The Washington herald., 1911-10-01


history of all German citizens of the
United States. the 22Sth anniversary of
the landing Of the first German colonists
in this country occurring on that day.
The National German American Alliance.
holding its sixth biennial convention in
this city. representing 100000 German
American citizens will observe the day
with a pilgrimage to Mount Vernon in
the afternoon and kommers in the
evening at the New Willard. on both OF
which occasions prominent speakers will
he heard.
Great significance attaches to the event
| from purely American historical point
of view. inaSmICh as the many millions
| Of Germans who have come to this COun-
try since Franz Daniel Pastorius came
ashore on the Delaware, near what is now
Philadelphia, IN the autumn of l6>i. have
become part of the blood and bone of
the great American republic.
First Landing in 1852.
1t has been frequently pointed out that
preceding the first successful colony which
arrived at Philadelphia. October E 1855.
from which IS usually dated German
colonization in this country. many Ger
mans had visited these shores Thus
Thytker. who came with the Norsemcn.
centuries before Columbus. and tho un-
successful settlement at Port Royal s c..
in 1562. Many came individually with the
Swedes. the Dutch. and the English. such
Johann Ledercr-an account of whose
wonderful explorations from Maryland TO
Florida was published in London in 1872
The man who made the maps for Lord
Baltimore and who settled in Bohemia
| German. Since there are reliable census
records at hand. il is known that Ger
many has furnished about 30 per cent of
this country'S So-Called foreign popula-
ton while England contributed about
| II per cent, including those from Wales
Gov. Thomas. OF PENNSYLVANIA. wrote in
| 174S: Tho Germans in that province are
| I believe. threr-fifthS Of the whole peo-
pie. and by their industry and frugality
have been the principal instruments Of
raising il to its present fOurishing con-
dition."
Whether in the employ Of other nations
as was Peter Minnewit of Wcsel, the
first governor of the New Netherlands
who landed in 1926 or as colonisrS on
masso. tn" Germans have always shown
! good common sense and n Just appre
citation OF the personal rights Of others.
While Puritan New Englanders NAL
| treated unfortunate Quakers. who fell
| into their hands, and burned witches,
the first successful Germany colony, at
Germantown. in 1853. drew up a re-
monstrance against sIavery-thc first Ct
all such protests.
The First Paper Mill.
In 1890 Wilhelm Rittenhousc erected the
! first paper mill in America, on a branch
of tn" Wissa hickon. and the German sec
ton of Pennsylvania became a great pub
| fishing center. Prior to the Revolution,
there were more printing presses opCr-
ated by Germans in Pennsylvania and
moro books published by them than in
| the whole of New England. II was the
German Pastorius who wrote the first
| schoolbook; it was the German Chris
topher Saur who printed the first Bible
| in any European language in America,
and the German clOster Ephrata had its
| own printing press, paper mill. and book
bindery as early as l745. and was able
| to publish. In 1T49. a German translation
| of the 'MartyrcT Spiegel." a folio volume
of 1,50o pages-the greatest literary under
| taking of the American colonies And
no less a person than Benjamin Franklin
found it necessary to cater to German
! trade by printing German books. Down
to the Revolutionary war there were is
sued in Pennsylvania eight newspapers
| in English. while there were ten pub
: lished in German. The Bible was printed
| in German, in America, three times, and
the Testament seven times, before they
were printed in English.
AS a defender of the soil the German
has always been strong. and when, in
| 17jS, the colonies were haraSsed by In
dians the Royal American Regiment
raised by order of Parliament. consisted
mostly of Germans, including the officers;
and a German, Conrad Weiser, acted as
interpreter at the council with the In
dianS at Easton. Again, when the valley
OF the Mohawk was overrun by Indians,
Threatening New York. the German NiCO-
laus Herchheimer CHerkimeT) and his
brave German followers led in the de-
fense. 1t was the German Moravian
missionary, Frederick Post. whose elo-
quent addresses to the Indian warriors,
near Fort Duquesne. won them over to
our side at a moment most critical in our
colonial history.
Germans In Revolution.
When the great Revolutionary storm
arose, and it became necessary to fight
for liberty, the German colonists were
not lacking in their devotion to the
cause of freedom. One not of German
birth has recently pointed out that as
early as 172 the German residents of
Philadelphia, who were influential in
business and civic affairs, organized an
association, called The Patriotic So
ciety Of the City and County of Phila-
delphia" The object of the society was
to encourage resistance to British author
ity in the colonies. In I77i, when the
British ministry threatened to close the