On the 6th day of April Congress declared "That the state of war between the United States and the Imperial German Government which had been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared." By this declaration and the proclamation of the President pursuant thereto, the United States entered the great conflict which had raged in Europe from August, 1914, as a belligerent power, and began immediately to prepare to defend the rights of the Nation, which for months had been endangered and denied by high-handed and inhuman acts of the German Government both on land and sea. The peaceful ambitions of our people had long postponed our entrance into the conflict; and adherence to a strict neutrality through long months of delicate situations delayed the beginning of active military preparation. At once, however, upon a declaration of a state of war, Congress began the consideration of the measures necessary for the enlargement of the military forces and the coordination of the industrial strength of the Nation. It was understood at the outset that war under modern conditions involved not only larger armies than the United States had ever assembled, but also more far-reaching modifications of our ordinary industrial processes and wider departures from the peace-time activities of the people. The task of the United States was not only immediately to increase its naval and military forces, not only to order the agricultural and industrial life of the Nation to support these enlarged military establishments, but also to bear an increasing financial, industrial, and agricultural burden for the support of those nations which, since 1914, have been in arms against the Imperial German Government and have borne not only the full force of the attack of its great military machine, but also the continuing drain upon their economic resources and their capacity for production which so titanic and long-continued a struggle necessarily entail. [Sidenote: The whole people wish to help.] [Sidenote: Benevolent and philanthropic societies.]