Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-10-06
CITY AND DISTRICT.
The Event to be COmmesnOfated
Monday.

THE MEANING OF THE OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION UPON AMERICAN
INSTITUTIONS WHY THE GERMANS LEFT THE
FATHERI.AND-THE GERMANS AND THE ANTI
SLAVERY MOvEMENT-A TRIBUTE TO BIS CoUN-
TRYNEN BIZ Mr.. SIMON WOLF
The German citizens of Washington are
making preparations to celebrate. tomorrow
and Monday, the bi-centennial of the settle
Dent of the first colony Of Germans in America,
In a manner worthy to commemorate an event
that has had so great influence upon
the history of the country. The program
arranged for the celebration, which includes O
concert tomorrow and a procession and mass
meeting Monday, has been published in The
STAR A STAR reporter in search OF light that
would bring out in bold relief the spirit of this
celebration. button-holed Mr.. Simon Wolf. and
opening his notebook said: Il want to know
something about the history of German immi-
grafton to this country and its influence upon
American institutions ~
lone ofthe great factors if not the greatest,
in the development of the United States" said
Mr. Wolf. has been German emigration. espec-
ally ~ SINCE 1920. Other natiOnaties have given
some of their best men and women to enrich this
country, but none so largely and permanently as
Germany. German emigration in a sporadic
form existed prior To 1858. Here and there were
scattered a few Germans. who sought the shores
OF North America as refuge and shelter, but it
was not until October 9th, 1858. that a real
colony of Germans settled in this country. the
place being what Is now known as German
town. Pennsylvania, and it is in cOmmemOratiOn
OF this event, German-Americans will on Sat-
nrday. Sunday and Monday celebrate In every
city and village of the United States, and nota-
bly, so in Germantown. Brooklyn and our own
City of Washington"
what causes have led to this emigratiOn!"
asked the reporter.
The cause that has led to the mass emigra-
ton" said Mr.. Wolf. Twas in 1888 as clearly de-
fined as it is to-day. Either oppression of the
person or coniscatiOn OF his property. The
thirty years war. seven years, NapOleOns. or
those of 1S66-1l. resulted not in lettering the
mass of German population. but in impOversh-
Ing their condition. What gave rise to the first
has given rise to the latest emigration de-
sire to throw off servile condition and enjoy i'm
an unrestricted form liberty and the products of
honest toll Therefore. when the first colony
under the leadership of Franz Daniel Pastorius
was formed in 1855. the men, women and chill
dren brought with them the same rich treasures
oil tierman character that have so grandly char
aeteriZed them ever since in this and every
other country in which they sought domicile.
They were strong and healthy in body and
mind. industrious and frugal, free from bigOtry,
(difierlng In this particular very greatly from
other einigrants); they had tasted the cup of
bitterness and shrank from forcing 1t down tine
titiOdtS vi tnelT HelTHOOFS. 1ney Da0 lett cOun-
Try. home and kindred, not in hate or anger,
bnt in pity and full of human sympathy for their
bind rulers and the land of their birth. They
frod this soil as men and women ripened under
the stress of stormy weather. and every storm
endured gave them new life. and the blood and
iron OF the modern chancellor was crucibied
Centuries ago in the veins of his cOuntrymen.
Since 1870 nearly two millions of Germans
have eni"rated to this country. and to-day
there are over fire ntliions of Germans ana their
no tad 10
and symbolic their character their physical
mental and moral traits. their aims and objects
Their usefulness. their public and private worth
and To exhibit them in their true stature is the
principal
CAUSE OF THIS CELEBRATION;
not for political or sectaran purposes; for the
Germans in this country are citizens, not aliens;
they do not meet in conventions to dictate
terms or cry out because they are or are not
estimated socially; they stand as an integral
part OF this country. and point with
pride and conscious satisfaction to
their achievements in every walk of life They
need not point to the great thinkers in every
held of art and science in Fatherand whose
brain iabofs belong to tile world. They can
right here at home name thousands who have
enriched the annals of our country with historic
names At home and abroad, in the priineval
forest and the Cleared prairies and savannalls
On the tented field and on turbulent oceans in
the nut and palace. in the city and hamlet in
the workshop and cOuntnghOus in the depart
ments OF the government and i'm the studio and
Closet OF the brain artisans everywhere they
have shown themselves equal to the best and
In many departments of skilled labor superior
to all, and they recognize all this not as Ger
mans OF the Germans. but as Americans OF the
Americans
The loyalty of the German-American to free
dom of thought aud action his firm unswery-
Ing devotion to sound finances, stand
out prominently in tine history of this
country. To him unquestiOnably more
than to any other one does this country
owe thanks for destroying slavery, inspiring lib
erty and national honesty. Long before the
abolition party was heard or dreamed of, the
grand words, Slavery is a crime and should not
exist had been uttered by German colonists in
TINS country, and by the very colony whose
landing We are about celebrating.
The German exiles of 1915 who fled to this
country" continued Mr.. Wolf, formed the
basis and inspiration of the republican party
Everywhere they identified themselves with the
friends Of liberty and against slavery They
sought no office. Self was foreign to their ma
ture. Their lines had not been east i'm pleasant
places. Hence their intensity and devotion to
and for republican Institutions
1T was the German. Americans of Missouri
Kentucky and Maryland during our late civil
war that upheld the flag of the Union AMI stood
solid phiilanx against the heresy of secession,
ana when war actually came they were found
on every battle field as heroic and self-sacrific-
ing as those Ito the manner born The woods
OF the great west have been cleared by them.
and great cities, thriving villages and fer
tie fields have taken their place Fac
ferries, foundries and workshops OF
every grade have been erected by them.
colleges. schools hospitals and as ylums founded
They are pre-eminently the friends OF the common
school system. They are the greatest foes of
cant and hypocrisy in political and social prob
lens. The curse Of disntegratiOn rested upon
Germany and her sons tor centuries. but the last
decade has witnessed
CNIFICATION OF GERMAN POWER
and enterprise unparalleled In history, and the
spirit that has achieved so much for fatherland
has been caught up by the German-Americans
On this side of the ocean, They are no longer
divided they are united. one In impulse, thought
and action, and this celebration will exhibit
2 unanmity as grand as 1t Is gratifying
put not only have the German-Americans
been the pioneers in every avenue Of agriculture
commerce. finance and the fine arts they have
also stood, and will forever stand. as enc man
against the encroachments Of personal liberty
They are temperate in all things hence their
bitter opposition against Incorporate legisla-
tion- The German American loves music and
song: loves nature in all her wonderful manifes-