_Following is the proclamation issued by the President of the United
States for Decoration Day observance, May 30, 1918:_
Whereas, The Congress of the United States on the second day of April
last passed the following resolution:
Resolved, by the Senate, (the House of Representatives
concurring,) That, it being a duty peculiarly incumbent in a
time of war humbly and devoutly to acknowledge our dependence on
Almighty God and to implore His aid and protection, the President
of the United States be, and is hereby, respectfully requested
to recommend a day of public humiliation, prayer, and fasting,
to be observed by the people of the United States with religious
solemnity and the offering of fervent supplications to Almighty
God for the safety and welfare of our cause, His blessings on our
arms, and a speedy restoration of an honorable and lasting peace
to the nations of the earth; and,
Whereas, It has always been the reverent habit of the people of the
United States to turn in humble appeal to Almighty God for His guidance
in the affairs of their common life;
Now, therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States
of America, do hereby proclaim Thursday, the 30th day of May, a day
already freighted with sacred and stimulating memories, a day of public
humiliation, prayer and fasting, and do exhort my fellow-citizens of
all faiths and creeds to assemble on that day in their several places
of worship and there, as well as in their homes, to pray Almighty God
that He may forgive our sins and shortcomings as a people and purify
our hearts to see and love the truth, to accept and defend all things
that are just and right, and to purpose only those righteous acts and
judgments which are in conformity with His will; beseeching Him that
He will give victory for our armies as they fight for freedom, wisdom
to those who take counsel on our behalf in these days of dark struggle
and perplexity and steadfastness to our people to make sacrifice to the
utmost in support of what is just and true, bringing us at last the
peace in which men's hearts can be at rest because it is founded upon
mercy, justice, and good-will.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
_Done in the District of Columbia, this eleventh day of May, in the
year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighteen, and of the independence
of the United States the one hundred and forty-second._