The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1918-08-31
BY W. b. RUBIN.

The other day was booked to'speak
in Westfield, Mass, to a gathering of
employers and employees. went there
with a. set speech. Preceding my
being called for the talk of the eve
ming, one of the entertainers sang a
song, you don't have to come from
Ireland to be Irish." Immediately I
kicked the set speech out of my men
tai storage house and seized upon the
theme of that song, you don't have
to come from Ireland to be Irish"
From it's psychological setting took
my text, "You don't have to be born
in America to be an American" How
true that is, is best told by the num-
berless men of foreign birth who are
today guiding the destinies of our
nation-here and "over there"
1t Is But an Accident.
What matters it where one is born ?
The place of birth is but an accident.
Men do not measure ones relation and
position in this world by his place of
birth. The kaiser would have been
the kaiser just the same, with the
same disposition, had he been born
in Bavaria Saxony or Prussia.
We have in this country men who
can trace their ancestry back to our
Puritan forefathers, who are at this
very hour disloyal to our country in it's
dire need; and we have men here who
have come from across the seas, aye,
even from Germany, who have not yet
had full opportunity to obtain their
citizenship papers. and who are re-
.s2rded in law as alien enemies, but
who, nevertheless, are as loyal and
hopeful for Americas success as is the
President of the United States.
Does it make any difference where
'ou were born if you rob and steal,
cheat and kill? It is not where you
were born, but how we'll you do your
part, that counts. The man in over
alls, born across the sea, who is giving
up his strength, with might and main,
silently, patiently working for a mere
pittance and stinting himself in order
that all the advantages from his labor,
skill and self-denial may 60 to Uncle
Sam, is far greater American and
patriot than the man who, though ne
was born here, has seized upon the op-
portunities afforded by this war for
charging his profits.
The American is not gagged by his
birthplace in this, our crisis, but by
the profiteering he engages in. A one
hundred per cent American is the
person who is without profit in this
war, and as one derives profit, how
ever small, because of the war, to
that extent does he deviate from one
hundred per cent Americanism.
The American Autocrat.
The employer who has been a slave
driver, who has run a scab shop, who
has frowned upon all efforts for the
betterment of mankind, who has
spurned committees that sought in
crease in wages and Improvement in
working conditions, who has refused
to regard his working people as so
many human beings, who has con-
sidered them only as so many en-
titles, so many dividends, does not
become an American because he hangs
out a service flag with a star for
each employe who has gone to war;
or because he buys Liberty bonds, or
gives to the Red Cross. Those Liberty
bonds represent the sweat of his work.
ing employees. Red cross donations
stand for the unearned increments
to himself which might have gone
to his employees to better their condi-
ton. He may top the list of war
contributors, but he is not near the
patriot, not near the American, that
is he who either in overalls or in
khaki is today fighting for Uncle
Sam.
Give me Americans, real Americans.
true Americans, with one heart and
one mind, who sacrifice all that Amer
lea may win, without profit to them
selves save the honor and glory that
come from such sacrifice, and I sshall
forget their place Of birth, for in the
diadem, OF Americas glory there shall
be jeweled the name Of every hero In
this great war. here and "over there,s
ESpS. u