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Show IB ACTION SCORED BY NATION'S READ "RESIDENT WILSON DECLARES VIOLENCE AIDS GERMAN PROPAGANDA HERE. Chief Executive Calls Upon Nation to Show World That While It Fights for Democracy Abroad it is Not Destroying Democracy at Home. Washington. President Wilson, in a personal statement issued on July 20, addressed to his fellow countrymen, denounced mob spirit and mob action, called upon the nation to show the world that while it fights for democracy democ-racy on foreign fields, it Is not destroying destroy-ing democracy at home. The president denounced most emphatically em-phatically mob action of all sons, especially espe-cially lynchings, and while he did not refer specifically to lynchings of negroes ne-groes in the south, it is known that he-included he-included them in his characterization of mob spirit as "a blow at the heart of ordered law and humane justice." The president's statement, in full,, follows : "My fellow countrymen : I take the liberty of addressing you upon a subject sub-ject which so vitally affects the honor of the nation and the very character and integrity of our institutions that I trust you will think tne justified in speaking very plainly about it. "I allude to the mob spirit which has recently here and there very frequently fre-quently shown Its head amongst us, not in any single region, but in many and widely separated parts of the country. There have been many lynchings, lynch-ings, 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 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. governments govern-ments of the states and the nation are ready and able to do their duty. "We are at this very moment fighting fight-ing lawless passion. Germany has outlawed out-lawed herself among the nations be- , cause she has disregarded the sacred obligations of law and has made lynchers lynch-ers of her armies. Lynchers emulate her disgraceful example. I, for my part, am anxious to see every community commun-ity In America rise above that level, with pride and a fixed resolution which no man or set of men can afford to despise. de-spise. "We proudly claim to be the champions 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. I say plainly that every American who takes part in the action of a mob or gives any sort of countenance 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 of right, than the words of her statesmen or the sacrifices sacri-fices of her heroic boys in the trenches can do to make suffering peoples believe be-lieve her to be their saviour. How shall we commend democracy to the acceptance ac-ceptance of other peoples if we disgrace dis-grace 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. "I therefore very earnestly and solemnly sol-emnly beg that the governors of all the states, the law ofticers of very community, com-munity, 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 actively and watchfully, to make an end of this disgraceful dis-graceful evil. It cannot live where the community does not countenance it. "I have called upon the nation to put its great energy into this war, and It has responded responded with a spirit and a genius for action that has thrilled the world. I now call upon it, upon its men and women everywhere, to see to it that its laws are kept inviolate, in-violate, its fame untarnished. Let us ,, show our utter contempt 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 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 tlicy wlsli to see eslaii-lished eslaii-lished everywhere as a blessing and protection to the people who have never known the privilege of liberty and self-government. "I can never accept any man as a champion of liberty either for ourselves our-selves or for the world who does not reverence and obey the laws of our own beloved land, wiiose laws we ourselves our-selves have made. He has adopted the standards of the enemies of his country, coun-try, whom ne affects to despise. "WOODKOW WILSON." |