Evening star., 1915-05-16
Cleveland, Ohio, Pro-Germans
Give Their Idea of
Tragedy. IL
BELIEVE LONDON PLANNED
TO AROUSE AMERICA
Freighted Ship With Contraband
and Peopled It With q. 8. Citi.
zens for Purpose."
By N. o. MESSENGER.

| CLEVELAND. Ohio. May 16.-Bear m
mind now that I am writing after sew
erai days so1ourn from a city which has
a large population Of German birth and
sympa thy. In the last analysis they are
just as good Americans as you and I.
but being human beings with the pas
sions and devotions Of ordinary mortals
not endowed with divine attributes they
have their own opinions. which every
| fair-minded man will admit they have q
right to entertain.
1t win be recognized Immediately that
this great and potential element in the
population Of the cosmopolitan republic to
| which those of us OF revolutionary ances-
try are wont to claim proprietary inter-
est are entitled to their day in court
They most assuredly have a stake in the
game because in this state and in other
states Of the busy central west they help
to constitute the most substantial fabric
| of the commonwealth.
| It is my purpose In this dispatch to
| tell you how a section OF the people arc
| feeling over the issue raised by the Lusi-
tan'a tragedy. From Indianapolis gave
you the flrst-blush Impressions OF the
people OF a community which might he
called typically American. Indiana is old
Uncle Sam personified. not alone the
Uncle Sam Of New England. cool and
|
south. impetuous yet conservative. but
our Old Sam. with the rumpled hair. and
| the white goatee as Cliff Bergman por-
| trays him and whom We all understand
and love.
Simon-Pure American Spirit.
Indiana was mad through and
through. as I wrote you. over the Lu-
sitania affair. Peoples nerves were a
bit on edge. anyhow. about Mexico.
with the spectacle of American citizens
| being outraged in every way without
our quite making up our minds to take
the quarrel up; then the sinking of the
| Gulflight, which was construed to be q
direct cause for protest, and SO on.
| So, at Indianapolis. l found the first
| outbreak of what might be called the
| simon-pure American spirit and faith
| fully recorded it. Apparently, II was
| the spirit of the nation as a whole, as
| since developed.
| But here we have another angle to
the proposition. Other people are to
be taken into consideration and their
| views to be weighed. The Star. with
| its independent attitude, was one Of
the first newspapers that had the cour-
| age to speak out in meeting and tell
of the religious element that entered
into the last political campaign. The
news was recited and no opinions ex-
| pressed.
In the same spirit I propose to tell
| you of the different sides of this great
question as viewed out here. I am
here simply as your representative. to
| let you know as you take UP the pa
per after breakfast what your fellow
countrymen are talking about and
thinking about. the same as you are
which. perhaps; is fTemo't in the
Call It British Plot.
In this region. as I warned you IN
| the beginning OF the dispatch, there
must be taken into consideration the
presence OF the large German born
population. They feel very keenly the
Importance OF the crisis. Here they
are In business and social relations in
close touch with the natfve-born
Americans. The Star correspondent has
| been among them and has felt the
sense of repression between the two
will be a sorry day when there are
factions based upon racial differences
among Americans.
These men with pro-German SYM
pathies-now mind me, I am speaking
for them alone-are of the opinion that
the British government deliberately
brought the crisis to the United States
government by freighting the Lusi-
tania with contraband of war and peo-
pling her decks with women and chill
dren, so that the resulting catastrophe
would arouse humanitarian resentment
in this land.
And there you have 1t.
/ am giving you the sentiment of a
considerable portion of the population
in this region. Whether they are wrong
or right has no bearing upon this dis
patch, which is merely in the nature Of
imparting information and severely
disavowing expression of opinion
In the end this feeling may have an
important bearing upon the preserva-
tion of peace to which every one is .
committed. The Congress of the United
States alone can declare war: IL the
Congress is called upon to deal with
the subject the sentiment of the Ger
man-born citizens of the central west
will have representation.
Two Views of Tragedy.
Don't let's cheat ourselves playing
solitaire, which is by way of saying
that there are two views in the land
upon a subject most important. II l
have succeeded in presenting to your
considera tion the views of one ele-
ment of the population not to be light
lN whistled down the wind / have full
filled my mission for the moment.
Canal Employees Are to Pay.