Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1917-06-22
ANOTHER CONFIRMATION.

ANOTHER CONFIRMATION.
''The great fact that stands out above all
the rest is that this is peoples war, war
for freedom and justice and self-govern-
ment amongst all the nations of the world,
war to make the world safe for the people
who live upon it and have made it their
own, German peoples themselves included
These are the words of President Wilson in the
stirring address he delivered on Flag Day, the
first address since America entered the war in
which he stripped his utterances of all the diplo-
matte verbiage common to governmental address
es and spoke straight out from the shoulder.
Plainly, emphatically aggressively he stated the
issue as he sees it. the principle now being fought
out in the world war, the tremendous issue of
autocracy against democracy, in whose answer
lies the further development of our own govern
ment as well as the destiny of the world
with us rests the choice to break
through all the hypocrisies and patent
cheats and masks of brute force and help
set the world free, or else stand aside and
let it be dominated long age through by
sheer weight of arms and the arbitrary
choices of self-consttuted masters by the
nation which can maintain the biggest
armies and the most irresistible ornaments
So power to which the world has afford
ed no parallel and in the face Of which po-
ST. Gtical freedom must wither and PERISH
Thus he expresses it, without any quibbling or
lodging or softening of the issue, but bluntly,
pomtedly, leaving no doubt as to his meaning.
Previously, speaking Of the military masters Of
Germany whom he excoriated and declared
denied US the right to be NEUTRAL whose plan
Of Pan-Germany and world domination through
the overpowering strength Of their military PROV
80 he characterized as hitherto unbelievable, he
asserted
If they succeed, they are safe and Ger
many and the world are undone; if they
fail, Germany is saved and the world will
be ct peace. If they succeed, America will
fall within the menace. We and all the
rest OF the world must remain armed, as
they will remain, and must make ready for
the next step in their aggression; if they
fail, the world may unite for peace and
Germany may be Of the union
It is war, continued war, continued piling up
Of the burden Of militarism, or peace through
federation OF democratic nations; it is DONNA
ton of the world by the force and through the
fear OF military autocracy so ruthless that it
hesitates not to sink Lusitania, or development
OF popular government until there are free
peoples everywhere, . joined in pact to keep the
peace, looking upon treaties not as mere scraps
Of paper" but as solemn obligations Of nation
that keeps its word,' unwilling through their
very constitution governments of free peoples
to undertake war of aggression.
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 wheth-
q It is to By brought under its mastery or to fling
itself Free the president declares, confirming
again throughout his whole address that state
ment of the international situation which is be-
coming clearer to Americans daily, the issue of
autocracy versus democracy. That is what we
are fighting for, that is what must be determined
before peace comes, that is what must be decided
before we can know the future Of our own gov
eminent, our "place in the sum-" our opportunity
to work out our own development as individuals
and as nation as We see fit.
There is only one way in which it can be de-
cided, OF course-democracy must win, and that
means we must win. 'For us there is but one
CHOICE" as the president said at the close of his
impressive address. "We have made it. Woe to
the man or group of men that seeks to stand in
our way in this day of high resolution when every
principle We hold dearest is to be indicated and
made secure for the salvation of the nations!''
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