East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1917-09-13
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German insults and Aggressions.

German Insults and Aggressions.
There were other acts of hostility
in addition to the submarine warfare.
In his Flag Day address delivered at
Washington on June Il. 1917. this
president summed up the events that
brought on war as follows:
"It 10 plain enough how we were
forced into the war. The extraordi-
nary insults and aggressions of tho
Imperial German Government left US
no self-respecting 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 tho
right to be neutral They filled our
unsuspecting communities with vi
cious 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
sedition amongst US and sought to
draw our own citizens from their al
| legiance-and some OF those agents
| were men connected with the Off
cial embassy of the German govern
ment itself here in our capital They
| sought by violence to destroy our in
dustries and arrest our commerce.
Thief tried to incite Mexico to take up
arms against US and to draw Japan
into a hostile alliance with her-and
| that not by indirection but by sugges-
tion from the foreign office in Ber-
| lin. They impudentiy 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 ventured to approach the coasts
of Europe"
Our Liberty and safety Involved.
Yet even this list of extraordinary
insults and aggressions" does not tell
the whole story our motives for war
go even deeper. Not only our rights
and self-respect, but our liberty and
safety. are involved. Speaking on
July 20 1917, at the officers train
ing camp at Madison Barracks, n. Y.
the secretary of state said:
THE evil character Of the German
government is laid bare before the
world. We know now that that gov
ernment is inspired with ambitions
which menace human liberty, and
that to gain it's end 1t does not hesi-
most sacred rights, or to perpetrate
intolerable acts of inhumanity.
Let us understand once for all that
this is no war to establish an abstract
principle of right 1t is a war In
which the future of the United States
is at stake
The record out of which grows our
deep conviction that It is necessary
iaf To ft,I
and unscrupulus enemy is set forth
in an official publication. How War
Came to America"
Judging the German government
now in the light of our honest at
| tempt to keep the peace. we could see
the great autocrGcy and read her rec
ord through the war And we found
that record damnable With
fanatical faith in the destiny OF
German kultur as the system that
must rule the world. the imperial
governments actions have through
years of bossting. double dealing and
deceit tended toward aggression upon
the rights Of others. And II there
still be any doubt as to which nation
began this war. there can be no un-
certainty as to which one was most
prepared. most exultant at the chance
and ready instantly to march upon
other nations--even those who had
given no offense. The wholesale
depredations and hideous atrocities
in Belgium and In Serbia were doubt
less part and parcel with the imper-
ial governments purpose to terrorlze
small nations into abject submission
for generations to come. But in this
record in those countries. and in Po-
land and in northern France. has Civ |
en- not only TO the allies but to lib- /
eral peoples throughout the world |
the conviction that this menace to |
human liberties must be utterly |
shorn of its power for harm.
"For the evil 1t has effected has |
RANGED far out of Europe-out upon |
the omen seas where its submarines
in defiance of law and the concepts
OF humanity have blown up neutral /
vessels and covered the waves with
the dead and the dying. men and
women and children alike Its agents
have conspired AGAINST the peace Of
neutral nations everywhere. sowing
the seeds of dissension ceaselessly |
endeavoring by torturous methods OF
deceit. of bribery, false promises and Il
intimidation. to stir up brother ma
tions one against the other. in order
that the liberal word might not be
able to unite in order that the au-
tocracy might emerge from tho war
"All this we know from our own
with the imperial govern
ment As they have dealt with Eu-
rope. so they dealt with us and with
all mankind And SO out of these 1
years the conviction has grown that
until the German nation is divested
OF such. democracy can not he safe"
Not Hostile to German People.
One thought which you should keep Il
always in mind is the clear distinc-
tion between our attitude toward the
Imperial German government and
our attitude toward the German peo-
pie The President said in his speech