100 years ago in Spokane: Chronicle urges businesses to display flags for presidential visit

The Spokane Daily Chronicle urged every business on Sprague and Riverside avenues to “display the great emblem of Americanism – the Stars and Stripes,” as a way of welcoming President Woodrow Wilson to Spokane.

Wilson was coming to Spokane the next day to make a speech urging adoption of the League of Nations.

“Good, lusty cheers as the national executive passes down the avenues will prove to him that Spokane welcomes him and appreciates him, not as a party leader, but as president of the whole United States,” said the Chronicle.

From the League of Nations beat: However, Wilson probably would not have felt particularly welcomed by a full-page ad a few pages deeper in the Chronicle, which was sponsored by the Irish Victory Fund and the Friends of Irish Freedom and Associated Societies.

The ad lambasted Wilson’s League of Nations proposal in strong terms. The ad warned that the League of Nations would amount to a partnership between England and the U.S, which would “bind us to maintain the territorial integrity of the despoiler (England).”

“Such a partnership – if partnership it be with one vote for the United States and six votes for the British Empire – could avail naught to the United States of America,” said the ad.

It urged citizens to “let your senator know your views.”

“America First!” the ad said.