Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1918 — SACRIFICES OF U.S. DEMAND TRIP ABROAD [ARTICLE]

SACRIFICES OF U.S. DEMAND TRIP ABROAD

Wilson Says it Is His Duty to the Army to Attend the Peace Meet.

IS FOR JUSTICE FOR ALL Executive Tells Congress the Co«nL try Will Be Kept <>* All Development* •* —-Railroad situation Baffling.

Washington. Dec. son in an address ered to congress sons for his trip dellvdeclared It to h * Ms rmduty to go v burope. He n the IA -‘t*** his paramount 10 ; peace**his personal service I. VeUiv of hls base * i rttate wh ’ b " ud been acee Pted by l n . A t jereio . n,l,ed wlth tbe Unlted EK; in order that the kind of a ice for which the United States had

’fought might not be spoiled by a misinterpretation of his ideals. He said he hoped to see a formal declaration of peace by treaty “by the time spring has come.”The president's address In part: Gentlemen of the congress: The year that has elapsed since I last stood before you to fulfill my constitutional duty to give to the congress from time to time information on the state of the Union has been so crowded with great events, great processes and great results that I cannot hope to give you an adequate picture of Its transactions or of the far-reaching changes which have been wrought In the life of our nation and the world. You have yourselves witnessed these things, as I have. It is too soon to assess them; and we who stand In the midst of them and are part of them are less qualified than men of another generation will be to_ say what they mean or even what they have been. But some great outstanding facts are unmistakable and constitute In a sense part of the public business with which - it Is our duty to deal.

To state them is to set the stage for the legislative and executive action which must grow out of them and which we have yet to shape and determine. Tells of Troop Shipments. A year ago we had sent 145,918 men overseas. Since then we have sent 1,950,518, an average of 162,542 each month, the number In fact rising in May last to 245,951, In June to 278,700, In July to 307,182, and continuing to reach similar figures in August and, September-—in August 289,57(7 and in September 257,438. No such movement of troops ever took place before, across 3,(XX) miles of sea, followed by adequate equipment and supplies, and carried safely through extraordinary dangers of attack —dangers which were alike strange and infinitely more difficult to guard against. In all this movement only 738 men were lost by enemy attacks —630 of .whom were upon a single English transport which was sunk near the Orkney islands. I need not tell you what lay back of this great movement of men and material. It is not invidious to say that back of it lay a supporting organization bf the Industries of the country and all its productive activities more complete, more thorough in method and effective in results, more spirited and unanimous In purpose and effort than any other great belligerent had ever been able to effect. We profited greatly by the experience of the nations which had already been: engaged for nearly three years in the' exigent and exacting business, their; proficiency tftxed to the utmost. We were the pupils. No soldiers or sailors ever proved themselves more quickly ready for the test Of battle or acquitted themselves with more splendid oourage and achievement when put to the test. Those of us who played some part in directing the great processes by which the war was pushed Irresistibly forward to the final triumph may now forget all that and delight our thoughts with the story of what our .nen did. Why to Be Thankful. What we all thank God for with deepest gratitude is that our men "went in force into the line of battle Just at the critical moment when the whole fate of the world seemeti to hang in the balance and threw their fresh strength into -the ranks of freedom in time to turn the whole tide and sweep ’of. the fateful struggle—turn it once for all, so back, back for their enemies, always back, never again forward I After that it was only a scant four months before the commanders of the central empires

knew themselves beaten; ana now their very empires are In liquidation I And throughout it all how fine the spirit of the nation was. What unity of purpose, what untiring zeal I What elevation of purpose ran through all its splendid display of strength, its untiring accomplishment For the steadying and facilitation of our own domestic business readjustments nothing is more important than the immediate determination of the taxes that are to be levied for 1918, 1919 and 1920. As much as the burden of taxation must be lifted from business as sound methods of financing the government will permit, and those who *—

