The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1917-07-05

right or wrong."-Stephen Decatur.
A v " "
THE PRESIDENTS FLAG DAY
ADDRESS.
President Wilson delivered the fol-
lowing address at the flag day eXer-
cises in Washington, June 14th:
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
nation. 1t has no other character
than that which we give it from gen
Grafton 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
and OF the records they wrote upon
it. We celebrate the day OF its birth;
and from it's birth until now it has
witnessed great history, has float
ed on high the symbol OF great events
of a great plan of life worked out
carry it into battle to lift it where it
will draw the fire of our enemies.
We are about to bid thousands, hum
dreds of thousands, 1t may be mill
lions, of our men, the young, the
strong, the capable men OF the ma
ton, to go forth and die beneath, it
on fields of blood far away-forr
what? For some unaccustomed
thing For something for Which it
y he+ef, sought the-ftTe befores
american 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 purpose for which it
has seen men, its own men, die on
every battle field upon which Amerl-
cans have borne arms since the Revo-
luton?
Accountable at Bar of History.
These are questions which must be
answer ed. 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 utter frankness what purpose it
is we seek to serve.
1t is plain enough how We were
forced into the war. The eXtraordin-
airy insults and aggressions of the
Imnerial German Government left y. -:
no seif-respeeting choice but to take
a free people aid OF cur honor as
S6r2areign government. The military
masters of Germany denied US the
right to be neutral. They filled our
unsuspecting communities with vlcl-
Gus spies and conspirators 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 sedi-
ton amongst US and sought to draw
our own citizens from their allegi-
ance-and some of those 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
dustlies and arrest Our commerce.
They trieu to incite Mexico to take
UP arms against us ana TO ara"
japan into q hostile alliance with her
and that, not by indirecticn, but by
direct suggestion from the foreign
office in Berlin 1hev impuGently
denied us the use of the high seas
and repeatedly executed their threat
that they would send to their death
any of our people who VentuTed TO
approach the coasts VI ibui JIG. INV
many of our own people We're cor
rupted Men began to look unon
their own neighbors with suspicion
and to wonder in their hot resent
ment and surprise whether there was
any community in which hostile in
trigue did not Turk. What great ma
ton in such circumstances would
not have taken up arms? Much as
we had desired peace, it was denied
us, and not Of our own choice. rms
flag under which we serve would
have been dishonored had we with
held our hand
Bur that is only part Of the story.
We know now as clearly as we Knew
before we were en- gagged that we are
not the enemies of the German peo-
pie and that they are not our en-
emies. They did not originate or de-
sire this hideous war or wish that
we should be drawn into it; and we
are vaguely conscious that we are
fighting their cause, as they will some
day see it, as we'll as our own. Ihey
are themselves in the grip OF the
same sinister power that has now a.
last stretched its ugly talons out and
drawn blood from US. The whole
world is at war because the whole
world is in the grip OF that power
and is trying out the great battle
which shall determine whether it is
10 pG- -DlOuShb ito
fling itself free.
War Begun by German MiiitaTists.
The war was begun by the military
masters of Germany, who proved to
be also the masters of Austria-Hun-
gary. These men have never regard
ed nations as peoples, men. women
and children of like blood and frame
as themselves, for whom govern
ments existed and in whom govern
ments had their life. They have re-