Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-05-01
SHOWS VIEW OF
GERMAN PEOPLE
Max Stephany's Address Before
Rotary Club Explains Their
Attitude Toward War.
TOOLS OF HOHENZOLLERNS
Much DislOyalty in This Country
Attributed TO Limited Per-
sOnaI Viewpoint


any gave what is perhaps the best
analysis Of the German people in
their relation to the war that has
been heard in Rock Island 1t
should be read by every American,
and especially BY every American
of German descent. In his address
Mr.. Stephany said:
Il am an American citizen of
German birth And, if you want TO
emphasize it still more, l am by
birth q Prussian. born and brought
up III ,he very capital Of Prussia
and Germany.
At the same time, gentlemen,
your ancestry is one thing, your al
lseiauce to the country in which
you are living and 10 which you
have sworn solemn allegiance, Is
quite another. When, after much
delay. after suffering all possible
incignities, this government finally
with great reluctance found itself
obliged 10 declare war against the
land OF my birth. you may be sure
that a dark day had dawned in my
life and in the lives Of hundreds Of
thousands of others Ike me. Our
inner emotions pointed one way,
our reason another.
a great deal has been said and
written about disloyalty among cit
liens of German birth and descent.
And it has been OyeTdone because
the accusers only too often failed
TO understand 1t is one thing to be
deliberately and with full knOwl-
edge Of what you are doing, disloy-
al. and il is quite another when in
such an awful situation you permit
yourself TO be swayed by your emo
tions rather than by your reason
For YOU may we'll know that when
at any time a man or people per-
nit emotions rather than reason to
govern, they are quite sure to go
wrong
Result Of Ignorance.
And I ask you not to forget this.
Much Of this disloyalty finds its
basis IN ignorance rather than in
willful intent to do wrong. The
vast majority of your immigrants
come from the submerged and sore
" oppressed classes. They have
had but little schooling. Having
finished the primary grades, they
entered into their life's work.
These people have not travelled, for
the Germans are d VIGOROUSLY sed-
entary people, Many a gray-haired
tenant farmer has lived all of his
life on the very farm he is now
working. and his father, and even
perhaps his grandfather, were born
and had died on the same place.
Their little occasional journeys
have scarcely taken over a radius
of perhaps more than 10 miles.
Their entire outlook on life is mar
row and circumscribed. OF the
larger affairs of state they know
nothing. All they want is to be left
in peace.
This need not surprise you.
Have YOU not it's counterpart in
many places in these United States
/ ask you to go into the OZarks of
Missouri or into the mountains Of
Virginia or Kentucky. These peO-
pie. though good folk, what do they
do Of the questions that agitate US
here today? What do they know Of
this country, taken as a whole?
$50 these immigrants, with their
limited knowledge of the country
from whence they had come, sud
denly found themselves confronted
by . question they did not at all IN
derstand either in it's relation to
the old or the new fatherland.
But this we did know Since the
outbreak of the war in Europe it
became more and more difficult to
get news from the folks across the
sea When We entered the conflict,
every avenue of information as to
| their fate was closed.
''Now, my friends, let me put it
| TO you in this way: Many of you
have today a son or a brother
| among the fighting hosts in France.
| You chafe impatiently under the in
| eyitable delay with which their let
| tiers reach you. Your hearts are
heavy. You want to hear from
them. And when that letter, that
/ precious letter, comes, when you
| read the hopeful words expressed
/ oh, my friends, is it not true that
/ YOU wipe away the furtiye tear so
the good mother may not see it, for
well YOU know the letter was writ
/ ten several weeks ago-but how is
it with the boy today2 AS l read
II, is he still in the land of the liv-
ing? is he well? And as you an
swer that letter, you force your
cheerfulness, but your heart is, oh.
so heavy, for-will he ever see it2
"You know how it is. And now
/ imagine. II you Will, that it be sud
denly decreed that from the mo-
1 ment YOU grasp for the last time
l that boys hand as he is leaving,
you shall never, never hear from
him again, or he from you, until
the conflict is over. Can you not
! picture TO yourself what that would
mean?
Mother in Germany.
But friends, that is just the po-
sitlon ! and thousands upon thous-
Hnds OF others were placed in when.
we declared war. 1 am here; my
old mother. past II years Of age,
i and the mothers Of so many others
are over there. Are these mothers,
are our brothers and our kindred
still liTing2 Are they able 10 bear
up under the awful priyatiOus and
the fearful suffering to which they
are being subjected?
"Ien. when you look at that. can
you not understand why there are
some Of my people over here today
7hat have been unable TO find their
bearings?
But this I will tell you, and I
want you to understand it clearly
There is today less treason among
cur citizens OF foreign birth than
fhere is among you native born