■ IB. 
 
THE WAR 
 
 AN ADDRESS BY 
 
 BRECKINRIDGE LONG 
 
 THIRD ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE 
 
 ''' S8 ^ 
 
 BEFORE THE CITY CLUB 
 
 ST. LOUIS. JANUARY 19. 1918 
 
:J] 5-qo 
 
 T'COlTGRESSj 
 
 THE WAR. 
 
 The times in which we live, and the circumstances 
 which surround us, are epoch-making. The great war 
 in which we are engaged is not only a military strug- 
 gle, as most of the armed conflicts in history have 
 been, but is a struggle in which all the resources of 
 the countries involved, the military, naval, financial, 
 mineral, agricultural, scientific, industrial and eco- 
 nomic forces are marshaled and pitted against one 
 another. Not only have the resources of the belliger- 
 ents become involved, but the products of neutrals 
 figure in the computation of the powers at war. 
 
 After the President had appeared before the Con- 
 gress and had suggested that all the resources of this 
 great country be pledged for the successful prosecu- 
 tion of the struggle which it then became apparent 
 we could no longer remain neutral toward, the Con- 
 gress with a free hand, with a convincing generosity, 
 pledged all the resources of the most resourceful coun- 
 try on earth. The obligation was to furnish arms, 
 munitions, food, clothing, money, which necessarily 
 implies all the labor that is necessary to produce it, 
 and all the capital necessar>^ to finance it, in addition 
 to the men actually under arms. It further contem- 
 plates the furnishing of aid to our co-belligerents. 
 
 The action met the hearty, almost unanimous ap- 
 proxal find co-operation of the country, and both the 
 action and the ap])r()\al wit1i wliicli it met are most 
 
— 2 — 
 
 significant, for men do not stake their all on causes 
 in which they do not fully believe. The manner in 
 which our countrymen have acted indicates the depth 
 of our conviction and the righteousness in which they 
 hold our cause. 
 
 One of the most remarkable phenomena in all his- 
 tory, if not the most remarkable, was the change in 
 the attitude of the people of this country toward the 
 war. In November, 1916, they were satisfied that we 
 could rely upon the good faith of Germany and could 
 settle by negotiation the differences which existed be- 
 tween us. By February, 1917, we were convinced 
 there was no good faith in the Imperial German Gov- 
 ernment. We then realized that all the time during 
 which we had honorably and peaceably tried to elicit 
 from Germany a recognition of the rights of Ameri- 
 can citizens, she was dishonorably carrying on the 
 negotiations to kill time and was secretly preparing 
 to wage a submarine campaign of increased intensity 
 in utter disregard of humanity, of the laws of nations 
 in general and of the rights of Americans in partic- 
 ular. We had heard much of German perfidy, but it 
 had not been brought home to us directly. We had 
 seen poor little Belgium crushed under the Prussian 
 heel because she opposed a wrongful invasion, her 
 homes d.estroyed, her women raped, her children mu- 
 tilated and her men deported for enforced labor like 
 the galley slaves of old. We had seen the violated 
 neutrality of little Luxembourg, that which, like Bel- 
 gium's, had been guaranteed by sacred treaty by 
 Germany. 
 
 We had seen little Serbia trampled upon and abso- 
 lutely obliterated, as a country, from the map, be- 
 cause of the territorial greed of the Central Powers. 
 
 We had seen unprepared and unsuspecting, but 
 
— 3 — 
 
 valiant France invaded by a foe wliicli we now fully 
 realize practiced the barbarities of the Hun of old 
 in his victorious advance. Thank God, his progress 
 was blocked by the battle of the Mame, and that he 
 is being little by little forced from the ground so 
 treacherously taken. 
 
 We had seen these things, but they had not been 
 brought home. We had heard, but we did not fully 
 realize then nor how we were interwoven w4th the 
 destinies of the world. Nor did we really appreciate 
 that the national dishonesty of the Prussian Autoc- 
 racy, their pei^fidy, their brutality, their subordination 
 of righteousness and honor to material ambition, 
 which has been so clearly demonstrated to their ene- 
 mies in Europe, was being manifested to us under the 
 guise of diplomatic negotiation. 
 
