AMERICA AND JUGOSLAVS

The scene in the Coliseum at Rome on April 7, 1918, when the Italian official celebration of the anniversary of America's entry into the war took place(Photo Audigier)

The third anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania May 7, 1915. Three large graves at Queenstown, Ireland, where 178 of the victims were buried(British Official Photo from Underwood)

A supplemental official statement announced that the following declarations had been unanimously agreed to by the Premiers of the three nations:

The creation of a united, independent Polish State, with free access to the sea, constitutes one of the conditions of a solid and just peace and the rule of right in Europe.The Allies have noted with satisfaction the declaration of the American Secretary of State, to which they adhere, expressing the greatest sympathy with the national aspirations of the Czechs and Jugoslavs for freedom.

The creation of a united, independent Polish State, with free access to the sea, constitutes one of the conditions of a solid and just peace and the rule of right in Europe.

The Allies have noted with satisfaction the declaration of the American Secretary of State, to which they adhere, expressing the greatest sympathy with the national aspirations of the Czechs and Jugoslavs for freedom.

The American declaration referred to above was made public by Secretary Lansing on May 29 in these words:

The Secretary of State desires to announce that the proceedings of the Congress of Oppressed Races of Austria-Hungary, which was held in Rome in April, have been followed with great interest by the Government of the United States, and that the nationalistic aspirations of the Czecho-Slovacs and the Jugoslavs for freedom have the earnest sympathy of this Government.

Secretary Lansing's declaration was greeted with enthusiasm by Jugoslavs in both Europe and America. Premier Pashitch of Serbia a few days later communicated to the American Chargé d'Affaires at Corfu his profound appreciation of the action of the United States. Another result was a formal offer of military service by Jugoslavs residing in this country. The offer was made to the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on June 5 by Don Niko Grskovich and John J. Grgurevich, acting as spokesmen for their fellow-Slavs. They explained that the Slovenians, Croats, and other South Slavs in the United States were intensely hostile to the German-Austrian cause, and were eager to cast their lot with the Allies, but because they were technically subjects of the Austrian Crown they occupied the status of enemy aliens and were unable to join the army.

"If Congress will enact a law taking this stigma from our people 50,000 enlistments in the American Army will be the immediate result," Mr. Grskovich told the committee. "Ultimately, nearly 500,000 of our people will be found fighting under the American flag."

Current History Magazinefor June contained the text of the main treaty imposed on Rumania by Germany, known as the Peace of Bucharest. On May 10 it was announced that a "legal and political supplementary agreement" had been exacted, which completed the economic subjection of the country. The main clauses of this treaty follow:

Clause I.—This provides for the resumption of Consular relations and the admission of Consuls. The treaty demands that a further Consular treaty shall be concluded as soon as possible, and stipulates for the indemnification of all damage suffered during the war by Consular officials or done to Consular buildings.Clause II.—This clause says that Rumania renounces indemnifications and damages caused on Rumanian territory as the result of German military measures, including all requisitions and contributions. Amounts which Germany has already paid for damages of the nature just described will be refunded by Rumania in so far as these have not been refunded from the country's means, or paid in the newly issued notes of the Banca Generale of Rumania, (note issue department.)Within six months after the ratification ofthe peace treaty Rumania will redeem out of her own means (with notes of the Rumanian National Bank or other legal means of payment) the notes issued by the Banca Generale, on the order of the occupation administration, and will not put them into circulation again, so that the balances and deposits which are held by the German Reichsbank for the covering of the same may become free.Until redemption, the notes of the Banca Generate shall be recognized as legal tender. After the ratification of the peace treaty such notes shall no longer be issued.Another article, under the same clause, provides that Rumania shall indemnify the Germans for all damages suffered by them on Rumanian territory as the result of the military measures of one of the belligerent powers. This stipulation also applies to the losses which the Germans have suffered as participants, and especially as shareholders, of undertakings situated in Rumanian territory. Immediately after the ratification of the treaty a commission shall meet in Bucharest to fix the amount of such losses. The contracting parties will each appoint a third of the members, and the President of the Swiss Federal Council will be asked to designate neutral personages to make up the other third, which is to include the Chairman.Rumania will also indemnify neutral nations for damage which has been caused them on Rumanian territory as a result of German military measures, and which must be made good according to the principles of international law.Clause III.—This clause stipulates for the restoration of treaties and agreements between the contracting parties which were in force before the war, except for those cases in which the peace treaty provides otherwise, and in cases where such instruments are undenouncable for a certain period. This period is prolonged by the period of the duration of the war.The contracting parties reserve until after the conclusion of a general peace the fixing of their attitude toward separate and collective treaties of a political character.Clause IV.—This contains prescriptions governing the restoration of ordinary relations between debtor and creditor. It says, too, that each contracting party will, immediately after the ratification of the treaty, resume the payment of its obligations, particularly the public debt service, to subjects of the other party.Restoration and compensation for concessions and privileges in land and other rights are also dealt with.Clause V.—This deals with compensation for damage suffered during or immediately before the outbreak of war by civilian subjects of the respective parties in life, health, liberties, or property through acts contrary to international law.Germans who were in the Rumanian public service before the war, and who were dismissed as enemy foreigners, shall, on their request, be restored to equal rank and equal salary, or, if this is impracticable, they shall be given fair compensation.Clause VI.—This clause says that the respective prisoners of war shall be sent home in so far as they, with the assent of the State concerned, do not desire to remain in its territory or to proceed to another country. The exchange of prisoners is to follow as soon as possible, at definite times to be further agreed upon.The expenditure of each party for prisoners of war belonging to the other party up to April 1, 1918, will be calculated on the basis of an average rate of 2,000 marks (£100) for each officer in Germany, and 1,000 for all other prisoners in Germany, and 2,500 (£100) and 1,250 lei respectively for prisoners in Rumania. Immediately on the ratification of the treaty a commission composed of three members of each party is to meet in Bucharest to arrange details and to supervise the carrying out of the agreement.Interned civilians will also be gratuitously sent home as soon as possible, in so far as they do not wish to remain in the country of their internment or go elsewhere.Clause VII.—This relates to the right of subjects of the contracting parties to return to the country of their origin without suffering prejudice.Clause VIII.—This stipulates an amnesty for offenses committed by prisoners of war, interned men, and certain others. It incidentally stipulates that Rumania shall grant an amnesty to its subjects for their political conduct or military conduct based upon political grounds during the war.Clause IX.—This provides that captured river craft, merchant ships, and cargoes shall be returned, or, if no longer in existence, be paid for, and compensation shall also be paid for the period they were in the captor's possession. Here, too, a commission will be appointed.Clause X.—This stipulates that various rights shall be accorded to German churches and schools in Rumania.Clause XI.—This says: "Rumania, after having obtained the assent of the Rumanian National Bank, agrees that the balances and deposits of the National Bank now at the German Reichsbank shall remain in the Reichsbank's charge for five years (and if Rumania falls behind with an installment, for ten years) as a security for Rumania's Public Debt Service, as regards the subjects of Germany; and may also, if necessary, be drawn on to pay interest and redeem drawn bonds."The representatives of the contracting parties will meet in Berlin within four weeks after the signature of the treaty to make further arrangements regarding the fulfillment and further guaranteeing of Rumania's financial obligations.Clause XII.—This provides that the respective representatives shall meet in Berlinwithin four months after the ratification of this treaty, further to supplement it.

Clause II.—This clause says that Rumania renounces indemnifications and damages caused on Rumanian territory as the result of German military measures, including all requisitions and contributions. Amounts which Germany has already paid for damages of the nature just described will be refunded by Rumania in so far as these have not been refunded from the country's means, or paid in the newly issued notes of the Banca Generale of Rumania, (note issue department.)

Within six months after the ratification ofthe peace treaty Rumania will redeem out of her own means (with notes of the Rumanian National Bank or other legal means of payment) the notes issued by the Banca Generale, on the order of the occupation administration, and will not put them into circulation again, so that the balances and deposits which are held by the German Reichsbank for the covering of the same may become free.

Until redemption, the notes of the Banca Generate shall be recognized as legal tender. After the ratification of the peace treaty such notes shall no longer be issued.

Another article, under the same clause, provides that Rumania shall indemnify the Germans for all damages suffered by them on Rumanian territory as the result of the military measures of one of the belligerent powers. This stipulation also applies to the losses which the Germans have suffered as participants, and especially as shareholders, of undertakings situated in Rumanian territory. Immediately after the ratification of the treaty a commission shall meet in Bucharest to fix the amount of such losses. The contracting parties will each appoint a third of the members, and the President of the Swiss Federal Council will be asked to designate neutral personages to make up the other third, which is to include the Chairman.

Rumania will also indemnify neutral nations for damage which has been caused them on Rumanian territory as a result of German military measures, and which must be made good according to the principles of international law.

Clause III.—This clause stipulates for the restoration of treaties and agreements between the contracting parties which were in force before the war, except for those cases in which the peace treaty provides otherwise, and in cases where such instruments are undenouncable for a certain period. This period is prolonged by the period of the duration of the war.

The contracting parties reserve until after the conclusion of a general peace the fixing of their attitude toward separate and collective treaties of a political character.

Clause IV.—This contains prescriptions governing the restoration of ordinary relations between debtor and creditor. It says, too, that each contracting party will, immediately after the ratification of the treaty, resume the payment of its obligations, particularly the public debt service, to subjects of the other party.

Restoration and compensation for concessions and privileges in land and other rights are also dealt with.

Clause V.—This deals with compensation for damage suffered during or immediately before the outbreak of war by civilian subjects of the respective parties in life, health, liberties, or property through acts contrary to international law.

Germans who were in the Rumanian public service before the war, and who were dismissed as enemy foreigners, shall, on their request, be restored to equal rank and equal salary, or, if this is impracticable, they shall be given fair compensation.

Clause VI.—This clause says that the respective prisoners of war shall be sent home in so far as they, with the assent of the State concerned, do not desire to remain in its territory or to proceed to another country. The exchange of prisoners is to follow as soon as possible, at definite times to be further agreed upon.

The expenditure of each party for prisoners of war belonging to the other party up to April 1, 1918, will be calculated on the basis of an average rate of 2,000 marks (£100) for each officer in Germany, and 1,000 for all other prisoners in Germany, and 2,500 (£100) and 1,250 lei respectively for prisoners in Rumania. Immediately on the ratification of the treaty a commission composed of three members of each party is to meet in Bucharest to arrange details and to supervise the carrying out of the agreement.

Interned civilians will also be gratuitously sent home as soon as possible, in so far as they do not wish to remain in the country of their internment or go elsewhere.

Clause VII.—This relates to the right of subjects of the contracting parties to return to the country of their origin without suffering prejudice.

Clause VIII.—This stipulates an amnesty for offenses committed by prisoners of war, interned men, and certain others. It incidentally stipulates that Rumania shall grant an amnesty to its subjects for their political conduct or military conduct based upon political grounds during the war.

Clause IX.—This provides that captured river craft, merchant ships, and cargoes shall be returned, or, if no longer in existence, be paid for, and compensation shall also be paid for the period they were in the captor's possession. Here, too, a commission will be appointed.

Clause X.—This stipulates that various rights shall be accorded to German churches and schools in Rumania.

Clause XI.—This says: "Rumania, after having obtained the assent of the Rumanian National Bank, agrees that the balances and deposits of the National Bank now at the German Reichsbank shall remain in the Reichsbank's charge for five years (and if Rumania falls behind with an installment, for ten years) as a security for Rumania's Public Debt Service, as regards the subjects of Germany; and may also, if necessary, be drawn on to pay interest and redeem drawn bonds."

The representatives of the contracting parties will meet in Berlin within four weeks after the signature of the treaty to make further arrangements regarding the fulfillment and further guaranteeing of Rumania's financial obligations.

Clause XII.—This provides that the respective representatives shall meet in Berlinwithin four months after the ratification of this treaty, further to supplement it.

Under the petroleum agreement between the Central Powers and Rumania, the Central Powers' controlling company, the Oil Lands Leasing Company, is endowed with exclusive rights of the most far-reaching character for thirty years, with the right of prolongation for two subsequent periods of thirty years, making ninety in all.

Up to one-quarter of the foundation shares will be offered to the Rumanian Government with the right of transfer to private interests, but Germany and Austria-Hungary insure their control by the creation of preference shares with a fifty-fold voting right, and these shares are exclusively at their disposal.

A State trading monopoly in oil in Rumania is also provided for, the exercise of the monopoly to be intrusted to a company that is to be formed by a financial group designated by the German and Austro-Hungarian Governments.

All kinds of privileges are stipulated for the Oil Lands Leasing Company, the position of which is most carefully hedged around.

The parties are agreed by the terms of Article IV. of the foregoing agreement that immediately after the ratification of the peace treaty the Rumanian Government will enter into negotiations with the Governments of Germany and Austria-Hungary regarding the manner in which Rumania's surplus oil and oil products can be placed at the disposal of Germany and Austria-Hungary without endangering the vital interests of Rumania in respect of the country's industries and its own needs. The provisions of Article IV.,therefore, only enter into force should no other understanding have been arrived at before Dec. 1, 1918.

A correspondent who was at Jassy for years and left there only a few days before the peace treaty was signed thus writes of Rumania's hard fate:

"What is the balance sheet of Rumania after eighteen months' hard struggle? Before August, 1916, she had absolute economic freedom and could sell her harvests to any one she pleased at any price she wanted. In 1915 and 1916 the Rumanian exporters sold wheat to Germany and Austria at from 10s. to 12s. a bushel. The Austro-German importers had to pay, besides, a heavy export tax in gold to the Rumanian Government. Now Germany has secured for herself and her allies practically the whole Rumanian harvest for years to come, at a price which she is going to fix, and in such conditions that 'no diplomatic intervention should be necessary in the future for securing the grain necessary for the allied Central Powers.'

"Rumania had in Europe, after Russia, the richest oil fields and the greatest production of oil. The fields were in American, German, and English hands, but the Rumanian Government had full control of the production and drew very large benefits. When the war broke out in 1914 the Rumanian Government at once prohibited the export of petrol and heavy oils to Germany. The German companies tried hard to send the much-needed petrol to their countries, but succeeded in smuggling only a small quantity through at enormous cost. After a year the production of petrol increased so much that the Government was compelled to allow the export of a small quantity, asking Germany in exchange to agree that Rumania should receive a certain quantity of goods the export of which was prohibited in Germany. The Germans will not forget that they had to pay for the petrol at the rate of about $200 a ton."

"Since November, 1916, the Rumanian oil industry has been destroyed. In the last ten days before the Germans penetrated into the rich Prahova Valley the British mission under Lieut. Col. Norton Griffiths destroyed everything—wells, tanks, refineries were burned, smashed to pieces, or blown up, so that even now, after a year and a half, the Germans have not been able to reconstruct them. According to statements made by German prisoners in November last, none ofobstructed wells had been put in order again. The German engineers have worked hard, boring new wells, but have not succeeded in getting more than 10 to 15 per cent. of the normal production. However, although the refineries and wells have been destroyed, the oil fields exist, and I think that not even 50 per cent. of them have yet been worked in Rumania. The Germans know this, and the clause in the peace treaty that they should have the control and monopoly of the oil fields for ninety-nine years will make them the real owners and entirely independent of the American market. These two assets—the corn and the oil—on which the whole wealth of the Rumanian Kingdom was based, are thus under direct German control."

"Furthermore, Rumania has suffered much during the war. Towns and villages have been destroyed, and nearly the entire stock of railway carriages, vans, and locomotives has been lost. The productive capacity of the country has been enormously diminished. About 60 per cent. of the horned cattle and more than 70 per cent. of the horses have gone. Famine and disease have made ravages among the rural population, nobody having paid any attention to them. I have seen villages of 300 to 500 inhabitants reduced to 40. All the rest died from spotted typhus or other scourges. This shows how reduced are the means of national recovery after peace is signed. The financial situation is probably worse than the economic. At the outbreak of the war the budget amounted to 500,000,000 lei, ($100,000,000,) while the national debt was about 1,500,000,000 lei, ($300,000,000.) A few weeks before I left Jassy the Minister of Finance told me that the debt had increased to about $1,250,000,000. In the period from August, 1916, to February, 1918, the revenue had been very greatly reduced. As the military situation was always critical and the Government had decided twice, before the Russian disaster, to move to Russia, everybody who had a little money kept it at home and did not invest it in Government securities. Therefore only a small amount had been raised in Rumania by loans; the greatest part of the money had to be obtained from abroad, mainly from England, but also from France and the United States, at a rate of 4 to 5 per cent. Thus the interest which Rumania had to pay on her national debt represented about $62,500,000, or more than three-quarters of her budget in the pre-war days."

Dr. von Kühlmann, the German Foreign Secretary, who forced the treaty, in an address before the Berlin Chamber of Commerce May 24, explained the advantages which the peace of Bucharest had brought to Germany. He said:

Two points must be taken into consideration: First, guaranteeing Rumanian agricultural and petroleum production as urgently necessary for the carrying on of the war by the Central Powers and for the transition period; and, secondly, the important rôle which Rumania has to fill in providing a thoroughfare to the East, especially as she dominates the lower course of the Danube.It is here that there comes into effect the International Danube Delta Committee, upon which only States on the banks of the Danube can be represented. Only if the States agree to it will the countries lying on the Black Sea be able to come into it. Therefore, it is especially important for the German seaboard traffic that we have been able to secure sites for dockyards.Along with the Danube, the importance of the Rumanian railways must be considered, especially the Bucharest-Czernavoda-Constanza line, over which Germany must have control. It has been agreed with Bulgaria that this railway to Constanza, which is to be made a free port with grain silos and petroleum tanks, is to be leased to a German company for ninety-nine years.The cable between Constantinople and Constanza played an important rôle before the war. This cable is to be developed to the utmost and secured from enemy control.

It is here that there comes into effect the International Danube Delta Committee, upon which only States on the banks of the Danube can be represented. Only if the States agree to it will the countries lying on the Black Sea be able to come into it. Therefore, it is especially important for the German seaboard traffic that we have been able to secure sites for dockyards.

Along with the Danube, the importance of the Rumanian railways must be considered, especially the Bucharest-Czernavoda-Constanza line, over which Germany must have control. It has been agreed with Bulgaria that this railway to Constanza, which is to be made a free port with grain silos and petroleum tanks, is to be leased to a German company for ninety-nine years.

The cable between Constantinople and Constanza played an important rôle before the war. This cable is to be developed to the utmost and secured from enemy control.

Alluding to the agreement by which Germany had secured the Rumanian harvest of 1918-19, and the far-reaching option upon the entire Rumanian harvest for the next seven years, Dr. von Kühlmann said:

One can look forward to the whole food question with a certain amount of confidence. * * * Formal war indemnities were not demanded by Germany, but the numerous privileges we securedare equivalent, in the opinion of experts, to anything which would have been yielded by indemnities. When, some day, the damage caused by the U-boat warfare shall have been made good by newly-built ships, the sea route from Constanza will regain its importance. Whether traffic on the Danube will be able to compete with it is a question of the distant future. For the present we shall have to rely on the Danube.

Discussing this treaty on June 1, the Nachrichten of Munich declared:

The peace concluded with Rumania should serve as a model for the general peace terms to be concluded by the Central Powers. Germany has found a method of making conquered countries share her enormous war burdens without actually inflicting a crushing war indemnity. This method consists in enforcing on them a stipulation for preferential treatment to be accorded to Germany over a long period, so that Germany may be fully supplied with goods she needs. In this way Rumania will furnish the Central Powers with wheat and petroleum on advantageous terms for ninety years. A similar happy solution must also be adopted in all peace treaties to be conducted in the future.

By the terms of the Brest-Litovsk treaty the Bolshevist Government of Russia gave up to Turkey the districts of Batum, Kars, and Erivan, comprising the southwestern portion of the Caucasus, between the Black and Caspian Seas. This region includes the Russian part of the former Kingdom of Armenia, with Turkish Armenia adjoining it on the south. It is inhabited largely by Armenians and by that other ancient people, the Georgians, between whom and the Turks there has been an age-long and deadly feud. Hundreds of thousands of Armenian refugees from Turkish persecution in Asia Minor had taken refuge here under the Russian flag in the last three years, especially after the first Petrograd revolution gave promise of liberty under a republic. Now Georgians and Armenians alike find themselves betrayed into the hands of their Turkish enemies.

Soon after the signing of the treaty on March 3, 1918,the Turks sent armed forces to take possession of the three districts named. They met with resistance both from the Armenians and from the Georgians, but neither of the betrayed nationalities had an army competent to cope with the enemy. The result was a new reign of terror, similar to that of the atrocities that ensued.

The Armenian National Council on April 14 addressed the following protest to the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to the President of the Reichstag:

The Armenian National Council, as the supreme body for the expression of the will of the Armenian people, is addressing you in connection with the tragic state of things in Armenia. Armenia is flooded with blood and, only recently saved from centuries of slavery, is again condemned to fresh sufferings. Following upon the withdrawal of the Russian troops, Turkish troops have already invaded the undefended country and are not only killing every Turkish Armenian but also every Russian in Armenia.In spite of the terms of the peace treaty, which recognizes the right of self-determination for these Caucasian regions, the Turkish Army is advancing toward Kars and Ardahan, destroying the country and killing the Christian population. The responsibility for the future destiny of the Armenians lies entirely with Germany, because it was Germany's insistence that resulted in the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the Armenian regions, and at the moment it rests with Germany to prevent the habitual excesses of the Turkish troops, increased by revengefulness and anger.It is hard to believe that a civilized State like Germany, which has the means for preventing the excesses of her ally, will permit the Brest-Litovsk treaty to be used by the German people, who have been involved in war against their own will, as a means for the creation of incalculable sufferings.The National Council firmly believes that you will undertake the necessary measures, which depend solely upon you, to influence the Turkish authorities with a view to saving the Armenian people from fresh horrors.

In spite of the terms of the peace treaty, which recognizes the right of self-determination for these Caucasian regions, the Turkish Army is advancing toward Kars and Ardahan, destroying the country and killing the Christian population. The responsibility for the future destiny of the Armenians lies entirely with Germany, because it was Germany's insistence that resulted in the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the Armenian regions, and at the moment it rests with Germany to prevent the habitual excesses of the Turkish troops, increased by revengefulness and anger.

It is hard to believe that a civilized State like Germany, which has the means for preventing the excesses of her ally, will permit the Brest-Litovsk treaty to be used by the German people, who have been involved in war against their own will, as a means for the creation of incalculable sufferings.

The National Council firmly believes that you will undertake the necessary measures, which depend solely upon you, to influence the Turkish authorities with a view to saving the Armenian people from fresh horrors.

To this protest the Bolshevist Government of Russia added the following:

The offensive of the Turkish troops and detachments on the Caucasian front has been followed by the murder of the whole Armenian population. The peaceful population of women and children have been killed without mercy and their property has been plundered and burned.The peace treaty, which we were forced to sign at Brest-Litovsk, left the determination of the future destiny of the people of the provinces of Ardahan, Kars, and Batum to themselves. The events which have taken place in these provinces testify that the old policy of the annihilation of the Armenian people is still to be applied.On the Turkish front the advantage of the war was on the side of Russia, and Russia was forced to give up Ardahan, Kars, and Batum only because Germany was the ally of Turkey. The responsibility for all the horrors which the Armenian population is now suffering in those regions already occupied by the Turkish troops lies, therefore, with the German Government, which directly helped Turkey to secure these regions.The People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs protests against such abuse of the right of self-determination of the population of these provinces, and expresses the hope and insists on the necessity of immediate and energetic intervention on the part of Germany in the Caucasus, with a view to stopping further murders and the annihilation of the peaceful population, such as has taken place in Ardahan.

The peace treaty, which we were forced to sign at Brest-Litovsk, left the determination of the future destiny of the people of the provinces of Ardahan, Kars, and Batum to themselves. The events which have taken place in these provinces testify that the old policy of the annihilation of the Armenian people is still to be applied.

On the Turkish front the advantage of the war was on the side of Russia, and Russia was forced to give up Ardahan, Kars, and Batum only because Germany was the ally of Turkey. The responsibility for all the horrors which the Armenian population is now suffering in those regions already occupied by the Turkish troops lies, therefore, with the German Government, which directly helped Turkey to secure these regions.

The People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs protests against such abuse of the right of self-determination of the population of these provinces, and expresses the hope and insists on the necessity of immediate and energetic intervention on the part of Germany in the Caucasus, with a view to stopping further murders and the annihilation of the peaceful population, such as has taken place in Ardahan.

The Armenians and Georgians fought the advancing Turks, but their efforts were in vain; on April 17 Batum fell to the Turks, and the Ottoman troops were said to have a firm grip on these and other portions of the Caucasus.

The rugged mountain region between the Black and Caspian Seas, known as the Caucasus, covers 180,603 square miles consists of 14 provinces. The population in 1914 was 11,735,100, of whom 87 per cent. were illiterate; there are no less than 46 distinct nationalities among the inhabitants, chief of which are the Georgians and Armenians. The Georgians were the only nationality to maintain their independence up to the end of the eighteenth century. Georgia existed as a State long before the Christian era; Alexander the Great conquered the country. In 1080 the Kingdom of Georgia was established by David III. Peter the Great of Russia, recognizing its importance, entered into an alliance with the kingdom, and in 1721 Russian and Georgian troops penetrated to Baku, the rich industrial district bordering on the Caspian Sea. King Heraklius II., who reigned during the middle and end of the eighteenth century, received high praise from Catherine the Great and Frederick the Great for his military prowess and intellect, and in 1768 Russia and Georgia took joint action against the Turks.

In 1783 the Turks and Persians invaded Georgia, and Russia again concluded a treaty of protection, in which Georgia's independence was guaranteed. In 1801 Russia violated this treaty by annexing Georgia as a Russian province. The people revolted, but the uprising was unsuccessful. The Georgian mountaineers, however, never became reconciled to Russian dominion, and in connection with the Circassians carried on guerrilla warfare for forty years. In 1864 they were finally defeated and given the choice of submitting or emigrating to Turkey. Only 90,000 submitted and 418,000 emigrated to Turkey.

The jubilee of 100 years' alliance between the Kingdom of Georgia and Russia was celebrated in Tiflis, Sept. 26, 1901. At that time Czar Nicholas II. issued a manifesto acknowledging the loyalty of the Georgian people, who "voluntarily placed the kingdom under our protection," expressing imperial thanks to the Georgian Nation, and extending the promise of "my special attention and care for this brave nation, which is united with us by common ties of religion." This in face of the further fact that in 1811 the independence of theGeorgian Church, which had existed since the year 542, was abolished by the Russians and only six Bishoprics out of twenty-eight were allowed to remain, while more than $350,000,000 of church property was confiscated!

RUSSIAN CAUCASUS REGION, INCLUDING GEORGIA AND RUSSIAN ARMENIA, PARTS OF WHICH WERE HANDED OVER TO THE TURKS BY THE TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK

D. Ghambashidze, in a recent statement regarding the Georgian Nation, alludes to the progress made in the second half of the nineteenth century as follows:

The number of daily papers and weeklies in 1913 was twenty-four, and the number of books published in the same year on various subjects was about 240, amounting to 460,000 copies. It must also be remembered that 75 per cent. of the total population can read and write, and there are many schools and libraries. Eighty-five per cent. of the total population is composed of peasantry, whose chief occupation is very intensive agriculture, tobacco, wine, cotton, and silk being included in their products. The co-operative movement is also very strong in Georgia, there being about 400 co-operative societies, nearly 70 per cent. of the peasants being members.During the last eight centuries the nobility of Georgia has devoted its attention chiefly to military occupations. There were about 5,700 officers in the Russian Army, among whom may be mentioned the very distinguished Generals, Princes Bagration, Amilakhvari, Tchavachavadze, Orbelliani, and Amiradjebi. Prince Imeretinski has acted as Governor General of Poland, and through his wise rule won great respect among the Poles. He was instrumental in obtaining the permission of the Emperor for the erection of a monument to the great Polish poet Mickevits in Warsaw. General Kazbek was commander of the fortress of Vladivostok and General Orbelliani was Commander in Chief of the Russian troops stationed in Finland.Among the Georgian Bishops the most celebrated was Bishop Gabriel, whose famous sermons have been translated into English by the Rev. Dr. Malan, one-time Vicar of Oxford. There were also a great many Georgian professors at various Russian universities, among them the celebrated physiologist, Professor Tarhanov; the philologist, Professor D. Tchubinov, and Petriev, the late Dean of Odessa University. Distinguished Georgians like Prince Tchavachavadze and Eristov were members of the Russian House of Lords, while Mr. Tsereteli, the celebrated Georgian Deputy in the Duma, acted as one of the leaders during the present revolution.

During the last eight centuries the nobility of Georgia has devoted its attention chiefly to military occupations. There were about 5,700 officers in the Russian Army, among whom may be mentioned the very distinguished Generals, Princes Bagration, Amilakhvari, Tchavachavadze, Orbelliani, and Amiradjebi. Prince Imeretinski has acted as Governor General of Poland, and through his wise rule won great respect among the Poles. He was instrumental in obtaining the permission of the Emperor for the erection of a monument to the great Polish poet Mickevits in Warsaw. General Kazbek was commander of the fortress of Vladivostok and General Orbelliani was Commander in Chief of the Russian troops stationed in Finland.

Among the Georgian Bishops the most celebrated was Bishop Gabriel, whose famous sermons have been translated into English by the Rev. Dr. Malan, one-time Vicar of Oxford. There were also a great many Georgian professors at various Russian universities, among them the celebrated physiologist, Professor Tarhanov; the philologist, Professor D. Tchubinov, and Petriev, the late Dean of Odessa University. Distinguished Georgians like Prince Tchavachavadze and Eristov were members of the Russian House of Lords, while Mr. Tsereteli, the celebrated Georgian Deputy in the Duma, acted as one of the leaders during the present revolution.

The Armenian Nation also goes farback into ancient history. Six centuries before Christ the texts engraved on the rocks by King Darius mentioned Armenia by its present name. During centuries immediately before and after the beginning of the Christian era Armenia was an independent kingdom occupying the region between Mesopotamia and the valleys south of the Caucasus Mountains. This kingdom became Christian about the same time as the Roman Empire, and since then the Armenian Church has not ceased to be independent, not only of the Eastern, Greek, and Slavic Churches, but also of the Roman Church.

ARMENIA, SCENE OF EARLIER TURKISH ATROCITIES

Professor Meillet of the Collège de France, Paris, states that there has been an Armenian literature since the fifth century of our era, and that the old Armenian writings are more original and interesting than the ancient Slavic literatures, which date from several centuries later. Historians of art agree that in architecture, from the fifth to the ninth century, the Armenians were creators of new forms. Professor Meillet adds that at a time when the very name of Franco did not yet exist, and when the French language had not been differentiated literature of its own.

At the period of the Crusades the Armenians founded a kingdom in Cilicia and aided the Crusaders. Since the last of the Crusades there have been no independent Armenians. Mussulman, Persian, and Turkish States have dominated their former country. In the nineteenth century the Caucasus portion was taken by Russia. But the Armenian Nation had its own customs, language, literature, and church, and all these it has kept. It had the will to live, and in spite of its subjugation it has lived.

Armenians, hindered by persecution from tilling their lands, emigrated to other countries, where they developed eminent qualities. Industrious farmers, attached to their native land, they have yet known how, under necessity, to adapt themselves to all the professions of the modern world. Thus they came to fill a large place in Constantinople, in Egypt, in Transylvania, in Poland, and more recently in Baku, in the whole basin ofthe Mediterranean, and even in America. Everywhere they have made useful citizens; it was an Armenian, Althen, who introduced the cultivation of madder in Southern France. In their own country, where they had preserved a patriarchal system, most of them remained farmers.

The Armenian Church, which has not ceased to be autonomous, is the most democratic of the ancient Christian Churches; it is the only one in which laymen take part with the priests in the election of the head of the Church, the Catholicos, who lives in the Convent of Etchmiadzin, in Russian Armenia.

In the nineteenth century, though possessing no intellectual centre of their own, the Armenians found means for giving a modern literature to Russian Armenia and another to Turkish Armenia. Occupying a part of Asia that is a natural passageway between the Orient and the Occident, says Professor Meillet, they have been, since the fifth century, carriers of European civilization. Their vanguard position has made of them the martyrs of Western culture. Their success and their European character made them odious to their Turkish masters, who were less industrious than they. By the Treaty of Berlin in 1878 Turkey pledged herself to introduce reforms and ameliorations in Armenia, and to protect these people from attacks by the Kurds and Circassians; but the pledge was never kept. After the massacres at Sassun in 1894 Europe made a more imperious demand for reforms; Sultan Abdul Hamid promised them—and immediately ordered the great massacres of 1895 and 1896, which won for him the name of the Red Sultan.

The Young Turk revolution promised to improve the lot of the Armenians by instituting liberty in the Ottoman Empire; in reality the Young Turks desired only to make a unified empire of which they should be masters; they tried to "Turkify" all the races under them by persecuting those who wished to keep their own character; in 1909 they caused the Armenians at Adana to be massacred.

When the Young Turk Government allied itself with the Central Empires, learning organization from the Germans, it organized the destruction of the Armenians in 1915 on scientific lines. It ordered the deportation of these people from land which they had occupied for more than 2,000 years, and, after massacring the men and seizing the young women, it caused the rest of the women and the children to perish of hunger, thirst, and fatigue along the highways into which they had been driven; it sent them to die in the deserts of Syria and Mesopotamia. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians were thus destroyed. When the victorious Russian troops entered Erzerum and Trebizond they found only a few dozens of Armenians out of the tens of thousands who had inhabited those cities. The German authorities knew of these massacres; they made no protest.

In Syria the Christian population was destroyed by other methods; all the food was taken away, and then the district was isolated and the entrance of new food supplies forbidden. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians died of hunger. Germany knew of this crime; it did not protest.

The great war gave the Young Turk leaders their long-desired opportunity to crush the Armenians. Henry Morgenthau, the United States Ambassador at Constantinople at that time, says in a recent statement:

During the Spring of 1915 they evolved their plan to destroy the Armenian race. They criticised their ancestors for neglecting to destroy or convert the Christian races to Mohammedanism at the time when they first subjugated them. Now, as four of the great powers were at war with them and the two others were their allies, they thought the time opportune to make good the oversight of their ancestors in the fifteenth century. They drafted the able-bodied Armenians into the army without, however, giving them arms; they used them simply to build roads or do similar work. Then, under the pretext of searching the houses for arms, they pillaged the belongings of the villagers. * * * The final and worst measure was the wholesale deportation of the entire population from their homesand their exile to the desert, with all the accompanying horrors on the way. * * * The facts contained in the reports received at the embassy from absolutely trustworthy eyewitnesses surpass the most beastly and diabolical cruelties ever perpetrated or imagined in the history of the world.

Many of these horrors were told in detail in the monumental report of Viscount Bryce, portions of which were published inCurrent History Magazine, November, 1916. To these may be added a statement made to Mr. Morgenthau personally by an eyewitness—a German missionary!—and put into writing at the American Embassy in Constantinople, which reads in part as follows:

It was that very afternoon that I received the first terrible reports, but I did not fully believe them. A few millers and bakers, whose services were needed by the Government, had remained, and they received the news first. The men had all been tied together and shot outside of the town. The women and children were taken to the neighboring villages, placed in houses by the hundreds, and either burned alive or thrown into the river. (Our buildings being in the main quarter of the town we could receive the news quite promptly.) Furthermore, one could see women and children pass by with blood streaming down, weeping. * * * Who can describe such pictures? Add to all this the sight of burning houses and the smell of many burning corpses.Within a week everything was nearly over. The officers boasted now of their bravery, that they had succeeded in exterminating the whole Armenian race. Three weeks later when we left Moush, the villages were still burning. Nothing that belonged to the Armenians, either in the city or the villages, was allowed to remain. In Moush alone there were 25,000 Armenians; besides, Moush had 300 villages with a large Armenian population.We left for Mezreh. The soldiers who accompanied us showed us with pride where and how and how many women and children they had killed.We were very pleased to see upon our arrival at Harpoot that the orphanages were full. This was, however, all that could be said. Mamuret-ul-Aziz has become the cemetery of all the Armenians; all the Armenians from the various vilayets were sent there, and those who had not died on the way came there simply to find their graves.Another terrible thing in Mamuret-ul-Aziz were the tortures to which the people had been subjected for two months, and they had generally treated so harshly the families of the better class. Feet, hands, chests were nailed to a piece of wood; nails of fingers and toes were torn out; beards and eyebrows pulled out; feet were hammered with nails, as they do with horses; others were hung with their feet up and heads down over closets. * * * Oh! How one could wish that all these facts were not true! In order that people outside might not hear the screams of agony of the poor victims, men stood around the prison wherein these atrocities were committed, with drums and whistles.On July 1 the first 2,000 were dispatched from Harpoot. They were soldiers, and it was rumored that they would build roads. People became frightened. Whereupon the Vali called the German missionary, Mr. ——, and begged him to quiet the people; he was so very sorry that they all had such fears, &c. They had hardly been away for a day when they were all killed in a mountain pass. They were bound together, and when the Kurds and soldiers started to shoot at them some managed to escape in the dark. The next day another 2,000 were sent in the direction of Diarbekr. Among those deported were several of our orphans (boys) who had been working for the Government all the year round. Even the wives of the Kurds came with their knives and murdered the Armenians. Some of the latter succeeded in fleeing. When the Government heard that some Armenians had managed to escape they left those who were to be deported without food for two days in order that they would be too weak to be able to flee.All the high Catholic Armenians, together with their Archbishop, were murdered. Up to now there still remained a number of tradesmen whom the Government needed and therefore had not deported; now these, too, were ordered to leave, and were murdered.

Within a week everything was nearly over. The officers boasted now of their bravery, that they had succeeded in exterminating the whole Armenian race. Three weeks later when we left Moush, the villages were still burning. Nothing that belonged to the Armenians, either in the city or the villages, was allowed to remain. In Moush alone there were 25,000 Armenians; besides, Moush had 300 villages with a large Armenian population.

We left for Mezreh. The soldiers who accompanied us showed us with pride where and how and how many women and children they had killed.

We were very pleased to see upon our arrival at Harpoot that the orphanages were full. This was, however, all that could be said. Mamuret-ul-Aziz has become the cemetery of all the Armenians; all the Armenians from the various vilayets were sent there, and those who had not died on the way came there simply to find their graves.

Another terrible thing in Mamuret-ul-Aziz were the tortures to which the people had been subjected for two months, and they had generally treated so harshly the families of the better class. Feet, hands, chests were nailed to a piece of wood; nails of fingers and toes were torn out; beards and eyebrows pulled out; feet were hammered with nails, as they do with horses; others were hung with their feet up and heads down over closets. * * * Oh! How one could wish that all these facts were not true! In order that people outside might not hear the screams of agony of the poor victims, men stood around the prison wherein these atrocities were committed, with drums and whistles.

On July 1 the first 2,000 were dispatched from Harpoot. They were soldiers, and it was rumored that they would build roads. People became frightened. Whereupon the Vali called the German missionary, Mr. ——, and begged him to quiet the people; he was so very sorry that they all had such fears, &c. They had hardly been away for a day when they were all killed in a mountain pass. They were bound together, and when the Kurds and soldiers started to shoot at them some managed to escape in the dark. The next day another 2,000 were sent in the direction of Diarbekr. Among those deported were several of our orphans (boys) who had been working for the Government all the year round. Even the wives of the Kurds came with their knives and murdered the Armenians. Some of the latter succeeded in fleeing. When the Government heard that some Armenians had managed to escape they left those who were to be deported without food for two days in order that they would be too weak to be able to flee.

All the high Catholic Armenians, together with their Archbishop, were murdered. Up to now there still remained a number of tradesmen whom the Government needed and therefore had not deported; now these, too, were ordered to leave, and were murdered.

The total Armenian population in the Turkish Empire in 1912 numbered between 1,600,000 and 2,000,000. Of these 182,000 escaped to the Russian Caucasus, where now again they have been placed in peril of extermination at the hands of the Turks. About 4,200 escaped into Egypt, while 150,000 still remain in Constantinople. To these figures must be added the relatively small number of survivors still in hiding or scattered in distant provinces. Mr. Morgenthau concludes that 1,000,000 Armenians were harried out of their homes in Asia Minor,that the murdered number between 600,000 and 800,000. The remainder, in pitiful want of the barest necessities of life, hold out their hands to the Christian fellowship of America for aid.

In how far was the German Government responsible for the murder and deportation of the Armenians in Turkey? Mr. Morgenthau, summing up the story of his own fruitless efforts to get Baron Wangenheim, the German Ambassador, to intervene in their behalf, says: "Let me say most emphatically, the German Government could have prevented it." Now again it is the German Government that has handed over the Armenian refugees in the Russian Caucasus to the tender mercy of the Turks.

President Wilson delivered two public addresses in May, 1918, the first in New York City, May 17, to inaugurate the second Red Cross campaign, the second before a joint session of the United States Congress, May 27, on the subject of a Federal revenue bill. The speeches are given herewith.

[Delivered in the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, May 17, 1918]

There are two duties with which we are face to face. The first duty is to win the war. And the second duty that goes hand in hand with it is to win it greatly and worthily, showing the real quality of our power not only, but the real quality of our purpose and of ourselves. Of course, the first duty, the duty that we must keep in the foreground of our thought until it is accomplished, is to win the war. I have heard gentlemen recently say that we must get 5,000,000 men ready. Why limit it to 5,000,000?

I have asked the Congress of the United States to name no limit, because the Congress intends, I am sure, as we all intend, that every ship that can carry men or supplies shall go laden upon every voyage with every man and every supply she can carry. And we are not to be diverted from the grim purpose of winning the war by any insincere approaches upon the subject of peace. I can say with a clear conscience that I have tested those intimations and have found them insincere. I now recognize them for what they are, an opportunity to have a free hand, particularly in the East, to carry out purposes of conquest and exploitation.

Every proposal with regard to accommodation in the West involves a reservation with regard to the East. Now, so far as I am concerned, I intend to stand by Russia as well as France. The helpless and the friendless are the very ones that need friends and succor, and if any men in Germany think we are going to sacrifice anybody for our own sake, I tell them now they are mistaken. For the glory of this war, my fellow-citizens, so far as we are concerned, is that it is, perhaps for the first time in history, an unselfish war. I could not be proud to fight for a selfish purpose, but I can be proud to fight for mankind. If they wish peace let them come forward through accredited representatives and lay their terms on the table. We have laid ours and they know what they are.

But behind all this grim purpose, my friends, lies the opportunity to demonstrate not only force, which will be demonstrated to the utmost, but the opportunity to demonstrate character, and it is that opportunity that we have most conspicuously in the work of the Red Cross. Not that our men in arms do not represent our character, for they do, and it is a character which those who see and realize appreciate and admire; but their duty is the duty of force. The duty of the Red Cross is the duty of mercy and succor and friendship.

Have you formed a picture in your imagination of what this war is doing for us and for the world? In my own mind I am convinced that not a hundred years of peace could have knitted this nation together as this single year of war has knitted it together, and better even than that, if possible, it is knitting the world together. Look at the picture. In the centre of the scene, four nations engaged against the world, and at every point of vantage, showing that they are seeking selfish aggrandizement; and, against them, twenty-three Governments representing the greater part of the population of the world, drawn together into a new sense of community of interest, a new sense of community of purpose,sense of unity of life. The Secretary of War told me an interesting incident the other day. He said when he was in Italy a member of the Italian Government was explaining to him the many reasons why Italy felt near to the United States.

He said: "If you want to try an interesting experiment go up to any one of these troop trains and ask in English how many of them have been in America, and see what happens." He tried the experiment. He went up to a troop train and he said, "How many of you boys have been in America?" and he said it seemed to him as if half of them sprang up. "Me from San Francisco"; "Me from New York"; all over. There was part of the heart of America in the Italian Army. People that had been knitted to us by association, who knew us, who had lived among us, who had worked shoulder to shoulder with us, and now friends of America, were fighting for their native Italy.

Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together. And this intimate contact of the great Red Cross with the peoples who are suffering the terrors and deprivations of this war is going to be one of the greatest instrumentalities of friendship that the world ever knew, and the centre of the heart of it all, if we sustain it properly, will be this land that we so dearly love.

My friends, a great day of duty has come, and duty finds a man's soul as no kind of work can ever find it. May I say this? The duty that faces us all now is to serve one another, and no man can afford to make a fortune out of this war. There are men among us who have forgotten that, if they ever saw it. Some of you are old enough—I am old enough—to remember men who made fortunes out of the civil war, and you know how they were regarded by their fellow-citizens. That was a war to save one country—this is a war to save the world. And your relation to the Red Cross is one of the relations which will relieve you of the stigma. You can't give anything to the Government of the United States; it won't accept it. There is a law of Congress against accepting even services without pay. The only thing that the Government will accept is a loan, and duties performed; but it is a great deal better to give than to lend or to pay, and your great channel for giving is the American Red Cross.

Down in your hearts you can't take very much satisfaction in the last analysis in lending money to the Government of the United States, because the interest which you draw will burn your pockets, it is a commercial transaction, and some men have even dared to cavil at the rate of interest, not knowing the incidental commentary that constitutes upon their attitude.

But when you give, something of your something of your soul, something of yourself goes with the gift, particularly when it is given in such form that it never can come back by way of direct benefit to yourself. You know there is the old cynical definition of gratitude as "the lively expectation of favors to come." Well, there is no expectation of favors to come in this kind of giving. These things are bestowed in order that the world may be a fitter place to live in, that men may be succored, that homes may be restored, that suffering may be relieved, that the face of the earth may have the blight of destruction taken away from it, and that wherever force goes there shall go mercy and helpfulness.

And when you give, give absolutely all that you can spare, and don't consider yourself liberal in the giving. If you give with self-adulation, you are not giving at all, you are giving to your own vanity; but if you give until it hurts, then your heartblood goes with it.

And think what we have here! We call it the American Red Cross, but it is merely a branch of a great international organization, which is not only recognized by the statutes of each of the civilized Governments of the world, but it is recognized by international agreement and treaty, as the recognized and accepted instrumentality of mercy and succor. And one of the deepest stains that rests upon the reputation of the German Army is that they have not respected the Red Cross.

That goes to the root of the matter. They have not respected the instrumentality they themselves participated in setting up as the thing which no man was to touch, because it was the expression of common humanity. We are members, by being members of the American Red Cross, of a great fraternity and comradeship which extends all over the world, and this cross which these ladies bore today is an emblem of Christianity itself.

It fills my imagination, ladies and gentlemen, to think of the women all over this country who are busy tonight and are busy every night and every day doing the work of the Red Cross, busy with a great eagerness to find out the most serviceable thing to do, busy with a forgetfulness of all the old frivolities of their social relationships, ready to curtail the duties of the household in order that they may contribute to this common work that all their hearts are engaged in, and in doing which their hearts become acquainted with each other.

When you think of this, you realize how the people of the United States are being drawn together into a great intimate family whose heart is being used for the service of the soldiers not only, but for the service of civilians, where they suffer and are lost in a maze of distresses and distractions. And you have, then, this noble picture of justice and mercy as the two servants of liberty. For only where men are free do they think thethoughts of comradeship; only where they are free do they think the thoughts of sympathy; only where they are free are they mutually helpful; only where they are free do they realize their dependence upon one another and their comradeship in a common interest and common necessity.

I heard a story told the other day that was ridiculous, but it is worth repeating, because it contains the germ of truth. An Indian was enlisted in the army. He returned to the reservation on a furlough. He was asked what he thought of it. He said: "No much good; too much salute; not much shoot." Then he was asked: "Are you going back?" "Yes." "Well, do you know what you are fighting for?" "Yes, me know; fight to make whole damn world Democratic Party." He had evidently misunderstood some innocent sentence of my own.

But, after all, although there is no party purpose in it, he got it right as far as the word "party"—to make the whole world democratic in the sense of community of interest and of purpose; and if you ladies and gentlemen could read some of the touching dispatches which come through official channels, for even through those channels there come voices of humanity that are infinitely pathetic; if you could catch some of those voices that speak the utter longing of oppressed and helpless peoples all over the world, to hear something like the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," to hear the feet of the great hosts of liberty going to set them free, to set their minds free, set their lives free, set their children free, you would know what comes into the heart of those who are trying to contribute all the brains and power they have to this great enterprise of liberty.

I summon you to the comradeship. I summon you in this next week to say how much and how sincerely and how unanimously you sustain the heart of the world.

