Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1917-10-25
or, ,kIOA OF A
LOYAL GERMAN

er and head Of the metropolitan Opera
House Company, one of the most en-
incnt of the German born Americans.
speaking of the Liberty Loan and war
finance before the Harrisburg, Pa,
Chamber of Commerce, said in part:
God strengthen the conscience and
che understanding, the will and the
power of the German people so that
they may find the only read 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.
II speak as one who has seen the
spirit of the Prussian governing class
at work from close by, having at it's
disposal and using to the full, prac.
tically every agency for moulding the
public mind.
II have watched it proceed with re-
lentless persistsncy and profound
cunning to instill into the naAion the
demoniacal obsession Of power-wov-
ship and world dominion, to modify
and pervert the mentality, indeed, the
very fibre had moral substance OF
the German people-a people which
until mis.ed, corrupted and systemat-
ically poisoned by the Prussian ruling
caste, waE, ard deserved to be, an
honored; valued and welcome member
of the family Of Nations.
II have h~ted and loathed that spir-
it ever since it came within my ken
many years ago, hated it all the more
as l saw :; ruthlessly pulling down
thing VIII III was dear to me, the old
Germany to which l was linked by
ties Of blood, by fond memories and
cherished sentiments.
From each Of my visits to Ger
many for twenty-five years, l came
away more appalled, by the sinister
transmutation Prussianism had
wrought amongst the people and by
the protentous menace recognized in
it for the entire world.
1T had given to Germany unpar-
allelsd prosperity, beneficient 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 'devil'a bargain
"And when this war broke out in
Europe, I knew that the issue had
been joined between the powers of
brutal might and insenate ambition
on the side and the forces of human
ity and liberty on the other, between
darkness and light.
"Many there were at that time
and amongst them men for whose
character l had high respect and
whose motives were beyond any pos
sibie suspicion--who saw their own
and Americas duty in strict neutral
ty, mentally and actually, but person.
ally l believed from the beginning of
the war, whether we liked all the ele-
ments of the Allies combination or
not-and l 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 ev-
cry American.
But, If it be possible to speak of a
comparative cvgree concerning what
is the highest as it Is the most ele-
mentaryi attribute of citizenship,
that dutv may almost be said to rest
with an even more solemn and COM
pelllng obligation upon Americans Of
foreign origin than upon native
Americans.
"For, we Americans Of foreign an
tecedeEts, are mere not by the accl'
dental right of birth, but by our own
free ch ,ice for better or for worse.
"As 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 people of their owl
blood which, under the evil spell of {
dreadful obsession, and, Heavel
knows, through no fault of ours, ha:
made itself the enemy of this peace
loving Nation"