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Show MOB ACTION SGQflQl BY NATION'S HEAD PRESIDENT WILSON DECLAREc VIOLENCE AIDS GERMAN PROPAGANDA HERE. Chief Executive Calls Upon Mation t Show World That While It Fights for Democracy Abroad it is Not Destroying Democracy at Home Washington. President Wils.m, i . personal statement issued on July addressed to his fellow couiurvm,",,' denounced mob spirit and mob notion' called upon the nation to show t,j world that while it lights for ileinuo. racy on foreign fields, it is not Uestniy. ing democracy at home. The president denounced most phalically mob action of all sorts, ciuliy lynchings, and while ho did ut refer specifically to lynchings of u groes in the south, it is known thai be included them in his characterlzniiun of moli spirit as "a blow at the heart of ordered law and humane justice."' The president's statement, in U follows : "My fellow countrymen: I tako tin. liberty of addressing you upon u Sllt) jeer which so vitally affects the honor of the nation and the very cluiractcr and integrity of our institutions tliat I trust you will think me justified U1 speaking very plainly about it. 'I allude- to the mob spirit wltidi lias recently here and there very fre quentiy shown its head amongst us not in any single region, but in main' ami widely separated . parts of ti,e country. There have been many lym-i,. ings, and every one of them has hem a blow at the heart of ordered law nm humane justice. No man who loves America, no man who really cures for her fame and lienor 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 filling fill-ing lawless passion. Germany has outlawed, out-lawed, herself among the nations lie-cause lie-cause slie has disregarded the sacred obligations of law and has made lynchers lynch-ers of her armies. Lynchers emulate her disgraceful example. I, for my iart", 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 he 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. 1 say plainly that every AmeriCftn who takes part in the action of a mob or gives any sort of countenance is no true son .of this great cdynocrncy, but its betrayer, and does more to discredit iter by that single disloyalty to her standards of law and of right than (lie 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 officers of very community, com-munity, and, above all, the men anil women of every community in the United States, all who revere America tnd wish to keep her name without stain or reproach, will co-operate not passively merely, but actively ami 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 t" put its great energy into this war, and it lias 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 tbin?s that have made this war hideous ainotv: (lie wars of history by sliowin? how those who love liberty and ri;:lit and justice and are willing to lay down their lives for them upon foreign fields stand ready also to illustrate to all mankind their loyally to the tiling's at home which they wisli to see established estab-lished everywhere as a blessing an1' protection to the people who have never known the privilege of liberty and self-govern men t. ' "I can never accept any man as a champion of liberty either for l,1,r' selves or for the world who dues "'" reverence and obey the laws of oir own beloved land, whose laws wo selves have made, lie has adopted standards of the enemies of his t"11"" try, whom no atl'ects to despise. "WOOliKOW W11.S0N-" |