Newark post. (Newark, Del.) 1910-1969, 1917-07-04

into battle, to lift it where i
will draw the fire of our enemies
We are about to bid thousands
hundreds of thousands, it ma
be millions, of our men, tn
young, the strong, the capabl
men of the Nation, to go fort
and die beneath it on field
of blood for away - for what
For some unacoustomed thing
For something for which it ha.
never sought the fire before
American armies were never be
fore sent across the seas. Why are
they sent now? For some new
purpose, for which this great flag
has never been carried before, OF
for some old, familiar, heroic pur-
pose for which it has seen men,
it's own men, die on every battle
field upon which Americans have
borne arms since the Revolution
These are questions which must
be answered. We are Americans.
We in our turn serve America, and
can serve her with no private pur-
pose. We must use her flag as she
has always used it. We are &C
countable 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 extra
ordinary insults and aggressions
of the Imperial German Govern
ment left us no self-respecting
choice but to take up arms in de-
Tense of our rights as free people
and of our honor as a sovereign
Government. The military mast
ers of Germany denied us the right
to be neutral. They filled our I'M
suspecting communities with vic
ious 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 allegiance-and some
of these agents were men connect
ed with the official embassy of the
German Government itself in our
own Capital. They sought by
violence to destroy our industries
and arrest our commerce. They
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 direct suggestion from the for
eign office in Berlin. They impu-
IDENTIFY 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. And many of
our own people were corrupted.
Men began to look upon their own
neighbors with suspicion and to
wonder in their hot resentment
and surprise whether there was
any community in which hostile
intrigue did not Turk. What great
nation in such circumstances
would not have taken up arms?
Much as we had desired peace, it
vas denied us, and not of our own
'hoice. This flag under which we
serve would have been dishonored
lad we withheld our hand.
But that is only part of the
tory. We know now as clearly as
We knew before we were ourselves
that we are not the
nemies of the German people and
hat they are not our enemies.
hey did not originate or desire I
his hideous war or wish that we {
hould be drawn into it; and we t
re vaguely conscious that we are t
ghtlng their cause, as they will !
ONE day see it, as we'll as our c
wn. They are themselves in the S
rip of the same sinister power +
lat has now at last stretched it's a
gly talons out and drawn blood C
rom us. The whole world is at a
ar because the whole world is in S
ne grip of that power and is try a
lg out the great battle which v
nall determine whether it is to be C
rought under it's mastery or fling e
self free. t.
'ar Begun BY German Militarists D
The war was begun by the mill :
Try masters of Germany, who =
roved to be also the masters of "
ustria-Hungary. These men
ave never regarded nations as v
copies, men, women, and children n
1iko h1ooI opd fro,,,o Or 49, 9,