The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-14
CLAIMS GERMANS. USED AS CATSPAW. BY REPUBLICANS
Bold Attempts of Hughes Managers Decried By,
 Rev. Heineke.

V<3l nome or lafSe German-Amerl- can population, by the publication o1 a statement by a prominent citizen o1 with great clearness and force how the Republican party, in it's attempt to defeat the reelection of President Wilson, is, baldly using the German Americans as a catspaw.
 The author of this statement is Rev INV. Heineke, who for years was pas tor of St. Johns Lutheran church in this city and who now is in business in New York city. The Rev. MT. 4 Heineke while a resident of Dubuque was chairman of the German Press Committee of the German Embargo ! Conference, as well as of the German : Red Cross of Dubuque. He was re- cognized here as a leader of German thoueht and for A long time was se- verely critical of President Wilson. :. Now" he says. T for one am not ashamed to confess that I have mis- judged the President"
 We misjudged President Wilson's position in this world conflict" says Mir. Heineke in beginning his state fment assuming it to be pro- English and un-American. Naturally we iden- tified his actions with those of the pro- British press. every utterance of which appeared to the German-Am- erican element to reflect the mind of our government, -
 "Republican party ihoerests have not been slow to make capital out of this state of affairs and to work the GermaQ-American vote for lall it Is worth, assisted by the German lan- : guage press. In the heat of the con- troversy we overlooked entirely that the Republican party. if it had been in power, and containing the most pronouncedgs anti e erman element of America, of the type of Cabot Lodge, Enhu Root and Robert Bacon, prob ably. already would have our country | driven into an alliance with England ' and into war with Germany What a howl that staunch supporter of Re- publican Candidate Hughes, MT. a Roosevelt. set up against President Wilson for his failure to take action against Germany on account of the 'invasio ont of Belgium, and, especially, \ for not promptly declaring war after 1 the Lusitania disaster. a "If eyer anyone made it a point to show his contempt for German Americans and to wilfully misinter- pret their stand for impartial neu- trality, it certainly was Theodore Roosevelt. And he takes the stump . for MT. Hughes, and, after he has < made that wild Maine speech de- rouncing everything German in Rooseveltian fashion. he is made the recipient of congratulatory message from the Republican candidate.
 If after these disclosures of the rreal sentfmens in the ; Republican ranks toward the German Americans they still cannot see where to get off, they never will. In the hands of these men. the United States today would hot be peacefully pursuing her undis- turbed course, but would be engulfed e in the vortex that has swallowed lal- most all of the world powers. With 7 these men in the kovernment of the United States the hard-pressed. Ger man nation could not have arrived at a peaceful solution of the difficulties arising between Germany and the United States out of English aggres- sion. f &
 1T harbor no resentment, against the president now. feel that for many things said and written against him the German-Amerfcan citizens owe him an apology. Our criticism of his actions and motives has at times pass ed all bounds of discretion No aI- lowances were made for the difficult ty of the internattonal problems he had to wrest1e with, no attempt was ymaC- to understanad his motives He was set down as a man whose sym pathies were all British. not Ameri- can. 3S
 Now ir the light of more recent developments, in view of Republican activities and official utterances, ask myself. who is American first and llast.-W1lson who has steered the ship of state through unparalleled dangers and kept us out of war, or these men, who are the leaders oi the Republican party, and who have brought all the immense pressure of big capital and inflamed public opin- ion to bear upon that lone man at the head of the nation, counseling war in sympathy with England, and, while abusing the German-Americans in terms Wilson never used. playing out the German vote against the man who has stood like a rock in the way of all exploiters of truly, American in- terests7 WNf
 T, fcrtope, am not ashamed to con- fes4 that IYhaye mis1udged the presl- dent and r see clearly that he felt that he had to speak out as he did to awaken the country and by put. ting upon Congress the pressure he could bring to bear. force it to yield f agreement to his way of handlfne the submarine issue, which we alknow must grant was the right way.
 None of the broadly Republican press doubts for a moment that Hughes IS Just as broadly as his spokesman, Z Roosevelt. wonder that the Ger man language press fails to take mo- tice of these facts which tell all Ger man-Americans in plain language, as plain as can be, that the Republican n party intends to use the German vote merely as A catspaw in this campafen The blind 'anything- -to-beat Wilson sentiment of theirs Is a valuable ally n the fight of the enemies of peace against Wilson, and the Republican campaign leaders play a very clever game in playing the German>vote out against the president. If we fail to see that now, we shall have to see our previous mistake after the cleo Ton, when the mask wi, fall off the faces of false friends if, unfortunate ly, the president should be beaten
 T fear when the, game is up, Ger | man voters will regret to see that they