The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1917-09-28
SeditiMIs Suggestion.
The Grant County Tribune Lets Out
His Opinion Of Uncle Sam and
the JOB He Has on Hand.

E0It100-TR0
20. Department Debars It from tho Mails.
''lF WE'RE GERMAN BORN?
Would | not spit on the flag, ana
curse the rule for which it stood?
Would not rather be placed
against wall and shot at sunrise
than bear arms against my own
flesh and blood in such an unholy
cause? Yet that is the awful posi-
tion in which hundreds of thous-
ands Of Germans are placed in to-
dayn'
The above is clipped from an ar ;
ticle in last weeks Grant County
Tribune, published at Strandburg
by Edward Vernon, in three-col-
umn article headed If | were Ger
man born.'
The editor of the Herald-Ad
vance wants to say right here that
the man is not true friend of Ger
man born citizens who attempts to
lead them into disloyalty to their
adopted country by either word w
action-consciously or unconscious
ly-he is their worst enemy. The
man who in print or by word Of
mouth, by direct assault or by in
uenda. seeks to disparage the Amer
lean flag and what it stands for,
should be deprived of his citizen
ship and returned to the country
from which he came. and where
his heart allegiance is placed. The
millions of foreign born citizens
who are loyal and true to American
principles, should not be burdened
with the disgrace and dishonor
which these shallow-pated breeders
Of treason are attempting to fasten
upon them.
There is but one honorable course
for the American citizen to pursue,
be he American born or foreign born
and that course is to give the
government of the United States his
undivided support in its fight
against the brutal and uncivilized
warfare which the German autoc-
racy is waging against the free
peoples of the world. The man
who teaches disloyalty by sugges-
tion and encourages others to treas
enable acts, is out of place on Amer
ican soil-his place is in the trench
es with the Kaiser's army or with
the bloody Turks in desolated Ar
menia.
How any man who has lived in
America as long as Editor Vernon
has, and has enjoyed the freedom
and privileges Of this great coun-
try could write such reasonable
drivel as dripped from his pen last
week, can only be accounted for by
believing that the man is disloyal
at heart--having had his conscience
and sense of righteousness poisoned
by what he calls socialism. The
only escape from this conclusion is
that his mental faculties are so un-
developed or SO warped that he is
unable to realize the effect of the
traitorous words he uses when he
writes them. That he put his sug-
gestion to treason in the form that
he did, saying. would | not spit
on the flag would | not rather
be placed against wall and shot at
sunrise. is an intimation to thou
sands Of loyal German people in
this community that that was the
proper thing to do-that's what he
would tdo if he had been German
born. There can be no other
meaning placed on the words.
They either mean that or they
mean nothing at all, and are
the words of an imbecile, whose
proper place is in the asylum at
Yankton.
We can we'll imagine that there
may be conflicting emotions in the
hearts of many Of our citizens Of
German birth, who have ties Of
kindred or other relationships in
the land of their birth, and these peo
ple are entitled to the sympathy.
patience and kindly counsel Of their
American friends to help them see
their patriotic duty. We can hon.
estly feel compassion for them while
pointing them to the only safe
course to pursue-which is q sound
loyalty to their adopted country.
The man who deliberately attempts
to lead them astray bv brazen false
hood and absolute untruths- hs-taking
advantage Of their love for their
fatherland to poison their minds
sgainst their adopted country-is
not only their worst enemy. but he
il : Shiny traitor to the country to
which be processes allegiance.
The form in which Editor Vernon
attempted to disguise his stab e
the government while declaring
Il =