conduct the great essefUlal indust is of the country must be told as exa ty as possible what obligations to the <yernment they will be expected to rtet m the years immediately ahead .f tnem. It Will be of serious consequence o the country to delay removing all inton£ n l eS ln thiS matter a sln » !e diy i° ts « th « n the r ’ ght P rocess es of rebate justfy. it is to te|k nf OTC . Bt™ctlon D SLf onfldent buß, Aess reconare resolved" 6 th ° Se 6ncerta,nt,es If M K U<rt t ßtax <n Eur °Pe - have bee nnecessary°/* lnUe ' l “ T”? 58,000,000,000 by ralSe X the year 1919, but and I agree with rf the war has ended tresasury that it „ secreta J y of the the amount to mediate rapid An imof the gover../decline in the expenses for Contx -‘ nment ,s not to be looked will inZ v racts made for war supplies Uqupi, ,deed, be rapidly canceled and TTiated, but their immediate llqulilon will make heavy drains on the treasury so rthe months Just ahead of us.

The maintenance of our forces on the other side of the sea is still necessary. A considerable proportion of these forces must remain in Europe during the period of occupation, and those which are brought home will be transported and demobilized at heavy expense for months to come. - Asks Aid for Belgium. May I not say a special word about the needs of Belgium and northern France? No sums of money paid by the way of Indemnity will serve of themselves to save them from hopeless disadvantage for years to come. Something more must be done than merely find the money. If they had money and raw materials in abundance tomorrow they could not resume their place in the industry of world tomorrow—the very important place they held before the flame of war swept across them. Many of their factories are razed to the ground.

Worried About Railroads. Tl» question which causes me the greatest concern is the question of Die policy to be adopted toward the railroads. I frankly turn to you for counsel upon it. I have no confident judgment of my own. Ido not see how any thoughtful man can have who knows anything of the complexity of the problem. It Is a problem which must be studied, studied immediately and studied without bias or prejudice. It was necessary that the administration of the railways should be taken over by the government so long as the war lasted. It would have been impossible otherwise to establish and carry through under a single direction the necessary priorities of shipments. Exceptional circumstances and.-ex-ceptlonal methods of administration were not needed to convince us that the railroads were not equal to the Immense tasks of transportation imposed upon them by the rapid and continuous development of the industries of the country. We knew that already, and we knew that they were unequal to It partly because their full co-operation was rendered Impossible by law and Mielr competition made obligatory. so that it has been Impossible to assign to them severally the traffic which could best be carried by their respective lings In the interest of expedition and national economy. The full equipment of the railways which the federal administration had planned could not be completed within any such period. The present law does not permit the use of the revenues of the several roads for the execution of such plans except by formal contract with their directors, some of whom will consent, while some will not, and therefore does not afford sufficient authority to undertake improvements upon the scale upon which it would be necessary to undertake them. Several Plans Possible.

I believe that it will be serviceable for me to set forth as expliclty as possible the alternative courses that lie open to our choice. We can simply release the roads and go back to the old conditions of private management, unrestricted competition and multiform regulation by both state and federal authorities; or we can go to the opposite extreme and establish complete government control, accompanied, If necessary, by actual government ownership ; or we can adopt an intermediate course of modified private control, under a more unified and affirmative public regulation and under such alterations of the law as will permit wasteful competition to be avoided and a considerable degree of unification of administration to be effected, as, for example, by regional corporations under which the railways of definable area would be In effect combined In single systems. The one conclusion that I am ready to state with confidence Is that it would be a disservice alike to the country and to the owners of the railroads to return to the old conditions unmodified.

