Show WAR fOR FREEDOM President Wilson Tells of Aims of United States FORCED TO TAKE UP liP A MS Nation Acting In Defense of Our Rights as a Free People and of Our Honor as a Sovereign Government Is Statement President Washington June Juno 15 Inthis Inthis In Inthis Wilsons Wilson's Flag day address delivered this city was substantially as na follows My Fellow Citizens We meet to celebrate Flag Day because this flag which we honor and under which we serve Is the emblem of our un unity y our as ns a power our thought and purpose nation It It has no other character than that which we give It from generation to generation The choices are ours It floats In majestic silence above the hosts that execute those chokes cho choices whether In peace or In In- war And yet though silent It speaks to us speaks us-speaks speaks to tous us us of the the past of the men and women worn worn- en who went before us and of the record records rec rec- orth ord they wrote upon It We Ve celebrate the day of ol Its birth and from Its birth until now It has witnessed a n great history his tory has floated on high the symbol of great grent events of a great plan of life worked out by a great people We Ve are i about to carry It Into battle to lift It where It will draw the fire of our enemies en en- Ies We are about to bid thousands hundreds of thousands It may be rail mil llo lions s of our m men n the young the strong the capable men of the tle nation to go goforth goforth goforth forth and die beneath it ii on fields of blood far for away for what For some unaccustomed thing For something for which It has never sought the fire before American armies were never before etore sent across the seas Why are they sent now v For some new purpose purpose purpose pur pur- pose for which this great flag has never never never nev nev- er been carried before or for some old oid familiar heroic purpose for which It has seen spen men Its own o men die on every every ev ev- ery cry battlefield upon which Americans Americans have borne arms arm since the Revolution These are questions which must be We Ve In answered We Ve are Americans our turn serve America and can serve her with no private purpose We Ve r mutt must t use her hec flag as as she has alway always used It n. We Ve are accountable at the bar of history history his his- tory and must plead In utter frankness what wha t purpose I It t Is we seek to serve Forced to Take Up Arms It Is plain enough how we were forced Into the war The extraordinary nary Insults and aggressions of the Imperial Imperial Im Im- im- im penal German government left us u-s no self respecting g choice holce b but t to t take ke up I farms arms In defense of our rights as a free people and of our honor hon r as a sovereign government The military masters of Germany denied us the right to be neu neu- They filled our unsuspecting communities communities com com- with vicious spies and conspirators conspirators conspirators con con- and sought to corrupt the opinion of our people In their own be be- half When they found that they could not do that their agents dIU diligently gently spread sedition amongst us and d sought to dr draw w our own citizens from their allegiance and some of those agents were e men connected with the official embassy of the German government Itself Itself itself It It- self here In our own capital They sought by violence to destroy destroy- our oui Industries Industries industries In In- and arrest our commerce They tried to Incite Mexico MeD o to take up arms against us and to draw Japan Into Into into In In- to a R hostile alliance with her her and and that not by Indirection but by direct suggestion from the foreign office In Berlin They Impudently denied us the use of the high l seas and repeatedly repeated repeated- ly executed their threat that they would send to their death any of our people who ventured to approach the coasts of Europe And many of our own people were corrupted Men began began began be be- gan to look upon their own neighbors with suspicion and to wonder In their hot resentment and surprise whether there was any community In which hostile Intrigue did not lurk What great nation In such circumstances would not have taken up arms Much Muchas as we had desired peace It was denied us and not of our own cl choice olce This flag under which we serve would have been dishonored had we withheld our hand German People Not Enemies But that Is only part of the story We Ve know now as clearly as ns we knew before we were ourselves engaged that we ve are not enemies of the German people people peo peo- pie and that the they are not our enemies They did not originate or desire this hideous war or wish that we should be drawn Into it and we are vaguely conscious conscious con con- that we are arc fighting tl their cause as its s they will some day see It as well vell as our own They are themselves In the grIP of the tIie same sinister power that has now nosy at last stretched its ugly talons talons tal tal- tal ons out and drawn blood from us The whole world Is In the grip of that pow power pow er and is trying out the great battle which shall determine whether hether It Is to tobe tobe tobe be brought under its mastery astery or 01 fling Itself free The Tiie war was begun b by the military masters of Germany who proved to be also the tho masters of Austria www These jien Slen have never r regarded nations na and I women men M peoples es blood and frame n ai al children of like whom governments existed ex cx- themselves for isted and In whom governments had hn I ex-I them their life They have regarded merely as as' serviceable