a fact proved in our courts of justice that the intrigues which have more than once come perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating the industries of the country have been carried on at the instigation, with the support, and even under the personal direction of official agents of the Imperial Government accred- ited to the Government of the United States. Even in checking these things and trying to extirpate them we have sought to put the most generous interpretation pos- sible upon them because we knew that their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or pur- pose of the German people towards us (who were, no doubt, as ignorant of them as we ourselves were), but only in the selfish de- signs of a Government that did what it pleased and told its people nothing. But they have played their part in serving to convince us at last that that Government entertains no real friendship for us and means to act against our peace and security at its convenience. That it means to stir up enemies against us at our very doors the intercepted note to the German Minister at Mexico City is eloquent evidence. We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know that in such a government, following such methods, we — 10 — can never have a friend ; and that in the pres- ence of its organized power, always lying in wait to accomplish we know not what pur- pose, there can be no assured security for the democratic governments of the world. We are now about to accept gage of battle with this natural foe to liberty and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that we see the facts with no veil of false pretence about them, to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German peoples included: for the rights of nations great and small and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of obedience. The world must be made safe for democ- racy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no in- demnities for ourselves, no material com- pensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satis- fied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of na- tions can make them. Just because we fight without rancour and without selfish object, seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as bel- ligerents without passion and ourselves ob- serve with proud punctilio the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fight- ing for. I have said nothing of the governments allied with the Imperial Government of Ger- many because they have not made war upon us or challenged us to defend our right and our honour. The Austro-Hungarian Gov- ernment has, indeed, avowed its unqualified endorsement and acceptance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare adopted now without disguise by the Imperial German Government, and it has therefore not been possible for this Government to receive Count Tarnowski, the Ambassador recently — 11 — accredited to this Government by the Im- perial and Royal Government of Austria- Hungary; but that Government has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at least, of post- poning a discussion of our relations with the authorities at Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it be- cause there are no other means of defending our rights. It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, not in enmity towards a people or with the desire to bring any injury or dis- advantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsible government which has thrown aside all considerations of humanity and of right and is running amuck. We are, let me say again, the sin- cere friends of the German people, and shall desire nothing so much as the early re- establishment of intimate relations of mu- tual advantage between us, — however hard it may be for them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our hearts. We have borne with their present govern- ment through all these bitter months be- cause of that friendship, — exercising a patience and forbearance which would other- wise have been impossible. We shall, hap- pily, still have an opportunity to prove that friendship in our daily attitude and actions towards the millions of men and women of German birth and native sympathy who live amongst us and share our life, and we shall be proud to prove it towards all who are in fact loyal to their neighbours and to the Government in the hour of test. They are, most of them, as true and loyal Ameri- cans as if they had never known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be prompt to stand with us in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a different mind and purpose. If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a firm hand of stern repression; but, if it lifts its head at all, it will lift it only here and there and without — 12 — countenance except from a lawless and malignant few. It is a distressing and oppressive duty, Gentlemen of the Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization 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 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 con- cert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free. To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, every- thing that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privi- leged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and hap- piness and the peace which she has treas- ured. God helping her, she can do no other. — 13 — By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation April 6, J9I7 Proclamation of the President Whereas the Congress of the