Some new element of policy, therefore, Is absolutely necessary—necessary for the service of the public, necessary for the release of credit to those who are administering the railways, necessary for the protection of their security holders. I welcome this occasion to announce to the congress my purpose to join In Paris the representatives of the governments with which we have been associated In the war against the central empires for the purpose of discussing with them the main features of the treaty of peace. I realize the great inconveniences that will attend my leaving the country, particularly at this time, but the conclusion that it was my paramount duty to go has been forced upon me by considers*

tions which I hope will seem as conclusive to you as they have seemed to me. , Accept U. 8. Bases of Peace. The allied governments have accepted the bases of peace which I outlined to the congress on the Bth of January last, as the central empires’ also have, and very reasonably desire my personal counsel in their interpretation and application, and it is highly desirable that I should give it in order that the sincere desire of- our government to contribute without selfish purpose of any kind to settlements that will be of common benefit to aiLthe nations concerned may be made fully manifest.

The peace settlements which are now to be agreed upon are of transcendent Importance both to us and to the rest of the world, and I know of no business or interest which should take precedence of them. The gallant men of our armed forces on land and sea have consciously fought for the Ideals which they knew to be the ideals of their country; I have sought to express those ideals; they have accepted my statements of them as the substance of their own thought and purpose, as the associated governments have accepted them; I owe it to them to see it, so far as in me lies, that no false or mistaken interpretation is put upon them and no possible effort omitted to realize them. It is now my duty to play my full part in making good what they offered in their life’s blood to obtain. I can think of no call to service which could transcend this. Never before have there been agencies in existence in this country which knew so much of the field of supply, of labor and of industry as the war industries board, the war trade board, the labor department, the food administration and the fuel administration have known since their labors became thoroughly systematized; and they have not been isolated agencies; they hTive been directed by men who represented the permanent departments of the government and so have been the centers of unified and co-operative action. It has been the policy of the executive, therefore, since the armistice was assured (which is in effect a complete submission of the enemy) to put the knowledge of these bodies at the disposal of the business men of the country and to offer their intelligent mediation at every point and in every matter where it was desired.

Problem Economic One. So far as our domestic affairs are concerned the problem of our return to peace Is a problem of economic and Industrial readjustment. That problem is less serious for us than it may turn out to be for the nations'which have suffered the disarrangements and the losses of war longer than we. Our people, moreover, do not wait to be coached and led. They know their own business, are quick and resourceful at every readjustment, definite in purpose, find self-reliant in action. While the war lasted we set up many agencies by which to direct the industries of the country In the services it was necessary for them to render, by which to make sure of an abundant supply of the materials needed, by which to check undertakings that could for the time be dispensed with and stimulate those that were most serviceable in war, by which to gain for the purchasing departments of the government a certain control over the prices of essential articles and materials, by which to restrain trade with alien enemies, make the most of the available shipping, and systematize financial transactions, both public and private, so that there would be no unnecessary conflict or confusion —by which, in short, to put every material energy of the country in harness to draw the common load and make of us one team in the accomplishment of a great task.

I entirely concur with the secretary of the treasury In recommending that the two billions needed in addition to the four billions provided by existing law be obtained from the profits which have accrued and shall accrue from war contracts and distinctively war business, but that these taxes be confined to the war profits accruing In 1918, or in 1919 from business originating In war contracts. I urge your acceptance of. his recommendation that provision be made now, not subsequently, that the taxes to be paid In 1920 should be reduced from six to four billions. May I not hope,, gentlemen of the congress, that In the delicate tasks I shall have to perform on the other side of the sea, in my efforts truly and faithfully to Interpret the principles and purposes of the country we love, I may have the encouragement and the added strength of your united support? I realize the magnitude and difficulty of the duty I am undertaking. I am poignantly aware of its grave responsibilities. I am the servant of the nation. I can have no private thought or purpose of my own in performing such an errand. I go to give the best that is in me to the common settlements which I must now assist In arriving at In conference with the other working heads of the associated governments. I shall count upon your friendly countenance and encouragement. I shall not be inaccessible. The cables and the wireless will render me available for any counsel or service you may desire of me, and I shall be happy in the thought that I am constantly in touch with the weighty matters of domestic policy with which we shall have to deal. I shall make my absence as brief as possible and shall hope to return with the happy assurance that it has been possible to translate Into action the great ideals for which America has striven.