The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1914-09-04

brought with them e.ai whica has
tended to elevate aad diversity Ill ,
national character and thought. Aside
from lettering their condition, why
did they come?
| In larger measure-as witness the
| men of 1S48-they came for freedom.
They abjured autocracy, they turned
| their back upon absolutism, when
they naturalized as American citizens.
| Has anything happened to change
them, or the government they re-
nounced?
We my hold in allegiance respon-
| sibility for the awful cataclysm which
has come upon the world. The future
will take care of that. But we cannot
shut our eyes to it's most CONSPICUOUS
! figure and the system of which he is
| the embodiment. Nicholas of Russia
! is but a figure of speech. George
| of England is hardly more. Franz
Josef, clinging to the ragged edge c
tragedy, is simply pathetic. William
of Germany directs the winds and
rules the storms of battle. He is the
one and only War Lord. His triumph
would mean the arrest of liberty,
the confirmation an extension OF
arbitrary power, the recall of feudal
principles and methods.
Honest, liiberty-loving Germans
have as little cause to support such
an eventuality as honest liberty-lov-
ing Americans. They owe no more to
the Hohenzollerns that the French
owed to the Capets, the Austrians to
the Hapsburg and the English to the
Staurts. So, why should they who
dwell in America-who have found
it fortunate land-be quick TO quar-
rel with their neighbors upon the m
cidents of such war?
II
Our good friend and brother, Her
man Ridder, of the Staats-Zeitune,
has-most unwisely as we think
set himself at the head of a p:opagan-
da at variance with this view of the
interest and duty of the German
Americans.
He is an American born. 1t may be
remembered that the, Courier Journal
once urged him as vice presidential
nominee on a national democratic
ticket. We would like to do that
again. As a Journalist and the edi-
tor of newspaper printed in the
German language, he may yield to the
more passionate of his constituency
upon an impulse instead If urging
them, as we do, to respect the neu-
trality of a nation of which they are
not unwillingly part. Parenthetic-
ally, let us observe that the Courier
Journal has quite as many German
readers as the Staats-Zeitung, and
therefore as much to lose by unpleas-
ing counsels. But, friend of the
wisely, it's editor is older team Mr..
Ridder and has a deeper realization
of what was signified by Bloody Mon
day here in Louisville, and of Know
NOthingism throughout the country
at large than he can possibly have.
We dread any recurrence to the ma
lign spirit that like a poisonous rep
tile lay back of both. At the same
time we are disposed to rebuke some
of the folliies which has displayed
themselves among some of the Ger
mans since the war began. For ex-
ample, what could be more senseless
and untrue than a body of Germans
on French liner gathering beneath
the bridge to sing patriotic German
songs? If they had been headed the
other way-if they were going to the
front to fight the battles of the kaiser
and their native land-it would have
been another matter. But they were
coming this way-running as it were
away from the battle-and the guests
of a French boat. Inevitably, the
French servants refused them enter.
tainment, and when they appealed to
the captain he very naturally said
L will do my best, but you brought
it on yourselves"
The retort might be spoken to er.
cry German who loses his head and
Stops over, IF you love the kaiser sc
well, why don't you go and fight fol
him?" Why indeed should Herman
Ridder himself whoop things up by
| quoting the war songs of Germany
and talking of the "Vaterland" as il
he were writing in Berlin instead Of
New York? Such screeds only make
for anti-German feeling in America.
The same may be said of the writ