Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1918-07-12
President Wilson'S Address De.
IiVered At The Tomb of
Washington.

President Wilson's address at Mount
Vernon on the fourth of July 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 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 Gen. 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 il whole. saw it with the light of the
future upon it. saw it with modern eyes
that turned away from the past which
men OF liberated spirits could no longer
endure. IL is for that reason that we can
not feel. even here. in the immediate pres
ence Of this sacred tomb. that this is a
place OF death. 1t was place Of achieve
ment. great promise that was meant
for all mankind was here given plan and
reality. The associations by which we are
here surrounded are the inspiring associa-
tons of that noble death which is only
glorious consummation. From this green
hillside we also ought to be able to see
with comprehendine eyes the world that
lies about us and should conceive anew
the purposes that must set men free.
II is Observation-Disclosures 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. II has been left
Tor US to see to it that it shall be under
stood that they spoke and acted, not for
single people only, but for all mankind.
They were thinking. not Of themselves and
OF the material interests which conferred
in the little groups 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 of
her, but OF people which wished 10 be
done with classes and special interests
and the authority Of men whom they had
not themselves chosen to rule over them.
They entertained no private purpose, de-
sired no peculiar privilege. They were con-
sciously planning that men OF every class
should be free and America a place to
which men out OF every nation might re-
sort 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 believe our participation 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 in
estimable 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 we'll
We are happy in the thought that we are
permitted TO do what they would have
done had they been in our place There
must now be settled once for all what was
settled for America in the great age upon
whose inspiration we draw today. This
Is surely fitting place from which calmly
TO look out upon our task. that we may
fortify our spirits for its accomplishment
And this Is the appropriate place from
which TO avow, alike to the friends who
look on and to the friends with whom we
have the happiness to be associated in
action. the faith and purpose with which
we 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 supreme 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 but 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 moment un-
organized and helpless. Opposed to them,
masters OF many armies. stand an isolated,
friendless group of governments who speak
no common purpose. but only selfish am.
billions OF their own by which none car
profit but themselves, and whose people:
are fuel in their hands government:
which fear their people and yet are fol
the time their sovereign lords, making
every choice for them and disposing Of
their lives and fortunes as they will, a.
well as Of the lives and fortunes of every
people who fall under their power-gov.
ernments clothed with the strange trap.
pings and primitive authority of an age
that is altogether alien and hostile to ouI
own. The past and the present are in
deadly srapple and the peoples Of the
world are being done to death between
them.
There can be but one issue. The settle
ment must be final. There can be no com
promise, No halfway decision would be
tolerable. No halfway decision is conceiv.
able. These are the ends for which the
associated peoples Of the world are fight.
ing and which must be conceded them be.
fore there can be peace;
/. The destruction of every arbitrary
power anywhere that can separately, Sc
cretly and Of its single choice disturb the
peace Of the world; or. IL il cannot be
presently destroyed. at the least its reduc-
tion to virtual impotence.
2. The settlement OF every question
whether of territory. Of sovereignty. Of
economic arrangement or of political rela-
tionship. upon the basis of the free accep.
lance Of that settlement by the people i'm.
mediately concerned, and not upon the
basis Of the material interest or ADVANTAGE
Of any other nation or people which may
desire different settlement for the sake
Of its own exterior influence or mastery.
3. The consent Of all nations to be