New Britain herald., 1918-09-28
COMMUNICATED.
GERMAN EFFORTS IN U. S.
Joseph G. Mann Gives Timely Views
On This Question.

Joseph u. Mann Gives Timely Views
On This Question.
From newspapers and through cir
cular letter I have learned of special
activity, of late on the part of Ger
mans and citizens Of German descent
along the lines of special efforts to
have all American friends of Ger
man democracy unite as a war
measure society, to help the German
people to establish a reliable govern
ment in the fatherland, and, at the
same time, to prove that Germans in
this country, and their descendants,
are loyal. AS native of Connecti-
cut, indeed of our own Hartford
county, and born of German parents
who came to America and to this
State before they were marriedS when
they were mere children, I cannot
help being interested in the present
trend of the German thought, and 1
am again constrained to express my
individual convictions as an Ameri-
can free born, glad to leave behind
all claim to German ancestry in full
filment Of ST. Paul's injunction to
leave behind the things that are
behind"
To me there is absolutely no good
reason for any special German agita-
ton in this country; for, individual
Germans, or German born need only
to do their duty as any true Ameri-
can is glad to do it, and all is we'll.
And the duty Of every American and
friend of America is to help to whip
Germany, so that America and our
Allies may dictate a peace that shall
not have a tinge of German in it
and that shall also free the German
people from the tyranny of their
own "Kultur".
The formation of new German So
cieties proves nothing to me, unless
it is the possibility of preserving still
German pride of a degenerate
fatherland. Loyalty to America de-
mands no German organization; but,
on the other hand, German societies
are bound to cherish at this war
time, some sympathy with the enemy,
which must prevent whole-hearted
loyalty to America and her Allies.
To my sense, Germans in America
should be ashamed of their one time
fatherland. and by washing their own
hands of all personal interest in Ger
many, prove themselves Americans
letting America deal wholly with Ger
many.
The accused pride of the ruling
spirit of Germany is the weakness
which has robbed the German nation
of all that civilization holds dear;
and it has followed it's victims over
the ocean into this land of true blood
liberty, here, under the protection of
the flag of the free, holding Ger
mans still under the spell of mesmer-
ic-engendered fatherland influence.
1t is a self-proved verify that NOR
tails are selfish: therefore, it requires
some regeneration to hear the call of
duty above the call of pleasure The
laws of society demand that humans
first consider their duty to all, and
last their own pleasure. From the
standpoint, then of a christianity Or
ganized community, rather than that
of their own preference, which would
be the greater proof of loyalty and
the most helpful to mankind includ-
ing the Germans themselves, the vol
untary disorganization of all German
societies in America, Or the organiza-
ton of a single, ever so we'll meant,
new one?
If Germans and citizens of German
blood are disposed to be loyal Amer
leans, why do they need organized
societies to prove it?
If we, as friends or citizens, are to
help America, we must do it as Am
orleans; and if America is to help
Germany she can do it only by being
pure American untinctured by Ger
many. So Germans or their descend
ants in America can prove their 10y
atty to America and can have virtue
enough to help Germany, only as
what is German-inherited, or made
in Germany"
Only one who himself is out of
pit can help to pull another out. In
other words, if the German people
are to be helped, they must be helped
by the peoples of the world who are
not German and even the most we'll
meaning German or descendant of
the German in another country, can
give a helping hand only in so far as
he has risen above the German.
If, as history records, Germans,
especially Germans of the Schurtz
and Sigel type, who in America fought
for the union of a democracy which
they could not establish on German
soil,-if such Germans of principle
were enabled to make their mark
only by fleeing from Germany before
the wrath of lf-crowned autocracy
then what is expected of the Ger
mans of today? True descendants of
the best German stock will today not
stop short of a complete remuneration
of all that smacks of the German, for
the same reason that these time
true Germans left the abomination of
German imperialism behind them.
The hyphen, which, since the war,
has been so justly condemned, should
be ruled out by all foreigners sett-