France and Britain utilized U.S. loans to pay for their part of the war with Germany. Both countries bought large quantities of all types of arms from us on credit. Those loans have to be paid back, or, with or without a military defeat, the U.S. financial and economic situation would become desperate.

Third, and probably the most significant reason that the United States must enter the war against this aggressor, is the interception of the Zimmerman telegram, just this past January. German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmerman sent German Minister to Mexico, von Eckhard a coded message which was decodified and translated by British cryptologists. In that telegram, Zimmerman proposed to the government of Mexico that they join the German side of the war, and, in return, after the cause was won, Germany would offer Mexico a portion of U.S. territory for helping them win the war -- that portion of the southwest lost to America in the U.S.-Mexico War of the 1840s.

Though we of the press only learned of the Zimmerman telegram one month ago, on March 1, we have seen an uproar among the American public against Germany as none we have seen in our long publishing history.

Now is the time for America to stand up. Now is the time for our President and Congress to rise to the cause of world peace. Now is the time for all civilized nations across the globe to understand the everlasting and demonic designs of those of the Imperial government of Germany who wish not only to conquer Europe, but the entire globe as well. The Zimmerman telegram leaves no doubt of that.

Surely, the unrestricted warfare on international waters and the murdering of innocent civilians and sinking of hundreds of undefended merchant ships should have been enough. Certainly, the economic and financial threat to the entire American economic system due to a defeat of France and Britain, which looks imminent, should be enough.

And most dastardly of all, now, having knowledge...

Perhaps this last issue is the single greatest despite the tremendous previous loss of innocent life. And perhaps, it is the one that weighs most on the President's mind now as he is, hopefully, in the final throes of his decision to declare the war that the world must have.
Finally, there is a last reason that this newspaper endorses war despite the awful cost of young mens' lives. It is because we must fight for those things we hold dear in the long run, or we stand for nothing and mean even less to a world that needs us. We must enter this unseemly war in the name of freedom for all -- for that which we have always fought -- the liberty of all peoples everywhere to live free of despotic regimes that choose to trample on those rights to have a voice, and the only voice, in their own dreams and visions.

Bibliography

Alexander, M., & Childress, M. (1981, April). Teaching with documents: The Zimmerman telegram. Retrieved December 11, 2009, from The National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/zimmermann/

Hollweg, B. (n.d.). Why did America enter World War I? Retrieved December 11, 2009, from University of Maine-Farmington: http://students.umf.maine.edu/~spencebj/subwarfare.html

Public Information Office. (n.d.). American entry into World War I - 1917. Retrieved December 11, 2009, from U.S. Department of State: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/wwi/82205.htm

Smitha, F. (1998). MacroHistory and World report: Slide to war in Europe, 1911-1914. Retrieved December 13, 2009, from fsmitha.com: http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch04.htm

Wilson, W. (2009 (modified), May 29). Wilson's war message to Congress (speech). Retrieved December 11, 2009, from Brigham Young University: http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Wilson's_War_Message_to_Congress