Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1918-08-16
WHO Is AN AMERICANA
(By w. B. Rubin.

The other day l was booked to
speak at Westfield, Mass. to a gath
ering Of employers and employees.
went there with a set speech. Pre-
ceeding my being called for the talk
OF the evening", one of the enter
tanners sang song, You Don't
Have to Come From Ireland to be
Irish" Immediately / kicked the
set speech out of my mental house
and seized upon the theme of that
song. You don't Have to Come
From Ireland to be Irish" From its i
psychological setting took my next
text, you Don't Have to be Born
in America to be an American"
How true that is, is best told by the
numberless men of foreign birth
who are today guiding the destinies
of our nation, here and lover there"
What matters it where one is
born? The place of birth is but an
accident. Men do not measure ones
relation and place in the 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 men in this country who
can trace their ancestry back to our
Puritan forefathers. who are at this
very hour disloyal to our country
in its 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 regarded in law as al
len enemies, but who, nevertheless,
arr as loyal and as hopeful for
Americas success as is the president
Of the United States.
Does it make any difference where
you are born If you rob and steal
and cheat and kill? 1t is not where
you were born. but how well you
do your part. that counts. The man
in overalls, born across the sea, who
is giving up his strength, with might
and main, silently, patiently work
ing for mere pittance. and stint
ing himself in order that the adj
vantages from his labor, skill and
self-denial may go to Uncle Sam, is
far greater American and patriot
than the man, who tho born here,
has seized upon the opportunities
afforded by this war for charging
his profits.
The American is not gauged by
his birthplace in this. our crisis, but
by the profiteering he engages in.
A 100 per cent American is the per-
SON 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
100 per cent Americanism.
The employer who has been a
slave driver, who has run scab
shop, who has frowned upon the eff
forts for the betterments of man
kind, who has spurned committees
that sought increase in wages and
improvement in working conditions,
who has refused to regard his work
ing people as SO many human beings
who has considered them only as so
many entities, so many dividends,
does not become an American be-
cause he hangs out service flag
with a star for each employee who
has gone to war, or because he buys
liberty bonds, or gives to the Red
Cross. Those liberty bonds repre-
sent the sweat Of his working en-
plcyes. Red Cross donations stand
for the unearned increments to him
self which might have gone to his
employees to better. their condition.
He may top the list of war contrib
uters, but he is not near the patriot,
not near the American. that is he
who either in overalls or In Khaki
is lighting for Uncle Sam.
Give me Americans. real Ameri-
cans, true Americans, with one
heart and one mind who sacrifice
all that America may win. without
profit to themselves save the glory
and honor that come from such sac
rifice, and shall not forget their
place of birth, for in the diadem OF
Americas glory. there shall be jew
elled the name OF every hero in this
great war, here and lover there
and evrey name will shine with eq-
ual lustre no matter whether thai
human jewel was born here or "ov-
err there" You don't have to BE-
born in America to be an American
but II you are in America. you