Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-06-14
President Says Germany is
Intriguing to Hold Pres
ent Advantage.
PEACE NOW WOULD
GIVE WORLD RULE
Wilson in Flag Day Address at Wash
inston Reviews Conditions Which
Forced United States Into War and
Points to Menace in Present Efforts
Of German MiIitarists to Bring Sud.
den End to Hostilities.

den End to Hostifities.
Washington, June IA. - Before a
great audience assembled here today
for the Flag Day celebration President
Wilson declared anew the aims and
purposes of the United States in en-
tering the world war.
Standing in the shadow of the great
monument erected to the memory of
George Washington, the president told
thousands gathered on the grassy
slopes that the United States had en-
tered the war not alone to keep the
world safe for democracy, but also be-
cause the extraordinary insults and
aggressions of the imperial German
government left us no choice but to
take up arms in defense Of our rights
as free people, and Of our honor as a
sovereign government.
''The Stars and Stripes arc going to
a strange land" the president said.
'.for q purpose old as American tra-
ditions. For M there was but one
choice. We have made 1t. Woe be to
the man or group Of mon that seeks to
stand in our way In this day OF high
resolutions, when every principle we
hold dearest is to be vindicated and
made secure for the salvation of the
nations We are ready to plead at the
bar of history. Our flag shall wear a
new luster. Once more we shall make
good with our lives and our fortunes
the great faith to which we were born,
and new glories shall shine in the face
of 4onrs people. :. ~ r-tes
President Wilson warned against
permitting Germany to end the war
now by an intrigue Of peace" while
her aggresstons were secure.
Why W. Went TO War.
The president recited again the Ger
man aggression which drove the United
States to war. He declared the pur-
poses for which American soldiers now
carry the Stars and Stripes to Europe
for the first time in history are not new
to American traditions because realiza-
ton Of Germany's war aims must
eventually mean the undoing Of the
whole world. He spoke in part as
follows:
1T is plain enough how we were
forced into the war. The extraordinary
insults and aggressions Of the imperial
German government left us no self re-
specting choice but to take up arms in
defense Of our rights as free people
and Of our honor as a sovereign gov
ernment The military masters of
Germany denied us the right to be
neutral. They filled our unsuspecting
communities with vicious spies and
conspirators and sought to corrupt the
opinion of our people in their own be-
half. When they found that they
could not do that, their agents diligent-
ly 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 govern
rnent itself here 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 hostile alliance with her-and
that, not by inds-ecticr, but by direct
suggestion from the foreign once In
Berlin. They impudently 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 neighbors with suspicion
and to wonder in their hot resentment
and surprise whether there was any
community in which hostile intriguea
did not lurk. What great nation in
such circumstances would not have
taken up arms? Much as we had de-
sired peace. it was denied us, and not
of our own choice. This flag under
which we serve would have been dis
honored had we withheld our hand.
Only Part Of Story.
"But that Is only part OF the story,
We know now as clearly as We knew
before we were ourselves engaged th3S
we are not the enemies Of the 0syfaaA
people and that they are not our sne-
mics. They did not originate or Dc.
stre this hideous war or Wish that -.
should be drawn into IT.: and We arl
vaguely conscious that we are fshtina
their cause, as they will some day ~
It, as well as our own. They are them
selves in the grip Of the same sinister
power that has now at Last stretched
its ugly talons out and drawn blood
from us. The whole world u at wal
because the whole world 10 in the grir
&c that nnwer9 and In Afrving n..A es.e
great battle which shall determine
whether It is to be brought under itl
mastery or ding itself free.
Germany Master Of Austria.
''The war was begun blythe military
- fSnryr, = ~, ~u,11S 49, ~