Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-07-26
WILSON CALLS
NATION TO WORK
FOR DEMOCRACY
President Denounces Mob Ac-
ton and DecrieS Coun-
try's Lynchings

Washington, July 2e- President
Wilson to-day in a personal state
ment, addressed to his fellow coun-
trymen. denouncing mob spirit and
mob action, called upon the nation to
show the world that while IL fights
for democracy on foreign fields. 1t is
not destroying democracy at home.
The President referred not alone to
mob action against those suspected
of being enemy aliens or enemy SYM
pathizers. He denounced most en-
phatically mob action of all sorts.
especially lynchings. and while he
did not refer specifically to lynchings
of negroes in the South, IL is known
that he included them in his charac-
terization of mob spirit as "a blow
at the heart of ordered law and hu-
name Justice
LynchinE bad World Example
1t is known that the lynchings of
8 negroes, as well as attacks upon
those suspected of being enemies or
sympathizers. have been used by the
German propaganda throughout Cen
trail and South America as we'll as in
Europe to contend that the preten-
sions of the United States as a cham
pion of democracy are a sham.
Deeply concerned by the situation,
fellow countrymen, and to declare
that every mob contributes to Ger
man lies about the United States what
her most gifted liars cannot improve
upon by way OF calumny."
The Presidents statement in full,
follows:
MY Fellow Countrymen:-
Il take the liberty OF addressing
you upon a subject which so vitality
affects the honor of the nation and
the very character and integrity of
our institutions that trust you will
think me justified in speaking very
plainly about it.
IT allude to the mob spirit which
has recently here and there, very
frequently shown ats head amongst
Us, not in any single region but in
many and widely separated parts of
the country. There have been many
lynchings. and every one of them has
been a blow at the heart of ordered
law and humane justice. No man
who loves America, no man who real
ly cares for her fame and honor and
character. or who is truly loyal to
her institutions, can justify mob ac-
tion while the courts of justice are
open and the governments of the
states and the nation are ready and
able to do their duty.
we are at this very moment fight
ing lawless passion. Germany has
outlawed herself among the nations
because she has disregarded the
sacred obligations of law and has
made lynchers of her armies. Lynch
ers emulate her disgraceful example.
I, for my part am anxious to see
every community in America rise
above that level, with pride and a
fixed resolution which no man or set
of men can afford to despise.
I'VE proudly claim to be the cham
pions of democracy. If We really
are, in deed and in truth. let US see
to it that we do not discredit our
own. 1 say plainly that every Ameri-
can who takes part in the action of
mob or gives any sort of counte-
nance is no true son of this great
democracy, but its betrayer. and does
more to discredit her by that single
disloyalty to her standards of law
and 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 saviour. How shall we COM
mend democracy to the acceptance of
other peoples, if we disgrace our own
by proving that il is after all. no pro-
lection to the weak? Every mob con-
tributes to German Hes about the
United States, what her most gifted
liars cannot improve upon by the
wa yof calumny. They can at least
say that such things cannot happen
in Germany except in times of revo-
luton, when law is swept away
II therefore very earnestly and
solemnly beg that the governors of
all the states, the law officers of
every community, and, above all, the
and NJ rY,if ~
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 ac-
lively and watchfully-to make an
end of this disgraceful evil 1t can
not live where the community does
not countenance il.
1 have called upon the nation to
put it's great energy into this war
and il has responded-responde with
spirit and genius for action that
has thrilled the world. I now call
upon it, upon it's men and women
everywhere to see to il that it's laws
are kept inviolate, its fame unfair
nished. Let US show our utter con-
tempt for the things that have made
this war hideous among the wars of
history by showing how those who
love liberty and right and justice and
are Wiling TO lay down their lives
for them upon foreign fields. stand
ready also to illustrate to all man
kind their loyalty to all things at
home which they wish to see estab-
lished everywhere as a blessing and
protection to the people who have
never known the privilege of liberty
and self government
II can never accept any man as a
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
ourselves have made. He has adopted
the standards of the enemies of his
country. whom he affects to despise
WOODROW WILSON"