The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1917-06-15
WILSON BIDS US.
BREAK GERMAN
, GRIP ON WORLD
TalOns Of Sinister Power
Harried America Into
War for Freedom.
TEUTONS' PLOTS Barred
Militarism Failing, Deceptive
Peace Is Sought, Flag
Day Warning.
TEUTONS' PLOTS Barred


fire of the enemy across the sea and the
purpose she seeks to serve were stated
anew by President Wilson to-day In a
Flag Day address beneath the Washing
ton Monument.
Germany's military masters denied
the United States the right to be neutral.
the President said. and by extraordinary
insults and aggress!ons left us no self
respecting choice but to take up arms in
defence Of our rights as a free people
and OF our honor as a sovereign Govern
ment" lie recalled how the Imperial
Government had forbade Americans the
use OF the high seas and time and again
executed its threat to send them to their
death; how it filled this unsuspectng
country with spies and conspirators and
sought by violence to destroy industries
and arrest commerce. and finally how
the Berlin Foreign Office tried to incite
Mexico and Japan into hostile al
lance.
"what great nation" he asked. "in
| such eircum stances would not have taken
up armsf'
Sinister Power Menaces L. 3.
Now that America has been forced to
war asserted the President. she bids
her young men go forth to fight on fields
OF blood far away for the same old
familiar. heroic purpose for which she has
| seen her men die on every battlefield
upon which Americans have borne irms
| since the Revolution for democracy. A
| sinister power. he said. which has the
| German people themselves in Its grip.
now at last has stretched forth Its
ugly talons and drawn blood from U.S."
"The whsle world Is at war;" he added,
"because the whole world is in the grip
Of that power and Is trying out the great
II to be brought under It's mastery or
Aing itself free"
! In giving warning that tho Germans
| actually have carried into execution
their plan to throw q broad belt of mill
tary power across the centre of Europe
and into the heart OF Asia. rejecting the
! idea OF solidarity OF races and the
choices of peoples. Mr. Wilson spoke of
the new intrigue for peace now appear
! ing In many gu.ses al the behest or the
Berlin Government
| "It cannot 40 further, II dare not go
back" he said. at wishes to close its
bargain before II Is too late and II has
little left to OFFER for the pound OF flesh
II will demand"
| Secretary Lansing introduced the
President. ami most of the members OF
! the Cabinet and others prominent In Of
f1cial life were present.
Words From the Flag.
The President said:
MY FELLOW CITIZENS; We meet to
celebrate Flag Day because this nag
which we honor. and under which we
L.. tt., .,fr mil
power. our thought and purpose as a
nation. 1t has no other character than
that which we give II 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. 1t 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 1t. We cele-
brate the day of Its birth. and from its
birth until now It has witnessed a
great history. has fioated on high the
symbol OF great events. of a great plan
OF life worked out by a great people.
We are about to carry 1t into battle. to
lift it where It will draw the fire OF our
enem mics. We are about to bid thou
sands hundreds OF thousands II may
be millions. OF our men. the young. the
strong. the capable men OF the nation.
to go forth and die beneath II on fields
OF blood far away--for what? For
some unaccustomed thing? For some
thing for which 1t has never sought
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
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 Revolu-
tion?
We Are Americans.
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 al
ways used It, We are accountable at
the bar OF history and must plead in
utter frankness what purpose 1t 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
no self-respecting choice but to take
up arms In defence OF our rights as
free people and OF our honor as
sovereign Government. The military
masters OF Germany denied us the
right to be neutral. They filled our
4. unsuspecting communities with vicious
spies and consp!rators 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 among us and sought
r to draw our own citizens from their
r allegiance--and some OF these 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 in
dustries and arrest our commerce.
I They tried to incite Mexico to take up
arms against us and to draw Japan
into u hostile alliance with her-and
, that. not by indirection but by direct
Q suggestion from the Foreign Office IN
t Berlin. They impudently denied us
3 the use Of the high seas and repeal tedly
q executed their threat that they would
. send to their death any OF our people
0 who ventured to approach the coasts
OF Europe. And many Of our own
people were corrupted. Men began 10
d look upon their own neighbors with
= suspicion and to wonder In their hot
Continued on Second Page.