Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-09-03
WILSON FIIlI
BROADSTDE
FOES WITH
In Ringing Speech. Sumln9
rizes Fight Being Wages
for Democracy
STATEMENT TO GOMPER8
Pays Tribute to Labor in Regret
ting Inability to Attend Min
neapolis Conference
WASHINGTON, Sept.

WASHINGTON. Sept ..
NO one who is not blind can fail to -
that the battle line of democracy for Amer
ica stretches today from the fields of
Flanders to every home and workehop
where toiing, upward striving men and
women are counting the treasures OF -riGht
and justice and liberty which are being
threatened by our present enemies.".
In this ringing statement President WIZ.
son summarizes the fight that is being made
for democracy in the present war in q lets
ter sent to Samuel Gompers declining an
invitation to address the Minneapolis con.
ference Of the American Alliance for Labor
and Democracy. Mr.. Gompers, who II the
president of the American Federation Of
Labor, is also chairman Of the Alliance.
while our soldiers and sailors are doing
their manful work to hold back reaction In
its most brutal and aggressive FORM" the
President wrote, I'VE must oppose at homo
the organized and Individual efforts Of
those dangerous elements who hide dis.
loyalty behind screen of specious and
evasive phrases"
THE PRESIDENTS LETTER
Following is the text Of the Presidents
letter:
My Dear Mr.. Gompers:
am sure that you understand that
my inability 70 accept the invitation to
address the Minneapols conferences Of
Democracy is due only to official neces-
stty and not 10 any degree to lack Of Ap-
sion. The cause You and your " T fellow
patriots uphold is one with the cause We
| are defending with arms. While our sol.
! ders and sailors are doing their manful
| work to hold back reaction in its most
brutal and aggressive form. we must OPP
| pose at home the organized and indi-
| vidual efforts Of those dangerous elements
who hide dlsloyalty behind a screen Of
| specious and evasive phrases.
I have read with real pride the names
of the men and women who are to take
| part in the Minneapolis conference. Not
| one but has a record of devoted service
| to fundamental democracy not one but
has fought the long, hard fight for equal
| justice, braving every bitterness that the
humblest life might know larger meas
| ure of happiness. -
With all my heart want them to feel
that their devotion to country is in no
wise betrayal of principle, and that In
| serving America today they are serving
their cause no less faithfully than in the
| past. ] myself have had sympathy with
the fears Of the workers. of the United
| States for the tendency of war is toward
| reaction, and too often military necessi-
ties have been made an excuse for the Do:
| struction of laboriously erected industrial
| and social standards.
HOLD EVERY INCH OF GROUND
these fears, happily. have proved to be
| baseless. with quickened sympathies and
appreciation, with new sense Of the in
vasive and insidous dangers of oppres-
|
| inch of ground that has been won by
wears Of struggle. but have added to the,
gains Of the ds twentieth century aonEl
tions of wages and hours of labor and In
dustrial readlustment have found. So
| luton which gives to the toiler n new dig
nifty and a new sense Of social and eco
nomic security. beg you 70 feel that my
support has not been lacking and that
| point in granting every just request adj
vanced by you and your assistants in the
| name of the American worker.
No one who is not blind can fail to seet
that the battle line of democracy for
America SKETCHES today from the fields
where toiling. upward striving men and
women are counting the treasures Of right
and Justice and liberty which are being
| threatened by our present enemies.
| 1t has not been a matter of surprise to
me that the leaders in certain groups
against the men who have equally misled
the German people. Their insistence that
a nation whose rights have been grossiy
murdered under their own flag. whose
neighbors have been invited to join in
patience in pressing the claims Of justice
and humanity has been met with the most
shameful policy of truculence and treach-
cry. their insistencs that a nation out
ragged does not know its own mind. that
IL has no comprehensive reason for de-
sh dsndnF IN ree urs Tss s IL
self and its ideals. is of a piece with their
deafness to the oft-repeated statement OF
our national purposes.
THE VOICE OF DEMOCRACY M
| Is 1t perhaps that these forces of an
tagonsm have not yet learned to know
| the voice OF that America we love and
serve? 1t may well be that those among
| us who stand ready to forward the plans
| of aggression bred in secret do not UNDER
stand the language of democracy when Il
! proclaims the purpose of war in terms Of
peace for the peoples that shall be un-
| troubled by those to whom men are but
the pawns in their struggle for power and
gain. But true Americans, those who
| toll here for home and the hope of better
| things whose lifted eyes have caught the
vision OF a liberated world. have said that
of the policy of blood and iron there shall
| be an end, and that equal justice, which
| is the heart of democracy. shall rule In its
| stead. l-
| MAY not those who toll and those who
| have made common cause of the larger
| hope for the masses of mankind take re-
| newed heart as they think those days
| when America has taken its stand for the
| rights of humanity and the fellowship Of
| i,,ta potin al Inc