The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1918-07-12

Prepared Especially for the Hermitage
Club of Nashville.
One Of the deep, underlying reasons
not Just a diplomatic pretext-why
we are at war with Germany is that
for a generation Germany has been
making war on us. Germany has
made this war not openly. bravely or
humanely, but secretly, treacherously
and persistently. She has sought to
create race discord, to corrupt and de-
file politicians and officeholders, and
to create separate German communi-
ties within our borders. She has pol
soned the minds Of children in our
schools in an endeavor to make Ger
mans Of them instead Of have them
grow up into loyal American citizens.
She has invaded the sacredness Of the
pulpit itself In an endeavor to corrupt
our people through the very leaders
of morality to whom they are accus-
toned to look for guidance.
These may be startling assertions,
but they are all true, as you shall see
from the documents of the Germans
themselves. We all knew that 1t was
a German feet which stripped for &C
ton when Dewey sailed into Manila
bay. We all knew 1t was the Germans
who sought to bring aboutsa European
alliance against us when we were en-
gagged in the war with Spain. Few Of
us RELAXED, however, that all these
years Germany has been busy within
our own borders, through editors,
teachers and preachers, seeking to
break down our national unity, SO that
when the time came II would be easy
20 defeat the United States In open
warfare, to set at naught our cherish
ed Monroe doctrine, and to seize, In
the Western hemisphere, anything
that the land grabbing rulers Of the
German empire might desire.
The climax Of Germany's under.
handed war on the United States came
In 1913, more than a year before the
outbreak Of hostilities in Europe. This
was the enactment Of what is known
ms the Delbruck law, which provides
that II an emigrant from Germany
who is about to be naturalized makes
application to a German consul. he
may retain his German citizenship
even after he has become citizen Of
his adopted country.
In plain words, this law, and the ap-
plication Of 1t, mean just this:
A German goes into court in this
country and solemnly foreswears al.
legiance to the kaiser and pledges
his word-the temptation was to say,
"of honor'-that he will become 10y.
nj citizen Of the United States. Then
he slips around to the German consul
and says:
"You know I didn't mean that, at
all. Those Americans are easy marks,
and they fell for that stuff right of.
But you just put me down on your list
as a good, loyal German, and II the
time ever comes when I can prove it,
you can count on me-"
So the German consul puts his name
down in the little card index Of which
the Germans are so fond, and this
creature who swears al
legience to the country which gives
him an opportunity to make a real liv-
ing and to become somebody In this
world, and at the same time swears
secretly to be true to Germany-is
turned loose to work his will, while
Americans go carelessly about their
business and refuse to see the danger
In the arrangement.
Long before the passage Of the Del
bruck law, there was formed the We
rein fur das Deutschtum Inn Ausland--
the Union for Germanism In Foreign
This organization, officially
fostered In Germany, issued quarter
ly magazine, which, in It's very first is
sue, outlined its aims as follows:
"The purpose Of this union is the
and promotion Of the
Germanism Of over 100000 people
Of German blood dwelling outside the
German empire" All 1t aims to do,
you see, is to keep Germans who come
to this country from becoming Amert-
cans.
Away back in 1890 the Alldeutscher
Verband, or the Pan-German league,
was formed. 1t now consists Of 268
chapters Of which two now are-0r at
least were Immediately before the war
lin the United States, one in New
York and one In San Francisco. To
quote from the Alldeutsche Blatter, Its
official publication, "the Pan-German
league is founded for promoting Ger
man National interests, both in Ger
many and in foreign lands"
A few thinking Americans knew
al the time what was coming-what
must come. But America, as a whole,
went along In that carelessness and
Indifference with which 1t treats all
things unpleasant, and allowed this
German war on our most sacred insti-
buttons to continue unchecked.