That national armaments should be limited to the necessities of national order and domestic safety.

That the community of interest and power upon which peace must henceforth depend imposes upon each nation the duty of seeing to it that all influences proceeding from its own citizens, meant to encourage or assist revolution in other States, should be sternly and effectually suppressed and prevented.

After this war approached quickly. The United States ships Algonquin (Mar. 2), City of Memphis, Illinois, and Vigilancia (Mar. 19), and the Healdton (Mar. 22) were torpedoed without warning while flying the American flag; the Senate adopted a closure rule which would prevent future action of the La Follette character, with only three votes against it; a special Session of Congress was called for Apr. 16 to deal with the situation and meantime the arming of the merchant marine was ordered on Mar. 9 and proceeded steadily with contracts also let for $136,000,000 worth of cruisers and battleships; New York held a War Sunday on Mar. 11 and pledges of support poured in upon the Administration while organized preparations began on Mar. 25 to place the nation upon a war footing; on Apr. 2 the torpedoing of the Aztec was announced and at the same time the President met Congress in joint Session and called upon the nation to enter the War in order to make the world safe for democracy.

In his two hours' speech he first reviewed the Submarine action of Germany and the pledges made and broken: "The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every kind, whatever 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 neutrals along with belligerents." International law and humanity had been disregarded and mankind challenged by "wholesale destruction 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 innocent and legitimate." Submarines, as used by Germany, were described as "outlaws"; the armed neutrality he hoped to observe, like that of peace, had become ineffectual in face of "a War against all Nations."

With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the step I am taking I advise that Congress declares 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 accepts the status of a 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 defence, but also to exert all its power and employ all its resources to bring the Government of the German Empire to terms and end the War. What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost practicable co-operation 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 order that our resources may so far as possible be added to theirs. It will involve the organization and mobilization of all the material resources of the country to supply the 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 addition to the armed forces of the United States, already provided for by law in case of war, of at least 500,000 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 as soon as they may be needed and can be handled in training.

As to Peace and its principles the President stood upon the ground set by his speeches of Jan. 23, Feb. 3 and Feb. 26; as to Germany he differentiated once more between the Government and the people "it was not upon their impulse that their Government acted in entering this war; it was not with their previous knowledge or approval.' As to principles and conditions: "A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a partnership of democratic nations" which should be a league of honour, a partnership of opinion; the Russian revolution was described as "a wonderful and heartening thing"; Prussia was stated to have "from the very outset of the present war filled our unsuspecting communities and even our offices of Government with spies and set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of council, our peace within and without, our industries and our commerce.' The gauge of war was accepted with the "natural foe of liberty"; the United States had no selfish ends to serve, they desired no conquest or domain, sought for themselves no indemnity or compensation. As to German-Americans he believed the most of them to be loyal and true to the United States: "If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a firm hand of stern repression." On Apr. 6 the President issued a Proclamation as to the existence of a state of war, enjoined alien enemies to preserve the peace and refrain from violation of the laws or any expressed hostility to the United States, or the giving of comfort, aid or information to the enemy, and defined a series of rules and conditions as to such alien enemies. At the same time 66 interned German vessels in American ports were taken over and the crews sent to Ellis Island, while the Allied patrols on North American coasts were replaced by United States war vessels. Meanwhile, a Resolution had been submitted to the Senate and Representatives, in identic terms, approving the President's war action. It was passed in the Senate by 82 to 6the latter being part of the President's 12 "wilful men" and made up of Senators Stone, Lane and Vardaman, La Follette, Gronna and Norris.

In the Lower House the Resolution passed by 373 to 50 votes after about 50 speeches had been made. Claude Kitchin of North Carolina, Democratic leader, led the opposition and was supported by Miss Rankin, the new woman member, and by others of significant name-Decker, Dill, Esch, Frear, Haugen, Igoe, Knutson, Lundsen, Rodenburg, Voigt. The main argument used, as in the Senate, was a play upon old-time hostility to Great Britain-the declaration by Mr. Kitchin, for instance, that "Great Britain, every day, every hour, for two years, has violated American rights on the seas"; that Germany in her death-struggle was defending herself and not aiming directly against the United States. The full flower of Pacificism was developed as follows: "Why can we not, why should we not, forego the violation of our rights by Germany, and do as we did with Great Britain, do as we did with Mexico, and thus save the universe from being wrapped in the flames of war?"

