The Lynden tribune. [volume] (Lynden, Wash.) 1908-current, 1917-10-04
AN APPEAL TO THOSE
OF GERMAN DESCENT
oy Gustavus OhIinoer.


(Mr. Ohlinger is lawyer OF Toledo,
Ohio. His book, Their True Faith and
Allegiance" called the attention of the
American people for the first time to the
perils involved in the Widespread net OF
German propaganda in the United
States.)
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 side?"
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-Amercans 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
/ ~ n
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 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.
so 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 its life as an alien
language press by making itself the
mistress and handmade of Pan-Ger
manism.
Kultur has produced its proper fruit
in the theory of the state as supreme
over the individual, a 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 it's just
powers from the consent of the gov.
erned.
/ Let our German-Americtn friends
expel these false prophets in their
midst, renounce forever kultur and all
its 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 reelection 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 it's ideals. Their isolation and
their estrangement will cease and they
will be children in their fathers house.