Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-09-18
Aim of Germany.

Professor Meyer, of the Missouri
| university, in answer to cards sent him
| asking him to declare his sympathy
with the peoples Council for Democ-
| racy and Peace and to pledge month
| ly payments to support it. says:
THE viciousness Of your propaganda
consists in its combination Of aims
| which are clearly in the interest Of
democracy and peace, and which I
| have always gladly supported, with
! others, stated more or less hidden in
| between, which are in the interest of
| autocracy, of a caste system Of social
organization and militarism.
How can you ask citizen Of the
United States, in the present crisis, to
| pledge his moral support and his
money in order to enable you to work
| for the repeal Of the consumption
laws? Such a request is but little
short Of an insult. 1t is an insult when
addressed to a naturalized citizen. You
being citizens Of this country merely
by the accident of birth, may not I'M
derstand this.
Il am thoroughly familiar with the
present organization Of the German
social body and with its elimination,
| lI6 pTtScuL 1clIldll government. gill
much more familiar with it than any
of the members of your committee. I
have lived in Germany twenty five
years. I was born there. I was edu-
Gated there, not in the sense in which
some Of the members Of your commit
tee were educated there. who visited
a German university for a year or two.
spent nineteen years Of my life in
| German educational institutions from
| the kindergarten to the research lab
| oratory.
Il confess that at the beginning Of
| the war my sympathies were divided.
The German nation has many justid-
| able complaints against its neighbors.
But whatever wrongs the German ma
| ton may have suffered in the past
from other nations, the German gov
eminent during this war has had more
| than one opportunity to have them set
right and to terminate the war. It's
actions show that world domination,
not justice, is it's aim. I sympathize
| with the German people, but not with
| their government. Perhaps you would
appreciate your American citizenship
| better if, like me. you had been brought
up in Germany.
IF Germany wins this war, fifty
years hence its government will rule
the American people. I do not want
| my American children to be put under
this yoke I escaped by coming to
| America My hope is that the German
government will be overthrow and
that the German nation, my relatives
and friends, will enter an International
organization for peace and justice. But
the German government, this fearful
danger to our future, can be over
thrown only by raising armies, not by
sitting around the council table of the
| peoples council Of America and work
ing for the repeal Of the CONSUMPTION
laws
ut is ptiful to see such propa-
ganda as yours led by an American
university president, distinguished
scientist, who evidently cares nothing
for the freedom of our children. It
is pitiful to see even whole universities
in trouble thru the shortsighted ac-
tivities of their professors in favor of
the enemy. Please do not count on
me for bringing this dispute upon the
University Of Missouri. the institution
to which I belong"