Newport daily independent., 1918-07-26
(By The Associated Press.)

(By The ASSOclaCeQ TTeSS.J
 Washington, July 25.-President Wilson today in personal statement addressed to his fellow countrymen denounced mob spirit and mob action, called upon the nation to show the world that while it fights for dem ocracy on foreign fields it is not de stroying democracy at home.
 The president referred not alone to mob action against the suspected enemy aliens or enemy sympathiz- CTS; he denounced most emphati. cally mob action of all sorts, espec- ially lynchings, and while he did not refer specifically to lynchings of ne groes in the south, it is known that he included them in his characteriza. tion of mob spirit as "a blow at the heart of ordered law and humane justice"
 It is known that the lynchings of negroes, as we'll as attacks upon those suspected of being enemies ol sympathizers, have been used by German propaganda throughout Central and South America as well as Europe, to contend that the pre- tensions of the United States as a champion of democracy are sham.
 Deeply concerned by the situation, the president decided to address his fellow countrymen and to declare that every mob contributes to German lies about the United States what her most gifted liars cannot improve upon by way of calumny."
 The presidents statement in full is as follows:
 My Fellow Countrymen:
 'sI take the liberty of addressing you upon a subject which so vitally affects the honor of the nation and the very character and integrity of our institutions and I trust you will think me justified in speaking very plainly about.
 II allude to the mob spirit which has recently here and there very ire quently shown it's head amongst us not in any single region, but in many and widely separated parts of the country. There have been many lynchings, and every one of them has been blow at the heart of ordered law and humane justice. No man who loves America, no man who really cares for her fame and honor and character, or who is truly loyal to her institutions, can justify mol action while the courts of justice are open and the government of the state and the nation are ready anc able to do their duty. We are at this very moment fighting lawless pas. sion. Germany has outlawed herself among the nations because she has disregarded the sacred obligation o1 law and has made lynchers of her ar. mics. Lynchers emulate her dis graceful example. I, for my part, an anxious to see every community ir America rise above that level witf pride and fixed resolution which nc man or set of men can afford to de spise.
 We proudly claim to be the cham pions of democracy. If we really art in deed and in truth, let us see to il that we do not discredit our own. say plainly that every American wht takes part in the action of mob ol gives it any sort of countenance i. no true son of this great democracy but it's betrayer, and does more t discredit her by that single disloy' atty to her standards of law and oi right that the words of her states men or the sacrifices of heroic boyi in the trenches can do to make sU' fering peoples believe her to be tl
 savior. How shall we comm democracy to the acceptance of ot
 peoples, if we disgrace our own
 proving that it is, after all, no plO tection to the weak? Every mol contributes to German lies about thu United States what her most -gifte'