 Less than a year ago, on the afternoon of the thirty- 
 first of January, 1917, the Government of the United 
 States was advised by Germany that that very night, 
 at midnight, she would commence an unrestricted sub- 
 marine warfare, in ^■iolation of all rules of interna- 
 tional law, in defiance of all history, but that of their 
 own brutal ancestors, in contravention of the just 
 claims of humanity, and in flagrant failure to differ- 
 entiate between the liability of araied forces and the 
 rights of peaceable women and children. That after- 
 noon the die was cast — and Germany cast it. 
 
 But almost immediately following it, the temper of 
 the American people was roused to the last degree by 
 the announcement of the Zimmerman note to Mexico, 
 w^hich disclosed the military intrigue of the Imperial 
 German Government wdth one of our neighbors, at 
 a time when we were all on friendly tenns, even pro- 
 posing to give to Mexico part of the territory of the 
 United States. 
 
Then the absohite dishonesty, the ])evfidy of the 
 powers that be in Germany became aj -parent to the 
 most incredulous. Since then, the story has been one 
 continuous succession of acts of dishonesty, double 
 dealing and crookedness. It is too long to relate in 
 detail, and unnecessary to repeat the shameful tale 
 of intrigue and machination. It is sufficient to say 
 that the authority of the Imperial German Govern- 
 ment as now centralized, and the powers by it exer- 
 cised, were proved such as to be antagonistic to the 
 peaceful pursuits of man, subversive of the ideals of 
 humanity, and destructive of practices and prospects 
 which two thousand years of Christianity have made 
 possible. 
 
 The stakes could not be greater. We are the de- 
 fenders of all posterity and the guardians of the honor 
 of the future. 
 
 To accomplish the objects we set our minds upon, 
 an euonnous organization has been created and is still 
 being increased. It must be all inclusive and must 
 have, not only tlie man power and woman power, but 
 the will power of the entire country. We must all 
 not only help, but want to help. 
 
 The executive departments in Washington and the 
 extraordinary boards and commissions which have 
 been created to meet the exigencies of an immeas- 
 urable undertaking have done an immense amount of 
 work. There pro1)ably have been some mistakes. The 
 men would not be human if there have not been some, 
 but what we want is a human organization, the best 
 and most effective machine humanity will allow, but 
 human, nevertheless, and, in that respect, not like the 
 cold, hard, material, calculating selfishness which 
 characterizes the machine under the domination of 
 Prussia. 
 
— D — 
 
 There is no way an adequate conception can be 
 given of the amount of work which has been done in 
 building this organization and preparing for the 
 struggle. We are too close to it and too much a part 
 of it to appreciate it and see it in its proper pro- 
 portions. As the years roll by and the future per- 
 mits a point of view at sufficient distance to give a 
 retrospect, the work done and the things accom- 
 plished by the United States during 1917 will stand 
 in their real light and will amaze us. 
 
 The greatest part of it has fallen on the Prosid(nit 
 and four executive departments, those of State, War, 
 Navy and Treasury. Let me give you just a few 
 figures to indicate something of the enormity of their 
 work. 
 
 The War Department, less than a year ago, re- 
 ported an army of about 127,600 officers and men in- 
 cluded. The last day of 1917 there were 110,856 offi- 
 cers and 1,428,650 men — an army six times as great 
 as was ours in the Spanish War. To support this 
 army. Congress has appropriated for the fiscal year 
 we are now in, $7,527,338,716.00 as compared with 
 $403,000,000 for the year ending last June, and as 
 compared with $203,000,000 for the year previous. 
 This is a sum nearly double the total operating reve- 
 nues of all the railroads in the United States for the 
 year 1917. This great sum has been either disbursed 
 or contracted for disbursement and there has been 
 not a single whisper or suspicion of dishonesty or 
 graft in connection with any part of the amount. The 
 Ordnance Division of the War Department alone oc- 
 cupies fourteen acres of floor space for office work 
 and has an office force of nearly 30,000 persons. That 
 is just a sample of what the Department is doing. 
 The experts may disagree among tliemselvos as to the 
 
— 6 — 
 
 propriety or impropriety of certain acts, but the fact 
 remains that we have an army of moi'e than a million 
 and a half, practically every man is fully uniformed 
 and accoutred and there is a gun for every man who 
 is in a position to use it — and then some. 
 
