Evening star., 1899-04-01
Why a Hyphenated Citizenship

| To the Editor of The Evening Star:
But, as has been so often asked, Why
German-Americans? Why Irish-Americans?
Why French-Americans? Why a hyphen-
ated citizenship of any kind? Why not
| simply Americans all. bearing undivided al
| legiance to the government and considering
| only the best interests of the government
Evening Star, March 2S
| Because, my dear star the Anglo
American fraction of our people has been
of late so arrogant and noisy in it's de-
| mands; because in numerous editorials the
victories won by the valor of German
Americans, Irish-Americans, French and
Italian-Americans, as Well as Anglo-Ameri-
cans, have been calmly put down to the
credit of the AnglO-SaXon race; because We
have heard the flag which we have sup
| posed stood for Americans of all breeds
called by a United States senator the
Anglo-Saxon flag" whatever that may
mean; because the progress made by the
| brain and Drawn of all the races that have
| from the beginning made the force of our
| country has been attributed to the eX-
| elusive glory of the Anglo-SaXon; because
| the Anglo-Americans, in the expression of
their devotion to the country of their
origin, have presumed to speak in the name
| of the whole body of our people, by most
| of whom that country is regarded with
| diStruSt or aversion; because this small but
voluble faction has been so far successful
| in it's efforts to make the name American
synonymous with Anglo-SaXon that our
countrymen are beginning to be ashamed
| to be called Americans and are taking
refuge in hyphenation in sheer self-defense.
1t is undoubtedly true-and the fact is full
of encouragement for the vendors of gold
| bricks and green goods-that some of our
people believe England to have unselfshly
interviewed in our behalf during the late
war, and when this is demonstrated on
some better authority than has yet ap-
peared, a proper sense of gratitude, though
| mingled with surprise, will be elected from
all Americans of whatever race. But even
| this will not reconcile the average Ameri-
| can to the name of Anglo-Saxon.
Since the success of our arms turned the
tide of English feeling in our favor We
have heard with tiresome iteration the
statement that blood is thicker than wa
ter the implication always being that
| racial sympathies do and should take pre-
| cedence of every other tie that binds men
| together. In a nation like ours, made UP
| OF az the races OF Europe, to say nothing
| of Africa, this doctrine is about as danger
| Gus a one as could be devised by our worst
enemy If 1t were meant to be taken seri-
ously or given general application. But. of
course, everybody knows that it is not so
meant We all understand that in only one
| strain of blood among the many that go to
make up our population is this quality Of
viscidity supposed to be desirable and that
| the maxim is intended to read English
blood is thicker than waterfall other
kinds must be acknowledged to be thinner
unuer penalty OF De1ng called un-American.
lf the Anglo-American will kindly forego
| his claim to be the only real American and
| will cease his efforts to force his own ira
diuons and sympathies upon his country
| men, We will hear no more of the otL er
hyphenated sorts. But If we are to accent
| his view that we are not a nation. but a
| kind of colony owing affectionate allegiance
! to Europe, let us by all means organize
| along the lines of our racial predictions
and be true to all the various branches of
our ancestry, not to one only.
w. D. WINDOW, 1877 ST. NV.
March 81, 1899