The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1918-08-16

new era coming in; punish him to
teach him and the like of him and all
who have been misled by him and his
like that a change has come and that
there must be an Interpretation anew
of the oath of allegiance. 1t has been
nothing in the past but formula of
words-it must in the future be made
living characters, incorporated in the
heart of every foreigner who comes to
us seeking citizenship. They must be-
gin at once, all over again, to cherish
American thoughts, American his
tory and American ideals
Must Live Americans
"That means something to be done
in your daily life, not simply that you
won't take up arms against the United
States or that you will fight for the
United States if it goes to war. 1t
means you will live for the United
States and cherish and grow an Amer
lean soul. 1t means you will take down
from the walls of your home the pic
ture of the kaiser and hang in its place
a picture of Washington; it means you
will take down your pictures OF Bis
marck and put in their places pictures
OF Lincoln. It means that you will
speak the American language, sing
American songs, study American his
tory and open your eyes through every
avenue to influence of American life.
1t means you will begin first of all to
learn English, the language of your
country, so there will be windows and
doors through which American ideals
may enter.
Must Get About 1t
Because the task is difficult is all
the more reason why you should get
about it. If half the efforts had been
aut forth these feraigns4 commun.
titles to, build up American life that
have been put forth to perpetuate
foreign life, the situation would have
been entirely different. You have
violated your oath of allegiance In
this, that you have cherished fore
ignness and have tried to make it
everlasting. That is the basic wrong
of these thousands of little islands Of
foreignness spread over our country,
that instead of trying to drive out
foreign life and build up Americanism
they have striven studiously for years
to stifle American life and to perpetu-
ate foreignness.
This Must Stop
"The object of these proceedings in
this and other courts is to give notice
that this must stop. l see before us
another day of judgment. When we get
through with this war and our civil
liberties are made safe once more on
this earth this year of judgment Is
coming. Foreigners and foreign insti-
tutions which have cherished foreign
ness are going to be brought to the
bar. There is going to be a separa-
tion of the sheep from the goats. Every
institution that has been engaged in
this business of making foreignness
perpetual will have to cease.
II can understand that the use of
foreign language may be necessary
for a time in a church attended by
foreigners, but it should be used as a
temporary expedient, not as perman-
ent institution. No freedom of the
press will protect permanent foreign
press. This temporary situation must
,, be made as temporary as possible, not,
as in the past, as near perpetual as
possible.
| "If it is necessary we will cancel
every certificate of naturalization in
the United States. The federal gov
ernment has power to deal with that
situation, and it is going to deal
with it with a firm hand"