The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1917-09-28
APPEAL TO CITIZENS
OF GERMAN DESCENT
Should Support Life Giving
Principles Which UnderIie
American Government.
ey Gustavus ohllnqer.

(Mr. ohIinger is a lawyer Of Toledo,
Ohio. His book, Their True Faith and
Allegiance" called the attention of the
pers in the eny Sdespread net of
German propaganda in the United
6tates.) I.
Have we deceived ourselves? Are
We Americans of German descent
standing in the way of our own prog
ress? Why are we isolated in this
country of our adoption? Why, in this
crisis, this feeling of estrangement
which meets US ON every slider"
These questions, recently propounded
by a newspaper published in the Ger
man language, are the most promising
indication that has come from the
German language press for many
years. Many German-Americans are
asking themselves the same questions
That they may result in serious heart
searching is the prayer of every pa
triotic American who has the welfare
not only of his country, but of every
section of its population at heart.
The German element in the United
States finds itself isolated because for
20 years it has been deceived and led
astray by men who have sentiments for
Interior ends. Some of these would-be
leaders have been paid emissaries of
the German government-others, mere
nonentities, who flattered by decora-
tions, gewgaws and audiences be-
slowed by the "All-Highest," have bar
tered themselves to further aims Of
Pan-Germanism. For 20 years these
false prophets have been industriously
spreading the tenets of kultur in the
United States, telling Americans Of
German descent of Anglo-Saxon de-
cadence, extolling German scientific
and industrial efficiency, deluding and
flattering their hearers with a sense
of racial superiority as compared with
other elements in our population,
warning them against the jealousies
and enmities of the "nativists," "An-
glo-Americans," and others, and urg-
Ing them to maintain racial solidarity,
30 that they might participate in the
glories of the day when German
thought German science and the Ger.
man language would dominate the
world.
Twenty years ago the German Ian
guage press had fulfilled its mission
the only mission which it ever had in
this country-that of serving as me
dunn between the German immigrants
of the sos and their new environment
in the United States. In the '90s that
immigration practically ceased, and
the German language press was pre-
scented with the alternatives of either
adopting the language of the country
or of facing extinction. Just at this
juncture 1t received an artificial re-
crudescence' from this new propa
ganda 1t prolonged it's life as an alien
mistress and handmade of Pan-Ger
manism.
Kultur has produced it's proper fruit
In the theory of the state as supreme
over the individual, theory that de.
MES to government every moral attri
butte and makes power devoid of every
ethical consideration the only end to
be attained. Against this Franken-
stein we invoke the ideals of the Dec
laration of Independence, with its con-
cept of government deriving its just
powers from the consent of the gov.
eIn65.
Let our German American friends
expel these false prophets in their
midst, renounce forever kultur and all
it's works and turn to the life-giving
principles which underlie our govern
ment. In countless churches through
out this land congregations daily re-
peat the Apostles Greed. No believer
has ever suggested that this frequent
iteration was a reflection either upon
his faith or his piety.
Let our citizens of German descent
by word and deed, pledge again and
again their devotion to their country
and its ideals. Their isolation and
their estrsngement will cease and they
will be children In their fathers house