This war in which we are now engaged is not of our choosing. For nearly three years after Germany had ceased war on France and Russia, we as a nation remained neutral, patiently exhausting every honorable means to avoid war and we were then forced to take up arms by the bad faith of the Imperial German government in violating its agreements with us respecting its submarine warfare and then after the ruthless sinking of American shipping and the death of two hundred and twenty-five American citizens, innocent men, women, and children; and after we had come to the peace of the world and the maintenance of democratic institutions, this war will be prosecuted to a sure and definite end according to our will and aims, but only after the success of our arms upon many fields we have an army of about four million men, one-half of which is in France and the remainder in cantonments in this country. The present intention is to increase this army to at least seven million men that must be transported across the sea and equipped and maintained in a foreign land three thousand miles from our base of supplies. 