and import of those words. If Washington could rise from his tomb, if from his sacred mound he could view the world as it now is, shrunk to smaller proportions by the lessening of material and moral distances and the mingling of every kind of communication between men, he would feel his labors are not yet concluded, and that just as a man of superior and powerful mind has a debt to all other men, so a superior and powerful nation owes a debt to other nations, and after establishing its own independence must aid others to maintain their independence or to conquer it. It is the mysterious logic of history which President Wilson so marvelously understood, thanks to a mind as vigorous as it is subtle, as capable of analysis as it is of synthesis, of minute observation followed by swift action. It has been sworn on the tomb of Washington. It has been sworn on the tomb of our allied soldiers, fallen in a sacred cause. It has been sworn by the bedside of our wounded men. It has been sworn on the heads of our orphan children. It has been sworn on cradles and on tombs. It has been sworn.

ADDRESS OF THE PRINCE OF UDINE

Mr. Speaker and Members of the House, no one could appreciate the honor of your invitation more than myself and my colleagues.

To address the Representatives of the greatest among new democracies at a time when the destinies of humanity are awaiting decision, at a time when our destiny and yours depend on the issue of the war, to bring you the greeting of distant brothers who are fighting for the same ideals at the foot of the snowy Alps or in the deadly trenches, to express to you our feelings and our sympathy for your feelings-all those are for me so many reasons for legitimate pride. [Applause.]

During our brief stay among you we have found everywhere the most joyous welcome and the most friendly cordiality. Everywhere it was not only friendly words that greeted us but also friendly souls who welcomed us.

We have felt deeply moved by this.

We know, gentlemen, that such cordial sentiments, such hearty friendship, are meant not so much for our persons as for our beautiful and distant country; our country, of which every foot is sacred to us because of its century-old greatness and sufferings and because of the noble share which it has always had in human thought and history. [Applause.]

But your great Republic, when it grants us such courteous hospitality, honors still more that which at the present moment is dearest to us-the efforts of Italy's soldiers, the noble sacrifice of so many young lives freely given for their country and for civilization and in defense

of ideals which you have made your own and which we all love.

In the name of the soldiers of Italy, one of whom I am proud to be; in the name of all those who are fighting on the mountains, on the plains, and on the treacherous seas; in the name of those to whom your words of friendship have brought a message of hope and faith across the ocean, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. [Applause.]

The aims of the war for the allied nations were pointed out by President Wilson in his magnificent message, which will not only remain in the minds of our descendants as a historic event, but which has already aroused, because of its moral force, intense admiration among all civilized peoples. We shall be satisfied, whatever sacrifices we may be called upon to make, when the rights of humanity are assured, when the guaranties of peace are effectual, and when free nations are able to work for their own prosperity and elevation.

President Wilson has proclaimed that to the Americans right is more precious than peace and that the people of the United States are ready to shed their blood in defense of these principles in the name of which they became a nation.

For the sake of the same principles we are ready to face every sacrifice and every sorrow.

We are fighting a terrible war. Our enemies were long since prepared for it, while we were content to live, trusting in peace, and only sought to contribute to the development of our people and to the progress of our country, almost unconscious of the clouds which so suddenly grew dark over our heads.

We came into the war when we realized that there was no room for neutrals and that neutrality was neither

possible nor desirable, when the freedom of all democratic nations was threatened and the very existence of free peoples was at stake.

Ever since that day we have not hesitated before any danger or any suffering. Our wide fighting front presents conditions of exceptional difficulty. The enemy is, or has been until now, in possesion of the best positions. He has dug deep trenches; he has concealed his guns among the mountains. We are even compelled to fight at altitudes of eight and ten thousand feet, in spots where it seemed impossible that any fighting should ever take place. We are alone on our wide and treacherous front, and every step forward that we take, every progress that we accomplish, costs us great efforts and many lives. The enthusiasm of our soldiers has often helped them among the glaciers of the Alps and the many snares of the Carso to triumph over difficulties which seemed to defy every human effort. But the deep faith which burns in them kept their strength alive. [Applause.]

We must, we will, triumph over other difficulties and other insidious devices.

Nature, which gave us our pure skies, our mild climate, has denied us almost entirely the two great necessities of modern industry-coal and iron. Therefore, with industries still in course of formation, Italy has had ever since their inception to overcome obstacles which appeared insuperable. Italy occupies one of the first places in Europe as regards the number and power of her waterfalls; but this wealth, which constitutes the great reserve of the future, has only been partly exploited until now. The treacherous enemy, who has long since prepared the weapons of aggression, not having obtained victory on the field, is now trying by means of submarine warfare to endanger our existence, to cause a scarcity of food, and,

above all, a scarcity of the coal which Italy needs for her ammunition factories, for her railways, and for her industries.

We have reduced our consumption of all necessities, and we are ready to reduce it still further within the limits of possibility. We do not complain of the privations that we have to endure. Wealth itself has no value if life and liberty are endangered. And when millions of soldiers offer their young lives for their country there is not one among the civil population who is not ready to make any sacrifice.

But to overcome the dangers of the submarines, which, in defiance of every law of humanity, are not only destroying wealth but endangering the lives of peaceful travelers, sinking hospital ships, and murdering women and children, we must all make a great effort.

We must unite all our forces to oppose the strongest resistance to the insidious devices of the enemy. You possess a great and magnificent industrial organization. You, more than anyone, are in a position to put an end to the enemy's barbarous dream and to create with your energy much more than he can destroy. [Applause.]

This great and terrible trial can only make us better men. They who know how to offer to the fatherland their wealth and their lives; they who give themselves unto death and, more than themselves, that which is sweetest and most sacred, their children; they who are ready to suffer and to die; they will know when the morrow dawns how to contribute to civilization new elements of moral nobility and of strength. [Applause.]

We must not grieve over our sorrows. When we fight for the rights of humanity we are conscious that we are elevating ourselves morally.

When America proclaimed herself one with us a great