Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-14
Utterances on Hyphenated
Americanism Create Dis
Cussion in New York.
TAKES OVER THUNDER
OF COL. ROOSEVELT
Friends of Former President Think
It a Shame, While the
Public Laughs.
BY N. o. MESSENGER.

/
| NEW YORK, October 14-President
| Wilson's significant utterances on n.y.
phenated Americanism created a wide
spread discussion in this city, which
contains a larger number of more kinds
of 'hyphenated Americans" than any
other community in the republic, for
| there are in greater New York thou
sands of Irsh-Americans, Italian
Americans, French Americans, German
Americans, Scandinavian Americans,
Polish-Americans. Graeco Americans
and so on.
You never hear of "Jewish-Ameri-
cans" however The hyphen has never
existed. The Jewish vote is spoken of,
but only in connection with domestic
politics, as with political subdivisions
of other Americans. Neither does one
hear of English Americans or
Scotch They are either
British or American.
1t is we'll known, of course, that i'm
mense colonies of these hyphenated
Americans exist in New York. They
have their separate quarters, their
newspapers, their restaurants, but they
assimilate in avocation and business
with the native born and take keen in
terest in politics once they are natural
lied.
1t would seem evident from the trend
of public expressions that President
Wilson's clarion note of appeal and
warning Is meeting with general ap-
prevail here. That the time was oppor-
tune none can deny. and that New York
should be deeply interested is equally
evident since here are located the
headquarters of a vigorous propaganda
the effect of which is designed to be
the lessening of neutrality of certain
American citizens or residents of for
eign extraction.
Beats Roosevelt to It.
New Workers today are chuckling over
one sidelight of the discussion raised by
the Presidents speech This has to do
with Col. Roosevelt's speech Tuesday
night to the Knights of Columbus on the
same subject. Sad to relate, PresidenU
Wilson beat him to. it" by twenty-four
hours. This topic is/one of the coloners
staple leading features of his political
stock in trade. and here comes the Presi-
dent to calmly appropriate it ahead of
him.
William J. Bryan used to accuse the
colonel of stealing his political raiment,
and lately the colonel has had a dose of
his own medicine, the President taking
over national preparedness and now the
hyphenates.
Isn't it a shame?' the coIoners friends
are asking, while the rest of the public
laughs.
The speech of the colonel Tuesday night
while in the nature of a me, too"
declaration. and serving to emphasize and
indorse the Presidents lead, brought out
expressions of popular sentiment toward
the subject which was most pronounced.
He talked before an audience Of the
knights OF Columbus, whose member
ship aff1iiates with one particular religious
sect. There were 5000 men in the hafl
and another thousand outside
His Opinion of Hyphenates.
The colonel was in fine form and en-
1oyed the uproarious welcome which
greeted him. His opinion of the hyphen-
ates was expressed in such sentences as
these:
There is no such thing as the hyphen-
ated American who is a good American. +"
The only man who is a good American
is the man who is an American and
nothing else"
The man who calls himself an Amer
lean citizen and who yet shows by
ms actions that he is primarily the
citizen OF foreign land plays a thor
oushly mischevous part in the life Of
our body polite. He has no place
here and the sooner he returns to the
land to which he feels his real hear;
allegiance the better it will be for
| every good American. The one abso-
iutely certain way of bringing this
nation 10 ruin, of preventing all pes
/ slbility of its continuing to be a ma
ton at all, would be to permit II to
become tangle Of squabbline nation
antics, an intricate knot of German
Americans, observation-disclosures English
Americans. French-Americans,S candi-
navian- Americans or Italian-Amer =
| cans. each preserving it's separate ra-
! tionality, each at heart feeling more
| sympathy with Europeans of that "a
tonaiity than with the other citizen
OF the American republic. The men
! who do not become Americans and
nothing else are hyphenated Ameri-
cans. and there ought not to be room
for them in this country
| Then the colonel took up another
subject. and one which you will hear
a good deal about in the next few
| intolerance in politics. This is to be a
burning question In Massachusetts
and play part in New York
| Col Roosevelt took a strong stand
against the intrusion of religious
{ prejudices in American politics and
went TO uttermost lengths in anathe-
matizing those who would profit by
/ such divisions of American citizers s.
placing them in the category of the
condemned hyphenates
} Attention is called to this speech DO
cause IL is the opening gun IN o~o
/ feature of the pending political cam
paign which will reverberate for some
I time.