The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-06-16

Washington, June 14.-President
y Wilson warned the American people
In q Flag Day address on the Wash
ington Monument grounds today that
Germany has carried into effect the
greater part of her immediate plan
f, 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 broad belt Of Ger
!, man military power and political con-
troll across the very center Of Eu-
rope and beyond the Mediterranean
into the heart of Asia" This accom-
plished. he said. 1t is easy to under
stand why Germany Is fostering a
propaganda for an early peace.
Peace. peace. peace. has been the
talk of her foreign office for now a
year and more" said the president.
"A little of the talk has been public,
but most of 1t has been pri-
5yate. Through all sorts OF
channels It has come to me and
In all sorts OF guises. The
military masters under whom Ger
many is bleeding so very clearly to
what point fate has brought them. If
they can secure peace now with the
immense advantage still in their
hands which they have up to this
point apparently J gained, they will
have justified themselves before the
German people: they will have gained
by force what they promised to gain
by It." ~
The president recited again the Ger-
man asgressions3 which drove the
United States to war He declared
the purposes for which American SOL
6iers now carry che stars and Stripes
to Europe Tor the frst time in history.
are mot new to American traditions
because realization of cermany's war
aims must eventually mean the un-
doing Of the whole world. He spoke
as follows: ~ FEh~
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 a
nation. 1t has not other character
than that which we give 1t from gen.
GRAFTON to generation. - We eel
ebrate the date of its birth and from
its birth until now it has witnessed a
great history, has floated on high the
symbol Of great events, of a great
plan of life worked out by great peo-
pie. We are about TO carry it into
battle, to lift it where 1t will draw the
fire of our enemies. We are about to
bid thousands. hundreds of thousands.
1t may be millions, Of our men. the
young men, the strong, the capable
men Of the nation. to go forth and die
beneath 1t ON fields Of blood far away
for what? For some unaccustomed
thing, For something for which 1t
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 this great flag has never
been carried before. or for some old
familiar. heroic purpose for which il
has seen men, its own men. die on ev-
cry battlefield upon which Ameri-
cans have borne arms since the rev.
olutipn?
These are questions which must be
answered . .
"It is plain enough how we were
forced into the war. The extraordin'
ary insults and aggressions Of the i'm
perial German government left US nc
self-respecting choice but to take ur
arms in defense Of our rights as
free people and of our honor as
sovereign government. The military
masters of Germany denied us tho
right to be neutral They filed oul
unsuspecting communities with vicious
spies and conspirators and sought u
corrupt the opinion of our people II
their own behalf. When they fount
that they could. not do that. thei
agents diligently spread seditioi
amongst us and sought to draw ou
own citizens from their allegiance
and some of these agents were mel
connected with the official embassy 0