Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1917 — PUBLISHERS O. K. WAR ENTRY [ARTICLE]

PUBLISHERS O. K. WAR ENTRY

Wilson Sends Message to Diners Who Cheer Madly. New York, April 24.—Newspaper publishers from all parts of the country, assembled here today for the annual meeting of the Associated Press, passed a resolution pledging their support of the effort of the executives of the government to carry out effectively the mandate of the nation,” expressed in the war resolution passed by the congress on April 6. This action was taken at a business session of the association, which followed a patriotic luncheon at which the Stars and Stripes, Union Jack and Tri-color were raised and unfurled amid the cheers of members and while a chorus of fifty voices sang the national anthems of the United States, England and France. Reading at the luncheon of a telegram from President Wilson, expressing regret that his duties prevented him from being present to exchange with those assembled “the pledges of unquestioning loyalty and devotion to the people of the government not only, but to the cause of freedom everywhere,” was followed by prolonged applause. Joseph H. Choate and former Judge Peter S. Grosscup were the -principal speakers. Frank B. Noyes, president of the association, was toastmaster.

The room in which the luncheon was held was decorated with the national colors and behind the toastmaster was the presidential flag and a miniature statue of Liberty. Soon after the guests were seated the lights were turned off, while four marines hoisted the flags of the United States, Great Britain and France to masts so constructed that { compressed air kept the colors of the three allies -waving. '‘The Star Spangled Banner” was sung by the members, and this whs followed by “God Save the King” and the “Marseillaise.” *' Mr. Choate was warmly applauded when he declared he believed “the spirit of Abraham Lincoln had led his into the war. He pictured President Wilson as “our chosen leader” and urged all to stand by him. 0

“If Lincoln were here today,” said Mr. Choate, “his prayer v.’ould be verified and glorified into the prayer that all civilized nations shall now have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth. Now I think it is not difficult to understand what this war is. It is a war for the preservation of free government throughout the civilized world. And I believe that I may include in that not only free government of the allied nations and the neutral nations, but of Germany itself. “Some of us in the past have criticized the President,” Mr. Choate continued. “Some of us have long hesitated and doubted; some of us thought that watchful waiting would never cease, but now we see what ! the President was waiting for and ( {how wisely he waited. He was {waiting to see how fast and howI far the American people would keep pace with him and stand for any action he proposed. r “Fronv the day the President appeared before congress and made {that- wonderful address of his—one (of the greatest state papers in the (affairs of the United States since the formation of—the government {ftbm that moment all doubt, all ; hesitation, all unwillingness was banished from the minds of all the people and he is now our chosen leader for this great contest.” ,1 Former Judge Grosscup asserted { that the war had “developed a new feeling, a new attitude, a new recognition of the common man.” “In the trenches in Europe,” he said, “he fights side by side with 'his titled companion. In the muni--1 tions shops of Europe he is work{ing side by side with the man who in peace had been his lord’s son. In the hospitals .of Europe women are -working side by side, quietly going from one cot to another without any thought of superior lineage. It is tlje recognition of the humanity, the common origin, the common heritage of mankind. ' ' “It is service to his fellows;, not selfishness, not mutual Through the trappings of privilege and through the mere blind devotion that is sometimes given to

wealth, this thought of service is rising like a golden halo, until it is covering the cause of this war from one end of the world to the other and is enshrining, enfranchising the common man, as affect all, the object of all existence.”