Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-06-14

eontinued from Page One
ours II floats in majestic silence above the
hosts that execute those choices, whether
IN peace or in war. And yet, though sill
ant Il speaks to us-speaks TO us of the
mast of the men and women who went
before us and of the records they wrote
upon It. We celebrate the day of its birth !;
and from its birth until now il has wit
messed a great history, has floated on high
the symbol of great events, Of a great plan
Al 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 enemies
We are about to bid thousands, hundreds Of
thousands, It may be millions, of our men,
The Young the strong, the capable men Of
the nation, to go forth and die beneath II
an fields of blood far away-for what?
For some unaccustomed thing? For SONG
thing for which 1t has never sought the
, Are before? American armies were never
before sent across the seas. Why are they
sent now? For some new purpose for
which this great flag has never been carried
before, or for some old, familiar, heroic
purpose for which 1t has seen men, its own
men. die on every battlefield upon which
Americans have borne arms since the Revo-
luton?
These are questions which must be an
swered. We are Americans. We in our
turn serve America, and can serve her with
as she has always used it. We are ac-
countable at the bar Of history and must
plead in utter frankness what purpose 1t is
we seek to serve.
WHY AMERICA FIGHTS
1T is plain enough how we were forced
into the war. The extraordinary insults and
aggressions of the Imperial German Gov
ernment left us no self-respecting choice
but to take up arms in defense Of our
-la f-A. aV,I 1f h -
as a sovereign Government
"The military masters of Germany de-
MED us the right to be neutral
They filled our unsuspecting communi-
ties with vicious spies and conspirators and
sought to corrupt the opinion of our peo-
pie in their own behalf. When they found
that they could not do that, their agents
diligently spread sedtion among us and
sought to draw our own citizens from their
allegance-and some of those agents were
men connected with the official embassy Of
the German Government itself, here in our
own capital. They sought by violence to
destroy our industries and arrest our COM
rnerce. They tried to incte Mexico to take
up arms against us and to draw Japan into
hostile alliance with her-and that, not by
indirection, but by direct suggestion from
the Foreign Office in Berlin. They impu-
IDENTIFY denied us the use of the high seas
and repeatedly executed their threat that
who ventured to approach the coasts Of
Europe.
I And many of our own people were cor
rupted, Men began to look upon their own
neighbors with suspicion and to wonder in
their hot resentment and surprise whether
there was any community in which hostile
intrigue did not lurk What great nation
IN such circumstances would not have taken
up arms? Much as we had desired peace,
was denied us and not of our own choice.
TINS flag under which we serve would have
peen dishonored had we withheld our hand
GERMAN PEOPLE NOT BLAMED
But that is only part of the story. We
Know now as clearly as we knew before we
were ourselves engaged that we are not the
enemies Of the German people and that they
are not our enemies. They did not originate
or desire this hideous war or wish that we
should be drawn into it; and we are
vaguely conscious that we are fighting their
cause-they will some day see it-as well
as our own. They are themselves in the
grip of the same sinister power that has
now at last stretched it's ugly talons out
ana drawn blood from us. The whole world
IS at war because the whole world is in the
grip OF that power and is trying out the
great battle which shall determine whether
sN Is to be brought under its mastery or
hing itself free.
The war was begun by the military
masters OF Germany, who proved to be also
Ihe masters of Austria-Hungary. These
men nave never regarded nations as peoples,
Feh' women and children of like blood and
ltame as themselves, for whom govern
GSnts existed and In whom governments had
lheir life. They have regarded them merely
serviceable organizations which they
yould by force or intrigue bend or corrupt
their own purpose. They have regarded
lne smaller States, in particular, and the
ha hal nv
their natural tools and instruments of
sonlnation. Their purpose has long been
avowed
l The States of the other nations, to
u~nVm mat purpose was incredible, paid
ntue attention; regarded what German pro-
essors expounded in their classrooms and
Serman writer's set forth to the world as
ne goal Of German policy as rather the
ream OF minds detached from practical af-
tsLs as preposterous private conceptions
herman destiny, than as the actual plans
responsible rulers but the rulers OF
Sermany themselves knew all the while
Ehat concrete plans, what well-advanced
Ilsnes lay back of what the professors
~ the writer's were saying, and were
klau TO go forward unmolested, filling the
iniones OF Balkan States with German
princes putting German officers at the serv-
OF Turkey TO drill her armies and make
rlerest with her Government, developing
r VI seulton ana rebelllon IN lnula anu
Isypt' setting their fires in Persia. The
eenands made by Austria upon Serbia were
mere single step in a plan which COM
passed Europe and Asia. from Berlin to
oagdad. They hoped those demands might
not arouse Europe, but they meant TO press
nem whether they did or not, for they
mought themselves ready for the final issue
q arms.
THE NEW GERMANY
Their plan was to throw a broad belt
German military power and political
-ontrol across the very center OF Europe
rfa beyond the Mediterranean into the
fsert Of Asiai and Austria Hungary wss
M % a. much their tool and pawn a. Ser
PA Or nulaarIa a. T.,rlsax ~ the uonderaiil