Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-04
Oswald G. Willard Speaks
Against a Division of
Allegiance.
TODAY DEFEND SYSTEM
THEY FLED TO ESCAPE
Present Propaganda, He Asserts,
Would Amaze Carl Schurz, Who
Opposed Solidarity.

STOCKBRIDGE, Mass, September A.
Oswald Garrison Willard, publisher Of
the New York Evening Post, in an ad-
dress before the Laurel Hill Associa-
tion here today declared that the move
ment among American citizens Of for
eign, especially German, descent to
form bodies apart from the citixenship
presented a far-reaching domestic is
sue, which the American people must
conquer as they have conquered other
great evils.
factor in the continuance of the "Amerf-
can melting pot" lay In educating i'm
migrants to the proper duties OF cit1-
zenship, He asserted that in most In
stancess heretofore naturalization ex-
aminati6ns had been a farce, and that
the award of what ought to be tho
most highly priced of diplomas had oc-
curred-in New York at least-in dim.
dingy rooms under circumstances not
as dignified as attend the registering OF
a letter."
Mr.. Willard said he was born on
German soil, of a German father"
For Undivided Allegiance.
Foreigners becoming American citi-
zens should be made to understand, Mr..
Willard said, that there can be no d.
vided citizenship or loyalty or alle-
glance under the American nag; that no
one can accept political obligations
here while at heart loyal to another So
cial system, another entity or another
code of laws.
In opening his address Mr.. Willard
quoted from an address made by Carl
Schurz at the celebration Of the latter's
SEVENTEEN birthday, sixteen years ago.
in which Mr.. Schurz said that no mat
ter how warm the affections German
Americans had held for their native
land they had never permitted their Al
fections to interfere with their duties
as American citizens, nor to seduce
them to use their power In American
politics for foreign ends.
How amazed Carl Schurz would be
to return to us today to md that tnal
has come to pass which he deemed IN.
conceivable" said Mr. Willard. that
German-American affection for their
native land has interfered with the
proper attitude of the great bulk OF
these toward the land OF their adoption.
He would find to his horror that at this
moment their presence on this soil does
not help to preserve peace and friend
ship between their two parent nations.
but adds fuel to the flames of bitter
ness.
Urging Political Solidarity.
"The very thing he inveighed against
all his life-the development Of po-
litical solidarity among German-Amsr-
icans-he would today find urged by
practically all who profess to be lead
ers among them.
Naturally Schurz would scan the
horizon for some discriminatory act on
the part of our government, or some
manifestation of racial prejudice
against German-Anfericans. But he
would find nothing of the sort. SO far
as the federal government and states
are concerned he would discover moth
ing changed from the day he left us.
1.-The mighty convulsion we are wit
entirely to foreign complication, to a
determination on the part of our Ger
man-Americans to stand by their IA
therland through thick and thin, right
or wrong; to a sudden self-revela ton
that, unlike himself, they by the ten
thousand had not really transferred
their allegiance to the country of their
adoption; to a determination on their
part to compel the government at
view.
What could amaze him moro than
to find unnumbered Germans who, like
himself, came to this country to es-
cape the very militaristic autocracy
they now uphold today denouncfnE the
nation that adopted and sheltered, fed
and clothed them?"
"Political' American Only.
Mr.. Willard touched at some length
on the writings of Prof. julius Goebel
of the University of Illinois, in which
the latter contended that German
Americans are Americans only in a
political sense" and the writer pro-
tested against the presumption of
those who would stamp out German
characteristics in the American melt
OSher races have shown strong tend
encies to form distinct bodies. Mr.. VIII
lard said, but the German propaganda
is SO far the most extensive.
He then asked that If 1t were true, as
that the German kultur and
scheme of life and government in
America why the hordes who have
focked here did not go to Germany
instead.
Mr.. Willard said that to allow ma
groups to develop in this
such as they have in Austria
would be most disastrous. He
said such a proposal was "unthtnkable
to a true minded American"
After dwelling on the evils to be en-
countered by further growth Of these
groups, Mr.. Willard said that the pres
ent development of them was a chal-
to our loyalty to all things Amer
fcapp