TaÌˆgliche Omaha tribuÌˆne. [volume] (Omaha, Nebr.) 1912-1926, 1914-12-12

a HIrd's-Kye View of Their
Standing, Achievements
and influence In the United
States.


~ - gOfAfaAUGu
IN the Aberdeen Free Press. discuss.
ing In a column article The German
Americans" We read this:
When il comes 10 an issue like the
present, that Of Germany against The
rest Of Europe, the American German 4,
found TO be either N The mass apathetie
or else possessed Of too little Influence
political or other, 20 give his opinions
serious importance"
We are also told that the German.
Americans ARE not in general very
keenly sympathetic with the Fatherland
IN the present struggle" not a sin
gle volunteer do VIC hear Of, out Of all
these 100000, going back to fight for
the land Of their fathers" "The
American German Is simply this Mich.
aer over again. and "has not
achieved a great deal in the United
States" In one industry alone
does he stand pre-eminent that Is brew
ing" Zone can easily imagine the
blunt American asking him today: Say,
Dutchy, why don't you 60 and fight for
your fatherlandf' And one can as easily
imagine his rcpiy-You think me a
damn fool. ehl'g
How strikingly this pen sketch Of the
Oerman-Amcrican is like the distorted
versions of events Of the war cabled and
mailed over to the American press BY
the same sort of correspondents as the
writer Of the above who signs himself
Scotia" may be left to any one with a
grain Of common sense and justice. Such
statements hardly merit a serious reply.
But "Scotia's" sketch serves as a text
for a brief discussion OF the place OF the
German American in the history Of the
United States.
That lie occupies a minor place when
it comes to political leadership may as
well be conceded without discussion, and
the reason is that he is too loyal to the
ideals Of the American constitution to
practice the political "partieularism" for
which the German is noted at home, and
too idealistic to engage in the mud
Singing Of ward politics, except in an
indiyidualistic state. As an American
citizen who registers and votes accord
ing to his conviction on Election Day, he
has never failed 10 do his duty.
There is no such thing as the German
vote in American politics save in a
crisis where the sacred doctrines Of per-
sonal liberty are at stake, and this atti-
.tude is sufficiently justified by those who
know how to coastrue the meaning Of
Montesquieu when he declared that all
the free institutions OF the world came
out of the forests of Germany" and Of
Guizot when he said, in his History of
Civilization" that 1T was the rude bar
barians of Germany who introduced this
sentiment Of personal independence, this
love Of individual liberty, into European
civilization it was unknown among the
Romans, 1t was unknown in the Chris
tian Church, it was unknown in nearly
all, the civilizations Of antiquity"
It found its expression in the first pro-
test against slavery and involuntary SER
yitude, pronounced at a meeting of Ger
man Quakers, April Is, 1888, at German
town, Pa protest in the handwriting
of F. d. Pastorius which occupies the
place of honor among all declarations Of
a. similar character as the first protest
against slavery voiced on the American
continent. 1t inspired John Greenleaf
Whittier, the American poet, to compose
his famous Lines on Reading a Mes
sage Of Governor Ritner of Pennsyl-
vania, 1885," in part as follows:
And that bold-hearted ~yeomanry, honest
and true,
Who, haters OF fraud, give to labor its
due;
Whose fathers of old sang in concert
with thine
On the banks of Swetara, the songs Of
the Rhine
The German-born pilgrims, who first
dared to brave
The scorn Of the proud in the cause Of
the slave
They cater to tyrants1 They rivet the
chain,
Which their fathers smote off, on the
negro again?
The English Quakers were not, at that
time, disposed to interfere with 50 deli
cate a problem, and the protest was
tabled" after many diplomatic shifts in
opposition, as of too far-reaching a
character.
The streets Of New York at the out
break OF the war, when thousands and
thousands Of German reserves in Amer
rur4k4 A44n AnA n us4mAnu