The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1917-06-14
DON 7 Be M|SLED .
By, PEACE PLOT
SAYS. PRESIDENT
Flag Day Address Appeal to
Arouse United States to I'M
portance Of War Step
AIMS AND PURPOSES OF
STRUGGLE EMPHASIZED
Nation Has Entered War for
Democracy and to Avenge
Insults of Germany

"dSuIuSlOu, JUNE 1t = ToSlucut
Wilson warned the American people
In a flag day address on the Wash
inton monument grounds today that
Germany has carried into effect the
greater part of her immediate plan of
conquest and is now negotiating a
new intrigue of peace" designed to
end the war while her aggressions
are secure.
Before a great audience here today
for 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 everlasting
memory of George Washington, the
president told thousands gathered on
the grassy slopes about him that the
United States had entered the war,
not alone to keep the world safe for
democracy, but also because the lex.
traordinary. insults and aggressions
of the imperial German government
left us no choice but to take up arms
In defense of our rights as a free
people and of our honor as a sover.
eign government" -
President Wilson warned against
permitting Germany to end the war
now by Intrigue of peace" while her
aggressions We're secure. NJ. T. -
~ Belt Of Power &. - II a a. go :.
All the Central empires, the Presi-
dent declared, have been cemented in
to one great autocracy-ridde empire,
throwing broad belt'.of German
military power and POLITICAL control
across the very center Of Europe and
beyond the Mediterranean intora the
heart of Asia. This achieved" he
said, it is easy to understand why Ger
many is fostering propaganda for
an esscs, ssay peace; essee, spescss asas III
talk Of her foreign office now for a
year or MORE" said the President. "A
little of the talk; has been public, but
most OF it has been private, 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, see very clearly
to what point fate has brought them
If they can secure peace now with
the immense advantages still in their
hands which they have up to this
point apparently gained, they will
have justified themselves before the
German people, they will have gained
by force what they promised to gain
by it," ;ss.t.:> ~ r~;. gi.u yt
The President recited again the
German aggressions which drove the
the purposes for which American SOL
diers now carry the stars and stripes
eventually mean the undoing of, the
whole world. He spoke in full as
follows: !"t 'r-'a =
Emblem Of. Unity ...'..
"My Fellow Citizens: We meet TO
celebrate Flag Dya 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 no other char
acter than that which we give it from
generation to generation. The choices
are ours. 1t floats in majestic silence
over the hosts that execute these
choices, whether lin peace or in war.
And yet, though silent it speaks to
us of the past, of the men and women
who went before us and of the rec
ords they wrote upon it. We, cele-
brate the day of it's birth, and from
its birth until now it has witnessed
great history, has. floated on high,
the symbol of great events, of great
plan of life worked out by a great
people. We are about to carry it into
battles, to lift it where it will draw
the fire of our enemies. We are
about to bid, thousands, hundreds of
thousands, it may be millions, of our
men, the young, the strong, the ca
pable men Of the nation; to 60 forth
and die beneath it on fields Of blood
far away-for what? For some unac-
Never Sent Before
customed thing. For something for
which it has never sought the fire
before, American armies were never
before sent across the sea. Why are
they sent now? For some new pur-
purpose, for which this great flag has
never been carried before, or for some
old, familiar, heroic purpose, for
which it has seen men, it's own men,
die on every battlefield upon which
Americans have borne arms since the
revolution:
Some Questions
"These are questions which
must be answered. We are Amer.
leans. We in our turn serve
America, and can serve her with
no private purpose. We must use
her flag as she always used it.
We are accountable ut the bar of
history and must plead in utter
frankness what purpose It is we
seek to serve.
Continued On Page Two)