The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1917-06-23
|REs THE EAISER
..rur SAYS MI AIRY MAS
<ss DENIED u. =. RIGHT
TO BE NEUTRAL.
COUNTRY WITH SPIES
u = Attempt to Spread Sedition
e.r,s People in Grip Of Same
s,.,s,er Power That Has
cnwu Blood From Us

s,rfoa. June 15.-President
i q. q a Flag day address deliv-
= - on Thursday declared that
q -, forced into the worldwide
= = fhe extraordinary insults and
q rriaae of the military masters of |
Z 4. wesident's address In part is as
: ~:
: (, vSIow Citizens: We meet to
|, 80 Flag Day because this flag
a n honor and under which We
: 4 the emblem of our unity, our
=. cur thought and purpose as u
- II has no other character than
NH we give 1t from generation
ne1tOn. The choices are ours.
ND In majestic silence above the
y that execute those choices.
keA9 In peace or in war. And yet,
"a silent, 1t speaks to us-speaks
: d the past. Of the men and wOm-
- went before us and Of the rec
u they wrote upon it. We celebrate
~ Of Its birth and from its birth
a low II has witnessed great his
=, has noated on high the symbol of
II events, OF great plan Of life
etd out by a great people. We are
Ut to carry 1t into battle. TO lift II
IN Il will draw the fire Of our en-
- We are about to bid thousands,
nlFeds Of thousands, 1t may be mil
- Of our men, the young, the strong,
y upable men Of the nation, to go
N and die beneath 1t on fields Of
~ far away--fOr what? For some
uccustomed thing? For something
v which II has never sought the fire
tRei American armies were never
fbe sent across the seas. Why are
~ sent now? For some new pur-
m fer which this great flag has new
|kbeen carried before, or for some old,
hniliar. heroic purpose for which 1t
- seen men, Its own men, die on ev-
|U battlefield upon which Americans
me borne arms since the Revolutions
nese are questions which must be
|nwered. We are Americans. We In
- turn serve America. and can serve
)pgith no private purpose. We must
N1er flag as she has always used It,
Uenre accountable at the bar of his
M and must plead i'm utter frankness
nat purpose IL Is we seek to serve.
unltsd States Forced Into War.
II n plain enough how we were
forced Into the war. The eXtraOrdi-
nary insults and aggressiOns of the i'm
perial German government left US no
elf-respecting choice but to take up
srlns In defense of our rights as free
people and of our honor as a sovereign
sovernment. The military masters of
Germany denied us the right TO be neu-
nal They filed our unsuspecting COM
nunlties with vicious spies and con-
Qlntors and sought to corrupt the
opinion of our people in their own be-
hslf. When they found that they could
pct do that. their agents diligently
qread sedition amongst us and sought
b draw our own citizens from their
allegiance, and some of those agents
xere men connected with the official
enbassy Of the German government IT.
odf here In our own capital. They
Dought by violence to destroy our in
eQStries and arrest our commerce.
ney tried to incite Mexico to take up
>lms against us and to draw japan in
p Z hostile alliance with her-and
ut not by indirection, but by direct
Qggesti0n from the foreign Office In
efiln- They impudently denied US
use Of the high seas and repeated
executed their threat that they
Neald send to their death any of our
<ople who ventured to approach the
nsts Of Europe. And many Of our
~ people were corrupted. Men be-
- to look upon their own neighbOrs
~ suspicion and to wonder in Their
resentment and surprise whether
1nRe was any community in which
ho1lile intrigue did not lurk. What
peet nation In such circumstances
veuld not have taken up arms? Much
= We had desired peace, ii was denied
and not of our own choice. This
g under which we serve would have
IN dishonOred had we withheld oul
IND.
- emnity Toward German People.
But that is only part of the story
*e know now as clearly as We knew
'efore We were ourselves engaged thai
e are not enemies of the German peo
@e and that they are not our enemies
'aey did not originate or desire this
1deons war or wish that we should b,
lawn into it: and we are vaguely con
nous that we are fighting their cause
2 they will some day see ii, as well a!
pr own. They are themselves in th'
Fip of the same sinister power tina
as now at last stretched its ugly tai
rs out and drawn blood from us. TIL,
mole world Is In the grip of that pow
and is trying out the great battl,
'hich shall determine whether it is I,
E brought under its mastery or fin:
self free.
The war was begun by the militar,
'asters Of Germany. who proved to b,
lso the masters of Austria Hungary
hese men have never regarded ma
ons as peoples, men, women. an,
hildren of like blood and frame a
for whom governments ex
tied and In whom governments ha,
heir life. They have regarded ther