The Red Cloud chief., 1917-06-21
SCORES THE KAISER
PRESIDENT SAYS MILITARY MAS
TIERS DENIED v. 8. RIGHT
e TO BE NEUTRAL.
FILLED COUNTRY WITH SPIES
Failed In Attempt to Spread seditlon
German People In Grip Of Same
Sinister Power That Has
Drawn Blood From us.

OTSWn bIooO FROM W. /
Washington, June 15.-President
Wilson In II Flag day address deliv
cred here on Thursday declared that
we were forced into the worldwide
war by the extraordinary insults and
aggressions of the military masters of
Germany.
The presidents address In part Is as
follows:
My Fellow Citizens: We meet to
celebrate Flag Day because this flag
which we honor and under which we
serve Is the emblem of our unity, our
power. our thought and purpose as II
nation. II has no other character than
that which we give II from generation
to generation. The choices are ours.
II floats In majestic silence above the
hosts that execute those choices,
whether In peace or In war. And yet,
though silent, 1t speaks to us-speaks
to us of the past, of the men and wom-
en- who went before Us and of the rec
ords they wrote upon II. We celebrate
the day of its birth and from Its birth
until now 1t has witnessed n great his
tory, has floated on high the symbol OF
great events, of n great plan of life
worked out by a great people. We are
about to carry II into battle, to lift II
where it will draw the fire of our en-
emics. We are about to bid thousands,
hundreds of thousands, 1t may be mil.
lions Of our men, the young, the strong,
the capable men of the nation, to go
forth m die beneath Ii on fields OF
blood far away-for what? For some
unaccustOmed thing? For something
for which It has never sought the fire
beforef American armies were never
before sent across the sens. Why are
they sent now2 For some new pur-
pose, for which this great flag has new
er been carried before, or for some old,
familiar, heroic purpose for which 1t
has seen men, its own men, die on ev-
cry battlefield upon which Americans
have borne arms since the Revolution?
These are questions which must be
answered. We are Americans. We In
u turn serve America, and u serve
her with no private purpose. We must
use her flag as she has always used 1t.
We are accountable at the bar Of his.
tory and must plead In utter frankness
what purpose 1t Is we seek TO serve.
United States Forced Into War.
1t is plain enough how we were
forced into the war. The extraordi'
nary insults and aggressions of the I'm
perial German government left us nc
self-respecting choice but to take uI
arms In defense Of our rights as a free
people and Of our honor as a sovereign
government. The military masters OF
Germany denied us the right to be neu
trail. They filed our unsuspecting com
munities with vicious spies and con
spirators and sought to corrupt the
opinion Of our people In their Own be
half. When they found that they coult
not do that, their agents dillgentl!
spread seditiOn amongst us and sOugh
to draw our own citizens from theil
allegiance, and some of those agents
were men connected with the Ofiicla
embassy Of the German government II
self here in our own capital. The.
sought by violence to destroy our In
dustries and arrest III commerce
They tried to lncite Mexico to take u
arms against US and to draw Japan In
to n hostile alliance with her-an,
that, not by indirection, but by direC
suggestion from the foreign Office 1
Berlin. They impudently denied u
the use of the high seas and repeated
ly executed their threat that the
would send to their death any of on
people who ventured to approach tn
coasts of Europe. And many Of on
own people were corrupted. Men b.
gan to look upon their W %neighbor
with suspicion and to wonder In the
hot resentment and surprise whetht
there was any community In whlc
: hostile intrigue did not Turk. Whi
great nation In such circumstance
would not have taken up arms? MUG
as we had desired peace, II was denie
us, and not of our W choice. TIL
flag under which we serve would ha,
/, been dishonOred had we withheld OF
hand.
No Emnity Toward German People
= But that Is only part of the stor
r We know nov as clearly as we kne
Z before we were ourselves engaged tn
r we are not enemies of the German pc
pie and that they are not II enemit
q They did not originate or desire III
n hideous wal or wish that we should
n drawn into 1t and we are vaguely co
sclous hat We are fighting their eau
as they will some day see II, as well
our own. They are themselves In {
n grip Of the anne sinister power tb
a has now at last stretched It's ugly 4
Ons out and drawn blood from US. Il
whole world Is In the grip of that pO
er and is trying out the great bat
which shall determine whether Ii Is
= be brought under It's mastery or I'll
itself free.
The wal was begun by the militia
n masters Of Germany, who proved to
!. also the masters of Austria-H ungar