United States in the exercise of the constitutional authority vested in them have resolved, by joint resolution of the Senate and House of Representatives bearing date this day "That the state of war between the United States and the Imperial German Government which has been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared" ; Whereas it is provided by Section four thousand and sixty-seven of the Revised Statutes, as follows : Whenever there is declared a war be- tween the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the ter- ritory of the United States, by any for- eign nation or government, and the President makes public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens, deni- zens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being males of the age of fourteen years and upwards, who shall be within the United States, and not actually naturalized, shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed, as alien enemies. The President is authorized, in any such event, by his proclamation thereof, or other public act, to direct the con- duct to be observed, on the part of the United States, toward the aliens who become so liable; the manner and de- gree of the restraint to which they shall be subject, and in what cases, and upon what security their residence shall be permitted, and to provide for the removal — 17 — of those who, not being permitted to reside within the United States, refuse or neglect to depart therefrom; and to establish any other regulations which are found necessary in the premises and for the public safety; Whereas, by Sections four thousand and sixty-eight, four thousand and sixty-nine, and four thousand and seventy, of the Re- vised Statutes, further provision is made relative to alien enemies; Now, therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim to all whom it may con- cern that a state of war exists between the United States and the Imperial German Government; and I do specially direct all officers, civil or military, of the United States that they exercise vigilance and zeal in the discharge of the duties incident to such a state of war; and I do, moreover, earnesty appeal to all American citizens that they, in loyal devotion to their country, dedicated from its foundation to the prin- ciples of liberty and justice, uphold the laws of the land, and give undivided and willing support to those measures which may be adopted by the constitutional authorities in prosecuting the war to a successful issue and in obtaining a secure and just peace; And, acting under and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution of the United States and the said sections of the Revised Statutes, I do hereby further proclaim and direct that the conduct to be observed on the part of the United States towards all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of Germany, being males of the age of fourteen years and upwards, who shall be within the United States and not actually naturalized, who for the purpose of this proclamation and under such sections of the Revised Statutes are termed alien enemies, shall be as follows : All alien enemies are enjoined to preserve the peace towards the United States and to refrain from crime against the public safety, and from violating the laws of the United States and of the States and Territories thereof, and to refrain from actual hostility — 18 — or giving information, aid or comfort to the enemies of the United States, and to comply strictly with the regulations which are here- by or which may be from time to time promulgated by the President; and so long as they shall conduct themselves in accord- ance with law, they shall be undisturbed in the peaceful pursuit of their lives and occu- pations and be accorded the consideration due to all peaceful and law abiding persons, except so far as restrictions may be neces- sary for their own protection and for the safety of the United States; and towards such alien enemies as conduct themselves in accordance with law, all citizens of the United States are enjoined to preserve the peace and to treat them with all such friend- liness as may be compatible with loyalty and allegiance to the United States. And all alien enemies who fail to conduct themselves as so enjoined, in addition to all other penalties prescribed by law, shall be liable to restraint, or to give security, or to remove and depart from the United States in the manner prescribed by Sections four thousand and sixty-nine and four thousand and seventy of the Revised Statutes, and as prescribed in the regulations duly pro- mulgated by the President; And pursuant to the authority vested in me, I hereby declare and establish the fol- lowing regulations, which I find necessary in the premises and for the public safety : 1 — An alien enemy shall not have in his possession, at any time or place, any firearm, weapon or implement of war, or component part thereof, ammunition, maxim or other silencer, bomb or ex- plosive or material used in the manu- facture of explosives; 2 — An alien enemy shall not have in his possession at any time or place, or use or operate any aircraft or wireless ap- paratus, or any form of signalling de- vice, or any form of cipher code, or any paper, document or book written or printed in cipher or in which there may be invisible writing. 