The Commoner
VOL.-18, NO.
12
10
Text of President's War Aims Speech
ment'a interpretation, of its own duty
gard to peace:
with
ro.
In a nalablo address marking tho oponing of
tho Fourth Liberty Loan campaign at tho Metro
politan opora Iiouho, Now York, September 27,
tfrcsidont Wilson laid down the only terms
Under which tho Unltetl States and it allies
would sit at a peace tablo with tho central
powers. The address in full follows:
My Follow Citlzons: I am not hero to promote
the loan. That will bo dono ably and enthusi
astically dono by tho hundreds of thousands
of loyal and tlroloss men and womon who have
undertaken to present it to you and to our fol
low citizens throughout tho country; and I have
not tho least doubt of tholr comploto success,
for I know tholr spirit and tho spirit of tho
country. My confldonco is conflrmod too by tho
thoughtful and experienced co-operation of tho
bankors horo and ovorywhero, who aro lending
tholr invaluable aid and guidance. I have come,
rathor, to Book an opportunity to present, to you
some thoughts which I trust will sorvo to give
you, in perhaps fuller measure than beforo, a
vivid soiiBo of tho great issues involved, in order
that you may appreciate and accept with added
enthusiasm tho gravo significance of the duty of
supporting tho government by your men and
your moans to tho utmost point o sacrifice and
self-don I nl.
No man or woman who has, really taken in
what this war means can hesitate to give to the
vory limit of what thoy have; and it is my mis
sion horo tonight to try to make it clear once
moro what tho-war really means. You will need
no other stimulat'on or rbrainder of your duty.
At ovory turn of tho war wo gain a fresh con
sciousness of what we 'mean to accomplish by
it. When our hopo and expectation aro most
excited wo think moro definitely than beforo of
tho Issues that hang upon it and of tho purposes
which most bo realized by means of it. For it
has positive and well defined purposes which we
did not determine and which wo cannot alter.
No statesman or assembly created thorn; no
statesman or assembly can alter them. They
Have arisen out of tho vory nature and circum
stances of tho War. The most that statesmon
1id assomblios can do is to carry thorn out or
bo false to them. Thoy wore, perhaps, not clear
at the outset, but thoy aro clear now.
Tho war has lasted moro than four years, and
tho whole world has boon drawn into it. Tho
common will of mankind has beon substituted
for the particular purposes of individual states.
Individual statesmen may have started the con
flict, but noithor thoy nor thoir opponents can
stop It as thoy please. It has bocomo a people's
war, and peoples of all sorts and races, of every
degree of power and variety of fortune, are in
volved in its swooping processes of change and
settlemont.
VOICE OF WAR BECAME CLEAR
Wo came into it when its character had be
come fully defined and it was plain that no
natlou could stand apart or bo indifferent to ita
, outcoruo. Its challenge drove to tho heart of
OVOrytlline WO oArnrl for mwl M-,,nA t mi .
- -- - , " "Yvu alu. mo voice
of the war had becoino clear and gripped our
hearts. Our brothers from many lands, as well
as our own murdored dead under tho sea, were
calling o us, and wo responded, fiercely and of
course.
Tllft ftlr WHS Muni nltm.4- .... if ...
J- rr ,'"" HnCl"S oportlonaV" Sly
V r1 iwero: and wo havo noon i,m ,..m. ..., u '
and unchanging comprehension over since Wo
accepted tho issues of the war as 'facts not a
- any group of mon olthor here or elsewhere had
defined them, and wo can accept niT outcome
which does not squarely meet and settle them
Those issues are these: x ll,m
.Shall tho militnrv nmvn.. ...
group of nations be suffered to determine
tho fortunes of peoples over whom tliev
have no right to rule except tho right of
Shall strong nations bo freo to wrone
weak nations and mako thorn subject to
tholr purpose and interest?
Shall peoples bo ruled and dominated,
even in tholr own internal affairs, by arbll
trarv and irrosimnsUiln r,twv . .. ., .
.. " ... s :.r' -- ur uy tueir
own win anu cnoico?
Shall there be a common standard of
right and privilogo for all peoples and na
tions, or shall tho strong do as they will
and tho weak suffer without redress?
Shall tho assertion of right b haphazard
and by casual alliance, or shall there bo a
common concert to oblige tho observnuco of .
of common rights?
No man, no group of men, chose these to "bo
tho issues of the struggle. They ARE the. issues
of it, and they must be settled, by no arrange
ment or compromise or adjustment of interests,
but definitely and once for all and with a full
and unequivocal acceptance of tho principle that
tho interest of the weakest is as sacred as the
interest of the strongest.
Th's is what we mean when we speak of a
permanent peace, if we speak sincerely, intel
ligently and with a real knowledge and compre
hension of the matter wo deal with.
NO PEACE BY COMPROMISE
We are all agreed that there can be no peace
obtained by any kind of bargain or compromise
with tho governments of the central empires, be
. cause we have dealt with them already and have
seen them deal with other governments that
wero parties to this struggle, at Brest-Litovsk
and Bucharest. They have convinced us that
they aro w'thout honor and do not intend
justice. They observe no covenants, accept no
principle but force and their own interest. Wo
cannot "come to terms" with them. They have
made it impossiblo. The German people must
by this time bo fully aware that we cannot ac
cept the word of those who forced this war upon
us. We do not th'nk tho same thoughts or speak
the same language of agreement.
