authorities which had the right to decide, the lawful authorities upon whom rested the duty to decide. The question no longer remains open. It has been determined and the United States is at war with Germany.

The power to make such a decision is the most essential, vital, and momentous of all the powers of government. No nation can maintain its independ ence or protect its citizens against oppression or continue to be free which does not vest the power to make that decision in some designated authority, or which does not recognize the special and imperative duties of citizenship in time of war following upon such a decision lawfully made.

One of the cardinal objects of the Union which formed this nation was to create a lawful authority whose decision and action upon this momentous question should bind all the states and all the people of every state.

The constitution under which we have lived for one hundred and thirty years declares: "We, the people of the United States, in order to . . . provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution.""

The constitution so ordained vests in Congress the power to declare war, to raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a navy,2 and it vests in the President the power to command the army and navy.3

The power in this instance was exercised not suddenly or rashly, but advisedly, after a long delay and discussion and patience under provocation. after

repeated diplomatic warnings to Germany known to the whole country, after clear notice by breach of diplomatic relations with Germany that the question was imminent, after long opportunity for reflection and discussion following that notice, and after a formal and deliberate presentation by the President to Congress of the reasons for action in an address which compelled the attention not of Congress alone but of all Americans and of all the world and which must forever stand as one of the great state papers of modern times.

The decision was made by overwhelming majorities of both houses of Congress. When such a decision has been made the duties and therefore the rightsof all the people of the country immediately change.

It becomes their duty to stop discussion upon the question decided, and to act, to proceed immediately to do everything in their power to enable the government of their country to succeed in the war upon which the country has entered. It is a fundamental necessity of government that it shall have the power to decide great questions of policy and to act upon its decision.

In order that there shall be action following a decision once made, the decision must be accepted. Discussion upon the question must be deemed closed.

A nation which declares war and goes on discussing whether it ought to have declared war or not is impotent, paralyzed, imbecile, and earns the contempt of mankind and the certainty of humiliating defeat and subjection to foreign control.

A democracy which cannot accept its own decisions, made in accordance with its own laws, but must keep on endlessly discussing the questions already decided, has failed in the fundamental requirements of selfgovernment; and, if the decision is to make war, the failure to exhibit capacity for self-government by action will inevitably result in the loss of the right of self-government.

Before the decision of a proposal to make war, men may range themselves upon one side or the other of the question; but after the decision in favor of war, the country has ranged itself, and the only issue left for the individual citizen is whether he is for or against his country. From that time on arguments against the war in which the country is engaged are enemy arguments.

Their spirit is the spirit of rebellion against the government and laws of the United States. Their effect is to hinder and lessen that popular support of the government in carrying on the war which is necessary to success. Their manifest purpose is to prevent action by continuing discussion.

They encourage the enemy. They tend to introduce delay and irresolution into our own councils. The men who are speaking and writing and printing arguments against the war now, and against everything which is being done to carry on the war, are rendering more effective service to Germany than they ever could render in the field with arms in their hands.

The purpose and effect of what they are doing is so plain that it is impossible to resist the conclusion that

the greater part of them are at heart traitors to the United States and wilfully seeking to bring about the triumph of Germany and the humiliation and defeat of their own country.

Somebody has to decide where armies are to fight, whether our territory is to be defended by waiting here until we are attacked or by going out and attacking the enemy before they get here. The power to make that decision and the duty to make it rest under the constitution of this country with the President as commander-in-chief.

When the President has decided that the best way to beat Germany is to send our troops to France and Belgium, that is the way the war must be carried on, if at all.

I think the decision was wise. Others may think it unwise. But, when the decision has been made, what we think is immaterial. The commander-in-chief, with all the advice and all the wisdom he can command, has decided when and where the American army is to move. The army must obey, and all loyal citizens of the country will do their utmost to make that movement a success.

Anybody who seeks by argument or otherwise to stop the execution of the order sending troops to France and Belgium is simply trying to prevent the American government from carrying on the war successfully. He is aiding the enemies of his country, and if he understands what he is really doing, he is a traitor at heart.

It is beyond doubt that many of the professed pacifists, the opponents of the war after the war has been entered upon, the men who are trying to stir up resistance to the draft, the men who are inciting strikes in the particular branches of production which are necessary for the supply of arms and munitions of war, are intentionally seeking to aid Germany and defeat. the United States.

As time goes on and the character of these acts becomes more and more clearly manifest, all who continue to associate with them must come under the same condemnation as traitors to their country.

There are doubtless some who do not understand what this struggle really is. Some who were born here resent interference with their comfort and prosperity, and the demands for sacrifice which seem to them unnecessary, and they fail to see that the time has come when, if Americans are to keep the independence and liberty which their fathers won by suffering and sacrifice, they in their turn must fight again for the preservation of that independence and liberty.

There are some born abroad who have come to this land for a greater freedom and broader opportunities, and have sought and received the privileges of American citizenship, who are swayed by dislike for some ally or by the sympathies of German kinship, and fail to see that the time has come for them to make good the obligations of their sworn oaths of naturalization. This is the oath that the applicant for citizenship

makes: