, by well-conceived taxation."

The President asked his countrymen to undertake a herculean task. But
it was a necessary task--he deemed it an imperative one, and he knew
it would be borne by willing shoulders. Without any object of gain, it
was to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the world as
against selfish and autocratic power.

Neutrality was no longer feasible when the menace to the world's peace
and freedom lay in the existence of autocratic governments backed by
organized force and controlled solely by their own will, not by the
will of their peoples. The United States had seen the last of
neutrality in such circumstances. The age demanded that the standards
of conduct and responsibility for wrong done which were respected by
individual citizens of civilized states should also be observed among
nations and their governments.

He acquitted the German people of blame. The United States had no
quarrel with them. They were the pawns and tools of their autocratic
rulers.

"Self-governed nations," said the President, "do not fill their
neighbor states with spies or set the course of intrigue to bring
about some critical posture of affairs which will give them an
opportunity to strike and make conquest. Such designs can be
successfully worked out only under cover and where no one has the
right to ask questions."

What hope was there of a steadfast concert of peace with an autocratic
government which could not be trusted to keep faith within it or
observe its covenants? The President pointed out the futility of
looking for any enduring concord with Germany as she was now governed:

"One of the things that have served to convince us that the Prussian
autocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from the very
outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities,
and even our offices of government, with spies and set criminal
intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of counsel, our
peace within and without, our industries and our commerce. Indeed, it
is now evident that its spies were here even before the war began; and
it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture, but a fact proved in our
courts of justice, that the intrigues which have more than once come
perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating the industries
of the country, have been carried on at the instigation, with the
support, and even under the personal direction of official agents of
the