TRAITORS TO AMERICA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16096, 9 December 1915, Page 6

TRAITORS TO AMERICA.

PLOTTERS DENOUNCED. MR. WILSON'S ATTITUDE. DEMAND FOR NEW POWERS. Washington, December 7. In his speech at the opening of Congress, Mr. Wilson scathingly denounced the isolators of American neutrality and urged new laws to deal with them. The President did not accuse Germans explicitly, though he obviously referred to Teutonic outrages. He declared that, grave as the country's differences with other nations had been, he was sorry to say that the gravest threats against the peace and safety of the United States were uttered within her own borders. He blushed to admit that there were in the United States citizens born under other flags, but fully naturalised, who sought to bring the authority and good name of the Government into contempt and to destroy industries for vindictive purposes. Mr. Wilson continued: "We have made no preparation for such a contingency. We would be ashamed to do so, but this ugly, incredible thing has come about. I demand Federal laws to crush out such creatures of passion, disloyalty, and anarchy. Although our States are subjected to cross-currents and confused politics in a world of hostile rivalries, we are united in spirit, and cannot be disappointed of our peaceful destiny. We never dreamed that men sworn into our citizenship would turn in malign reaction against the country and people which nurtured and welcomed them. Foreign plotters are not numerous, but are sufficient to bring deep disgrace upon us, seeking to make a proud country a hotbed of European passion and spying on every confidential Government transaction. "