The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1918-08-02
Wilson Appeals to Nation to
Curb Mob Rule
He POINTS OUT DANGERS
Emu!ates Lawless Passion OF Ger.
many, Which Has Made Lynchere
Of Army-AlI Citizens
Must Aid. t

| Germany which has "disregarded sa-
cred obligations of law and made
ynchers of her armies" President VIII
son appealed to the country ito make
an end of this disgraceful evil"
Lynchings, he said, constitute "a
GLOW at the hearts of law and humane
Justice" and contribute ito German
| lies about the United States what her
most gifted liars cannot improve upon
by the way of calumny."
The text of the Presidents procla-
| nation follows:
| my fellow countrymen
Il take the liberty of addressing
you upon subject which so vitality
affects the honor of the nation and
the very character and integrity Of
our institutions that l trust you will
think me justified in speaking very
plainly about it.
Il allude to the mob spirit which
has recently here and there very FREE
quently shown it's head among us,
not in any single region, but in many
and widely separated parts of the
country. There have been many
Iynchings, and every one of them have
been blow at the heart Of order,
law and humane justice.
Germany outawed Herself.
"No man who loves America, no
nan who really cares for her fame
and honor and character, or who is
truly loyal to her institutions, can
justify mob action while the courts
of justice are open and the govern.
ments of the states and the nation
are ready and able to do their duty
We are at this very moment fighting
lawless passion. Germany has out
lawed herself among the nations be-
cause she has disregarded the sacred
obligations of law and has made
Iynchers of her armies. Lynchers en-
ulate her disgraceful example. l, for
my part, am anxious to see every COM
munity in America rise above thatN
level, with pride and a fixed resolutioh
which no man or set of men can afforf
to despise.
I'VE proudly claim to be the cha
pions of democracy. If we rel
are in deed and in truth, let US
to it that we do not discredit
own. l say plainly, that every An
lean who takes part in the action
a mob or gives it any sort of co
tenance is not true son of this gre
democracy, but it's betrayer, and does
more to discredit her by that single
disloyalty to her standards of law
and of right than the words of her
statesmen or the sacrifices of her
heroic boys in the trenches can do to
make suffering peoples believe her to
be their savior. How shall we COM
mend democracy to the acceptance
of other peoples if we disgrace our
own by proving that it is, after all,
no protection to the weak? Every
mob contributes to German lies about
the United States-what her most
gifted liars cannot improve upon by
the way of calumny. They can, at
least, say that such things cannot hap
pen in Germany except in times of
revolution, when law is swept away.
Il, therefore, very earnestly and
the states, the law officers of every
community, and, above all, the men
and women of every community in
the United States, all who revere
America and wish to keep her name
without stain or reproach, will CO.
operate-not passively merely, but &C.
lively and watchfully-to make an end
IN fhic Iico NJ will
where the community does not counte-
nance it,
Il have called upon the nation to
put its great energy into this war and
it has responded-responded with
spirit and genius for action that has
thrilled the world. now call upon !
it, upon its men and women every
where, to see to it that its laws are
kept inviolate, its fame untarnished.
LET us show our utter contempt 4
for the things that have made this
war hideous among the wars Of his
tory by showing how those who love
liberty and right and justice and are
willing to lay down their lives for
them upon foreign fields stand ready
also to illustrate to all mankind their
loyalty to the things at home which
they wish to see established every
where as blessing and protection
to the peoples who have never known
the privileges of liberty and seli-gov-
eminent. l can never accept any man
as champion of liberty either for our
selves or for the world who does not
reverence and obey the laws of our
own beloved land whose laws we our
selves have made. He has adopted
the standards of the enemies of this
country, whom be affects to despise"