The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1918-07-12
Speaks at Washington's Tomb on
independence Day.
SETTLEMENT MUST BE FINAL
Says "Blinded Rulers OF Prussia Have
Reused Forces They Knew Little
Cf-Forces Which Once Reused
Car Never Be Crushed to
Earth"


here said that the father OF his coun-
try and his associates spoke ana act
ed, not for class, but for people
and that it has been left for US to see
to it that it shall be understood that
they spoke and acted, not for q single
people only but for all mankind and
were planning that men Of every class
should be free and America a place to
which men out of every nation might
resort who wished to share with them
the rights and privileges of free men.
Text of Address.
The text of the presidents speech
follows:
Gentlemen of the Diplomatic Corps
and My Fellow Citizens: | am happy
to draw apart with you to this quiet
place of old counsel in order to speak
q little of the meaning of this day OF
our nations independence. The place
seems very still and remote. 1t is as
serene and untouched by the hurry OF
the world as it was in those great days
long ago when General Washington
was here and held leisurely conference
ated with him in the creation of ma
ton. From the gentle slopes they
looked out upon the world and saw 1t
whole, saw it with the light of the fu-
ture upon it, saw it with modern eyes
that turned away from q past which
men of liberated spirits could no longer
endure, it is for that reason that we
cannot feel, even here, in the immedi-
ate presence of this sacred tomb, that
this is a place of death. 1t was a
place of achievement. A great promise
that was meant for all mankind was
here given plan and reality. The as
sociations by which we are here sur
rounded are the inspiring associations
of that noble death which is only
glorious consummation. From this
green hillside we also ought to be able
to see with comprehending eyes the
world that lies about us and should
conceive anew the purposes that must
set men free.
Planned Universal Freedom.
ut is significant-significa Of their
own character and purpose and of the
influences they were setting afoot-
that Washington and his associates,
like the barons at Runnymede, spoke
and acted, not for a class, but for a
people.
'"They were consciously planning
that men of every class should be free
and America place to which men out
of every nation might resort who
wished to share with them the rights
ard privileges of free men. And we
take our cue from them-do we not?
We intend what they intended. We
here in America believe our participa.
ton in this present war to be only the
fruitage of what they planted. Our
case differs from theirs only in this.
that it is our inestimable privilege to
concert with men out of every nation
what shall make not only the liberties
of America secure but the liberties OF
EVERY other people as well.
'"This, then, is our conception OF the
great struggle in which we are en-
gagged. The plot is written plain upon
every scene and every act of the 'su-
preme tragedy. On the one hand stand
the peoples of the wOrld-not only the
peoples actually engaged, but many
others also who suffer under mastery
lNlt cannot act; peoples of many races
and in every part of the wOrld-the
people of stricken Russia still, among
the rest, though they are for the mo-
ment unOrganized and helpless. Up
posed to them, masters of many arm
les, stand an isolated, friendless group
of governments who speak no common
purpose but only selfish ambitions OF
their own by which none can proht
but themselves, and whose peoples
are fuel in their hands; governments
which fear their people and yet are
for the time their sovereign lords, max
ing every choice for them and dispos-
ing of their lives and fortunes as they
will, as well as of the lives and for
tunes of every people who fall under
their power = governments clothed
with the strange trappings and the
primitive authority of an age that is
altogether alien and hostile to our
own. The past and the present are IN
deadly grapple and the peoples of the
world are being done to death between
them.
Settlement Must Be Final.
"There can be but one issue. The
settlement must be final. There can
be no compromise. No halfway de-
cision would be tolerable. No half
way decision is conceivable. These
are the ends for which the associated
peoples of the world are fighting and
which must be conceded them before
there can be peace: L. The destruction
of every arbitrary power anywhere
that can separately, secretly and OF its
single choice disturb the peace OF the
world; or, if it cannot be presently de-
stroyed, at the least its reduction to
virtual impotence.
s.2. The settlement of every question.
whether of territory. of sovereignty, OF