WAR OF THE NATIONS 



6176 



WAR QF THE NATIONS 



could not longer be exercised. He did not ask 



for a declaration of war against the German 

 Empire, but declared that on the part of Ger- 

 many there had been virtual war against the 

 republic for many months. Rather, he asked 

 Congress to declare that a state of war existed, 

 to the end that the United Slates might help 

 "make the world safe for democracy." 



The Response. The message of the President 

 sounded a call which stirred the conscience of 

 America and lifted the nation to a high plane 

 of sentiment. This was reflected four days 

 later in the following declaration, passed April 

 6, and the same day approved by the Presi- 

 dent: 



JOINT RESOLUTION 



Declaring that a state of war exists between the 

 Imperial German Government and the Govern- 

 ment and the people of the United States and 

 making provision to prosecute the same. 



Whereas the Imperial German Government has 

 committed repeated acts of war against the 

 Government and the people of the United States 

 of America : Therefore be it 

 Resolved by the Senate and House of Repre- 

 sentatives of the United States of America in 

 Congress assembled: That the state of war be- 

 tween the United States and the Imperial Ger- 

 man Government which has thus been thrust 

 upon the United States is hereby formally de- 

 clared ; and that the President be, and he is 

 thereby, authorized and directed to employ the 

 entire naval and military forces of the United 

 States and the resources of the Government to 

 carry on war against the Imperial German Gov- 

 ernment ; and to bring the conflict to a successful 

 termination all of the resources of the country are 

 hereby pledged by the Congress of the United 

 States. 



The vote in Congress was not unanimous. 

 In the House 373 voted for war and 50 op- 

 posed the resolution; in the Senate the vote 

 was 80 to 6. However, on a test vote of loyalty 

 within ten days vast appropriations were pro- 

 vided without a dissenting vote. Only twelve 

 members were shown in opposition, and they 

 refrained from voting.' Nearly fifty members 

 who for reasons of conscience had opposed the 

 resolution of April 6 put themselves on record 

 as unquestioned supporters of the government 

 after the irrevocable step had been taken. 



War Preparations. For more than two years 

 the demand had been growing for universal 

 military training, but quite regardless of the 

 seeming necessity for preparedness the nation 

 had taken practically no action. Volunteer 

 training camps were established for a month in 

 1916 in several locations and thousands of 

 young men joined them. This was not done 

 with the avowed object of war preparation, but 



was a response to the national urge that Ameri- 

 cans should learn the arts of war. 



With the declaration of a state of war exist- 

 ing the total unpreparedness of the nation 

 everywhere evident. It was at first believed 

 that few, if any, soldiers would be sent to the 

 battle fields of Europe; the United States pro- 

 posed to help the allies with money, food, 

 clothing and munitions of war. However, there 

 was an immediate call for volunteers to fill the 

 quota of the regular army, navy and marine 

 corps, and to bring the national guards of the 

 states to full strength. Within about three 

 months over a million volunteers had re- 

 sponded to the call. 



Selective Draft. Before this had been ac- 

 complished it became evident that the allies 

 must have American man power in Europe, and 

 Congress, after much debate, passed a con- 

 scription, or selective draft, law, calling to the 

 service of the nation all men fit for duty be- 

 tween the ages of twenty-one and thirty (to 

 the thirty-first birthday). The popular ac- 

 ceptance of this law was astonishing. There 

 were those who protested loudly against such a 

 departure from American precedents, but the 

 protests were lost in the great patriotic re- 

 sponse to the demand of the law for registra- 

 tion for service. Almost 10,000,000 young men 

 registered on June 5. Not all of these could 

 the government expect to call to arms; the 

 question of exemption for cause, however, had 

 nothing to do with the duty of enrollment. 



In every registration district those enrolled 

 were numbered, and through a drawing in 

 Washington it was determined who should first 

 present themselves before examining boards. 

 On September 2 a half million of those ac- 

 cepted were called to training camps, and they 

 became at once soldiers of the United States. 

 Thereafter at frequent intervals other hundreds 

 of thousands were taken into the service. Dur- 

 ing the next year those who had just reached 

 the age of twenty-one were enrolled, and later 

 there was an enrollment of those between 

 thirty-one and forty-five. These were never 

 called, however. 



At the date of the signing of the armistice 

 (November 11, 1918), over twenty-five per cent 

 of the entire male population of the country 

 between the ages of eighteen and thirty-one 

 were in military service. The growth in the 

 size of the army in about a year and a half had 

 been twenty-fold. In March, 1917, the force 

 contained 189,674 officers and men; in Novem- 

 ber, 1918, it had increased to 3,665,000. The 