organization Intrigue i force torce or could by they liend hend or corrupt to their own purpose smaller states They have regarded the In particular and the peoples could be overwhelmed by force as and Instruments of ot their natural tools domination Their purpose has l long n been avowed Attitude Toward German People broad bell bellof bellof bellof Their plan was to throw a and arid political of German military pow power r center of Europe Europe Europe Eu Eu- control across the very Into Into into In In- Mediterranean rope and beyond and beyond the Hun Austria to the heart of Asia and much their tool and gary was to be as pawn as Serbia or Bulgaria or Turkey states of the East Enst or the ponderous The Th had Its heart at Berlin It could have had had a heart nowhere nowhere- else of ot otI It rejected the Idea Iden of solidarity I race entirely The choice of Df peoples played no part In It at all They ar ardently ar- ar dently desired to direct their own af nf affairs affairs af- af undisputed undiSputed fairs would be satisfied only by Independence They could be kept quiet only by the pre presence nce or the constant threat o of at armed men Tho German military statesmen had reckoned reckoned reck reck- with all that at and were ready to todeal todeal todeal deal with it In n their own way Policy One of Deceit Is It not easy to understand the eagerness eng eau that has been maul erness for foi peace from Berlin ever since th the snare was set and sprung Peace peace peace has been the talk o of ot h her r foreign ar and more not office for now a y year peace upon her own initiative but upon upon upon up up- on the initiative of of the nations over which ll sh she now deems herself to hold the advantage Through all sorts of channels It has come to me and In all sorts of guises but never with the terms disclosed which the rhe German government gov gov- would be willing IlUng to accept That government still holds bolds a valuable part of France though with slowly relaxing relaxing re re- re- re taxing grasp and practically the whole of Belgium It cannot go further It dare not go back It wishes tu to close Its bargain before it is too late The military masters under whom Germany is bleeding see very clearly to what point Fate has brought them If they fall back or are forced back backan an Inch their power both abroad and at home will fall to to top p pieces l like ke a house of of cards If they can secure Secure secure se se- cure peace now with the Immense advantages advantages ad nd- vantages still In Ia their hands which they have up to tills this point apparently gained they will l have Justified themselves themselves themselves them them- selves before the tile German people they will have have- gained by force what they promised to gain by It an immense expansion of German power an Immense Immense Im Im- mense enlargement of German Gennan Industrial Industrial industrial Indus Indus- trial and commercial opportunities If they fall fail their people will thrust them to aside a government accountable the people themselves will be set up In Germany a as It has been In England In the United States In France and andIn andIn andin In all the great countries of the modem modern modern mod mod- mod mod- ern em time except Germany If they succeed succeed suc sue they are safe and Germany and the world are undone if It they fail fall Germany Germany Ger Ger- many is saved and the orld will be at peace If they succeed we and all the rest of the world must remain armed as they will remain and must make ready for the next step of wg- wg g. g if they 1 fall fail the world may unite for peace and G Germany may beof be be- beof beof of the union Have Sought to Deceive e World The present particular aim of the mast masters rs of Germany Is to deceive all th those se who throughout the world stand for the rights of peoples and the self- self government at af nations for they see what Immense strength the forces of justice and of liberalism are gathering out of this war The sinister Intrigue is being no less actively cond conducted In this country than thanIn In Russia and In every country In Europe Europe Eu Eu- rope to which the agents and dupes of the German government can get access In War for Freedom and Justice The grout greit f fact ct that stands out put above all the rest Is that this Is a Peoples People's war a war for freedom and justice and self government amongst all the nations nations nations na na- na- na of tb the world orld a n war to make the world safe for the peoples who live In I it and have made It their own the German people themselves Included and that With us r rests the tile choice to hi bl bieak eak through gh all these hypocrisies and patent cheats and masks of brute force force and help se set the Uie world free or else stand tand aside imd md iid let It be dominated a along along along long age through by sheer weight of arms and ond the arbitrary choices of self- self constituted masters by the nation which can cnn maintain the biggest armies and the most Irresistible armaments armaments- ti u power to which Sue Mie world has afforded afforded af af- af forded no parallel and aud In the face fac of ot which political freedom must wither anti and perish For us s there is but but- butone one Choice holce We have made it Woe be to the th man or group pf men that seeks to stand In our way In this day of high when every principle we hold dear dea s sl Is to be vindicated rind and made secure for fol forthe forthe the salvation n of the nations We Ve are ready rendy to plead at the bar of history tinder flag shall wear a new luster |