It is of eaoltal importance that we should
also be explicitly agreed that no peace shall be
obtained by anv k?nd of compromise or abate
ment of tho principles we have avowed as tho
princinles for which we are fighting. There
should exist no doubt about that. I am, there
fore, going to take the liberty of speaking with
the utmost frankness about tho practical impli
cations that are involved in.it.
If t be in deed and in truth the common ob
ject of the governments associated against Ger
man v and of the nations whom they govern, as
I believe to be, to achieve by the coming settle
ments a secure and lasting peace, it will be
nenessarv that all who sit down at tho peace
tabio snail come ready and willing to pay the
pr'ce, tho onlv price, that will procure it, and
reaW and willing, also, to create in soino v'rile
fashion the only instrumentality by which it can
bo marto certain that the' agreements of the
pee will be honored and fulfilled.
That price i8 impartial justice in every item
of the settlement, no matter whose interest is
crossed : anrt not onlv impartial justice but also
the satisfaction of the several peoples whoso
strumentaiitv s a Leaeue of Nations formed
under covenants tbatrijriif be efficacious. With?
out . audi an instrumentality, by which the peace
of the wor el can be gdaranteed, peace will rest
n t part imon the word of outlaws, and oly upon
w ?0rd Fr 4Germay ""I nave to re
PEACE MUST BE GUARANTEED
bo formed now. If formed now, it wouM h
morel v a new alliance confined to thA ?t
associated against the common en ehiv ?"0n?
likely that it could be farmed Sr tho ii ?,0t
lTnJ 1S 11GCeS8ary t0 wawute? the poac
ttoYght.1 GaCe Cann0t b aranteed as aVSSl
wh?ft muTbeguSeus'St aRain'
parties to the pelce whose Vron lGre wil1 hQ
untrustworthy, and means mua?b fn aV? ?rVed
nection with the VZft
move that source of insecurity TfS ,2 r,e"
folly to leavo the guaranty J i U 0uld be
voluntary action o Pe?nmtfuJMWt
seen destroy Russia and dveRTumanfa aV0
But these general terma nn T '
whole matter. Some detaTs a?e ZJlT 8e tllG
them sound less like a thesta aSS d to,make
practical program .These tw r like a
tl particulars. mandTrsttehe;ertJfh0f
greater, confidence because I can ! i
authoritatively, as- representing goverT
First, tho impartial justice meted nut
must involve no discrimination between
those to whom wo wish to bo just and tho
to whom we do not wish to bo just. It nuuj
w UBU iaik iixwys no lavorites and
knovs no standards but tho equal rights of
tho several peonies concerned;
Second, no special or separate interest of
any single nation or any group of nations
can be made the basis of any part of tho
settlement 'which is not consistent with tho
common interest of all;
Third, there can be no leagues or alii,
ancos or special covenants and understand.
ings within the general and common family
of the League of Nations;
Fourth, and more specifically, there can
bo no special, selfish economic combinations
within .the league and no employment of
any form of economic boycott or exclusion
except as the power of economic penalty by
exclusion from the markets of the world
may bo vested in the Jjeaguo of Nations it
self as a means of discipline and control;
Fifth, all international agreements and
treaties of every kind must be made known
in their entirety to tho rest of tho world.
Special alliances and economic rivalries and
host'lities have been the prolific source in the
modern world of the plans and passions that
produce war. It would be an insincere as well
aSian insecure peace that did not exclude them
in definite and binding terms.
The confidence with which I venture to speak
for our people in these matters does not spring
from our traditions merely and the well known
principles of international action which we have
always professed and followed. In the same
sentence in which I say that the United States
will enter into no special arrangement for under
standings with particular nations let me say also
that the United States is prepared to assume its
full share of responsibility for the maintenance
of the common covenants and understandings
upon which peace must henceforth rest. We still
read Washington's immortal warning against
"entangling alliances-" with full comprehension
and an answering purpose. But only special and
limited alliances entangle; and we recognize
and accept the duty of a new day in which we
are permitted to hope for a general alliance
which will avoid entanglements and clear the
air of the world for common understandings and
tho maintenance of common rights.
I have made this analysis of the international
situation which the war has created, not, of
course, because I doubted whether the leaders
of the great nations and peoples with whom we
are associated were of the same mind and enter
tained a like purpose, but because the air every
now and then gets darkened by mists and
groundless doubtings and mischievous perver
sions of counsel and it is necessary once and
again to sweep all the irresponsible talk about
peace intrigues and weakening morale and
doubtful purpose on the part of those in au
thority utterly, and if need be unceremoniously,
aside and say things in the plainest words that
can be found, even when it is only to say over
again what has been said before quite as plainly
if in less unvarnished terms.
As I have said, neither J nor any other man
in governmental authority created or gave form
to tho issues of th's war. I have simply re
sponded to them with such vision as I could
command. But I have responded gladly and with
a resolution that has grown warmer and more
confident as the issues have grown clearer and
clearer. It is now plain that they are issues
which no man can pervert unless it be willfully.
I am bound to fight for them, and happy to fight
for thom as time and circumstances have re
vealed them to me as to all the world. Our en
thusiasm for them grows more and more irre
t slstible as they stand out in more and more vivid
and unmistakable outline.
KNOW WHAP THEY FIGHT FOR
And Ihe forces that fight for thom draw into
closer and closer array, organize their millions
into more and more unconquerable might, as
they become more and more distinct to the
thought and purpose of the peoples engage.
It is the pecul'arity of this great war that while
statesmen have seemed to cast about for defini
tions of th'e,ir purpose and have sometimes
seemed to shift their ground and their point
of view, tho thought of the mass of men, whom
, , (Continued on page 13.)
t?
