d agents of the German government were
destroying American property in the United States, killing American
citizens, and creating discord in our political life; they were
pretending to be friendly and yet were trying to enlist Japan and
Mexico in war against us; third, for the reason that because of
Germany's threats and her well-known policy in South America there was
grave danger that it would be our turn next if the central powers
should come out of the European war uncrushed.

The American government has made it plain that we are not moved by any
desire for gain for ourselves. We have nothing to win through the war
except the assurance that our nation will be safe. If Germany had a
government which the people controlled, then the United States could
trust promises of that government. But, as President Wilson has
pointed out, no one can trust the present government of Germany, for
it is responsible to no one for what it does. It has torn up sacred
promises, which its Chancellor called "scraps of paper"; it has broken
its word; it has ordered "acts of frightfulness" in the lands which it
has conquered and on the high seas, with the idea of brutally forcing
its will upon enemies and neutral countries alike. It has deceived its
own people, persuading them that they were attacked by France and
Russia, while all the time it was plotting to rule the world through
force of arms.

President Wilson has said that the object of the United States in this
war is "to make the world safe for democracy." This means that a free
people, who have no desire to interfere with any of their neighbors or
to make conquests by force of arms, shall be allowed to live their
lives without preparation for war and without fear that they may be
attacked by a nation with military rulers.

We have seen how France, attacked in 1870 and threatened by Germany in
1875, 1905, of war and 1911 was obliged to match gun for gun and ship
for ship with her warlike neighbor to the east. The dread of an attack
by the military party of Germany hung over France like a shadow
throughout forty-three years of a peace which was only a little better
than war, because of the vast amount of money that had to be spent and
the attention that had to be given to preparation for the war that all
felt would one day come.

When once the German people have a controlling voice in the
government, then, and not till then, can other governments believe the
word of the statesmen