The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1918-07-11
President Wilson'S Declaration of In.
dependence for the Peoples of.
the World.

Mount Vernon, Va, July. 4, 1918:
Woodrow Wilson, president OF
the United States, today delivered
tomb of George Washington, the first
president:
Corps and My Fellow Citizens: l
am happy to draw apart with you to
this quiet place Of old counsel in
order to speak a little OF the mean
ing of this day of our nations indie
pendence.
The place seems very still and re-
mote. 1t is as serene and untouch-
ed by the hurry of the world as it
was in those great days long ago
when General Washington was here
and held leisurely conference with
the men who were to be associated
with him in the creation of nation.
From these gentle slopes they
looked out upon the world and saw
it whole, saw it with the light OF
the future upon it, saw 1t with mod
ern eyes sc5 that u IF bs swfs r9 Sp
could no longer endure. 1t is for
that reason that we cannot feel,
even here, in the immediate pres
ence of this sacred tomb, that this
is a place of death; 1t was place
Of achievement. A great promise.
Iudl Was LledlI LUZ al III oAhiiiu, Noo
here given plan and realty;
The associations by which we are
here surrounded are the inspiring
associations of that noble death
which is only a glorious consumma-
ton. From this green hillside we
also ought to be able to see with
lies about us and should conceive
anew the purposes that must set
men free.
it is signifcant-signifcant of
their own character and purpose and
OF the influences they were. setting
afoot-that Washington and his as
mede, spoke and acted, not for a
class, but for a people. 1t has been
left for us to see to it that it shall
be understood that they spoke and
acted, not for a single people only,
but for all mankind.
selves and of the material interests
of landholders and merchants and
men of affairs with whom they were
accustomed to act, in Virginia and
the colonies to the north and south
to be done with classes and special
interests and the authority OF men
whom they had not themselves
chosen to rule over them. They en-
tertained no private purpose, desir-
ed no peculiar privilege:
They were consciously planning
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.
And we take our cue from them
do we not? We intend what they
intended. We here in America be-
iain n
ent war to be only fruitage of what
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 peo-
pie as we'll.
we are permitted to do what they
would have done had they been in
our place There must now be set
tied once for all what was settled for
America in the great age upon NV whose h
surely fitting place from which
calmly to look out upon our task,
that we may fortfy our spirits for
its accomplishment.
And this is the appropriate place
from which to avow, alike to the
lIIeIuS WIZ lOoh vi anu " lHS
friends with whom we have the hap
piness to be associated in action, the
faith and purpose with which we all
act
This, then, is our conception of
the great struggle in which we are
engaged.
The plot is written plain upon
every scene and every act of the su-
preme tragedy.
On the one hand stand the peo-
pies of the world-not only the peo-
pies actually engaged, but many
others also who suffer under mastery
races, and in every part of the
world--the people of stricken Rus