Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1917-06-21
SCORES IhE'M6@R
Nessoeesr eAve MILITARY MAJ.
fsae osMaeo Y. 4 a,amr
10 D NEUTRAL
FILLED COUNTRY WITH SPIES


M
washington. June 15.-President
Wiison In a Flag day address deliv-
ese0 lei ON Thursday declared that
We We're forced into the world.w wide
Wal oy the extraordinary insults and
sssressions OF the military masters of
Germany.
The presidents address in part is us
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 n
natlon. 1t has no other character thar
mat which We give it from generation
10 generation. The choices are ours.
II hoats In majestic silence above the
hosts mat execute those choices
whether in peace or in war. And vet.
though silent. 1t speaks to us-speaks
to us of the past, of the men and won.
en- VINO went before US and of the rec
ords they wrote upon it. We celebrate
the day Of Its birth and from its birth
until now it has witnessed a great his
tory. has floated on high the symbol of
great events, Of a great plan of life
worked out by a great people. W. are
about to carry 1t into battle. to lit II
where 1t will draw the fire Of our en-.
eTnies. We are about to bid thousands,
hundreds of thousands. it may be mil.
lions OF our men, the young, the strong,
the capable men OF the nation, to 60
forth and die beneath it on fields of
blood far away-for what? For some
unaccustomed 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 now? 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 it
mas seen men. its 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
our turn serve America. and can 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 We're
forced into the war. The extraordi.
nary insults and aggressions of the i'm
perial German government left us no
self-respecting choice but to take up
arms in defense of our rights as n free
people and Of our honor as Il sovereign
government. The military masters of
Germany denied us the right to be neu.
trail. They filled Our unsuspecting com
munities with vicious spies aud con.
spirators and sought to corrupt the
opinion Of our people in their own be-
half. When they found that they could
not do that. their agents diligently
spread sedition amongst us and sought
to draw our own citizens from their
allegiance. and some of those agents
were mel connected with the official
embassy of the German government IL
self here In our WI capital. They
sought by violence to destroy our in.
dustries and arrest our commerce.
They tried to incitc Mexico to take I'D
arms against us and TO draw Japan in
to a hostile alliance with her-and
that, no ny indirection. but by direct
suggestion from the foreign office In
Berlin. They impudently denied lis
the use of the high seas and repeated
~ executed their threat that they
would send TO their death any Of our
people who ventureI to approach the
coasts Of Europe. And many OF our
own people We're corrupted. Men be.
gan 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 Turk. What
great nation In such circumstances
would not have taken up arms? Much
as we had desired peace, II was denied
uS, INV llol VI VuI ONu CIlt!Cc. HE
flag under which we serve would have
been dishonored had We withheld oul
hand.
No EmnIty Toward German People.
But that is only part Of the story.
We know az clearly as We knew
before we were ourselves engaged that
We are not enemies Of the German peo-
pie and that they are not our enemies.
They did not originate or desire this
hideous war or wish that we should be
drawn into Il; and we are vaguely cor.
scious that we ore fighting their cause.
a. 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 its ugly tai.
Ons out and drawn blood from VA. The
whole world Ia in the grip Of that pow.
er and IL trying out the great battle
which shall determine whether 1t Is tn
be brought under its mastery or fling
itself free.
The wor was begun by the military
masters Of Germany, who proved to be
also the masters Of Austria Hungary.
These me have regarded na.
lions as peoples, e women. md
children Of like blood and frame as
themselves. for whom governments OK.
listed and In whom governments had
their life. They have regarded them
merely ~ s%erviceable organizations
which they could by force or intrigue
bend or corrupt to their OWE purpose.
ARMIES TO WORK As UNIT