The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1917-06-21
SAYS u. s. ENTERED WAR TO
SUPPRESS MILITARY
MASTERS
President, in Flag Day Speech. A.,
serts America 10 Ready to
Fight for Old Principle
Democracy .


were stated anew by President VIII
son today in Flag day address be-
meath the Washington monument.
Germany's military masters denied
the United States the right to be neu-
trail, the president said, and by extra
ordinary insults and aggressions left
us no self-respecting choice but to
take up arms in defense OF our rights
as free people and of our honor as
sovereign government" He recalled
how the imperial government had for
bade Americans use of the high
seas and time and again executed its
threat to send them to their death;
how it filled this unsuspecting coun-
try with spies and conspirators and
sought by violence to destroy indus
tries and arrest commerce, and final
ly how the Berlin foreign office tried
to incite Mexico and Japan into hos
tile alliance.
"What great nation" he asked. in
such circumstances, would not have
taken up arms?"
"Now that America has been forced
to war;" declared the president, "she
bids her young men go forth to fight
on fields of blood far away for the
same old familiar. heroic purpose tor
which it has seen its men die on ev-
cry battlefield, upon which Americans
have borne arms since the Revolution
l-democracy. A sinister power, which
i has the German people in its grip now
at last, has stretched forth its ugly
talons and drawn blood from u.s.
"The whole world is at war; he
added, because the whole world is in
the grip of that power and is trying
out the great battle which shall deter
mine whether it is to be brought
Iunder its mastery or fling its self
free"
In giving warning that the Germans
actually have carried into execution
their plan to throw a broad belt OF
military power across the center OF
Europe and into the heart Of Asia, re-
Ijecting the idea of solidarity OF races
md the choices of peoples, Mr.. VIII
SON spoke of the new intrigue for
peace" now appearing in many guises
at the behest of the Berlin govern
tment ut canot 60 farther-it can
mot 20 back he said. ut wishes to
close its bargain before it is too late
and it has little left to offer for the
pound of flesh it will demand
The President said:
my fellow citizens: We meet to
celebrate Flag day because this flag
we honor and under which we serve is
the emblem of our unity, our power
our thought and purpose as nation
1t has no other character than that
which we give it 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 wo-
men who went before us and OF the
records they wrote upon it. We Gel
citrate the day of its birth; and from
its birth until now it has witnessed
great history, has floated on high
the symbol of great events, of great
plan of life worked out by great
people.
1--WE are about to carry it into bat
tie. to lift it where it will draw the
fire of our enemies. We are about to
| bid thousands, hundreds of thou
sands, it may be millions, OF our men
the young and strong, the capable
men of the nation, to 60 forth and
die beneath it on fields of blood tar
away-for what? For some unac-
customed 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 the great flag
has never been carried before, or fol
some old, familiar, heroic purpose fol
which it has seen men, its own men
die on every 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 it. We are accountable at the
bar OF history and must plead in ut
ter frankness what purpose it is we
seek to serve.
ut 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 defense Of our rights as a
free people and Of our honor as SOW
Ierign government. The military
masters Of Germany denied the right
| to be neutral They filled our unsus-
pecting communities with vicious
spies and conspirators and sought to
:. corrupt the opinion OF our people in
xh.;. c~~ hehalf When they found