3 — All property found in the possession of an alien enemy in violation of the — 19 — foregoing regulations shall be subject to seizure by the United States ; 4 — An alien enemy shall not approach or be found within one-half of a mile of any Federal or State fort, camp, arsenal, aircraft station. Government or naval vessel, navy yard, factory, or workshop for the manufacture of munitions of war or of any products for the use of the army or navy : 5 — An alien enemy shall not write, print, or publish any attack or threats against the Government or Congress of the United States, or either branch thereof, or against the measures or policy of the United States, or against the person or property of any person in the military, naval, or civil service of the United States, or of the States or Territories, or of the District of Columbia, or of the municipal governments therein; 6 — An alien enemy shall not commit or abet any hostile act against the United States, or give information, aid, or com- fort to its enemies ; 7 — An alien enemy shall not reside in or continue to reside in, to remain in, or enter any locality which the President may from time to time designate by Executive Order as a prohibited area in which residence by an alien enemy shall be found by him to constitute a danger to the public peace and safety of the United States, except by permit from the President and except under such limitations or restrictions as the Presi- dent may prescribe ; 8 — An alien enemy whom the President shall have reasonable cause to believe to be aiding or about to aid the enemy, or to be at large to the danger of the public peace or safety of the United States, or to have violated or to be about to violate any of these regulations, shall remove to any location designated by the President by Executive Order, and shall not remove therefrom without a permit, or shall depart from the United States if so required by the President; — 20 — 9 — No alien enemy shall depart from the United States until he shall have re- ceived such permit as the President shall prescribe, or except under order of a court, judge, or justice, under Sec- tions 4069 and 4070 of the Revised Statutes; 10 — No alien enemy shall land in or enter the United States, except under such restrictions and at such places as the President may prescribe ; 11 — If necessary to prevent violations of these regulations, all alien enemies will be obliged to register; 12 — An alien enemy whom there may be reasonable cause to believe to be aiding or about to aid the enemy, or who may be at large to the danger of the public peace or safety, or who violates or attempts to violate, or of whom there is reasonable ground to believe that he is about to violate, any regulation duly promulgated by the President, or any criminal law of the United States, or of the States or Territories thereof, will be subject to summary arrest by the United States Marshal, or his deputy, or such other officer as the President shall designate, and to confinement in such penitentiary, prison, jail, military camp, or other place of detention as may be directed by the President. This proclamation and the regulations herein contained shall extend and apply to all land and water, continental or insular, in any way within the jurisdiction of the United States. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. (Seal) Done at the City of Washington, this sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seventeen, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and forty- first. WOODROW WILSON By the President: ROBERT LANSING, Secretary of State. — 21 — Proclamation of the Mayor of the City of New York, April 6, J9I7 To the Citizens of New York: Upon just grounds and after long and patient forbearance, the President and the Congress of the United States have declared that by the act of the autocratic government which rules in the Empire of Germany war exists between the two countries, and the free people of America are about entering into the great World Conflict. Millions of the people of this city were born in the countries engaged in this great war. No part of the earth is without its representa- tives here. I enjoin upon you all that you honor the Liberty which so many of you have sought in this land, and the free self-government of the American Democracy in which we all find our opportunity and individual freedom, by exercising kindly consideration, self-con- trol, and respect to each other and to all others who dwell within our limits, that you one and all aid in the preservation of order and in the exercise of calm and de- liberate judgment in this time of stress and tension. There will be some exceptional cases of malign influence and malicious purpose among you, and, as to them, I advise you all that full and timely preparation has been made adequate to the exigency which exists for the maintenance of order throughout the City of New York; and, for the warning of the ill-disposed, I quote the Statute of the United States which is applicable to all resi- dents enjoying the protection of our laws whether they be citizens or not: "Whoever — 22 — owing allegiance to the United States levies war against them or adheres to their ene- mies giving them aid or comfort within the United States or elsewhere is guilty of trea- son." The punishment prescribed by law for the crime of treason is death or at the discretion of the court imprisonment for not less than five years and a fine of not less than $10,000. All officers of the police have been especially instructed to give their prompt and efficacious attention to the en- forcement of this law. JOHN PURROY MITCHEL, Mayor. — 23 — Address of the President to his Fellow Countrymen April J6, 1917 My Fellow-Countrymen : The entrance of our own beloved country into the grim and terrible war for democracy and human rights which has shaken the