TaÌˆgliche Omaha tribuÌˆne. [volume] (Omaha, Nebr.) 1912-1926, 1916-02-15

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industrial necessity nor lack OF other
work that excuses or promotes this
traffic. 1t is simply the greed for
mammon. But when the same govern.
ment that silently consents to and
encourages this traffic, mounts the
high steed OF moral indignation and
makes itself ethical Judge Of the acts
Of others, we naturally are seized
with nausea and disgust at such
hypocrisy. And how often and
thoroughly has this been done. To
the citizens OF German and Austrian
extraction, this fact Is really stun
ningly inexplicable. Throughout the
whole country there goes a storm
OF hatred Of our countries, and a
prediction for the enemies, and
especially the English.
1t is perfectly natural that the
man whose relatives fight In the
armies Of the allies, should sym
pathize with them, just as well as we
sympathize with our relatives. But
while the sympathy for the one side Is
called just and virtuous, we are not
only denied the right to sympathize
but our motives r vilified, and our
loyalty to this country doubted. The
strongest Of these vilihcations come
from the two most elated men, OF
whom the one was President a short
time ago, and the other is President
now.
Only a few days ago. the grandi-
loquent Colonel of Oyster Bay spit
the. venom Of his hatred on the
hyphenated Americans,--as 1t pleases
him to call the citizens Of German
birth. He did so after the fashion
Of a boorish politician who gloats
In the applause of the thoughtless
mob. Nowhere In his harangues
does he cite a case Of any citizen
born In Germany who had turned
traitor,-simpiy because he does not
know OF any such case. He talks
in vague, general terms and always
bases all his abuse on the claimed
violation Of Belgium BY the Germans.
And such utterances flow from the
mouth Of the same man who can
refer, with a cynical grin, to the
day: When | took Panama. In
one and the same speech he criticlses
the present President and applies to
him almost vulgar epithets, and inn
mediately afterwards abuses and
condemns the German-Americans for
exercising the right Of free criticism
and open judgment. Perhaps 1t is
not worth while to worry over the
abuses Of this reviler. His unlimited
self-glorifcation and imagined infal-
libility in all political matters have
long ago made him harmless, so that
most OF his hearers do not take him
seriously, and go TO hear his
harangues as to the performance of
a comedian or the antics OF a clown.
The ~loauacious Co1oneb however.
is surpassed by the present President
who, in a recent speech, called Amer
lean citizens of German descent
creatures Of passion, ~disloyalty and
anarchy, who have poured the poison
OF ~disloyalty into the arteries of our
national life; who have sought to
bring the authority and good name
of our government into contempt"
etc. When / read these words the
first time, | shuddered and trembled
with inner rage and excitement. I
read them twice, three times, before
/ could believe that the highest
official Of this country could SO far
forget himself in his hatred OF Ger. |
many and the Germans. 1t Is. true.
he adds carefully, in order to cover
himself, that there are but few of
them. But the object of the words
was accomplished. The dragon teeth
of hatred and discord we're sown
and the seed grew up quickly. With
avidlty the press inbibed the terrible
words and drew the consequences.
| have in my possession copies Of
twenty-one of the leading newspapers
of large cities in all parts Of the
Union, printed the day after the
quoted expressions were made. and
the headlines, in letters two or three
inches long, read as follows:
"The President raps Teuton
traitors"
"GermansAmerlcans called Anarch-
lists by the President"
German traitors fiayed by the
President"
"All German citizens are traitors.
says the President" And SO on.
In vain we ask: What induced this
man TO these abominable u~tterahces?
Why does he not Gle one singled
case? Is this the thanks for German
German work, German devo-
tion2 A mar who claims TO be a
knower of history, draws such results
from his studies. Let us open the
leaves Of American history, beginning
with the war OF the Revolution
Would the President call Steuben
and DeKalb traitors?
m 1883, In an address to % conven-
ton In New York, Alexander Hamil
ton complained about the defective
carrying out of the demands OF the
government in respect to-
furnishing munitions and arms by
the single states, and adds that the
only states that had complied with
these demands were New York and
Pennsylvania, two states that were
not settled by English. but by Teuton
Even at that time was shown
the German sense Of duty, - the
Pflichtgefdhl,-that made the German
the most loyal citizen Of the new
iiso, Thomas Jefferson
to Col. Clayburne In August
1887: "of all the settlers, | prefer
the Germans. They are bound to
make our best citizens" In the same
way we might quote from the writ
Ines of every thinking statesman. as
often as The question Of loyalty is
touched.
The Germans alsn went -vnlnntnrlr |