The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1915-06-24
PRESIDENTS FLAG DAY
ADDRESS.

. I t
ADDRESS.
Washington, June 14.-"The heart
IF America will yet interpret the
heart of the world That will be
She mission of this nation in the opin-
G IN Of President Wilson if the people
f the country are true to its great
traditions. He so told crowd of
early 5000 people, assembled on
he south front of the treasury build
flg at noon today in discussing flag
:ay and the traditions for which it
lands. The scene was probably the
host inspiring under which the presi-
sent ever has spoken.
Stretching in front of him was the
sreen sward of Potomac park. In the
distance the great bulk of Washing
NOn monument cast a dark shadow
bross the sky from which a scorch-
& summer sun threw everything
Bold relief.
aOn the flag bedecked speakers
End sat the new premier of the adj
abstraction, acting Secretary Robert
s;lsing, and Secretary OF the Navy
Eniels, while the president was in
4
slrly minute after President Will
ID was introduced. the crowd APP
auded and it was only after he had
j. 4eral times motioned for quiet,
at he was able to make himself
( ard. The president made no di-
4 Set reference to the stirring days OF
asst week in his speech. When he APP
bealed to everyone to realize that the
great mass of people are not those
Who get their names in newspapers
and said that in the list of those who
made the flag possible there was not
" single swashbuckler, many inter-
oreted that as his explanation of why
ne has not made any public comment
On the events that led to the first
break in his cabinet.
81 know of nothing more difficult
mat to render an adequate tribute
10 the emblem of our nation" said
the president. when we stop to
sanalyze, it we must realize that what
.ihe flag represents is not mere body
of vague sentiments or of historical
Continents that are contained in dec
Variations of independence and bills
of rights.
Il "The things that the flag stands
for we're created by the experience
$of a great people. Everything that it
stands for was written by their lives.
"The flag is the embodiment, not
of sentiment, but of history. 1t rep
%esents the experiences made by men
and women; the experiences of those
Who do and live under the flag.
you do not create national life by
literary expositions but by the daily
1deavor of great people, living up
their standard of honesty and just
II, duct
I'VE are assembled here today to
our tribute to the great men
"a have created the experiences
at have made this nation what it
These men are known to all the
erld. They included statesmen, SOL
RS, merchants, men of letters,
~ have shown us the way. They
e not afraid to lead. They were
afraid to go ahead.
There was not a single swash-
!ckler among them. They are all
an of sober, quiet thought whose
&tions were more effective because
acre was no buster in them.
q These men who made possible
The celebration we are participating
in tOday had no thought of self ag-
grand slent; only of duty. While
we men who had so great a
part n &c history of the nation and
.ho stbod for ideals that made the
r,Ag Of the United States possible, let
fks not forget that the great expert
noes of the nation have been the
york of unknown men. / mean men
whose names you do not find in the
head lines in newspapers. They are
not men who stand to one side and
comment on what is being accom-
'pIished. They are not men who try
TO interpret the great struggle OF life.
No, they are men who in their daily
lives, endeavor to represent the es-
Yence Of the flag; the men, who in the
flag, see the expression of they them
selves and what they desire to be.
1--WE some times look to the noisy
places where men are talking, to the
market places where men are ex-
pressing passion as partisans instead
f attuning our ears to the mass OF
seople who daily try to be honorable
md to live each day worthy of the
treat community to which they be-
s3ng.
'sThese men are the sinews of the
alton. They are the men who make
.e sentiment thatsthe flag stands for.
ow can any man presume to inter-
ret the meaning of the flag of the
inited States who does not listen to
cir, counsel and feel their presence?
sSsaThis is flag day. But it does not
Kean that it is the only day that we
lie to honor the flag. Itonly means
Nat it is the day that we outwardly
Sow that we recall what we should
h, every day in our life,
u! s.There should be no one day OF
Satriotfsm. We celebrate the Fourth
slJuly simply - the day set aside TO
cr ne memory Of the start q