The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1917-06-21
President Tells Plans Of Ger
many and Reviews U. s.
Aims III Flag Day
Speech. ;sIxs
SPIES WORK IN AMERICA
Intrigue of Teuton Government.
Pointed Out After DECLARE
ton That Insults Forced
the U. s. to Fight.

- uuiSiiSe assembled mere To-Day Tor a
rag day celebration, President Wilson
declared anew the aims and purposes
world war.
No Choice But War.
Standing in the shadow Of the great
monument erected to tine memory Of
George Washington, the president 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 be-
cause the extraordinary insults and
expressions OF the Imperial German
government left us nc choice but to
take up arms in defense Of our rights
as a free people and of our honor az a |
sovereign government"
The Stars and Stripes are going to
= strangegland, the president said, for
q purpose as old as American traditions.
Woe To Disturbers.
For us there is but one choice
said the president. w have mad it.
Woe be to the mar or group Of men
that seeks to tan in our way in this
day of high resolution when every
principle we hold dearest is to be vim
dicatesi and made secure for the saliva
ton Of nations. We are ready to plead
at the bar of history and our flag shall
wear a new luster. Once more we shall
make good with our lives and fortunes
the great faith to which we were born
dkIu d new RlOIy SIall SIl1IlC III ltlC 1dCc
of our people"
President Wilson warned against per
hitting Germany to end the war now
by an "intrigue4of peace while her ag-
gressions were secure.
The president said:
NJ fellow citizens: We meet to cell
ebrafe Flag day because this flag which
we honor and under which we serve
is the emblem of our unity, u power,
our thought and purpose as a nation.
1t has no other character than that
which we give it from generation TO
ger era e @ehalces are Ours. 1t
floats in majestic silence above the
hosts that execute those choices,
whether in peace or in war. And vet,
though silent, it speaks to us,-speals
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 if it's birth; and from its birth until
now it has witnessed a great history,
has floated on high the symbol of great
events. of a great plan of life worked
carry it into battle, to lift it where it
will draw fire of our enemies. We ale
about to bid thousands, hundreds Of
thousands, it may be millions, OF uor
men. the young, the strong, the capable
men of the nation, to go forth and die
for what? For some unaccusto,nad
thing? For something for which it has
never sought the fire before? Ameri-s
can 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 purposes for which it i,as seen
men, its own men, die on every battle
field pon which Americans have
borne arms since the revolution?
German Insults Foreo War.
These are questions which must be,
!: !: : cred NJ e areaA merit.a ss@SWe-i in
our turn serve America. and can serve
her with no private puTpose.GWe must
use her flag as she has always used it.
We are accountable at the bar of his
tory and must plead in utter ~frankness
what purpose it Is we seek to serve.
1t is plain enough how we were
forced into the war. The extraordinary
insults and agg-esstons of the imperial
German government left us no self re-
spectjng choice but to take up arms in
defense of our rights as a free people
and Of our n as a sovereign gov
eminent. The military masters of Ger
many denied us the right to be neutral,
They filed our un~suspecting communi-.
ties with vicious spies and c%onspira-i
tors and soughtEto corrupt the opinion,
Of our people in their 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 gents Were men
connected with the official embassy of
the German government itself here in
our w capitol. They sought by vio-
lence to destroy our industries and ar
rest our commerce. They tried to In
cite Mexico to take UP arms against
us and to Japan into a hostile
alliance with her-and that, not by in
direction, but by direct suggestion from
the foreign office in Berlin"
Flag Dishonored by Peace.
They impudently denied us the use
of the hish seas and repeatedly exe-
cuied their threat that they would send
to their death any Of our people who
yentuSed to approach the coasts Of
Europe. And naany of our own peoule
were CORRUPTED. Men began to look
upon their neighbors with suspicion and
to wonder in their hot resentment and
surprise whether there was any com
munity in which hostile intrigue did
not Turk. What great nation in such
circumstances would not have taken
.p arms? Much as we desired peace
it was denied us. and not Of our owl
choice. This flag under which W.
serve would have been ~dishonored haG
we withheld our hand.
But that is only ! TT OF h story
We know now as clearly as we knew
before we were ourselves engaged tha'
ye are not the enemies of the German
Deople. and they ere not our enemies
They, did n o originate or desire thil
hideons war or wish that we shouls
be drawn into It; and we are vaguel,
conscious that we are fighting theil
cause. as they will some day e it, q.
well as our own. They themselves are II
the grip OF sthe same sinister pOwel
that has now1at last stretched Its ngi,
taions out m drawn biOo1 from IA
The whole world Is at wal because tn,
whole world IL In the grip Of that powe