The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-06-16
Woodrow Wilson Tells Fellow Americans
What German Victory Means to
the World.
In Great Flag Day Address President Wilson Reviews
War Situation, Exposing the Plans for World Con-
quest and World Dominion of German Military Caste
Intrigue and Conspiracy Still Active in the United
States.

WlihOn Wdrhcu tle AucriCdH peopi
!. In Flag Day address on the Wash
ington Monument grounds today tina
Germany has carried into effect tn
greater part of her immediate plar
: Of conquest and now is negotiating ;
!. new "intrigue of peace" designed t.
end the war while her aggressions arr
secure.
All the central empires, the presi
dent declared. have been cementec
into one great autocracy-ridden EN-
pire. throwing broad belt Of Ger
man military power and political con
troll across the very center Of Eu
rope and beyond the Mediterranean
I, into the heart OF Asia" This accom-.
plished. he said, It is easy to under.
stand why Germany is fostering q
propaganda for an early peace.
Peace, peace, peace, has been the
talk of her foreign office for now g
year and more" said the president
"A little Of the talk has been public
but most Of 1t has been pri-
vate. Through all sorts OF
channels 1t has come to me and
In all sorts Of guises. The
military masters under whom Ger
many is bleeding So very clearly to
what point fate has brought them. If
they can secure peace now with the
immense advantage still in their
hands which they have up to this
point apparently gained, they will
have justified themselves before the
German people; they will have gained
by force what they promised to gain
by It." @3
The president recited again the Ger
man aggressions which drove the
United States to war. He declared
the purposes for which American SOL
diers now carry the Stars and Stripes
to Europe for the first tine in history.
ara mot new to American traditions
because realization of Germany's war
aims must eventually mean the un-
doing Of the whole world. He spoke
as 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 a
nation. 1t has not other character
than that which we give it from gen.
Grafton to generation. - We eel
ebrate the date Of its birth and FROM
It's birth until now 1t has witnessed
great history, has fioated on high the
symbol of great events, of a great
plan of life worked out by a great peo
pie. We are about to carry it into
battle, to lift it where it will draw thu
fire. of our enemies. We are about tt
bid thousands, hundreds Of thousands
1t may be millions, of our men. th'
young men, the strong. the capable
men Of the nation, to go forth and di'
beneath 1t on fields of blood far awal
for what? For some unaccustomet
thing, For something for which i
has never sought the fire before
American armies were never befor'
! sent across the seas. Why are the!
sent now? For some new purpose
for which this great flag has nevel
been carried before, or for some old
familiar. heroic purpose for which 1
has seen men. its own men. die on ev
cry battlefield upon which Ameri
cans have borne arms since the rev
olution?
These are questions which must b.
answered '''
"It Is plain enough how We wer
forced into the war. The extraordin
ary insults and aggressions of the i'm
perial German government left us n
self-respecting choice but to take u
arms In defense Of our rights as
free people and of our honor as
sovereign government. The militar
masters of Germany denied us tn
right to be neutral. They filled ou
unsuspecting communities with viciou
spies and conspirators and sought I
corrupt the opinion Of our people /
their own behalf. When they foun
that they could not do that, thei
agents diligently spread seditio
amongst us and sought to draw ou
own citizens from their allegiance
and some of these agents were me
connected with the official embassy {
the German government itself-hel
in our own capital. They sought b
,.,oIooca IN daotrov our indu ST rieS an