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     "     . I have not felt at liberty to sign this joint resolution because I can not bring myself to
become party to an action which would place an ineffaceable stain upon the gallantry and honor of
the United States. The resolution seeks to establish peace with the German Empire without
exacting from the German Government any action by way of setting right the infinite wrongs
which it did to the peoples whom it attacked and whom we professed it our purpose to assist
when we entered the war. Have we sacrificed the lives of more than 100,000 Americans and
ruined the lives of thousands of others and brought upon thousands of American families an
unhappiness that can never end for purposes which we do not now care to state or take further
steps to attain?
 
     ". . . when we entered the war we set forth very definitely the purposes for which we
entered, partly because we did not wish to be considered as merely taking part in a European
contest. This joint resolution which I return does not seek to accomplish any of these objects, but
in effect makes a complete surrender of the rights of the United States so far as the German
Government is c oncerned.
 
     "But the treaty as signed at Versailles has been rejected by the Senate of the United States,
though it has been ratified by Germany. By that rejection and by its method we have in effect
declared that we wish to draw apart and oursue objects and interests of our own, unhampered by
any connections of interest or of purpose with other Governments and peoples" (59 Cong. Rec.
Pt. 9, pp. 7747, 7748. )
 
     However, on July 2, 1921, President Harding signed a Joint Resolution declaring "at an
end" the state of war "declared to exist between the Imperial German Government and the United
States of America by the Joint Resolution of Congress approved April 6, 1917".  It also declared