The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1917-06-19
MIR. WILSON MAKES STRONG
FL tC DAY ADDRESS
Why We Joined Mar-Declares 1t Is
Peoples Battle Against Prussian-
ism. for Freedom, Self-Cov-
srnment and Justice.


Washington, June 14.-President
Wilson warned the American people
in a Flag Day address on the Wash
ington Monument grounds today that
Germany has carried INFO eject the
greater part of her immediate plan
Of conquest and now IS negotiating a
new intrigue Of peace" designed to
end the war while her aggressions are
secure.
All the Central Empires, the Presi-
dent declared, have been cemented
into one great autocracy-ridden en-
pire throwing a broad belt Of German
military power :.nd political control
across the very center of Europe and
beyond the Mediterranean into the
heart of Asia" This accomplished.
he said, it is easy to understand why
Germany is fostering a propaganda
for an early peace.
Much Peace Talk.
peace, peace has ben. n..........
"Peace, peace, peace has been the
talk of her foreign Office for now
wear and more,'' said the President.
s.A little of the talk has been public,
hut most of it has been private.
Through all sorts of channels it has
come to me and in all sorts Of gulses.
The military masters under whom
Germany is bleeding see very clearly
to what point fate has brought them.
If they can secure peace now with
the immense advantages still in their
hands, which they have up to this
point apparently gained, they will have
justified themselves before the Ger
man people; they will have gained Dy
force what they promised to gain by
it."
Spoke Under Umbrella
Several hours before the President
spoke Washington had been dencneo
with rain and pelted with nail. All
through the speech rain came down
softIy and a secret service man held
an umbrella over the Presidents head,
while hundreds Of umbrellas hid tne
faces of most of the hearers. In spite
of the unfavorable conditions, the
crowd was large and applauded vlgor-
4ously. Secretary Lansing introduced
the President and most of the mem
bers of the Cabinet and others prom
inent in Official life were present.
The President recited again the Ger
man aggressions which drove the
United States to war. He declared the
purposes for which American soldiers
now carry the Stars and Stripes to
Europe for the first time in history,
are not new to American traditions
because realization Of Germans war
aims must eventually mean the undo
ing of the whole world. He spoke as
follows:
Emblems of Unity.
"My fellow citizens: We meet to
celebrate Flag Day because this has
which we honor and nuder which we
serve is the emblem of unity, our pow
er, our thought and purpose as ma
ton. It has no other character than
that which we give it from generation
to generation. We celebrate the
Sey of it's birth: and from its birth
until now it has witnessed great his
tory, has aoated on high the symbol
OF great events, of great plan OF LIE
worked out by great people. we are
about to carry it into battle, to lift 1t
where it will draw the fire of our enc
mics. We are about to bid thousands,
hundreds of thousands, it may be mil
lions, of our men, the young, the
strong, the capable men Of tie nation,
TO 20 forth and die beneath it on fields
of blood far away-for what? For
some unaccustomed thing? For some
thing for which it has never sought
the fire before? American arms 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 purposefo
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.
German Aggressions.
''It is plain ensugh how we were
TOrceQ 1QCO the WdT. 1uS SAll dO1 uA
nary insults and aggressions of the
Imperial German Government left US
BIO selfrespecting choice but to take
up arms in defense Of our rights as
@ 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 Vici-
Gus spies and conspirators and sought
to corrupt the opinion of our people
in their own behalf When they found
that they could mot 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
he German Government itself-here
in our own Capital. They sought by
violence to destroy our industries and
arrest our commerce. They tried to
mcite Mexico to take u parms against
US and to draw Japan into hostile