Richard Heath Dabney to Woodrow Wilson

Knowing that you wish to be informed as to public opinion on the mighty issues now confronting this nation, I write to assure you that the community in which I live is overwhelmingly for the following things:—
1. War on Germany;
2. A fight to a finish, a fight with every weapon, wielded with all the force at our command, till the terroristic Prussian government is crushed to earth;
3. A solemn league with the Allies, including a pledge that we shall stand or fall with them and shall make no peace with the enemy until the terms are satisfactory to all of the allies;
4. The immediate gift of one billion dollars to France, to serve not simply as a token of our gratitude for past assistance to us and of our admiration for the sublime heroism with which she has defended civilization in this war, but also as the most effective way in which at the moment we can defend ourselves;
5. The facilitation of unlimited credit to any of the Allies in need of money;
6. The sending of a small force of regular soldiers (say 5000 men) to the Western front, in order to show the world that we are ready to give not simply our dollars but our lives to the cause of freedom, right & peace;
7. The immediate passage of a law requiring the military training of every able-bodied young man in the country.
I wish you could have been present at the mass-meeting of students and faculty on Friday night. I shall look back to it all my life as to one of the most inspiring events in all my experience. There was no hysteria, but the atmosphere was electric with deep, intense, idealistic passion. “Reddy” Echols, making the report of our military committee, was magnificent; and the spirit of our students was superb. Yesterday one of them — a quiet, unexcitable fellow, of brains, character & maturity — said to me that, if Congress failed to declare war, he would be ashamed to live in this country.
You have, my dear friend, a mighty burden upon your shoulders. May you have health and strength to bear it! The University of your native State is back of you, ready to help.
As for myself, if there be any way in which I can assist you or this country, call upon me, and believe me to be, as ever,