The Committee on Foreign Affairs then submitted an exhaustive Report which recited Germany's hostile actions towards the United

States and reviewed its misdeeds generally-submarines, plots, intrigues, indignities, unfriendly acts. Telegrams of felicitation followed these events from the heads of all the Allied nations to President Wilson and from many organizations and institutions and leaders abroad; the British Parliament passed in both Houses, with one dissentient in the Commons, a Resolution expressing to the United States "profound appreciation of the action of their Government in joining the Allied Powers and thus defending the high cause of freedom and rights of humanity against the gravest menace by which they have ever been faced"; the Neutral Governments of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Panama and Cuba approved the policy of the United States and some of them, later on, joined it in declaring war; at home the mass-meetings, which for a month past had been of a protesting, critical, urgent character, turned into gatherings of congratulation and loyal support; the Pacifists and pro-Germans who had been flooding Washington with delegations, and the mails with peace propaganda, returned home and went to work in more devious ways.

On Apr. 15 the President issued a personal appeal to his "Fellow countrymen," urging appreciation of the greatness of the task before them and explaining some of its details in clear terms-the raising and equipment of great Armies, the placing of the Navy on a warfooting, production and supply of food and ships and coal and munitions and war-material for the nation and for its Allies. He appealed to the great industries and other artisans for patriotic service; urged the farmers, and especially those of the South, to produce increased food-stuffs; asked middlemen of all kinds to forego unusual profits and to organize and expedite, in particular, the shipment of supplies; told the Railway operators and employees that upon them rested immense responsibility in allowing no obstruction, inefficiency or slackened power in transport: "The supreme test of the nation has come and we must all speak, act and serve together." As to Austria relations were peculiar and the President did his best to keep away from war controversy or action in that connection. On Feb. 18 the United States Government had reminded the Imperial Government of its Submarine policy, or promises of restricted warfare, as being similar to those of Germany, and inquired whether the new German action would cause a change in the Austrian attitude. The reply was handed to F. C. Penfield, Ambassador at Vienna, on Mar. 6 and took the same ground as did Germany in argument, in denunciation of Britain, in throwing the blame upon others, in urging its work for "freedom of the seas," in appeal for the gentle Submarine facing a possibly-armed neutral ship, and not being allowed to work its will! After reference to the Blockade came this interesting statement:

For more than two years the Central Powers hesitated. As the only ones of the Belligerents who had done everything to secure existing Treaties which were to guarantee to neutrals the freedom of the seas, they felt with pained hearts the law of the hour which commanded them to violate this freedom. The proclamations which they issued last January are apparently directed only against the rights of neutrals. In reality they serve towards the restoration of these rights; the Submarines which are cruising around the English coast announce to peoples who need

the sea that the day is not far off when the flags of all states, in the glory of their newly-won freedom, can freely fly over the seas.

In his War speech of Apr. 2 the President referred to this subject as follows: "The Austro-Hungarian Government has 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 accredited, but that Government has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United States on the seas." Therefore, he preferred to exclude the Dual Monarchy, Bulgaria and Turkey, from present discussion. On Apr. 9, however, the AustroHungarian Government withdrew its representatives, Consuls, etc., from the United States and at the same time Austrian interned ships were seized by the American Government. On Dec. 4, following, the President addressed Congress again upon the general war situation and dealt with the intolerable menaces of intrigue and force being used by Germany against the United States. The following emphatic statement was made:

Let there be no misunderstanding. Our present and immediate task is to win the War, and nothing shall turn us aside from it until it is accomplished. Every power and resource we possess, whether of men, of money, or materials, is being devoted and will continue to be devoted to that purpose until it is achieved. Those who desire to bring peace about before that purpose is achieved I counsel to carry their advice elsewhere. We will not entertain it. We shall regard the War as won only when the German people say to us, through properly accredited representatives, that they are ready to agree to a settlement based upon justice and the reparation of the wrongs their rulers have done. They have done a wrong to Belgium which must be repaired. They have established a power over other lands and peoples than their own over the great Empire of Austria-Hungary, over hitherto free Balkan states, over Turkey, and within Asia-which must be relinquished.

