Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1917-06-14
IT
is ONLYPL
FOR VICTORY
President in Flag Day Talk
Bares Kaiser'a Plot to
End War Now.

Washington. june President
AIls0u warned the American peO-
pie In "a lag day address on the
Washington monument grounds to-
day That Germany has carried into
effect the greater part Of her im-
mediate plan 0f conquest and now
rs negotiating a new "intrigue OF
peace designed 20 end the war
while her aggressions are secure.
AIl tile central empires, The
president declared. have been Gee
mented into one great aut0cracy.
ridden empire, @thrOwing a broad
belt of German military power
and political control across the
very center Of Europe and beyond
tbe Mediterranean into the heart
Of Asia. ~ThiS achieved, he said.
il is easy 20 understand why GER
many is fostering a propaganda
FOR an early peace,
CRY PEACE, PEACE, PEACE.
"Peace, peace, peace has been
TIE talk OF her foreign office for
now a year and more said the
president. - little OF the talk
mas been public, hut most Of ii has
been private. Through all sorts
of channels 1T has come 10 me and
in aii sorts Of guiseS. The milf
fairy masters under whom Ger.
mauF is bleeding see very clearly
IS hat point fate has brought them.
Ii they can secure peace now with
fine immense advantages still i'm
their hands which they have up to
this point apparently gained. they
will have justified themselves be-
fore The German people; they WIN
hare gained by force what they
promised to gain by it.
The president recjted again the Ger
man aggressions which drove the Unit
ed States 10 war He declared the
purposes for which American soldiers
now carry tHe stars and stripes 10
Europe for the first time In history
are net new TO American traditions
because real jzation of Germanys war
aims must eventually mean the I'M
doing Of the whole world He spoke
in fun as follows
Text Of Speech.
"Nv fellow citizens We meet TO eel
citrate Flag day because this flag
which we honor and under which we
serve Is the emblem of our unity. our
power orr thought and purpose as a
nation. 1t has no other character than
fhaL which we give 1T from generation
to generation. The choices are ours.
It floats ~ majestic silence above the
hosts that execute those choices,
whether i'm peace OF I'm war And vet,
though silent it speaks to speaks
to us or tine past Of the men and wom-
on who Wen before us and of the rec
Ords they wrote upon it, We celebrate
the dag Of its birth. and from is birth
untiI now III has Witnessed a great his
tory has Hoated on high the symbol Of
great events Of great plan of life
worked out 10y a great people We
are about % carry FL into battle 20
lift it where fir viii draw the fire Of
our enemies We are about 10 bid
thousands. hundreds of thousands, IL
may he millions, Of our men the
young the strong. the capable men Of
fbe nation. 90 go forth and die beneath
It on fields Of blood far away. for
whatE For some UnacCust 0mCd thing
For something for which it has never
sought the fire before? American
armies were never before sent across
the seas Why are they sent noW2 For
some new purpose, for which this
great flag has never been cap-ied be-
fore 8r fer some old familiar heroic
purposes for which it has seen men.
its oWn men. die Oh every battlefield
upon which Americans have borne
arms since the revolution
These are questions which must be
answered We are Americans We 10
our turn serve America. and can serve
beT with Ho private purpose. We must
use her flag ais she has always used 1t.
Ne are accountable az the bar Of his
terry ana must plead in utter frankness
what purpose it lis We seek 20 serve.
Reviews Wrongs Suffered.
It IS plain enough how We were
forced into the war The e&traOrain-
arr insults and aggressious of the Inn
peTiat German government left MS no
seIf-respe choice but TO take up
arms 5n defense OF Our rights as free
paoula and Of our honor as a soyer-
eiEu government The military mas
tiers Of Germany denied us the right
TO be neutral They filed our uusus-
pectinE communities with vicious spies
and aou spirat0rs aud sought 20 cor
raut he opinion Of our people in
their own behalf When they found
that ther could net do that. their
agents diligently spread seditiOu
amongst u5 and sought TO draw our
oWa citizens for their allegiance and
some of those agents were men con.
ueete5 with The official embassy Of the
German government itself here tn our
oHu p}tol They sought By violence
to destroy our industries and arrest
our commence They tried 20 incita
Mexico 90 take up arms against US
and 70 draw Japan into a hostile ALI
aace with her and that not by indi.
rectIou. but by direct suggestion from