The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-07-12

mick at Wallace, July ~
pie born free, or having adopted fol
themselves free country.
American Blood.
Ladies and gentlemen you will par
don me If make a personal referenc,
as l did upon one other occasion. 70,
must remember that this Is my thirt
Fourth Of July speech in Wallace, ant
then have given two other public
addresses on flag raising and 1t would
be hard for me not to say some thing.
that l said upon those occasions, bu
what j say. l believe to be appropriat,
to this occasion. Speaking of the mat.
ter OF blood being thicker than water.
We are accused today of not sympa.
thizing with the dear people who have
national blood of some other mixture
than American coursing in their veins
and they say that we are unfeeling.
want to say to you that our fore.
fathers had blood of different ma
tionalities, but 1t didn't count with
them ON the principle of democracy
MY father was German-had German
blood In him and no other kind OF
blood but German, so far as ancestry
or nationality was concerned, but /
can thank God this morning that my
father had transformed within his
body every drop of that blood into
American blood, and no more Loyal
man ever lived. He gave three of his
sons to the determining of the propo-
sition that nation 30 conceived and
brought forth as this nation was in
l776, could long remain, and he dedi-
Gated his own life to the same propo-
sition. My mother was British. pure
and simple, so far as her blood in an
cestry was concerned, but she trans
formed In her veins every drop OF
British blood into American blood
ana today l am the inheritor of the
genuine article, and have right ia
say what l do say concerning this
proposition, that we ought to sympa :
thize with our German friends on ac-
count of their, brothers and fathers
and other relatives fighting In Eur
ope., This claim for sympathy on such
grounds Is all balderdash; there is
nothing to It.. ! had relatives fighting
on the southern side in the civil war.
put they didn't cause any of my bro
theirs to lower their guns, or shoot in
to the air when they went into bat
tie. Principle stands behind the
whole proposition, and whether we
are German. English, French or Ital-
ian, If we are enjoying today the glor-
ious liberty Of the Stars and Stripes
II Is our duty to be true to this coun-
try, whatever may be done in the
fatherland.
This old flag of ours stands for
something. 1t stands for the highest
ideals OF government. 1t stands for
the most glorious principles that can
come to manhood and womanhood.
and | want to say to theSyoung men,
you ought to consider it high privi-
lege, an honor, glory to your name
and to your fathers and mothers, the
privilege of going forth to defend the
principles for which this flag stands
today.
Protection of the FLAG.
Speaking about blood being thicker
than water brings me to another
problem. We are having some trou-
bic In America today. and as I said
at the beginning, democracy is still an
experiment The problem isn't fully
solved, and race prejudice Is one of
the things that keeps cropping up
here in this country. There has been
an awful conflict and slaughter in
East St Louis during the last 4S or
" hours, just because of the race
prejudice that prevails in this country
today and that to an alarming degree.
am sorry to have to speak of these
things. but 1t is a tendency to disrup-
ton that confronts us, and want to
say to you American citizens here to-
day with the white blood in you, that
you ought to be men big enough and
women big enough to have at least a
spark of sympathy for the poor I'M
fortunate people who have black blood
in their veins, and not try to crush
them out because of that inferiority
of race which you are pleased to call
1t. don't want any man to think
for single moment, when appeal
to you in this way, that have greater
l1ve for the black men than have for
the white man. No, sir. l don't want
you to think for a single moment thar
would care to have the colored blood
come into my family. But there is
other blood besides colored blood that
wouldn't Ike to have come into my
family. that stands pretty high some-
times with us in America. But while
the colored man behaves himself. he
Is just as much entitled to the pro-
lection of this flag as l am. The race
prejudice does not simply end as II
started with the negro proposition |
There are other races that we are |
having, or liable to have trouble with,
ma l know this Is tender spot in |
he Occur d'Alenes. Let me say to |
you, we have always claimed that AM
,rican soil was free soil for every |
nan and woman who desired to seek
re oppnrtunttiac for hattar,,oo. -.