Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-09-11

man votes. For aside from the fact
that an army of 100000 men in coun-
TRY of 80,000,008 people can hardly be
called militarism, they misconceiye en-
tlrely the sentiment of the German
American in regard to the military sit
uation in their fatherland.
When we read democratic papers
| or hear Bryan and his adherents we
| might imagine that the whole German
American population was composed Of
deserters from military duties, or of
people opposed to the military system
of their fatherland. That this is not
true is proven by the great number of
members enthusiastically keep in
memory the time when they served the
fatherland.
THE number of those Germans who
left their country in order to escape
military duty is exceedingly small and
the percentage of those who on prin-
clple are opposed to the military sys-
TEN dwindles down to almost nothing.
1t. is true the immense German army
is a great burden to the people, but
every German of common sense adj
mits that on account of the location
and the surroundings Germany is COM
PEELED to remain people under arms
and that for the safety of the empire
it is simply case of necessity. Ger
many military life may be a hard
school, but whoever has absolved this
duty knows that it has steeled him
physically and mentally for his whole
future life, and seldom is man found
of German birth in this or the old
country, who does not look back with
pride and satisfaction to the two or
three years when he was a soldier in
the German army and wore the empe-
ror's cloth, and who does not admit
that his success in after life is in a
great measure due to this very mill
tary service. Bryan should get him
self invited once to a reunion of Ger
man veterans and he would soon
come to the conclusion that he could
accomplish but little with this issue of
militarism among the German-Ameri-
can voters
Far from being opposed to military
service on principle, most Germans
are proud of the fact that they were in
the German army. And especially is
this the case with those who served in
1S6466 and 1870. The German pap
ers that are for Bryan are careful in
speaking about this issue, for they un-
derstand the question better than Mr.
Bryan or the average American, and
they know they will find little sympa-
thy among their readers in dealing
with this subject We will not dis
pute a single moment that large stand
ing armies, under certain conditions,
II \, do, unr
a republican form of government.
History teaches us thatdegenerated
republics have been overthrown by
large armies. But we have not got to
that point yet. Nobody wishes it.
Neither the American people, McKin-
ley nor Bryan want it. No sane man
sees any danger in an army of 100000
soldiers, scattered about among So
100000 people, and if our free insti-
buttons were so weak and rotten that
an army of that size, distributed over
this immense territory, could endan-
ger them, it would not be worth while
to try and uphold them, for it would
go to pieces anyhow before long,
Bryan at present is riding the Ger
man vote with such persistence and
perseverance that his true hobby
horse, the silver question, is standing
in the stable unsaddled and unbridled
not knowing how to kill time.
"A few days ago, speaking to an
Irish audience, Mr.. Bryan said, among
other things: If you want to know
what militarism is, ask one of
these Germans, who came over here to
escape the military duty of their coun-
try We would not be afraid to wag-
er that not single German of this
class was among his audience and we
doubt very much if one German
among a thousand came to this coun-
try in order to escape military duty"