The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1917-10-11
THIS RINGS TRUE

Otto II. Kahn. the New York bank
er and head of the Metropolitan Opera
HOUSE company, n Of the most emf
nent Of German born Americans.
speaking of the Liberty loan and war
hnance before the Harrisburg, Pa,
chamber of Commerce, said in part:
God strengthen the conscience and
the understanding. the will and the
power of the German people so that
they may find the only road which
Will give TO the world an early peace,
and in time, lead Germany back into
the family of nations from which it is
now an outcast.
Il speak as one who has seen the
spirit of the Prussian governing class
at work from close by. having at its
disposal and using to the full, prac-
tically every agency for moulding the
public mind.
Il have watched it proceed with
relentless persistency and profound
cunning TO instill into the nation the
demoniacal obsession of powerowner-
ship and world dominion. to modify
and pervert the mentality, indeed. the
very fibre and moral substance of the
German people-a people which until
misled, corrupted and systematically
poisoned by the Prussian ruling caste,
was, and deserved to be, an honored,
valued and welcome member of the
family of nations.
q have hated and loathed that
spirit ever since it came within my
ken many years ago., hated it all the
more as l saw it ruthlessly pulling
down a thing which was dear to me,
the old Germany to which l was linkeJ
by ties of blood. by fond memories
and cherished sentiments.
From each of my visits to Ger
many for twenty-five years, | came
away more appalled, by the sin
lister transmutation Prussianism had
wrought amongst the people and by
the po%rtentious menace | recognized
in it for the entire world.
1T had given to Germany unpar-
alleled prosperity, benehcient and ad-
vanced social legislation and not a
few other things of value, but it had
taken in payment the soul of the race
1t had made a devils bargain"
And when this war broke out in
Europe, | knew that the issue had
been Joined between the powers of
brutal might and i%nsenate ambition
on the one side and the forces of hui
mainly and liberty on the other, be
tween darkness and light.
Many there were at that time
and amongst them men for whose
character | had high respect and
whose motives We're beyond any pos
sible suspicion-who saw their own
and Americas duty in strict neutral
ity, mentally and actually, but per
s%onally | believed from the beginning
of the war, whether we liked all the
elements of the Allies combination or
not-and | certainly did not like the
Russia of the cZars-that the cause
of the Allies was Americas cause.
"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
a comparative degree concerning what
is the highest as it is the most ele-
mentary attribute Of citizenship, that
duty may almost be said to rest with
an even more solemn and compelling
obligation upon Americans of foreign
origin than upon native Americans.
For, we Americans of foreign an
tecedents, are here not by the acct
dental right Of birth, but by our own
free choice for better or for worse.
GAS Washington led Americans Of
British blood to fight against Great
Britain; as Lincoln called upon Amer
leans of the north to fight their very
brothers Of the south; so Americans
of German descent are now summoned
to join in our country's righteous
struggle against a people of their own
blood which, under the evil spell OF
a dreadful ObseSsiOn, n Heaven
knows, through no fault of ours, has
made itself the enemy Of this peace
loving nation"