Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-02-23

bly, easier to acquire than to retain. 1t
is up to US to keep this territory free
and untrammelled by foreign foe and
to keep the mighty temple of liberty
pure. No one class or nationality can
rule in this country, and the people in
the old world are astonished at this
fact, that the boiling pot of this nation
bows every four years to the major.
ity
I'm the old world the people are
born in allegiance to one man and they
are taught to bow in reverence to
kings from the cradle. They come to
America to get out from under this re-
straint and those are the people we
must make American citizens. Into
this boiling pot is thrown the masses
of Europe. The boiling pot is
taken to the smelter, the hot
fire under it, being education and
goodfellowship and from this is made
the high spun gold and high test steel
American citizenship. Education
"iSiAS SoiAhot w iillc, II Adhto Ii dItl IL
ity. Goodfellowship and brotherly
love are ESSENTIAL, and herein lies our
duty, the part you and l can perform
In every smelter there is so much
waste material and we must keep this
down to a minimum. Extend help
ing hand to those who come here to
live and teach them the higher quail
ties of what constitutes American cit
| iZenship.
Eliminate Hyphen.
We do not want the Swedish
German, French, Italian, or Bel
gian-American citizen, but a whole
souled, earnest American, who has
only the interests of the stars and
stripes at heart. The hyphen must
and will be eliminated. These peo-
pie come here to better their lives
then why should they not have the in
terests Of America alone, at stake
There is no room below or on either
side or much less above the American
flag, for any other flag. The flag was
created before even the Declaration OF
+ Independence was drawn up and il
must come first at all times.
THE old world joked at the Declar-
alton of Independence, and even We
Americans had no idea at the time thai
this country would be freed, but the
bluff worked. and we won, and other
3 hnJnoI
fought by the north under Lincoln. moi
to free the slaves, but primarily tt
save the country, and the Spanish,
American war was started not to &C.
quire territory, but to stop oppression
at our very door.
/ Across the sea a devastating anC
/ bloody conflict is going on, and no one
! here knows why. In my estimation i
| is nothing more than a family quar-.
rel. In this country and at this time
: in due reverence to our forefathers
who created and preserved this mag
niticent republic to the present day, i
is for us to get together and boost fol
common good and il We all work il
harmony, the country will be fret
/ from impending danger, as the danger
lies inside, not outside Of our fail
land" said Mr. Thompson.
/ Z. NJ. kurtZ, Davenport, Franco:
Drake, Muscatine; Arthur Mester. PEG
ria; c. W Becker, Moline; E. L. Stratt
and Chris Koch, Rock Island. and "
/ H. Zimmerman and A. L. Honeywell
Davenport, the latter, national presi
/ dent of the postoffice clerks, wer,
called upon. Mr.. Kurtz of Davenport
spoke on the postal service from tn,
employees standpoint. and he explained
that few of the public really knew tn,
duties and responsibilities of th'
clerks Mr. Drake also made an elo
quent address.
| It was midnight before the program
was finished and all went home vel
satisfied with the evening spent TIL,
committee in charge TO a large degre,