The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1891-09-10


parallel IN our public schools.
1t is the rankest sort OF ignorance that in
dulges in the wholesale denunciation of our
foreign-born fellow-citizens. Let man
! read the signs Of our commercial and bank
ing houses study the Congressional Direc-
tory, ascertain the personnel Of the foremost
American journals and universities, and in
quire into the nativity Of such names as
Ericsson, Lieber, Damnosch, Agassiz, Schurz,
and Schatf, and it may dawn upon him that
the foreigner is not intrinsically inferior to
the American.
Some discrimination is observed where
the foreigners are either Englishmen or
ScOtchmen. Communities or churches made
up of these are at once recognized as being
about as good rs Americans, but when COM
munities or churches speak German or
Swedish, then, forsooth, they are nothing but
foreigners.
The value Of these foreigners as eeclesias-
tical material is, however, keenly appreciated
by the Missionary Agents and Bishops of
other denominations, who are vieiDg with
each other TO appropriate it. Finding them
welded to the Lutheran Church, in which
they were reared, and in which alone they
feel themselves properly at home, they testify,
with one voice, that these multitudes offer
TO the Lutheran body a field for Church-ex-
tension such as opens TO no other Church.
A Presbyterian journal in Cincinnati re-
Gently said: Undoubtedly we are getting
by immigration much Of the best blood of
Germany. These immigrants are mostly
PrOtestants, and by their intelligence, thrift,
and numbers are becoming great power in
our land. The Lutheran Church, being the
Church Of their fathers, stands nearest to
them, and can reach and fold them best"
Similar testimony to the sterling virtues of
Germans and Scandinavians is continually
givenin the denOminational and independent
religious press.
1t has been charged that they are
NOT PgoHIBITIoNIsTs,
yet the document most widely circulated In
the Iowa Prohibition campaign was a Ger
man sermon OF the late Dr. Sihler on the
"Sauf-Teufel," and il is well known that but
for the support of the solid Scandinavian
Lutheran vote Prohibition would not have
triumphed in Kansas and the Dakotas.
Along with the extraordinary advantage Of
having this great mass predisposed to their
Church, the Lutherans have also tho singular
advantage Of being able to furnish religious
services TO each nationality in its own tongue
having ministry capable of officiating in Eng
lish, German, French, Dutch, Swedish, Nor
wegian, Bohemian, Polish, Hungarian, or what
ever may be the nationality. There are also
periodical publications in some 10 different
languages.
Thus the weakness arising from the diversity
of language and nationality is more than coun-
terbalanced by the Pentccostal endowment Of
tongues, which enables this Church alone to
offer the Gospel in his yernacular to every
European that wanders TO our shores. The
current for English is al the same time so
strong that the lapse Of generation may suffice
10 Angicize the whole body.
An impression prevails that these citizens Of
foreign extraction offer strenuous opposition to
our language and institutions; that they form
an un-American element whose adherence to
the ideas and traditions OF the Fatherland
renders them incapable Of sustaining any
marked share in our national development.
This imputati0n rests on no foundation Of
fact IL assumes, too, that these people are too
obtuse TO recognize the conditions Of progress
aud prominence for their own pOsterity. The
attitude of the Lutherans on the Bennett law
has been
INTERPRETED AS HOSTILITY
60 the English language. and confounded with
the opposition of the Roman Catholics 10 our sys-
TEN Of public schools. Both are unwarranted
assumptions.
The Lutherans in Wisconsin, who have cheer
fully paid their part OF the publc-school fund
and even where they constitute large majority
have never asked for dollar in support Of
their private schools, raised this simple issue:
Whether the State was justified in thrusting
its iron hand into schools sustained exclusively
by private means7 And not only the majority
Of Wisconsin voters but the most enlightened
publc opinion throughout the country sus-
tanned the Lutheran position.
The maintenance Of these parish schools in
which some 100000 children receive annually
a course Of religious as we'll as secular instrue-
ton, is feature Of phenomenal strength 10 the
Lutherans.
Sunday are kept up, and they are
generally large and efficient, but the drib-
blings Of religious instruction dOled out in
these once a week, often by incompetent teach
ers, does not satisfy the German and Scandi-
navian idea of thOroughness. Aud with the
popular dOctrinal laXity and the prevalence Of
skeptical thought IL becomes a serious question
whether the multitude can be held to Chris
tianty without more thorough indoctrina-
tion OF the young than now obtains in our
American churches.
The LutheTans have everything to gain and
NOTHING TO LOSE
from the erection Of the school house alongside
OF tho church. Their secular instruction,
even, is not inferior 10 that Of the common
schools. The fact that their pupils. as a rule,
master two languages, while other children
speak but one, ought alone TO silence the cavils
OF prejudice.
Systematic religious training Is a universal
characteristic Of Lntheranism. The ineulea-
tiOn Of right doctrine is regarded as of tho
highest Importance. Catechisation, so largely
discarded elsewhere, is not only retained but
practiced with increasing fidelity by all Luth-
Gran pastors.
The attendance is not limited to the young,
though the classes are mostly constituted of
these. Accepting the orthodox Wow Of total
depravity, this Church nevertheless holds that
divine love broOds over the infant at its birth,
aud IL takes il from the mothers breast and
seeks through baptism the initiation OF
spiritual life, which is thencelorward TO receive
the constant fostering care alike Of the natural
and the spiritual mother.
Not only are the young by this method kept
20 a large extent within the hallowing pre-
cincts Of the Church, which is not the case
where they are left 10 wait for the period Of
conversion, but the piety developed under the
LAW OF GROWTH
is likely TO have a sOlidity and stability which
no number OF special or spasmodic efforts is
able TO produce. The Lutheran standard of
religious life and practical morality is not
excelled by any other.
Church that lays so much stress on heart
culture is not likely 10 neglect the interests of
general culture as may be seen by the fact
that besides the % theological seminAries there
are % colleges, 81 academies, and III female
seminaries. Prosperous publishing houses are
Issuing an Immense amount Of popular litera-
ture, including l2S periodicals, 45 Of which
are English and 10 German