The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-08-21
VIERECK
BY Ellis Parker Butler of the vigilante,

BY Ellis Parker Butler OF the Vigilantes.
In my opinion not only the staunch
Americans but the pro-Germans are TAX
ing George Sylvester Viereck too seri-
ously. Viereck is the man who pub
lished the bitterly pro-German weekly,
"Fatherland" which he now calls
"Vierecks, the American Weekly" His
publication now carries, at the top OF
the front cover the phrase, America
First and America Only" The publica-
ton is now less pro-German than anti
English.
have known Viereck ten or eleven
years. When l first knew him he was
Doasting that he was the illegitimate son
Of a German emperor, or that his father
or mother was illegitimate with German
imperial parentage on the male side, l
am not sure now which. 1t seemed to
me rather vile thing TO boast about.
At that time, ten years ago, l knew
Viereck as a remarkable and promising
poet, but disliked him personally be-
cause of what / considered a decided
tendency to mental filthiness. We had
small lunch club in those days and
we were all well pleased when Viereck
took himself elsewhere. A well known
cartoonst described Viereck in a phrase
that cannot be printed, so it will be
seen we were no prudes
Viereck is, think, an American citi
zen. He had a German father and an
American mother. I should say, from
what know of him, htat Vereck
would never be very Strong American
or German or anything else but poetic,
with a bias toward sensuality in verse.
In 1907 Viereck published a book Of
poems, "Nineveh,' and the first poem in
the book is entitled The suppliant." 1t
begins:
Beyond the sea a land Of heroes lies,
OF fairy heaths and rivers, mountains
steep,
O'ergrown with vine-her memory
shall keep
Most dear, her heritage most dearly
prize"
The land is, Of course, Germany, SO
that Viereck was already giving fair
warning that he would prize his German
heritage more dearly than anything
else He goes on to say, however, that
he left that land as a lad and his eyes
fell on the sea.girt mistress Of the
deep" He meant England and he con
tinues:
30 lyric England, thee / call my own;
With Tyre and lutte and wreath l come
to thee
The realm is thine Of song and Of the
sea,
And thy mouths speech is heard from
zone to zone:
Turn not in scorn thine ivied brow
from me-
/, Who am a suppliant kneeling at thy
throne"
II seems to me that the pro-German
are leaning on a weak reed when the,
put their trust in a man who call
England his own and kneels at an Ems
l. lish throne as a suppliant
:, II is my opinion, expressed with du
l. diffidence. that Viereck would prefer I
y kneel at thrones rather than be a citize
e Of a republic. There are men who ma
e urally turn in supplication to whateve
$, throne" bids fair 10 bestow favors q
n honors. In a republic a man must ear
Is what he gets. and toadying does nc
o help A German kaiser, properl
e. pleased by supplications, might give
s. man honors, or even pensions. 5
y might an English throne, but it is wis
s. for a suppliant TO aim his supplicatior
at the easiest mark-at the most pro
a. ably prolific source Of rewards.
It The trouble with suppliants as a ru
IT is that they can't be counted on. An
q court is a good court that seems on
particular day easy to supplicate. Su
plants are as uncertain as weathe
cocks, they veer with the slighte
a. breeze OF self.interest. II was not ral
"A kor poets OF the Georgian age TO beg
No 2 nobleman's door for crrmb "a patro
n. age and. not getting it, to attack Il
"a desired patron viciously. | don't kno
N that this applies to Viereck. II on
seems strange that. after publishil
II. weekly with the seeming pro-Germ'
N title "Fatherland," he should change
NJ TO "Viereck's, the American Week.
,e America First and America Only"
" tween weeks.
>" am awaiting the future with int,
in est. I am wondering whether the ne
in title Viereck gives his weekly will
Rule Britannia" with legend "Er
as land alone and England Always" a
at I am wondering whether, il there is
Sc kaiser left at the end Of this war
nd will offer Viereck title Of nobility.
lis ----------
IFS DOGS OF WAR IN MACEDONIA