The Clayton news. (Clayton, N.M.) 19??-1954, 1917-06-16


great audience assembled here today
for q Flag Day celebration. President
Wilson declared anew the aims and
purposes of the United States in en-
tering the world war
Standing in the shadow of the
great monument erected to the MEM
ory of George Washington, the pres
ident told thousands gathered on the
grassy slopes that the United States
had entered the war not alone to
keep the world safe for democracy
but also because the extraordinary
insults and aggressions of the imper-
ial German government left us no
choice but to take up arms in de-
tense of our rights as free people
and of our honor as a sovereign gov,
ernment
The Stars and Stripes are going to
& strange land the president said,
for purpose old as American
traditions
For us there is but one choice"
said the president We have made
il. Woe be to the man or group of
men that seeks to stand in our way
IN this day of high resolution when
every principle we hold dearest is
10 be vindicated and. made secure for
the salvation of nations. We are
ready to plead at the bar of history
and our flag shall wear new lustre.
Once more we shall make good with
our lives and fortunes the great faith
10 which we were born and new
glory shall shine in the face of our
people.
"All the central empires" the
president declared, "have been ce-
mented into great autocracy-
ridden empire, throwing broad belt
~ German military power and poll
teal control across the very center
of Europe and beyond the Mediter-
ranean into the heart of Asia" This
achieved. he said, it is easy to under
stand~-why Germanys is fostering a
propaganda for an early peace.
Peace. peace, peace has been the
talk of her foreign office for now
a. year and more said the president.
a little of the talk has been public,
but most of it has been private. Thru
all sorts of channels it has come to
me and in all sorts of guises. The
military masters under whom Ger
many is bleeding see very clearly to
what point fate has brought them.
II they secure peace now with the
immense advantages still in their
hnads which they have up to this
point apparently gained. %hey will
have justified themselves before the
German people. they will have gain
ed by for what they promised to
gain by it.
That government has other valu-
able pawns in its hands besides those
! have mentioned. 1t still holds a
valuable part of France though with
slowly relaxing grasp and practically
the whole of Belgium. Its armies
press close upon Russia and over
run Poland at their viii. 1t cannot
20 further; it dare not go back.
II wishes to close it's bargain before
il is too late and 1t has little left
TO offer for the pound of flesh it
win demand.
The military masters under whom
Germany is bleeding see very clearly
10 what point fate has brought them
N they fail back or are forced back
an inch, their power both abroad
and at home will fan to pieces like
a, house of cards
1T is their power at home they
are thinking about now, more than
heir power abroad II is that power
which is trembling under their very
feet and deep fear has entered theiI
hearts. They have but one chance
10 perpetuate their mind further OF
even their controlling political in
fiuenee. II they can secure peac'
now with the immense advantages
still In their hands which they have
up to this point apparently gained
they will have justified themselves
before the German people; they viii
have gained by force what they prom.
ised to gain by H. an immense ex-
pansion of German power an i'm
mense enlargement of German indus
trial and commercial opportunities
Their prestige, will be secure and
with their prestige their politica
power. If they failed the people
themselves win be set up in Ger
many as 1t has been in England, in the
United States. in France and in all the
great countries of the modern tim'
except Germany. If they succeed
they are safe and Germay and the
world are undone; il they fail. Ger
many is saved and the world will be a
peace. II they succeed, America will
fan within the menace. We and al
the rest of the world must remain arm
ed. as they will remain, and must maxi
ready for the next step in their ag