Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-02-21
The. Forked Tongue
What the German Propaganda in America Means
For Us-By Emerson Hough.

At the time Of the Civil War l was
a. very young boy, but l still retain a
few memories OF those days. I ran re-
cah the figure of Il major later my
Sabbath school teachet. He wore 4
black hat with a, gold cord and car
ried a very large and heavy sword.
y a recall some of the old hfe-and-
drum music. 4 remainder seeing the
railway engine come in covered with
crape-thet train which bore the news
Of the assassination OF President Lin
Richmond; my mother was i'll in bed
at that time, and. remember that
she sat up and pounded against the
footboard Of the bed with her two
hands. she was S % glad to believe that
the end Of the wal was now at hand.
l recall other and vet more Somber
scenes. My father was in the recruit
ing service under General James r.
Fry. I remember that during one OF
his visits home l saw him melting
lead in the old bullet ladle in the
kitchen stove-he was running bullets
for his rifle. Two men OF the re-
killed by Copperheads within the past
week. 1t was thought that this NEXT
party from the department would
also be WaYlaid. l can still remember
the grim look on my fathers face az
he cleaned his rifle and ran the bull
let's for it. -.
believe l got then ny first touch
of real hatred for an enemy
learned then that a Copperhead wa
world ever could be. He had killed
without mercy. He was himself to
be killed without mercy II need came
for that.
We lived in a country which was
then toward the edge Of the west.
Sentiment tor or against the Union
cause in the war ran very high,
There were a certain number Of Cop
%perheads, as we, called them, in and
they became too active. Certain OF
our citizens went out and in a breezy,
informal and wholly sufficient way
hung several Of them by the neck
until they we're dead. 1t began to be
understood that u portion of the
country was not healthy for thai
species OF animal. BY the end of the
war we had no Copperheads at all.
Their were Coppeheads in all the
Civil war, north and south. The
fire from the roar continued
political references long after the war
was done. But sympathizers with the
enemy in those days learned one
thing early in the game, and tina.
was to lie exceedingly low.
This country is honeycombed with
German spies today. They are worse
than any Copperheads that ever nest
eel on this soil before. They do no.
lie low. They are a. trifle exultant
been blatant, clumsy, a.wk Ward. from
Bernstorff and his crew on down.
What are we doing to take care OF
this dangerous element which is car
lying on the German. war campaign
on this side of the ocean? FOR d
long Time We have remained as awlk
ward, as clumsy, and as blatant As
they themselves: We have. had be
fore our eyes always the somewhal
sacred image of the American melt
ing %pot-tiod save the mark! We
have retained the belief that any
man who kneeled down and sobbed
or shipboard when he first saw the
Statue of LIBERTY believe hat is
the correct description of twas by
some miraculous process at nee
made into an American.
There has been a certain pacifist
sentiment, made the stronger by 81
certain political feeling, which has
been afraid to antagonize the Ger
tdI cIoiiiSIlL us <NJLiSI Nd, SpIs,S vi IOt
spies. A great many peaceful gentle
men have thought that we ought not
to declare war on a country in part
owned by. some of our ~citizens-lt
might hurt the feelings of such men,
Anu has the alien not sobbed before
the justly celebrated Statue of Lib
elty in the narrows below Manhat-
tan? And is he not therefore, all
American?
~ 49,. l~., 49,. IL. .:a,.:- ,,-.
sunk | vent home with d newspaper
in my hand. pretty much a-tremble
my own self at the thought of all
those women and babies-it is a hard
thing to talk of ever yet. We ought
not, [ suppose, to call to mind that
Lusitania> medal struck in Germany
ought not to recall Gernany's exaita-
ton over the foul murder of those
little lei / suppose it sounds
vengeful to say that we ought to
wash that out deep and deep. so long
as there is any German of this gen.
81 alton left alive.
But do you really think that Ger
RAINY did not indorse that deed? DO
you really think the Germans on this
side of the water-a great many OF
them--did not synpathize with Ger
many in that act? Let ME mention
one little fact:
When ! stepped into the elevator
with my newspaper in hand l showed
the great black headlines to the man
WHO was running the e~levator-he is
a good German-An1erican has been
n: turalized al an American citizen.
has lived in his country for a great
many years, speaks very good Eng
l:sh. and has always been held a Quiet
and useful sort of
WE'LL" he kaid, looking at the
headlines, "Dey' o warned. vosn't
deS: vot made dem :ail?"
Now the point is that this German
American actually thought that the
kaiser of Germany had the right tn
print a demand in a New York daily
on the morning that ship sailed,
warning our people not to take to the
high seas about their business. He
really thought that Germany was
right in killing -e.those women and
children.
This man was a servant. I could
not abuse him nor argue with him.
Z -sx~.l -: BIZ >-l ~k~l,4l o4ro NJ -