The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1894-06-14
THE FORMATION OF A FOR
EIGN LEAGUE.
This Ig the call for a mass meet

to call q mass meeting OF III nAt'H.
minded citizens of Austin and IraVl7
county. irrespective of party INES, 70
meet at the courthouse on June d!
$50 O'Clock p. M. for the purpose vi
organizing to oppose all Legislation
calculated to infringe upon our per
sonal rights and liberties ana the III,
terference of the state in matters OF
religion. We call upon all liberty 10y
ING citizens to aid US in our strive 10
unhoId the principles lad GOWN ~
orr constitution, and to acconlpllSH
This object we deem 1t absolutely
necessary to give our support TO such
men only for our legislative oooles
who will pledge themselves w u thet
emphatically oppose all DiIl9 ' Ia
NAV be presented in conilicC WIN oun
principles and energetlcaliy ehuea ,,ot
to have all laws repealed thaI arc I oe
in harmony with our principles Also
AJAX ALI citizens to attend the prlma'
ries. A. WYsCHETZKI, Chairman
You will note the use of"our, "us"
and 1--WE" all through this call, which
must refer to members of the "Cltl-
zens Liberal League" or as it used to
be known, the German-Amer'
lean Citizens Association. we
had not been furnished win
copy of the constitution and bylaws
or the public address of that assoc a.
ton and hence did not know its OBJ
iects and 40 stated, relying IN our
article upon what had been told US
were those objects. This is the first
communication of disagreement with
our editorial:
ANSWER TO "THE FORMATION OF A
FOREIGN LEAGUE"
Editor of The Statesman
Fairminded papers, if my memory
serves me right, even The STATES
MAN. admitted more than once that
the naturalized citizens OF German ma
tiOnality are among the best and most
law abiding citizens OF our state.
The STATESMAN of June ii, in It's
editorial. under the above blood-curd-
ling heading, states that naturallzed
citizens (the editorial calls them tor.
eigners coming to this country have
ali the privileges the natives have"
1 add, and consequently all the
duties. Among the privileges OF every
citizen, native as we'll as naturalized,l is
the right to assemble in convention
for lawful purposes; among the duties
of q good citizen lie: 10 take some In
terest in the welfare of his country,
including the duty to cast his vote In
favor of such candidates whom he re-
CARDS the most honest, the most hon.
orable, and the most capable to serve
their country in the positions for
which they are elected.
These, claim, are undisputed and
facts.
Now, unfortunately, it is also TACT
that among the naturaliZed citlHens,
ust "the valuable law abiding citl-
zens of German descent, less than
other foreigners, appreciated the
privilege and attended less to their
political duty to participate in primae
ries and even to cast their vote at the
polls, thus neglecting their duty and
their interest.
To counteract this indolent inactiv-
ity and to stir up these otherwise go
valuable and law abiding" citizens
to do their duty as American citizens
also at the voting places, two years
ago the German.A merican Citizens
association was called into life; not as
q party, not as political body, and
the least as an association to pursue
German national politics.
Finding that with the name German.
Citizens association, alHo
the object of the association
was misunderstood and maliciously
misrepresenle by Knownothingism,
delegates Of the local associations
convened last month in Austin, but
by doors wide open for every decent
person and this convention ready to
welcome the reporters of The STATES.
MAN as we'll as of every other decent
paper, changed the name q. A. {. A.
into Liberal Citizens league and ad-
opted the English language for all
such meetings where Anglo Ameri-
cans would participate This was
done to do away with the misrepre-
sentation of purpose and the SUPPOSE
ton that the association pursues for
eign national politics. The delegates
to the convention met not as Ger
mans but as American citizens, they
wore only the American cOlors as
badges and the band receiving the
delegates at the depot was instructed
to play before everything, Star
Spangled Banner.
This is in short the history of the
Liberal Citizens League, which your
respected paper brands as foreign
league, thus plainly showing that you
did not and do not understand at all
the object of the call, or that contrary
to the Texas custom, "fair play to
all i" you intended to have misrepre-
sented citizens who availed them
selves of their right to convene for
perfectly lawful purposes, as the con-
stitution and bylaws adopted at this
convention will prove to every fair
and sound minded, unbiased citizen.
w. H. STREERUwITz,
One of the Delegates
We are glad the writer does us the
ustice to admit that we have always
complimented our German citizens
for their sterling worth. We think
this but gives additional force to the
advice we tried to give,
But az to the history he gives of the
reasons for a change in the associa-
tipu15 mama. II Ia trina tho dOpra of