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Show PRESIDENT SPEAKS AT WASHINGTON'S TOMB ON FOURTH Declares United States Will Not Consider Peace Until Prus- ' slanism Is Crushed. ASSERTS GERMAN RULERS FEAR THEIR GW:J FEOFLE Says There Is But One Issue in This World War snd the Settlement Must Be Final "Blinded Rulers of Pru -sie Hav Roused Forces They Knew Little Of Forces Which Once Roused Can Never Be Crushed to Earth." Mount Vernon, Vil.. July -I. In his Independence day addrexs, uliieh the world will recognize ns ;in answer to Von Kiiehlmann's receni speech in Hie relchstag. President Wilson deeliireil Hint ilie Father of His Country n ml his associates ' spoke and acted, not for a class, hut for a people and that It has been left for us lo see to it that it shall he understood that they spoke and acted, not for a single people only, hut for all mankind and were planning that men of every class should he free, and America a place to which men out of every nation might resort who wished to share with them the rights and privileges of free men. Referring to the present world struggle, strug-gle, the president said that I he peoples of the world find themselves confronted con-fronted by u sellisli group of tuitions who speak no common purpose but only sellisli ambitions of their own and by which none can profit hut themselves them-selves and whose people are fuel in their hands. Text of Address. The text of the president's speech follows : "Cenilemen of the Diplomatic Corps My Fellow Citizens: I am happy io draw apart with you lo this quiet filticc of old counsel In order to speak 1 little of the meaning of this day of our nation's Independence. The place (cents very still and remote. It is as norene and untouched by the hurry of the world as it was in those great days long ago when General Washington was here and held leisurely conference with the men who were to be associated associ-ated with him in the creation of a nation. na-tion. From the gentle slopes they looked out upon the world and saw it whole, saw it with the light of the future fu-ture upon it, saw it with modern eyes that turned away from a past which men of liberated spirits could no longer endure, it is for that reason that we cannot feel, even here, in the immediate immedi-ate presence of this sacred tomb, that this is a placi: of death. It was a place of achievement. A great promise that was meant for all mankind was here given plan and reality. The associations as-sociations by which we are here surrounded sur-rounded are the inspiring associations of that noble death which is only a glorious consummation. From -this green hillside we also ought to be able to see with comprehending eyes the world that lies about us and should conceive anew the purposes that must Bet men free. Planned Universal Freedom. "It is significant significant of their own character and purpose anil of the Influences they were setting afoot that Washington and his associates, like the barons at Runnymede, spoke mid acted, not for a class, but for a people. It lias been left for us to see to it that it shall be understood that they spoke and acted, not for a single people only, but for all mankind. They were thinking, not of themselves and of the material interests which centered cen-tered in the little groups of landholders landhold-ers 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 a people which wished to he done with classes and special interests and the authority author-ity of men whom they had not themselves them-selves chosen to rule over them. They entertained no private purpose, desired de-sired no peculiar privilege. "They were consciously planning that men of every class should be free and America a place to which men out of every natiou might resort who wished to share with them the rights nnd privileges of free men. And we pike our cue from them do we not? We intend what they Intended. We here in America believe our participation participa-tion 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 inestimable 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 well. We are happy in the thought that we are permitted per-mitted to do what they would have done had 'hey 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 a 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 as-sociated in action, the faith and purpose pur-pose with which we act. Hun Rulers Fear Own People. "This, then, is our conception of the great struggle in which we are engaged. en-gaged. The plot is written plain upon 'very scene and every act of the supreme su-preme tragedy. I in the one hand stand the peoples of the world not only the peoples actually engaged, hut many others also who stiller under mastery but cannot act ; peoples of inauy races and in every part of the world the people of stricken Russia still, among the rest, though Uiey are for the moment mo-ment unorganized anil helpless. Opposed Op-posed to them, masters of many armies, arm-ies, stand an isolated friendless group of governments who speak no common purpose hu; only seltish ambitions of their own by which none can proiit but themselves, and whose peoples are fuel in their hands; governments which fear their people and yet are for the time I heir sovereign lords, making mak-ing every choice for them and 'disposing 'dispos-ing of their lives and fortunes as they will, as well as of the lives and fortunes for-tunes of every people who fall under I heir power governments clothed with the strange trappings and the primitive authority of an age that is altogether alien and hostile to our own. The past and the (present are in deadly grapple and tile peoples of the world are beingdone to death between t hem. Settlement Must Be Final. "There can be but one issue. The settlement must be final. There can be no compromise. .o halfway decision de-cision would be tolerable. No halfway half-way decision is conceivable. These are the ends for which the associated peoples of the world are fighting and which must be conceded them before there can be peace: 1. The destruction of every arbitrary power anywhere that can separately, secretly and of its single choice disturb the peace of the world ; or, if it cnucit be presently destroyed, de-stroyed, at the least its reduction to virtual impotence. "2. The settlement of every question, whether of territory, of sovereignty, of economic arrangement, or of political relationship, upon the basis of the free acceptance of that settlement by the people immediately concerned, and not upon the basis of the material interest or advantage of any other nation or people which may desire a different settlement for the sake of its own exterior ex-terior iulluenc2 or mastery. "3. The consent of all nations to be governed in their conduct towards each other by the same' principles of honor and of respect for the common law of civilized society that govern the individual citizens of all modern states in their relations with one another; an-other; to the end that all promises and covenants may be sacredly observed, no private plots or conspiracies hatched, no seltish injuries wrought with impunity, impun-ity, and a mutual trust established upon the handsome foundation of a mutual respect for right. "4. The establishment of an organization organi-zation of peace which shall make it certain that the combined power of free nations will check every invasion of right and serve to make peace and justice the more secure by affording a definite tribunal of opinion to which nil must submit and by which every international readjustment that cannot be amicably agreed upon by the peoples, peo-ples, directly concerned shall be sanctioned. sanc-tioned. U. S. Can Never Be Crushed. "These great objects can be put into a single sentence. What wc seek is the reign of law, based upon the consent con-sent of the governed and sustained by the organized opinion of mankind. "These great ends cannot be achieved by debating and seeking to reconcile and accommodate what statesmen may wish, with their projects proj-ects for balances of power and of national na-tional opportunity. They can be reached only by the determination of what the thinking people of the world desire with their longing hone for justice nnd for social freedom and opportunity. op-portunity. "I can fancy that the air of this place carries the accents of such principles prin-ciples with a prouder kindness. Here where started forces which the great nation against which they were primarily pri-marily directed at first regarded as n revolt against its authority but which has long since seen to have been a step in the liberation of its own people peo-ple as well as of the people of the United States and I stand here now to speak, speak proudly and with confident con-fident hope of the spread of this revolt, re-volt, this liberation to the great state of the world itself. The blinded rulers rul-ers of Prussia have aroused forces they knew little of forces which, once aroused, can never be crushed to earth again for they have at their heart an inspiration and a purpose which are deathless and of the very stuff of triumph." |