world creates so many problems of national life and action which call for immediate con- sideration and settlement that I hope you will permit me to address to you a few words of earnest counsel and appeal with regard to them. We are rapidly putting our navy upon an effective war footing and are about to create and equip a great army, but these are the simplest parts of the great task to which we have addressed ourselves. There is not a single selfish element, so far as I can see, in the cause we are fighting for. We are fighting for what we believe and wish to be the rights of mankind and for the future peace and security of the world. To do this great thing worthily and successfully we must devote ourselves to the service with- out regard to profit or material advantage and writh an energy and intelligence that will rise to the level of the enterprise itself. We must realize to the full how great the task is and how many things, how many kinds and elements of capacity and service and self-sacrifice, it involves. These, then, are the things we must do, and do well, besides fighting, — the things without which mere fighting would be fruit- less: We must supply abundant food for our- selves and for our armies and our seamen — 25 — not only, but also for a large part of the nations with whom we have now made com- mon cause, in whose support and by whose sides we shall be fighting; We must supply ships by the hundreds out of our shipyards to carry to the other side of the sea, submarines or no submarines, what will every day be needed there, and abundant materials out of our fields and our mines and our factories with which not only to clothe and equip our own forces on land and sea but also to clothe and support our people for whom the gallant fellows under arms can no longer work, to help clothe and equip the armies with which we are cooperating in Europe, and to keep the looms and manufactories there in raw ma- terial ; coal to keep the fires going in ships at sea and in the furnaces of hundreds of factories across the sea; steel out of which to make arms and ammunition both here and there; rails for worn-out railways back of the fighting fronts; locomotives and roll- ing stock to take the place of those every day going to pieces; mules, horses, cattle for labor and for military service; every- thing with which the people of England and France and Italy and Russia have usually supplied themselves but cannot now afford the men, the materials, or the machin- ery to make. It is evident to every thinking man that our industries, on the farms, in the ship- yards, in the mines, in the factories, must be made more prolific and more efficient than ever and that they must be more econom- ically managed and better adapted to the particular requirements of our task than they have been; and what I want to say is that the men and the women who devote their thought and their energy to these things will be serving the country and con- ducting the fight for peace and freedom just as truly and just as effectively as the men on the battlefield or in the trenches. The industrial forces of the country, men and women alike, will be a great national, a great international, Service Army, — a notable and honored host engaged in the service of the — 26 — nation and the world, the efficient friends and saviors of free men everywhere. Thous- ands, nay, hundreds of thousands, of men otherwise liable to military service will of right and of necessity be excused from that service and assigned to the fundamental, sustaining work of the fields and factories and mines, and they will be as much part of the great patriotic forces of the nation as the men under fire. I take the liberty, therefore, of address- ing this word to the farmers of the country and to all who work on the farms: The supreme need of our own nation and of the nations with which we are cooperating is an abundance of supplies, and especially of food stuffs. The importance of an adequate food supply, especially for the present year, is superlative. Without abundant food, alike for the armies and the peoples now at war, the whole great enterprise upon which we have embarked will break down and fail. The world's food reserves are low. Not only during the present emergency but for some time after peace shall have come both our own people and a large proportion of the people of Europe must rely upon the harvests in America. Upon the farmers of this country, therefore, in large measure, rests the fate of the war and the fate of the nations. May the nation not count upon them to omit no step that will increase the production of their land or that will bring about the most effectual cooperation in the sale and distribution of their products? The time is short. It is of the most imperative importance that everything possible be done and done immediately to make sure of large harvests. I call upon young men and old alike and upon the able-bodied boys of the land to accept and act upon this duty — to turn in hosts to the farms and make certain that no pains and no labor is lacking in this great matter. I particularly appeal to the farmers of the South to plant abundant food stuffs as well as cotton. They can show their — 27 — patriotism in no better or more convincing way than by resisting the great temptation of the present price of cotton and helping, helping upon a great scale, to feed the nation and the peoples everywhere who are fight- ing for their liberties and for our own. The variety of their crops will be the visible measure of their comprehension of their national duty. The Government of the United