[Delivered Before Congress May 27, 1918, by President Wilson]

It is with unaffected reluctance that I come to ask you to prolong your session long enough to provide more adequate resources for the Treasury for the conduct of the war. I have reason to appreciate as fully as you do how arduous the session has been. Your labors have been severe and protracted. You have passed a long series of measures which required the debate of many doubtful questions of judgment and many exceedingly difficult questions of principle, as well as of practice. The Summer is upon us, in which labor and counsel are twice arduous and are constantly apt to be impaired by lassitude and fatigue. The elections are at hand, and we ought as soon as possible to go and render an intimate account of our trusteeship to the people who delegated us to act for them in the weighty and anxious matters that crowd upon us in these days of critical choice and action. But we dare not go to the elections until we have done our duty to the full. These are days when duty stands stark and naked, and even with closed eyes we know it is there. Excuses are unavailing. We have either done our duty or we have not. The fact will be as gross and plain as the duty itself. In such a case lassitude and fatigue seem negligible enough. The facts are tonic and suffice to freshen the labor.

And the facts are these: Additional revenues must manifestly be provided for. It would be a most unsound policy to raise too large a proportion of them by loan, and it is evident that the $4,000,000,000 now provided for by taxation will not of themselves sustain the greatly enlarged budget to which we must immediately look forward. We cannot in fairness wait until the end of the fiscal year is at hand to apprise our people of the taxes they must pay on their earnings of the present calendar year, whose accountings and expenditures will then be closed. We cannot get increased taxes unless the country knows what they are to be and practices the necessary economy to make them available. Definiteness, early definiteness, as to what its tasks are to be is absolutely necessary for the successful administration of the Treasury. It cannot frame fair and workable regulations in haste; and it must frame its regulations in haste if it is not to know its exact task until the very eve of its performance. The present tax laws are marred, moreover, by inequities which ought to be remedied. Indisputable facts, every one; and we cannot alter or blink them. To state them is argument enough.

And yet, perhaps, you will permit me to dwell for a moment upon the situation they disclose. Enormous loans freely spent in the stimulation of industry of almost every sort produce inflations and extravagances which presently make the whole economic structure questionable and insecure, and the very basis of credit is cut away. Only fair, equitably distributed taxation of the widest incidents and drawing chiefly from the sources which would be likely to demoralize credit by their very abundance can prevent inflation and keep our industrial system free of speculation and waste. We shall naturally turn, therefore, I suppose, to war profits and incomes and luxuries for the additional taxes. But the war profits and incomes upon which the increased taxes will be levied will be the profits and incomes of the calendar year 1918.It would be manifestly unfair to wait until the early months of 1919 to say what they are to be. It might be difficult, I should imagine, to run the mill with water that had already gone over the wheel.

Moreover, taxes of that sort will not be paid until June of next year, and the Treasury must anticipate them. It must use the money they are to produce before it is due. It must sell short-time certificates of indebtedness. In the Autumn a much larger sale of long-time bonds must be effected than has yet been attempted. What are the bankers to think of the certificates if they do not certainly know where the money is to come from which is to take them up? and how are investors to approach the purchase of bonds with any sort of confidence or knowledge of their own affairs if they do not know what taxes they are to pay and what economies and adjustments of their business they must effect? I cannot assure the country of a successful administration of the Treasury in 1918 if the question of further taxation is to be left undecided until 1919.

The consideration that dominates every other now, and makes every other seem trivial and negligible, is the winning of the war. We are not only in the midst of the war, we are at the very peak and crisis of it. Hundreds of thousands of our men, carrying our hearts with them and our fortunes, are in the field, and ships are crowding faster and faster to the ports of France and England with regiment after regiment, thousand after thousand, to join them until the enemy shall be beaten and brought to a reckoning with mankind. There can be no pause or intermission. The great enterprise must, on the contrary, be pushed with greater and greater energy. The volume of our might must steadily and rapidly be augmented until there can be no question of resisting it. If that is to be accomplished, gentlemen, money must sustain it to the utmost. Our financial program must no more be left in doubt or suffered to lag than our ordnance program or our ship program or our munition program or our program for making millions of men ready. These others are not programs, indeed, but mere plans upon paper, unless there is to be an unquestionable supply of money.

That is the situation, and it is the situation which creates the duty; no choice or preference of ours. There is only one way to meet that duty. We must meet it without selfishness or fear of consequences. Politics is adjourned. The elections will go to those who thing[?think?] least of it; to those who go to the constituencies without explanations or excuses, with a plain record of duty faithfully and disinterestedly performed. I for one, am always confident that the people of this country will give a just verdict upon the service of the men who act for them when the facts such that no man can disguise or conceal them. There is no danger of deceit now. An intense and pitiless light beats upon every man and every action in this tragic plot of war that is now upon the stage. If lobbyists hurry to Washington to attempt to turn what you do in the matter of taxation to their protection or advantage, the light will beat also upon them. There is abundant fuel for the light in the records of the Treasury with regard to profits of every sort. The profiteering that cannot be got at by the restraints of conscience and love of country can be got at by taxation. There is such profiteering now, and the information with regard to it is available and indisputable.

I am advising you to act upon this matter of taxation now, gentlemen, not because I do not know that you can see and interpret the facts and the duty they impose just as well and with as clear a perception of the obligation involved as I can, but because there is a certain solemn satisfaction in sharing with you the responsibilities of such a time. The world never stood in such a case before. Men never before had so clear and so moving a vision of duty. I know that you will begrudge the work to be done here by us no more than the men begrudge us theirs who lie in the trenches and sally forth to their death. There is a stimulating comradeship knitting us all together. And this task to which I invite your immediate consideration will be performed under favorable influences, if we will look to what the country is thinking and expecting and care nothing at all for what is being said and believed in the lobbies of Washington hotels, where the atmosphere seems to make it possible to believe what is believed nowhere else.

Have you not felt the spirit of the nation rise and its thought become a single and common thought since these eventful days came in which we have been sending our boys to the other side? I think you must read that thought, as I do, to mean this, that the people of this country are not only united in the resolute purpose to win this war, but are ready and willing to bear any burden and undergo any sacrifice that it may be necessary for them to bear in order to win it. We need not be afraid to tax them, if we lay taxes justly. They know that the war must be paid for, that it is they who must pay for it, and, if the burden is justly distributed and the sacrifice made a common sacrifice from which none escapes who can bear it at all, they will carry it cheerfully and with a sort of solemn pride. I have always been proud to be an American, and was never more proud than now, when all that we have said and all that we have foreseen about our people is coming true. The great days have come when the only thing that they ask for or admire is duty, greatly and adequately. done; when their only wish forAmerica is that she may share the freedom she enjoys, when a great, compelling sympathy wells up in their hearts for men everywhere who suffer and are oppressed, and when they see at last the high uses for which their wealth has been piled up and their mighty power accumulated, and, counting neither blood nor treasure, now that their final day of opportunity has come, rejoice to spend and to be spent through a long night of suffering and terror in order that they and men everywhere may see the dawn of a day of righteousness and justice and peace. Shall we grow weary when they bid us act?

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