An important statement as to the future was made in referring to the fact that Germany, after the War, might still remain in the hands of "ambitious and intriguing masters" who could not be trusted: "It might be impossible, also, in such untoward circumstances, to admit Germany to the free economic intercourse which must inevitably spring out of the other partnerships of a real peace. But there would be no aggression in that." As to Austria-Hungary he declared that their affairs must be left in their own hands-not in those of Germany-and that, meantime, the impediments to American War success, presented by that Empire as a vassal of Germany, made a declaration of war necessary: "We must meet its force with our own and regard the Central Powers as but one." Turkey and Bulgaria, also, were tools of Germany but no practical purpose would be served by a war declaration at present. On Dec. 7 both Houses passed a Resolution declaring that in view of "repeated acts of war" against the United States a state of war now existed between the Republic and the Austro-Hungarian Government. The Senate was unanimous-La Follette not voting; the Lower House was 363 for and Meyer Loudon, the New York Socialist, against. In accordance with the President's view, though against the convictions of many, no reference was made to the other

two Enemy Allies. On the 12th a Proclamation of war was issued by the President.

American

Leaders

Wilson, Roosevelt and Others.

The processes of Mr. Wilson's mind in passing from pacific tolerance in thought and policy to a posiand the War: tion of Minerva-like war-equipment were clearly indicated in his official and diplomatic statements.* Intellectually, Woodrow Wilson appears to have been peculiarly fitted to guide the destinies of a great and complex community through the mazes of a world-war. Cautious. in word and action, clever and effective in expression and exposition, keen and shrewd in his knowledge of public opinion, strong in final determination and action, he had gone through nearly three years of external war and internal controversy without losing his hold upon public confidence and respect. If it had been possible to keep the United States out of the War he would have done so; as it was he held the scales level until a Presidential election had given him four more years of power and an opportunity to adequately meet any issue which might be forced upon the Nation.† The probabilities are that an earlier declaration of hostilities would have produced a dis-united people; an opposing possibility which can never be verified is that a Roosevelt or similar leadership in the White House might have swept the people off their feet and facilitated preparations which would have greatly shortened the world-war. In practice the President had risen to all the demands of Peace and a patriotism founded upon its principles; during the 1917 stages of war-preparation he rose to the demands of a militant and more essential patriotism, despite the fact that neither people nor nation were prepared for war. Mr. Wilson had carried the country with him and by the close of 1917 he was practically a national Dictator and his private views, as well as public policy, were things of world import.

Only slight reference can be made here to the President's general attitude as distinct from his diplomatic and War-policy speeches. On June 14, at Washington, he reiterated his belief-shared in, at one time, by many British leaders-that "the German people did not originate or desire this hideous war or wish that we should be drawn into it," and the obvious but hampering conclusion in wartime that "we are not the enemies of the German people and they are not our enemies." Of course, he had to deal at home with a large population of Germans or German descendants and no doubt this was good political policy. To a Red Cross meeting on May 12 he declared (1) that this was no war for amateurs or mere spontaneous impulses but one of business and organization, and (2) that it was already uniting the American people north and south and east and west. In his Proclamation as to Army Registration (May 19) he made the strong statement that: "It is not an army that we must shape and train for war-it is a nation. To this end our

See also volumes of The Canadian Annual Review for 1915 and 1916.

-The actual popular vote in 1916 was as follows: Wilson, 9,116,296; Hughes, 547,474.