States and the governments of the several States stand ready to cooperate. They will do every- thing possible to assist farmers in securing an adequate supply of seed, an adequate force of laborers when they are most needed, at harvest time, and the means of expediting shipments of fertilizers and farm machinery, as well as of the crops themselves when harvested. The course of trade shall be as unhampered as it is possible to make it and there shall be no unwarranted manipulation of the nation's food supply by those who handle it on its way to the consumer. This is our opportunity to demonstrate the effi- ciency of a great Democracy and we shall not fall short of it! This let me say to the middlemen of every sort, whether they are handling our food stuffs or our raw materials of manufacture or the products of our mills and factories: The eyes of the country will be especially upon you. This is your opportunity for signal service, efficient and disinterested. The country expects you, as it expects all others, to forego unusual profits, to organize and expedite shipments of supplies of every kind, but especially of food, with an eye to the service you are rendering and in the spirit of those who enlist in the ranks, for their people, not for themselves. I shall confidently expect you to deserve and win the confidence of people of every sort and station. To the men who run the railways of the country, whether they be managers or oper- ative employes, let me say that the railways are the arteries of the nation's life and that upon them rests the immense responsibility of seeing to it that those arteries suffer no — 2&- obstruction of any kind, no inefficiency or blackened power. To the mercliant let mc suggest the motto, "Small profits and quick service;" and to the shipbuilder the thought that the life of the war depends upon him. The food and the war supplies must be car- ried across the seas no matter how many ships are sent to the bottom. The places of those that go down must be supplied and supplied at once. To the miner let me say that he stands where the farmer does : the work of the world waits on him. If he slackens or fails, armies and statesmen are helpless. He also is enlisted in the great Service Army. The manufacturer does not need to be told, I hope, that the nation looks to him to speed and perfect every process ; and I want only to remind his employes that their service is absolutely indispensable and is counted on by every man who loves the country and its liberties. Let me suggest, also, that every one who creates or cultivates a garden helps, and helps greatly, to solve the problem of the feeding of the nations ; and that every house- wife who practices strict economy puts her- self in the ranks of those who serve the nation. This is the time for America to correct her unpardonable fault of wasteful- ness and extravagance. Let every man and every woman assume the duty of careful, provident use and expenditure as a public duty, as a dictate of patriotism which no one can now expect ever to be excused or forgiven for ignoring. In the hope that this statement of the needs of the nation and of the world in this hour of supreme crisis may stimulate those to whom it comes and remind all who need reminder of the solemn duties of a time such as the world has never seen before, I beg that all editors and publishers every- where will give as prominent publication and as wide circulation as possible to this appeal. I venture to suggest, also, to all advertising agencies that they would per- haps render a very substantial and timely service to the country if they would give it widespread repetition. And I hope that — 29 — clergymen will not think the theme of it an unworthy or inappropriate subject of com- ment and homily from their pulpits. The supreme test of the nation has come. We must all speak, act, and serve together!: WOODROW WILSON — 30- United States Government WAR LOAN We will in due course have the details of the loan which the Gov- ernment of the United States will in the near future ofifer for popular subscription to provide funds for the Army and Navy. All patriotic citizens will consider it a privilege to help make such a loan a huge success. They will at the same time obtain a security of the highest grade and free from all tax. We will place the facilities of this bank at the disposal of the Govern- ment, and to that end will be pleased to assist our clients or their friends by handling their subscrip- tions to such a loan, when issued, v/ithout charge to them. The American Exchange National Bank New York City LEWIS L. CLARKE President WALTER H. BENNETT THEODORE H. BANKS Vice-PreeidcDt Vice-President GEORGE C. HAIGH Vice-Preeident ARTHUR P. LEE Cashier A. K. de GUISCARD ELBERT A. BENNETT AbsI. Cashier Asst. Caehier HUGH S. McCLURE WALTER B. TALLMAN Aeet. Cashier Asst. Cashier ALEXANDER G. ARMSTRONG Aeet. Casbier ROY MURCHIE LOUIS S. TIEMANN Aeet. Caehier Aeet. Cneliier DIRECTORS WILLIAM M. BARRETT, GEORGE LEGG, Pres. Adams Express Co. New York. WALTER H. BENNETT. EDGAR J. NATHAN, Vice-President. Cardozo & Nathan. JOHN S. BROWNING. EDWARD C. PLATT. Browning. King & Co. Vice-President Mackay Cu.'e LEWIS L. CLARKE. JOSEPH A. SKINNER. President . Wm. Skinner & Sons. R. FULTON CUTTING, JAMES A. SMITH. New York. Galboun. Robbins & Co. WILLIAM P. DIXON. ELBRIDGE GERRY SNOW, Dixon & Holmes. Prea. Home Insurance Co. STEPHEN B. FLEMING. GLAUS A. SPRECKELS. Free. Internat'l Agri. Corp. Free. Federal Sugar Ref. Co. JOHN T. TERRY. New York. LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 020 915 818 8 < tswsw***