Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-12-09

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this direction:
We advise our readers-each and
every one of our readers--to read
tion that part of the Presidents
message which we are printing In
heavy type this mornings; to read
| that part not once superficially. but
again and again until it Is so
| deeply craven in their minds that
1t can never be forgotten.
| President passes Judgment upon the
| citizens of the United States born
! under other flags" He accuses
them of treason because, as he says,
they have poured the poison of dis
| loyalty into the veins of our ma
tional life; because they are alleged
to have plotted sinister plots. con-
| spired against the neutrality of our
| country and tried to gain an insight
into every confidential act Of the
| Government.
Much already has been read in the
| newspapers about plots" Not
| single one has been proved In the
| courts thus far. Only In one case,
| in that of Robert Fay. has a formal
| charge been preferred.
And again, further along in the
editorial, we find this acrid comment
| The President commands Con-
! gress; Those mystic criminals, who
are charged with nebulous things
hitherto not recognized by our laws
| as punishable, must be "crushed!
| And that is Presidential mes
sage to Congress! a document more
shameless than this is not recorded
in the annals of American history.
The staats-zeitung stupidity at
| tacks the Presidents message on a
point which will have the universal
support of his supporters and political
opponents alike. 1t merely emphasizes
the danger the President points out.
It's TRADE of abuse is most convincing
argument that legislation of the most
drastic sort is necessary to protect the
nation from the vampires who live
and prosper on it's plenty only to suck
its life blood in secret plottings and
crimes that would have made
Benedict Arnold blush for shame.
The Staats-Zeitung would have its
readers believe that the President re-
fers to all foreign-born Americans.
This is far from the truth. The Presi-
dent knows, as everybody else knows,
that some of our very best blood has
been drawn from Germany, from Ire
land, from Scotland and from other
countries in Europe. Going back far
enough he knows that we, in a sense.
are all foreign-born, or are of foreign
ancestry. He knows that in every war
waged for the honor or preservation
of the Union Americans born in Ger
many, or Ireland, or Scotland, or any
one OF the other countries now at war,
fought side by side and bled and
died for the country of their adoption.
He knows, for instance, that there is
no more loyal American under the
sun than he who likes to call himself
a Pennsylvania German. The Presi-
dent knows full we'll that man is prone
to look with fondness upon the land
of his birth, the scenes of his child
hood: but he knows also that when
one foreswears his native country and
takes the oath of allegiance 10 the
United States his duty is to the gov
ernment of his adoption first, last and
all the time.
President Wilson has nothing but
admiration for the foreign born Am
crican true to American ideals and to
the American government. The por-
ion of his message to which the
Staats-Zeitung takes such strong ex-
,ception is directed at those whom
President Hibben, of Princeton, so
well defined the other day in this
language:
Let us not shrink from calling
things by their right name, and
therefore let us brand as traitor
whoever
ing the protection and prosperity
of our country and yet dares to eX-
pres. press by + word 9d or deed ed the spirit Of
come and room within our borders
for~ail sorts and conditions of men,
but no place and no quarter for
traitors
win the Staats-Zeitung say that
such as these are not to be condemned
and punished?
There is, as President Hibben says,
man or woman who comes to our
shores for the purpose of bettering his
or her conditioner, becoming true
Americans-but we have no place for
the Citizen Heaven spare the
name. whose first love is for a land
they prefer some other country to
ours, let them so there and live. If
they like the trenches better than the
paths of peace and prosperity, there
are ships sailing for Europe almost
any day and recruits are in demand.
One thing the Staats-Zeitung and
other publications of its ilk are doing
that they had not calculated upon
they are arousing true Americans to
fervor of patriotism unknown in
many years and which is bound to
react favorably in the affairs of gov
ernment. Perhaps for this We owe
them debt of thanks.
WILSON'S ATTITUDE
A S the Presidents message is more
IN closely studied there is strong
element of protest among the