Evening journal., 1907-09-20
supsrIntsndsnt spaid,s RepIy.
lltor THE EVENING JOURNAL.


Editor THE EVENING JOURNAL.
Recently l have been accused Of COM
hitting the horrible crime Of lese majestic
against the German-American Alliance Of
\ Wilmington. and I now proceed to de-
/ fend myself I know that ign rance Of the
law does not excuse one for breaking tho
law. However. extenuating circumstances
often favor the accused, Therefore, wish
1 10 plead that DID not know Of tie ox-
istence OF this scientific and rhilosophic
body in our midst until IL butted in whe G
] it was none Of its business. and besan 10
sing its praises IN the newspapers.
have no quarrel with good German
citizens We have those IN this city who
! have said 20 me that the saloon l. a
/ curse. ] have friends from the Father
land. / am not going to insult them II 1
can help IL, ana I do not propose to con-
denim one-fcurth OF the blood that courses
through my veins; but when an organ
izaton. which ma ntains a LOBBYIST at
the seat Of our Federal Government. and
actively associate itself with the liquor
Interests OF this country sticks its nose
! Into little debate between two citizens Il
Is high time that there should be some
''nativisuc" opposition. I care nothing for
| your insults. To call me names IN this
local option eight is TO honor me. l have
been called liar, hypocrlte and ignoramus
before. Indeed, I have letter mailed In
! Wilmington which threatens my life. That
was written several years ago. but am
stlll living. / wish 10 say right here that
I know my rights as a citizen Of Delaware
and I want it thoroughly understood that
I will not be coerced or intimdated, or
lhundozed by the German-American AL
lance, or any body else. know my rights
and propose 10 exercise them. I am
not bound by any civil service rules and
I am sure that I did not surrender my
rights as an American citizen when ac-
cepted my present postoa. My inalienable
rights to speak and to write cannot be
taken from me. It will take more than a
ridiculous letter signed by Herr Goepel to
| neutralize me. 1 am the guardian Of the
school children in this county outside OF
Wilmington, and when the saloon keep
ers sell liquor TO minors and teachers re-
/ port 20 me that liquor has been brought
| by lads under fifteen onto the school
grounds. my blood boils and nothing but
death viii keep me from doing all in my
power TO put these unprincipled men out
Of this accursed business
I notice that you do not like my sar-
oasm. and I can assure you that II
could write such rollioking humor as YOU
do / would adopt that style at once. Take
the following example: 1--WE spring from
blood of genius made immortal. wherever
the German name Is heard or its achieve
ments known. A masterful people through
out the limits Of our history. we have
always drank good wine and beer. we do
not expect to depart from our customs or
degenerate IN our attachments" Mark
Twain never wrote anything that beats
that
do not care to go into fun discussion
Of the points introduced by this foreign
TRADE for il would make my reply too
long. However ! desire TO comment on
some Of the statements which am in
formed Herr Professor Goepel never
wrote The fact is these "open letters" are
said to come from their Washington lob
byist. where the great "salted mine" Of
the liquor interests exists. 1t is a dis.
agreeable fact" says this lobbyist through
/ Herr Goepel. that our own State is 50
low in the list, but it cannot be a surprise
10 those who have paid attention to the
recent utterances of our would-be educa-
tors"
Delaware has one license to about 100
OF population" says tbs 'open letter.
writer. "and one illiterate TO 2s OF popula-
tion." To all intelligent citizens this is a
statement Of fact. What else could one
expect7 For years before the liquor in
terests lost their grip on the public school
system things were very much worse than
they are now. We have had but ten years