Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1916-10-13
German. IN New View Of Wilson.

L "ulCu LllO lC0uSI VI 0O1 u0u SAOA6AHS
declares his purpose to vote for Wood
row Wilson for president. The an
nouncement takes on great importance
not only from Rev. Mr.. Heineke's
standing in Debuque, where for num-
Der of years he was pastor of St.
Johns Lutheran church, but from the
fact that he was chairman of the Ger
man Press committee, of the GermanEm-
barge conference. and of the German
Red Cross, all of Dubuque.
Rev. MIR. Heineke recently resigned
his pastorate here to engage in BUSH
ness in New York. He was recognized
here as a leader of German thought
and for a long time was SO very critical
of President Wilson.
In a letter accompanying the state
ment Rev. Mr.. Heineke says:
''Am sending you by separate letter
the statement changed in some details.
It is sincere expression of my views,
and thought it's publication may cost
me some friends for the time being, I
know that before long the majority of
my German-American fellow-citizens
will have to arrive at the same con-
illusions and conviction. and if have q
regret in connection with the matter it
is only that I could not see or foresee
things which / see clearly before me
today. Then many bitter word writ
ten or spoken in public would not have
been said. In the light of the develop
ments in the Hughes campaign ! see
that, no matter what grievances my
German American countrymen may still
holdl against the president rightly or
wrongly, we should not be ashamed to
confess that we owe President Wilson
an apology for misjudging him in his
motives, and make amends by support
ing him in his fight against the party
and candidates of j. p Morgan & Co.,
and T. Roosevelt.
The statement follows:
1--WE have been greatly misjudged in
the reflection upon patriotism, in the
insinuation that we were not for
America first, whereas if conflicts ever
should arise between Germany and our
United States we would certainly take
our stand for our country, as we were
for the North in the Civil war. We
bitterly resented the reflection up
on the loyalty of the German
American citizens at large to
their adopted fatherland. On the othor
hand we misjudged President Wilson's
position in this world conflict, assum-
ing it to be pro- English and un-Ameri.
can. Naturally we identified his ac-
lions with those of the pro-British
press, every utterance of which ap-
peared to the German-American ele-
ment to reflect the mind of our govern
ment. Republican party interest have
not been sleQ to make capital out Of
this state of affairs and to work the
German American vote for all it is
worth, assisted by the German Ian
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 pro-
nounced anti-German element of
America, of the type of the Cabot.
Lodge, Elihu Root and Robert Bacon,
probably already would have our coun-
try driven into an alliance with Eng
land and into war with Germany.
What howl that staunch supporter of
Republican Candidate Hughes, Mr..
Roosevelt, set up against President
Wilson for his failure to take action
against Germany on account of the in
vssion" Of Belgium and, especially, for
not promptly declaring war after the
Lusitania disaster.
IF every any one made it a point to
show his contempt for German-Ameri-
cans and to wilfully misinterpret their
stand for impartial neutrality, it GER
tainly was Theodore Roosevelt. And
he takes the stump for Mr.. Hughes
and, after he has made that wild Maine
speech denouncing everything German in
Rooseveltian fashion, he is made the
recipient of q congratulatory message
from the republican candidate. If
after these disclosures of the real SEN
timent in the republican ranks toward
the Communications they still can
not see where to get of, they never
will. In the hands of these men, the
United States today would not be
peacefully pursuing her undisturbed
course, but would be engulfed in the
vortex that has swallowed almost al
of the world powers. With these men
in the government of the United States
the hardpressed German nation could
not have arrived at peaceful solution