 The Navy Department shows a proportional in- 
 crease — from 68,000 enlisted men in January, 1917, to 
 a total naval establishment of more than 350,000 men. 
 A year ago its monthly expenditures were $8,000,000. 
 Now they are about $60,000,000. A year ago it had 
 300 vessels in commission. Now there are many more 
 than a thousand. And be it said, to its infinite credit, 
 that it has helped in the transportation of and has 
 guarded the thousands of men we have sent abroad 
 and has landed every one fafely on the other side. 
 
 The Treasury Department, with the enormous re- 
 sponsibility of allocating arid disbiirsiHg', not millions, 
 but billions, and its wojk .j.i;i£cessarily precedent 
 thereto, gathering in the money before it could be dis- 
 bursed, has had an enormous undertaking, unprece- 
 dented, and has successfully executed it. 
 
 The Department of State, as you can well imagine, 
 has had its work increased hundreds of per cent, both 
 in importance and in amount, and has had to increase 
 its forces at home and abroad enormously. 
 
 The other departments and the extraordinary 
 boards and commissions are just as busy. But they 
 are all under the direction and guidance of that 
 spokesman of humanity who sits in the White House 
 and who has so recently set out the objects it would 
 be necessary to ol)tain in order to secure peace. His 
 is the real and final responsibility for which he will 
 account to the people. 
 
 In a masterful way the President has defined the 
 CMnditions which can lead to yieace, and which we 
 
— 7 — 
 
 hold as our objects for attainment. Of the fourteen 
 which he enumerated, there is not one which applies 
 particularly to America, or which holds any special 
 or selfish gain for America. That alone is indicative 
 of the magnanimous and unselfish spirit of the coun- 
 try. It is not territory, or advantages of any kind, 
 for which we fight, but for principles, in defense of 
 the rights of America and Americans, and to insure 
 to all posterity an opportunity for peaceable growth 
 and autonomous government, as each nation for itself 
 may choose. America is convinced of the righteous- 
 ness of her cause. Her ideals are those of honesty, 
 liberty and justice. Tliey are diametrically opposed 
 to the perfidy, duplicity, barbarity and imperialism of 
 the German Government as at present administered. 
 
 I wish I could translate some of tlie thoughts and 
 sentiments of Washington, could convey to your 
 minds something of that determination which is there 
 felt. There is neither optimism nor pessimism, just 
 calm, clear, scrutinizing confidence in the outcome, 
 founded on a grim determination that the welfare of 
 the United States of America can only continue and 
 the peace of the world can only be resumed when 
 power is divested from the centralized irresponsi- 
 bility of the Prussian military circle. 
 
 But to make that determination more effective, to 
 hasten the end, the mental, moral and physical co- 
 operation of every individual is necessary. By those 
 who are not a part of the armed forces, the practice 
 of self-abnegation is necessary. Each can do his part 
 to conserve such of our resources as comes within his 
 control — the food, the fuel, the clothing; each by his 
 mental attitude can help and encourage those who are 
 charged with the more active administration of the 
 
— 8 — 
 
 necessary affairs; each can abstain from criticism 
 until he knows all the facts, and then can criticize in 
 a way that will help, rather than in a way that will 
 interfere with, the proper working of the whole or- 
 ganization. He who maliciously criticizes is an enemy 
 to this country, and he who thoughtlessly does so is 
 as harmful as an enemy. 
 
 All of our resources have been pledged, and it is 
 necessary that steps be taken to make them all avail- 
 able for the main purpose. The youth and vigor of 
 the country have been drafted to furnish the quota to 
 carry the guns and do the actual fighting — and a 
 finer, nobler lot of men never were assembled than 
 today are ready to die for the honor of the Stars and 
 Stripes ; capital has been called upon to furnish the 
 railroads; natural resources have been controlled in 
 that coal has been denied for certain purposes for a 
 certain time. Today no one can tell what additional 
 deprivations may be necessary, to what extremes we 
 shall have to go. Only one thing is certain, and that 
 is, whatever shall be necessary to do, that we will do. 
 / Washington requested that his sword, once 
 sheathed, be not again unsheathed except in the cause 
 of righteousness, but when for that unsheathed, that 
 it be not again sheathed until the object was accom- 
 plished. America's army today is as Washington's 
 sword, and will not be disbanded until the objects 
 which America has announced are attained, until the 
 Star Spangled Banner from the battlements of 
 Europe shall proclaim for all time that military au- 
 tocracy and imperialism are removed from the face 
 of Europe and that the world is safe for democracy. 
 
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