The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1917-10-12
IF | were GERMAN BORN

| A Grant county paper recentl
gave ser les of imaginary pro
positions Of what a German Dor
citizen Of this country would d.
under certain imaginary conditions
which led up to the conclusion tina
he would spit on the American flal
and would prefer to be taken ou
at sunrise and shot rather than de
fend the country to which he hat
sworn allegiance.
Now we want to present wha
we would do if we had been borr
in Germany and had come to this
great free land to enjoy its citizen
ship and better our condition ir
life.
We would first remember that
once upon time before an estab.
lished court Of the land, calling the
Almighty God to witness, we
raised our right hand on high and
had foresworn all allegiance to the
Emperor of Germany and every
other foreign potentate and solemn
ly pledged our allegiance to the
constitution of the United States
and the lawful government Of the
country of which we were here
after to claim citizenship and under
whose flag we were to seek pro-
lection
We would also remember that
we came to this land Of our adopt
ion of our own free will. That on
coming here we saw around us
thousands Of those who had come
from the same land that we had
come from, who had here attained
to comforts and competency that
they could never have hoped to at
tain had they remained in the land
of their birth, where they could
have no other hope for themselves,
their children, or their childrens
children. than that they should re-
main hewers of wood and drawers
Of water for apriviledged aristoc-
racy all the days of their lives.
We would remember that we had
been welcomed to this land Of
plenty by its liberty loving people
with an, open handed generosity
that was marvellous and commanded
the admiration of the world. That
no unjust restrictions had been
placed upon US. That civil and
religious liberty had been full and
complete. That millions of immi-
grants such as we were ourselves,
were taking part in all the civic
functions of the land on an equality
with those whose forefathers had
been here for generations, and that
these immigrants and their child
rem were occupying positions of
trust and honor in countless in
stances-that all the avenues to
wealth, honor and service had been
freely thrown open to us.
We would think of these things,
and then We would pray that our
right hand might wither and our
tongue cleave to the roof Of our
mouth ere we should lift our hand
or raise our voice against this bene-
ficien. government and in support
Of q brutal military autoc-acy that
had plunged the world in blood and
committed unspeakable crimes on
humanity and civilization.
And we would say to the wiley
adversary, whether he came in the
garb of q native born American
under the guise of socialism or any
other ism, or whether he came to
us through the press Of our native
tongue, eldeavoring to shake our
sworn fealty-we would say to him:
''get the behind me Satan!".
We would remember that this
was the birthplace Of our children.
that these children were American,
born and were being nurtured in
our great public school system with
the ideals and principals Of Ameri-
can freedom. and in after years
when this war has become history
and these children come to their
father. and looking up into his
face shall say: Daddy. what part
did you play and where was your
influence cast in that great strug-
gle between autocracy and democ-
racy," we shall not have to hang
our head in shame and confess that
we were FALSE to our oath Of alleg-
lance. and that our sympathies were
with the brutal militarism that had
sought to enslave the world. Ra-
ther would we tell him that we.
like hundreds Of thousands Of Ger
man born citizens. had vision
enough to discern the distinction
between the German people and the