Osage County Volksblatt. (Westphalia, Mo.) 1896-1917, 1916-01-20
4 STRONG DEFENSE OF
THE HyPhEN.
REPRESENTATIVE sHAcRLE-
FORD PRAISES cERxAN-
AMERICANS.

As the pres dispatches had briefly
stated. at the time Representative Dor
sey w. shackleford Of this the Eight
distrlcs Of Missouri, quits vigorously
came 10 the defense Of the ''hyrhen-
sted American" In the debate In Con-
gress on January 10th. He likewise
expressed himself as strongly in favor
Of the embargo. Congressman Shackle-
ford's remarks on the hyphen, as set
forth in the Congressional Record, were
as follows.
The gentlman from Massachusetts had
much to say in disparagement Of hy-
phenated German Americans. who IL
not proud Of hyphenated Americans:
There have been pure Americans who
forged their names into the pages OF
American history. Among them Pow
hatan, Tccumseh. .Osceola. Sitting Bull
and Geronimo. But the people who
built our Commonwealth. inelded our
Governm ent, fashioned our institutions,
and developed our civilization were the
| lhyphcnated Americans. In the younger
days Of our Republic our guiding spirits
were the Anglo Americans. Then We
have had the Irish Americans. Who
can conceive what the Irish American
has done for American II would he an
insidious discrimination 10 name any OF
them TO the exclusion of the others, and
yet the time Is far in the past when the
Tories Of Bosten gave Irish Americans
cold comfort. We Mi.sourians all feel
proud of the Irish American when we
pass through Statusry Hall and see the
statue OF our one-time United States
Senator, Gen. James Shields, at differ
ent times a Senator from three States
and Il general in the Union Army in the
war between the States. That old
Irish American helped to make this
country great. We have had Franco
Americans, Danish Americans, tSwe-
dish Americans. Even Afro Anie-
ricans have played their part. Who
shall say that Fred Douglass and Boo
kcr Washington were not blessings To
the generations in which they lived'
We have had our Scotch Americans
who have wrought well, and am glad
that the president has not hcsita.cd TO
catalogue himself as a hyphenate. In
his Columbus speech few days ago
he said with some pride that he was n
SChotch lrishman.
Why does the tory utter with hissing
hatred the term German American
or all Of the hyphenated Americans
who has been more industrious. honest,
law abiling or patriotic than the Ger
man Americana In what lire q
human eudeavor has the German An.e-
rican not played leading part' When
the Civil War broke upon us the Ger
man American was in the forefront Of
the contest, battling for the Union
Had II not been for the Germans Mis-
souri, would have gone with the Com
fcderacy, In that even the southern
boundary Of Iowa instead Of the north
crn boundary Of Arkansas would hav'
hceu the hattleliue. More than 7Co. o.0Ct
German Americans under the Star
and Stripes In that war. Go into m!
State of the Union and in every l0ca'
tion you will and the German Ameri'
can play the leading part.
| oh these hyphenstes. A. time RI /
on We will he rroudcr and prouder tha
we have thc German Americans 1t
this country. t%rplausc). ont In N,
State we give our daughters In marrIag'
10 German. American sons and tale th'
daughters m German Americans II
marriage TO our sons. We join our for
tunes with their and with pride ant
affection We mingle our blood with their
why should they he the yirtims II 5,
much calumny here now. will some
body point to any Term an American ii
this country who has expressed a symp'
thy for Germany Us against the Unite,
Statess The most he has done Is I,
express sympathy about n mattel
In which the United States l. no, con-
cerned, about war To which the Uni
ted States j. not party. what German
could look back upon such history n
Germany's. and remember the glorious
deeds of that glorious people and moi
feel just pride and heartfelt sympathy
for his father in the hour Of her sorow'
III am an Anglo lmeTican. Every droI