Carson City daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1907-1930, 1915-03-03

The feeling Of son 100000 German-Americans who stand help
lewly o this side OF the Atlantic and see their fatherland surrounded
ounce OF powder or bread, al not easily be imagined, say Literary
Digest Meanwhile, they se shipload after shiptoad OF Q Cd m " a.
supplies going to their enemies. The impulse o do somethng has
been very evident oil late, and equally evident has been the fear among
49,. Amer;c,rc citizens that such efforts ia involve America in embar-
Such foreboding may cruelty wrong ~ Teutonic citizens, and it
so their critics will presumably be glad to be disappointed yet it is
undeniab1e that grave misgWngs were heard in many quarters wneh
the call went ot son weeks ago for our German-Amersan popu T."
to Organize as a unit for som action 0 then clearly ne
miszivings have increased rather than diminished, if We may judge by
press comment, since the movemen then foreshadowed ia taken dehhne
shape and frankly announced its platform. Although the ation-wide
organization launched in Washington on January 80 by hity-e'sht repre-
sentative Communications declares its ehiet aim TO oe the eeSaDhs r
ment of genuine American neutrality" as a attempt to eoeree Inc
United States government into taking an actively pro-German stand
between England and the United States" declares the Boston iran
script. "The men behind the movement says the Spr1nshed R KEEP va
reveal themselves al more German than American, and m New 1ork
Times is convinced that never since the foundation OF tn republic h9
any, Sodv Of men assembled her who we're more completely subservent
to a foreign power and to foreign influence, and none ever proclaimed
the un-American spirit more openly" The sole object OF tn prom o.az
of this movement is to drive the United States from Its present pos'non
of neutrality" afnms the New York Herald.
The position they ask us to abandon" says the New ork SUM-
"s historically, legally, and morally corcct, while the course they urge
upon us amounts virtually to the enlistment OF thu american people
under the flag OF Germany" These men" declares the New YORK
World, "ae doing Germany n good n themeNes muen nan. -,
their pernnious pro-German propaganda" The movement, IN the opmn OIL
OF the Philadelphia Public Ledger represents "a pro'der"an plot aha
the Brooklyn Eagle suggests nat tn a'"Niues " "S pio"'e ""'
a close resemblance to treason.
That these and similar objections to the program oft III Washington
conference are OF prompted entirely by sympathy with thu Ahes nay
be inferred from striking protest registered by Dr. Kuno Franeke, head
of Harvards Germanic museum, and one OF the most uncompronhshs
champions of Germanys cause in this country. n a letter to Representa-
tive Richard Bartholdt declining to take part in the movement DR. Francke,
after declaring his sympathy in this war wholly and ferventy on tire
German side" goes on to say:
But my German sympathies can nt make m forget what seems
to me M duties as N American citizen if I were to take part in a pro-
payanda the purpose of which will be thought to be to force onr govern
ment into a hostile attitude toward England. Your circular letter speaks
OF England as Americas archenemy' 1t calls for a New Declaration OF
Independence, which is to eliminate Ill undue Enghsh innuences nomi
our American life, And it protests against the continued traffic in arm
and munitions of war which practically arrays III country Q n tn SIDE O
England
Il do not wish ito emphasize the fact that the proclamation OF a n
embargo on arms and munitions OF "a would oe a altogether llusory
thing. Arms and other implements of wa would, if ur government Is
tabjshed an embargo o them, be shipped from this country to Havana,
oil to Vigo, or to some other neutral port and would reach their matte
from there without IN nderance What l q Q WISH TIC nj IS tdt
the establishment Of such an embargo would inevitably bring our govern
ment into conflict with England and might drive us int "a With England.
GAS a man of German blood might welcome the help which would
accrue to Germany by such a conflict between the United States and Eng
land. But as a American citizen can not possibly support a pohey
which would bring the terrors OF war to our country. What 1eei
hound &c support as al American citizen, is a policy which hold itself
strictly within the accepted rules OF neutrality, although, to my re-
grett this policy, through circumstances yer which the United States has
no control practically turns ut to the advantage OF England inc to thu
detiment of Germany"
Dr. Franckes letter closes with the following earnest plea:
"We have every opportunity in this country to make tet what IS
best in German character and life. Let US continue TO do so; let us con-
time to have a prominent part in all endeavors for political civic and
industrial progress; let us stand for 1.-THE German ideals OF honesty, 10y
atty, truthfulness, devotion to work; let us cultivate u language uf
literature and II art let US eariessy defend the cause ofo III mother
country against prejudice and aspersions. But let us refrain rom political
organizations which would set Germans in th1s country apart as a Grass
bv themselves Such a attempt would lead mo-. to the raising, but 70 the
degradation. of the German name in this country. 1t would foster hatred
instead OF sympathy; and only by gaining the sympathy of the majority OF
the American people can W e nep tn aus o. on
mother country"
Another German-American protest against the program OF the WASH
;r,ton conference is voiced by the New York Volks-Zeitung 0abor),
which denounces the movement as "a dangerous agitation" which seeks
TO embroi the United States in a war with England Under the hypo-
critical pretense of preserving Americas neutrality this organization
would actually imperl it." declares this workers organ, which calls upon
"every German-American workingman in this country to oppose the
movemen with all his strength,
GOING BACK TO THE OLD DAYS
80. - a. - ,--:-IA-. ..~.:... AL-:.