New Britain herald., 1918-05-20
AMERICAN LIBERTY
 AT STAKE IN WAR
That's Why We Are Fighting,
 Senator Lenroot Says


 l. dress yesterday afternoon, Senator Irvine J. Lenroot of Wisconsin i'm
 pressed upon the minds of all those
 who attended the dedication eXer-
 cises of the service flag at the Swed
 ish Lutheran Church, the real mean
 ing of ''Americanism." Senator Len
 root came to this city at the request
 of Rev. pr. s. G. Ohman, pastor of
 the church. Mayor George A. Qufg-
 Icy and Judge B. F. Gaffney were
 guests of honor. Dr. Ohman opened
 the exercises with a short address.
 He told of how the Swedish -Amer1-
 cans had always answered the call of
 their country. John Ericson, he
 said, was not tho only great Swede in
 the history of America. The Swedes
 are with the United States in this war
 through and through.
 As neither MT. or Mrs. David Paul. son, tho parents of the first represen- | tative of the church to die in battle, were able to put the gold star on the flag, Hjalmer Paulson, brother Of II Corporal Arthur Paulson performed that ceremony. Following the affix- ing of the star, Judge Gaffney intro ducdd the speaker of the afternoon. Senator Lenroot's spech, in part fol- I lows:
 T was very glad indeed to be able ! to accept the invitation to be with you today on this very mem orable occa- F sion. I am always glad to assist when
 ever I can, especially in this great ! crisis of our country, in every pa-: tr1otic undertaking, but am espe- cia1ly glad to participate in the pa-. trfotic demonstrations of those of N Swedish birth or percentage. am al- H0I [@ acS, fo triotism and true Americanism of the Swedish of America. I want to con- gratulate this. church on the fact that R1e of it's boys have entered the ser vice of our great country, and the golden star just pinned upon the flag shows the ways the boys of this church are responding to their duty in France. Might I say to the rela- fives of this boy who has laid down \ his life In defense of. our country, that while he might have lived to Il ripe old age, now that he is gone, on the <thirtieth day of May for all time, \ unborn generations of Americans will l think of him and the other American \ boys who have died for their country. 'tIt is hard to think of the situation and dangers before us in this war. As Dr. Ohman said, while the Unlted- States was neutral before the war; when the Lusitania was sunk and when they saw what the German gov ernment was doing, not a man or woman in the country can say that he sympathizes with the German gov ernment It is not the primary ob- feet of this war to make the world safe for democracy; it is not the prl- mary object to restore and rebuild Belgium and France; it is not the prl- mary object of this war to save the liberty of Europe althought it is true that all this will be done; it is the primary object to make American liberty in the future secure. It is war to save Christianity. Why do l say that? Doesn't the Kaiser profess the Christian religion? Doesn't he call upon God to aid him? Yes, but while he professes it, he doesn't prac- tice it. He thinks that there are no moral laws for the state-the ten commandments are merely for the in- dividual. The Kaiser pays no regard to promise. But we believe that na- lions must observe moral law as well as individuals. "The greatest man that America ever produced, the greatest man that the world ever produced was Abra- 1 ham Lincoln. You remember what | he said before the Civil War, That l 1 this union can not long exist half 1 slave and half free And now we see 1 l that this world can not exist One-half l democratic and one-half autOcratic; 1 H the world must become all demo- l cratic. As the boys of '61 made their 1 country free, so your boys will make l Ithe world free and all democratic. '"Those of Scandinavian birth should l h, iyo+n than for while we are fighting for Ameri- l lca when this war is won, Scandinavia i across the sea will have her freedom l preserved. We have seen what the l Kaiser did to Russia. After the rev. 1 lo1ution there, he made a treaty of l peace with the Russians, and in three 1 weeks he broke it and as a result tif- 1 |ty million Russian are the vassals of l aGermany. And so we must go on and | on until we drive the German armies 1 z7lp against the walls of Berlin, and 1 show the German people that their | SonIy chance is to start a political rev 1 *olution No one can tell how long it ! Twill take, no one can tell how many | stars will have to be added to that, lfag before the war is won. But America is aroused and determined |that she will fight it to the end.' The speaker concluded with the (recitation of Longfellow's Ship of kState''. He said that at present the |@hip was sailing through a rough l4empest but in time would right it. |self.
 Following the speech, the Arpi Sex Het rendered several selections. The Iurogram of the afternon closed with 1the singing of "The Star Spangled