The state herald., 1917-06-22
SCORES THE KAISER
PRESIDENT SAYS MILITARY MAS.
TERs DENIED Y. 9. RIGHT
TO be NEUTRAL.
sFILLED COUNTRY WITH SPIES
Failed In Attempt to Spread eedltlon
German People In Grip Of Same
Sinister Power That Has
Drawn Blood From Us.

Washington, June 15.-President
Wilson In Flag day address deliv-
cred here on Thursday declared that
we were forced into the worldwide
war by the extraordinary insults and
aggressions Of the military masters of
Germany.
The presidents address in part is us
follows:
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 us u
nation. 1t has no other character than
that which we give It from generation
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, 1t speaks to us-speaks
to us Of the past, Of the men and WON.
en- who went before us and Of the rec
ords they wrote upon 1t. We celebrate
the day Of Its birth; and from its birth
until now 1t has witnessed great his.
tory, has floated on high the symbol of
great events. Of great plan of life
worked out by great people. We are
about to carry 1t Into battle, to lift II
where 1t will draw the fire of our en-.
emies. We are about to bid thousands,
hundreds of thousands, 1t may be mil
lions Of our men, the young. the strong,
nf ba 70
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 pur-
pose. for which this great flag has new.
er been carried before, or for some old,
familiar, heroic purpose for which II
has seen men, Its own men, die on ev.
cry battlefield upon which Americans
have borne arms since the Revolutioni
These are questions which must be
answered. We are Americans. We In
our turn serve America. and can serve
her with no private purpose. We must
use her flag us she has always used 1t.
We are accountable Mt the bar of his.
tory and must plead In utter frankness
what purpose It Is We seek to serve.
United States Forced Into War.
1t is plain enough how we were
forced into the war. The extrnordI.
nary insults and aggressions Of the I'm
perial German government left us no
self-respccting choice but to take up
arms In defense Of our rights ms free
people md Of our honor rs n sovereign
government. The military masters Of
Germany denied us the right to be neu.
trnl. They filed our unsuspecting com.
munities with vicious spies and con.
spirators md sought to corrupt the
opinion OF our people In their own be.
half. 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 those agents
were men connected with the official
embassy Of the German government II.
self here In our own capital. They
sought by violence to destroy our In.
dustries md arrest our commerce
They tried TO incitc Mexico to take up
arms against us and to draw japan In.
TO hostile alliance with her--and
that. not by indirection, but by direct
suggestion from the foreign Office In
Berlin. They impudently denied us
the use Of the high seas and repeated.
ly executed their threat that they
would send to their death my OF our
people who venturcd to approach the
coasts Of Europe. And many OF our
own people were corrupted. Men be-
gan TO look upon their own neighbors
with suspicion md to wonder In their
hot resentment and surprise whether
there was amy community In which
hostile intrigue did not lurk. What
great nation In. such circumstances
would not have taken up arms? Much
MS we Ind desired peace. II was denied
us. md not Of our own choice. This
fag under which we serve would hive
been dIshonored hnd we withheld our
hnnd.
No Emnlty Toward German People.
But that is only pnrt Of the story.
We know now ns clearly ns we knew
before we were ourselves engaged thnt
we nrc not enemies Of the German pco.
pie and that they arc not our enemies.
They did not Originate or desire this
hidcous wnr or wish thnt we should Ds
drawn Into Il: and we nrc vaguely con.
scious thnt we nrc nghtin. their cnusc,
as they will some dny see II. ms well M
our own. They nrc themselves In the
grip Of tho snme sinister power TINT
hns now Mt Inst stretched It's ugly tnl.
ons out md drawn blood from us. The
whole world is In the grip " TINT pow.
or md is trying out the great bnttlc
which shnli determine whether II is to
bs brought under its mnsssry or fling
itself free.
Tho wnr was begun by the military
masters Of Germany. who proved TO bc