Middletown transcript., 1917-06-23

Washington, June 14.-Presloent
Wilson delivered a notable speech
here in commemoration of Flag Day
in which he again outlined the poslt'
ton of the United States in regard to
the world war. The address is in full
as follows:
NV Fellow Citizens: We meet to
celebrate Flag Day because this nag
which we honor and under which
we serve is the emblem of our unity
our mower. our thought and purpose
as a nation. 1t has no other CHAR
acter than that which we give 1t from
generation to generation. The choices
are ours. 1t floats in majestic silence
above the hosts that execute those
choices, whether in peace or in war.
And yet, though silent, it speaks to
us,-speaks to us of the past, 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 it's birth until now it has
witnessed a great history, has f1oated
on high the symbol of great events.
Of a great plan of life worked out
by a great people. We are about
to carry it into battle to lift it where
1t will draw the fire of our enemies.
We are about to bid thousands, hun
dreds of thousands, it may be mill
ions, of our men, the young, the
strong, the capable men of the ma
ton, to go 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 purpose,
for which this great flag has never
been carried before, or for some old,
familiar, heroic purpose for which it
has seen men, its own men, die on
every battlefield upon which Ameri-
cans 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 it, We are accountable
1f h;cfo nj
in utter frankness what purpose it
is we seek to serve.
1t is plain enough how we were
forced into the war. The eXtraordi-
nary insults and aggressions Of the
Imperial German Government left us
up 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 neutral. They filled our
unsuspecting communities with vicious
spies and conspirators and sought to
corrupt the opinion of our people in
their own behalf. 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 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 commerce. They tried to
incite 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 impudently denied us the use
of the high seas and repeatedly exc
cuted their threat that they would
send to their death any of our people
who ventured to approach the coasts
Of Europe. And many of our own
people were corrupted. 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, it was de-
MED us, and not of our own choice.
This flag under which we serve would
have been dishonored had we with
held our hand.
But that is only part of the story.
We know now as clearly as we knew