The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-09-26
OTTO KAHN, GERMAN BANKER FLAYS|
THOSE WHO TRY TO 1HWART WILL Of
NATION and CONDEMNS: PRUSSlANS
In Eloquent Address Before Harrisburg Chamber Of
Commerce the Financier Asserts No Peace Can Be
Obtained Until "the Teaching and the Leadership of
An Outlaw Greed Shall Have Been Discredited.'


Harrisburg, Pa, Sept. 26-Speaking
today before the Harrisburg Chamber
of Commerce, Otto H. Kahn, of the
banking house Of Kuhn, Loeb & Co.,
said in part:
I speak as one who has seen the
spirit of the Prussian governing class
a work from close by, having at its
disposal and using to the full prac-
tically every agency for moulding the
public mind.
Il have watched it proceed with re-
lentless persistency and profound cum
ming to instil1 into the nation the de-
moniacal -obsession of power-worship
and world dominion, to modify and
pervert tina mentalitys indeed the very
ffbre ana moral substance of the Ger
man people-a people which until
misled, corrupted and Systematically
poisoned by the Prussian ruling caste,
was, and deserved to be an honored,
valued and welcome member of the
family Of nations.
have hated and loathed that spirit
ever sence it came within my ken
many years ago, hated it all the more
ms saw ut rurt fessfy pulling down
thing which was-dear to me, the
old Germany to which I was linked
by ties of blood, by fond memories
and cherished sentiments.
The difference in the degree of
guilt as between the German people
and their Prussian or Prussianized
rulers and leaders for the monstrous
crime Of this. war and the atrocious
barbarian of its conduct, is the diff
ference between the man who. acting
under the influence of poisonous
- IT, cd fxnr ND
the unspeakable maIefactor who adj
n1inistered that drug, well knowing
and fully intending the CHASTITY conse-
quences which were bound to follow
The world fervently longs for peace
But there can be, no peace answer
ing to the true meaning of the word,
no peace permitting the nations of
the earth, great and small, to walk
unarmed and unafraid, until the
teaching and the leadership Of the
apostles of an outlaw creed have be-
come discredited and hateful in the
sight Of the German people, until
that people shall have awakened to a
1 consciousness of the unfathomable
guilt OF those whom they, have. fol-
! lowed into calamity and shame, until
a mood of penitence and of a decent
respect for the opinions of mankind
shall have supplanteo the sway of
what President Wilson has SO trench
antly termed 'truculence and treach-
cry"
God grant that the German peo-
pie may before long work out their
Z own salvation and find the only road
\ which will give to the world an early
peace and lead Germany back into
! the family OF nations rom which it is
( now an outcast.
~ .-~f.~fk-
for twenty-five years. came away
more appalled, by the sinister trans
mutation Prussianism had wrought
amongst the people and by the por-
\ tentous menace T recognized in It for
} the entire world.
1t had given to Germany unparal-
!, IeIed prosperity beneficent and adj
vAnced social legislation and not a
Few other things of value, but 1t had
taken in payment the soul Of the
race. 1t had made a devils bar
gain"
And when this wac broke out in
Europe, I knew that the issue had
been joined between the powers of
brutal might and insenate ambition
on the one side and the forces of hui
/. manly and liberty on the other, be-
tween darkness and light,
Many there were at that time-and
f, amongst them men for whose charac-
ter had high respect and whose mo-
ffves were beyond any possible suspi-
cion--who saw their own and Ameri-
cas- dutysin strict 4 neutrality, men
Z tally and actually but personally
believed from the beginning Of the
4 war. whether we liked all the ele-
frnents of the Allies combination OF
I notr-and certainly did mot like the
Russia OF the Czars-that the cause
Of the Allies was Americas cause.
believed that this was no ordinary
war between peoples for a question OF
NATIONAL interest or even NATIONAL hon
or. but ASconfifct between ftfffdamen-
tai principles andafd6ass and so be-
,leving. ]. was bound to feel that the
natural lines of race, blood and kim
ship could not be the determining
lines for ones attitude and alignment
.but that each man, whatever his orr
gin. had. to decide according to his
Judgment and conscience on which
" side was the right and on which was
the wrong and take his stand accord.
lfngly, whatever the wrench and ang.
lush of the decision. And thus I tool
my stand three years ago
But whatever ones views and feel
ings, whatever the country Of ones
Birth or kin, only one course was left
for all those claiming the privilege Of
American citizenship when by actor
OF the President and Congress this
cause and the fight of the Allies wa;
formally made our cause and om
fight
The duty of loyal allegiance and
faithful service to his country, ever
unto death, rests, OF course, upon ev.
cry American.
But, IL it be possible to speak Of &
comparative degree concerning wha
In the highest as 1t is the most ele
mentary attribute of citizenship, tina
duty may almost be said to rest will
ian even more solemn and compelling
lob1ieation upon Americans of foreign
~ origin than upon native Americans.
For, we Americans OF foreign ante
cedents. are here not by the acciden
tai right Of birth, but by our own FIRE,
choice for better or for worse
We are your fellow citizens becaus
you accepted our oath of allegiance a.
given in good Faith, and because yol
have opened to us in generous .tr,us
the portals Of American opportunit.
and Freedom. and have admitted u
n to membership In the family of Am
ericaus, giving MS equal rights in tn
great inheritance which has been ere
ated by the blood and the toll of you
Ancestors, asking nothing from us II
1900 49, L. -A<a