The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1917-11-09
struggle FOR WORLD LIB.
ERTY.
Otto Kahn Of New York Calls Atten.
tiOn TO Fundamentals,


cause a man was German born, or
because his forefathers came from
Germany he should be more or less
absolved from allegiance to Ameri-
ca, has been answered by thousands
of our best German people who
have scratched beneath the nation
atty or race question, and have
had vision enough to see the real
issues that are at stake and for
which the war is being fought.
Many of these men, German born
or of German descent have given
sublime proof Of their American
patriotism, but none have present
ed the facts of the conflict in a
clearer or truer light than has Otto
Kahn, of New York. Any of our
German friends who have been in
clined to sympathize with Prussian-
ism, should study this presentation
by Mr.. Kahn. 1t has the germ of
the whole question, and contains q
patriotism that is unassailable, and
is the soul conviction of a mar
whose sympathies are naturally
with the German people, but who
has an intense hatred for the mill
tary oligarchy that is ruling them.
No American tho his f~orefathers
had come over in the Mayflower,
could have presented the truth in a
clearer light. He says:
This nation is united in pursuance
of a high purpose, q purpose which
at this fateful moment is one and the
same wherever, throughout the world.
the language of free man is spoken
and understood.
1t is the purpose Of q common de-
termination t" fight. to bear and to
dare everything and never to cease
nor rest until the accursed thing
which has brought upon the world the
the unutterable calamity, the devil 8
visitation Of this appalling war, is
destroyed beyond all possibility OF
resurrection.
That accursed thing is not q nation,
but an evil spirit, 4 spirit which has
made the government possessed by 1t
and executing its abhorrent and
DIoUuv DlAAiIS oil dOolllA0sAoh AA
the sight of God and mer..
Goal Worthy Of Sacrifice.
What we are now ~contending for
by the side of II splendidly brave
and sOrely tried comrades in arms,
after infinite forbearance, after delay
which many Of us found it hard to
bear. are the things which are am
Ongst the highest and most cherished
that the civilized world has attained
through the toll, sacrifices. and SUI.
fering Of its best in the course of
many centuries.
They are the things without which
darkness would fail upon hope and
life would become intolerable.
They are the things OF humanity,
liberty, Justice, and mercy, for which
the best men amongst all the nations
including the German nation-have
fought and bled these many genera
tions past. which were the ideals of
Luther, Goethe, Schiller, Kant, and
a host OF others who had made the
name of Germany great and beloved
until fanatical P~russianism run
amuck, came to make its deeds = by
word and a Kissing.
Conflict Is Fundamental.
This appalling conflict which has
been drenching the world with blood
is not a mere fight Of n or
peoples against one or more other
peoples.
It eoes far deeper.
1t sharply divides the soul and
conscience Of the world.
1t transcends vastly the bounds of
racial allegiance.
1t Is officially fundamental.
In determining ones attitude to-
ward it, the time has gone by-if it
ever was-when race and blood and
inherited affiliations were permitted
to count.
A century and q half ago Ameri-
cans Of English birth rOs to free
this country from the oppression of
the rulers Of England. Today Amer
icans:o German birth are called upon
to rise. together with their fellow
this country but the whole world from
the oppression of the rulers OF Ger
many, an oppression far less capable
of being endured and of far graver
pOrtent.
Must Rescue Germany.
Speaking as one born of German
parents, l do moi hesitate to state it
as my deep conviction that the great
est service which lei OF German
birth or a~ntecedents can render to
the country of their origin is to pro-
claim and to stand up for those great
and fine ideas and national qualities
and traditions which they inherited
from their ancestors, and to set their
faces like flint against the monstrous
doctrines and acts of . rulership
which has robbed them of the Ger
many which they loved and In which
they took just pride, the Germany
which had the good will, reshect and
admiration of the entire world.
I do not hesitate to state il - nv
solemn conviction that the more IN.
m~istakably and intellectually Am.
-ericans of German origin throw them
selves into the struggle which this
country has entered in order 70 rescue
Germany, no less than America and
tho rest Of the world, from those sim
ister forces that sre, 10 President