French Broad hustler and Western Carolina Democrat. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1915-1916, 1916-06-29
WHAT rs

"Will you not sometime discuss what
is meant by the Hyphen,' asks a Jour
nal reader. who adds:
about seventy five Or eighty years
ago my grandparents came to America
from Germany. l was born here, and
grew I'D as loyal to the United States
as any New Englander and as devoted
to the South as any Georgian. 1
think there are thousands of Ameri-
a n of German extraction like me
and had it been necessary to fight for
the United States they would have
been as ardent patriots as any Son OF
the Revolution"
We cordially agree with u CORE
spondent. Who can think otherwise
that knows the sturdy and splendid
part which Americans of German birth
O rlineage have played in u country's
fortunes, in developing its resources,
upbuilding it's commerce. enriching its
science and art The "Hyphen" is
not the man hwo was born on foreign
soil or whose parents were born there.
The "Hyphen" is the man who holds
foreign issue sabove American loyalty
and foreign interests above American
rights and honor. Such a man is a
'Hyphen'' regardless of his ancestry
Or place of birth. He is not of Ameri-
ca and he ought not to remain in
America. If he prefers a monarchy to
a republic, if he is more interested ill
the land whence he came than in that
which he sought for it's freedom and
| liberty, he ought to be fighting open
ly for his cause in Europe, not menac-
ing the United States.
This issue was summed up by Pres
ident Wilson with remarkable clarity
and ~forcefulness when he said in his
Flag Day speech at Washington:
81 believe that the vast majority OF
those men whose lineage is directly de-
| rived from the nations now at wal are
just as loyal to the flag of the United
States as any native citizen Of this
beloved land, but there r some men
OF that extraction who are not, and
they, not in the past months, but at the
present time. are doing their best to
undermine the influence Of the gov
eminent of the United States in the in,
terest of matters which are foreign to
us and which are not derived from the
question of Our own politics. There is
disloyalty active in the Unite Estates
and it must be absolutely crushed. 1t
proceeds from a minority, a very small
minority, but a very active and subtle
minority. 1t works underground, but
it also shows it's ugly head where we
al see it. and there are these at this
moment h are trying to levy a
species of political blackmail. saying
do what we wish in the interest OF
foreign sentiment Or We will wreak
our vengeance at the polls That is
the sort of thing against which the
American nation will turn with q
might and triumph of sentiment which
will teach these gentlemen once for all
that loyalty to this flag is the first test
to tolerance in he United States"
1t is natural and proper that Amre-
leans of foreign extraction should re-
member with warm affection the land
of their forbears. They wuold have
strange hearts indeed if they did not.
But that is quite a different thing from
intruding European issues into
American politics and. as the President
puts it, "levyiRg a species of black
mail by saying, DO what we wish in
the interest of foreign sentiment, or
we will wreak or vengeance at the
polls Atlanta Journal.