Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-06-24
Celebration of Midsummer
Day Held in Grand Opera
House; Crowd Present
"A. O. EBERHART GIVES
PRINCIPAL ADDRESS
Minnesota Former Governor
Speaks; Program Given
With Little Change

! Old Jupiter Pluvius who often
causes rain checks to be issued for
baseball games. interfered with the
splendid arrangements that were made
by the committees Of the Swedish
American league for the annual cele-
bration Of Midsummer day. "A big
time was planned including pleasing
program Of speech, songs and games
at Caldwell park with band concert
in the park this evening.
The heavy rain Of early morning
made it impossible to use the park for
the occasion and the opera house was
engaged in advance for just such an
emergency. The failure to have the
celebration in the open is disappoint-
ment but despite the interference Of
the rain, big program has attracted
large number of people to the Grand
this afternoon where at 3 o'clock the
festivities started.
| The program at the opera house in
cluded most of the numbers that were
to be given at the park with the ex-
ception of the band concert. And ad-
dress by Mayor F. H. Carter opened
the speaking program and Herbert
Swanson, supply pastor at the Swedish
Lutheran church gave an address in
Swedish. A solo by Ed Blake and
singing by a large chorus that has
been specially drilled for the celebra.
tion were musical features Twenty
four boys and girls gave Swedish
weaving dance under the direction Of
Miss Ada Linquist.
Reception for Eberhart.
Half hundred Swedish-Americans
Of Ottumwa gathered at the Ballingall
hotel this noon and rendered an in
formal reception to A. O. Eberhart Of
st. Paul, former governor of Mime
sofa and speaker of the day. Dinner
was served in the main dining room.
At smaller table between two large
ones, half dozen members Of Co. G
sat as special guests Of the occasion.
All the guardsmen were of Swedish
American descent.
Oscar A. Anderson acted as toast
master at short after dinner pro-
gram. He extended a welcome to Gov
Eberhart and then called upon several
of those present for short talks, pre-
liminary to the governors talk
. H. G. Anderson had Ottumwa for
his subject and he briefly outlined the
progress that this city has made in
the past few years and painted it's fu-
ture in bright colors.
John G. Ranseen, formerly Of this
city but for the past twenty-five years
resident Of MINNESOTA, gave five
minute talk on Minnesota and it's agri-
cultural accomplishments.
R. D. MacManus paid tribute to
Swedish-Americans and pointed to the
guardsmen as evidence enough of 10y
atty to America and its institutions
Mayor Fred G. Carter followed with
an official welcome to Gov. Eberhart.
Explains The Hyphen.
Gov. Eberhart was then introduced.
He expressed his pleasure at being in
Iowa and then launched into the sub.
ject of hyphenated Americanism.
"The hyphen,' he said, "has been
getting some very undesirable motor
iety 1t seems to me that 1t has re-
ceived needless prominence. The hy-
phen can mean only one of two things;
it. refers either to ancestry or to divid.
ed allegiance.
I'm our America the hyphen is useful
only in showing ancestry. Swedish
Americans are American citizens OF
Swedish descent There is no other
meaning to be taken from the term.
There is no divided allegiance among
the Americans of Scandinavian de-
scent"
The governor then took up the re-
quirements of American citizenship
and in the course of his talk defined
an American as one possessing "the
genius and patriotism of the Yankee,
the wit and humor OF the Irish, the
sturdy man Is man for a. that spirit
of the Scot, the determination of the
English, the polish and bravery OF the
French, the plodding spirit Of the Rus
sian, the thrift Of the Jew, the eff
cheney and thoroughness Of the Ger
man and lastly the honesty and indus
try of the Scandinavian"
Mr.. Eberhart lauded the mid summer
day of the Swedish-Americans as an
added opportunity to reaffirm allegi-
ance to the United States, "that one
place where the boy has chance in
life with the best, be he rich or poor,
regardless Of where he was born or
whether he has long line Of ancestry
to point to-"
He closed with an appropriate nl1Ota.