Why We are at War | Page 8

already possess that authority without special
warrant of law by the plain implication of my constitutional duties and
powers, but I prefer in the present circumstances not to act upon
general implication. I wish to feel that the authority and the power of
the Congress are behind me in whatever it may become necessary for
me to do. We are jointly the servants of the people and must act
together and in their spirit, so far as we can divine and interpret it.
No one doubts what it is our duty to do. We must defend our commerce
and the lives of our people in the midst of the present trying
circumstances with discretion, but with clear and steadfast purpose.
Only the method and the extent remain to be chosen upon the occasion,
if occasion should indeed arise.
Since it has unhappily proved impossible to safeguard our neutral rights
by diplomatic means against the unwarranted infringements they are
suffering at the hands of Germany, there may be no recourse but to
armed neutrality, which we shall know how to maintain and for which
there is abundant American precedent.
NOT CONTEMPLATING WAR, BUT WANTS TO BE READY
It is devoutly to be hoped that it will not be necessary to put armed
forces anywhere into action. The American people do not desire it, and
our desire is not different from theirs. I am sure that they will
understand the spirit in which I am now acting, the purpose I hold
nearest my heart, and would wish to exhibit in everything I do. I am
anxious that the people of the nations at war also should understand and
not mistrust us.

I hope that I need give no further proofs and assurances than I have
already given throughout nearly three years of anxious patience that I
am the friend of peace, and mean to preserve it for America so long as I
am able.
I am not now proposing or contemplating war, or any steps that lead to
it. I merely request that you will accord me by your own vote and
definite bestowal the means and the authority to safeguard in practice
the right of a great people, who are at peace and who are desirous of
exercising none but the rights of peace, to follow the pursuit of peace in
quietness and good-will--rights recognized time out of mind by all the
civilized nations of the world.
No course of my choosing or of theirs will lead to war. War can come
only by the wilful acts and aggressions of others.
ASKS POWER TO ARM SHIPS AND TO USE OTHER MEANS
You will understand why I can make no definite proposals or forecasts
of action now, and must ask for your supporting authority in the most
general terms. The form in which action may become necessary cannot
yet be foreseen. I believe that the people will be willing to trust me to
act with restraint, with prudence, and in the true spirit of amity and
good faith that they have themselves displayed throughout these trying
months; and it is in that belief that I request that you will authorize me
to supply our merchant-ships with defensive arms should that become
necessary, and with the means of using them, and to employ any other
instrumentalities or methods that may be necessary and adequate to
protect our ships and our people in their legitimate and peaceful
pursuits of the seas.
I request also that you will grant me at the same time, along with the
powers I ask, a sufficient credit to enable me to provide adequate
means of protection where they are lacking, including adequate
insurance against the present war risks.
I have spoken of our commerce and of the legitimate errands of our
people on the seas, but you will not be misled as to my main thought,
the thought that lies beneath these phrases and gives them dignity and
weight.
CIVILIZATION AT STAKE IN ATTACK ON HUMAN RIGHTS
It is not of material interest merely that we are thinking. It is, rather, of
fundamental human rights, chief of all the right of life itself. I am

thinking not only of the rights of Americans to go and come about their
proper business by way of the sea, but also of something much deeper,
much more fundamental than that. I am thinking of those rights of
humanity without which there is no civilization. My theme is of those
great principles of compassion and of protection which mankind has
sought to throw about human lives--the lives of non- combatants, the
lives of men who are peacefully at work keeping the industrial
processes of the world quick and vital, the lives of women and children,
and of those who supply the labor which ministers to