Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-09-26


until misled, corrupted and syste-
matically poisoned by the Prussian
ruling caste, was, and deserved to
be an honored, valued and welcome
member of the family of nations.
l have hated and loathed that
Spirit ever since it came within my
ken many years ago, hated 1t all the
more as l saw 1t ruthlessly pulling
down a thing which was dear to me,
the old Germany to which 1 was link
ed by ties of blood, by fond men,
orieS and cherished sentiments.
World Longs For Peace
The difference in the degree of
guilt as between the German people
and their Prussian or Prussianized
rulers and leaders for the monstrous
crime of this war and the atrocious
barbariSm of its conduct, is the diff
ference between the man who, acting
under the influence of poisonous
drug, runs amuck in mad frenzy and
the unspeakable malefactor who ad-
ministered that drug, we'll knowing
and fully intending the ghastly con-
sequences which were bound to fol-
low.
The world frequently longs for
peace. But there can be no peace
answering to the true meaning of the
tions of the earth, great and small,
to walk unarmed and unafraid, until
the teaching and the leadership of
the apostles of an outlaw creed
shall have become discredited and
hateful in the sight of the German
people, until that people shall have
awakened to a consciousness or the
unfathomable guilt of those whom
they have followed into calamity
and shame, until a mood of penitence
and of a decent respect for the opin-
ions of mankind shall have sup
planted the sway of what President
Wilson has so trenchantly termed
turbulence and treachery.'
More Appalled,
God grant that the German people
may before long work out their own
salvation and find the only road
which will give to the world an
early peace and lead Germany back
to the family of nations from which
1t is now an outcast.
From each of my visits to Ger
many for twenty-five years, l came
away more appalled, by the sinister
transmutation Prussianism had
wrought amongst the people and
by the portentouS menace l recogn-
lied in it for the entire world.
1t had given to Germany unparal-
leled prosperity, benefcent and ad-
NdnCeu SOCldl leBlSldIlOD anu ilOI d
few other things of value, but it
had taken IN payment the soul of
the race. 1t had made a devils S
bargain"
And when this war broke out in
Europe, L knew that the issue had
been joined between the powers of
brutal might and insensate ambition
on the one side and the forces OF
humanity and liberty on the other,
between darkness and light.
Americas Cause
Many there were at that time
and amongst them men for whose
character L had high respect and
possible suspicion-who saw their
own and Americas duty in strict
neutrality, mentally and actually, but
personally 1 believed from the be-
ginning of the war, whether we
liked all the elements of the Allies
combination or not-and l certainly
did not like the Russia of the Cars
that the cause of the Allies was
Americas cause.
l believed that this was no ordin-
airy war between peoples for a ques-
ton of national interest or even
national honor, but a conflict be-
tween fundamental principles and
ideas; and so believing, was bound
to feel that the natural lines of race,
blood and kinship could not be the
determining lines for ones attitude
and alignments, but that each man,
whatever his origin, had to decide
according to his judgment and con-
science on which side was the right
and on which was the wrong and
take his stand accordingly, whatever
the wrench and anguish of the de-
cision. And thus l took my stand
three years ago
But whatever ones views and feel
ings, whatever the country of ones
birth or kin only one course was
left for all those claiming the
privilege of American citizenship
when by action of the President and
Congress the cause and the fight of
the Allies was formally made our
cause and our fight.
Duty Rests Upon You
The duty of loyal allegiance and
faithful service to his country, even
unto death, rests, of course, upon
every American.
But, if it be possible to speak of
comparative degree concerning
what is the highest as 1t is the most
elementary attribute of citizenship.
that duty even more solemn and
compelling obligation upon Ameri-
cans of foreign origin than upon
native Americans.
For, we Americans of foreign an
tecedents, are here not by the ac-
cidental right of birth, but by our
own free choice for better or for
worse.
We are your fellow citizens because
you accepted our oath of allegiance
as given in good faith, and because
you have opened to us in generous
trust the portals of American op-
portunity and freedom. and have
admitted us to membership in the
family of Americans, giving us equal
rights in the great inheritance which
has been created by the blood and
the toll of your ancestors, asking
nothing from us In return but de-
cent citizenship and adherence to
those ideals and principals which
ship and world-dominion, to modify
and prevent the mentality, indeed the
very fibre and moral substance OF
the German people-a people which
work from close by, having at its dis
posal and using to the full prac-
tically every agency for moulding the
public mind.
l have watched it proceed with
relentless persistency and profound
cunning to instill into the nation the
demoniacal obsession of power wor-
EeW!Y5L EM