Freie Presse fuÌˆr Texas. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1865-1945, 1916-10-13
Greie $reHe fit seras:: Greitas 10. Oftpber 1916.

German-American is "the fore
most electrical engineer of the
United States, and therefore Of
the world" | am quoting the
words Of the President of Har-
ward University in comforting a
degree upon Karl P. Steinmetz.
How many of Jul giant enter
prises we're founded by these des-
pissed hyphenates! shall name
only four. The great United
States Steel Corporation sprang
from the furnace of Andreas and
Anton .Klomann, started about
1850; the family of the man who
may be regarded as the father of
modern Department Store, John
Wanamaker, was originally known
as Wannemacher; the ancestors
of the founder of the Standard
Oil business were called Roggen-
fielder; and all over the world, in
81 languages, you will see the
praise Of the 81 varieties associa-
ted with the name of Heinz.
Even so is the contiguous
realms Of beauty and of truth, in
the radiant creations of art und
the stupendous achievements Of
science, the Germans in America
have done their share and need
not be ashamed.
Do you know that the Capitol
at Washington, the most majestic
structure in the New World, is the
work of a German hyphenate ?
Do you know that the most beau
tiful building in the New World,
the Library of Congress, is also
the work of two hyphenated Ger
mans?
Do you know that the largest
telescopes and the two most i'm
portant observatories in the Uni
ted States were the gifts of two
hyphenates, Lick and Yerkes?
A German-American, Heinrich
Schliemann, dug up the buried
grandeur of Greece, and raised
the mighty men of Homer from
the world of shades?
Do you know that Johann Beh-
rent, in ITS, built the first Amer
lean piano? Do you know that
you can't buy an unhyphenated
piano worth playing?
The Germans have given us the
singing society and the symphony
orchestra, two great agencies to
uplift and civilize the human FAM
lily. But in more unitarian fields
of humanitarian endeavor we also
owe to them some of our most adj
mirable institutions. 1t was a
German Barbarian, Henry Bergh,
who founded the societies for the
prevention of cruelty to animals
and children. 1t was a German
Hun, Arthur Won Briesen, who
started the first Legal Aid Society,
the precursor of hundreds, in the
New World and the Old, that have
helped to bring justice to the poor
man.
But there is another field in
which the Germans of America
have not been so prominent-the
field of politics. They have a con-
stitutional incapacity which they
will have to overcome for the sake
of democracy. Politics in a demo-
cracy is the art of asking for
something and getting your neigh
bors to think they r making you
take it. The average German pre-
fers to earn what he gets and to
owe no man anything, and this has
kept him away from the political
grab-bag. But so far as he has
gone into politics, he has always
been the idealist, the statesman of
pure purpose and lofty courage.
Do you know that the original
Lincoln man was Gustav Koerner,
a bold bad hyphenate-what our
whipped ours would call a pro
fessional German?" Do you know
that Christian Roselius, a hyphen-
ate of Louisiana, was one man
who had the patriotic courage to
refuse to sign the Confederate
constitution?
Do you know that the first
treasurer of the United States was
a hyphenated German-American,
Hillegas? He served for four
teen years, and helped pull Uncle
Sam out of many a hole. Look at
his picture on the next ten-dollar
bill you hand over to the German
Red Cross Fund.
Do you know that the first
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