The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1917-11-28
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Traitors Among the Native Born


Pro-German sympathizers are to be found not
only among those who have Teutonic blood in
their veins but also among native-born Ameri-
cans some of whom are in the Kaiser's pay.
A. Curtis Roth, for seven years vice consul OF
the United States at Plauen, Saxony who IS COM
batting the German spy system in this country
through articles in widely read journals, says:
"As matter of fact when was in Germany
/ knew two Americans who were actually in the
German Secret Service. One was in Berlin anc
one in Roumania. They were very able too
Overlooking for a moment the actual work Of
the German spy system in the United States anc
the mistaken sentiments of some Americans Of
German parentage, we find, even in our owl
community, men and women of American birth
whose expressions not only are detrimental t.
the common good but also are superlatively dis
loyal and inimcal to the national welfare.
Mr.. Roth describes this type of American il
these words:
But for the great of Americans,
think the man who is really most dangerous
is the man who is absolutely sincere, and
who has been made the dupe of German in
fluence. He is the emotional man, the man
who knows nothing about war; the man who
has always lived in an amiable free, peace
able country, and to whom is the most
terrible thing in the world. 1t is unspeak-
ably horrible to him that any nation should
set out to kill people, He means well. But
he is opposed to fighting the Germans,
or any one, because war is so horrible Well
war is horrible. It is horrible that we are in
this war. The only thing is. it would be
more horrible if were not in it. We
fighting Germany because we have got to
fight Germany. One of the things became
convinced of before left Germany was that
,@oI% 10 iv,%o 46o Aud ~
those uniformed emotional pacifists we're
sent to Germany for two or three weeks,
they'd all want to fight Germany tooth and
nail! But, as it is, the German peace propa-
gandist gets hold of that wel-meaning, ig-
norant, sentimental man, and he is helpless
before the Germans beautiful talk of peace
And just because he is an honest man, be-
cause it is his sincere feeling that has been
played upon and made use of, the more dan
gerous, as source of dissension here
Men who voice sentiments akin to those des
cribed by Mr.. Roth would take it as an insult
they were accused of being disloyal to the Unit
ed States, and yet their own admissions max
them at heart enemies of the nation.
The old, frayed and tattered arguments, 9
can't see why we had to enter this war;" pres
dent Wilson could have kept us out of war if
had cared to do so,' Eve are not going to &c
about what the European nations are doing al
mouthings that German spies and sympathizel
like to hear. These thoughts fit in nicely wit
the peace propaganda which the Kaiser want
disseminated in America to undermine the mo
ale of our soldiers and to weaken the nations
spirit of our civilians and non-combatants.
Let the American man, we mean the ma
who has no German blood in his veins, whose al
cestors perhaps helped Washington win Ind
pendence, stop to ponder what is involved in h
attitude toward war.
Can't he see that the hour is past when a
argument about the right of our entrance I'M
the war is in order? We are in war now. Ever
patriot rallied around the flag as soon as Co
gress declared war. Our declaration against tt
Imperial German government ended every arg