The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-05-25
GERMANS NEVER HAD HONOR OR CH|VALRY STATES W. H. SkAGGS Speaker Cites History to Show Huns Have Never
 Been Friends of U. s.
SCHURZ BRANDED AS
 ARCH DISLOYALIST
German History One of Barbarity, Cruelty and Oppression From the Days of Caesar to the
 Present Time

and women assembled in Capitol park last night, William H. Skaggs, for merly of Talladega, but of recent years resident of Chicago, discussed the German people as a race from a his- torica1 and physiological viewpoint. He made strong indictment against them, branding them as traitors, bar barians and savages. The audience gave him the closest attention and at frequent intervals interrupted with applause.
 Tho high school band of about 40 pieces and chorus of Red Cross workers rendered several selections before the speaking began. In intro- drcing the speaker, Borden Burr stated that he was proud of Birmingham, proud to be citizen of Birmingham which had acquired the habit of be- ing 100 per cent in everything, and said the time is near when the man who does not throw his whole heart into the winning of the war will not be tolerated in Birmingham.
 NONE BUT HIMSELF
 At the outset Mr. Skaggs told his hearers that he represented no asso- ciation nor organization, and that he alone was responsible for what he said. but declared that what he had to say of the German race, severe though it might be, would be borne out by history. At the outbreak of the present war he said a great deal was heard about German efficiency, of German metaphysics. Of the latter he said it set aside the teachings of his early youth. the things that he had learned at home. German metaphysic he compared to dark man searching in T dark room for a dark hat where the hat was not and never had been, and by way of Illustrating the point told the story of German landing in a southern town and noting the lack of reverence for himself on the part ot an old negro, said: You don't seem to know who am" The darky replied T don't know who you am, but | know who you am not" So he said of German kultur, he did not know what it was, but he knew what it was not; it was not Chrfstian, it was not civili- zation. a
 RACE OF BARBARIANS
 He said we are at war with a race Of tarbarians, people who have no sense of honor or chivalry, and in tho aoo0 years of their history. they had never had any honor or chivalry. The social and political antithesis of Eng fish institutions and civilization, he said, is that clan of vandals known as, the Imperal German empire. For seven centuries the English, French and Americans have been engaged in evolving social institution called de- mocracy, which Germany is now try Ing to destroy; that the Hohenzollerns and the Hapsburgs have ever been the enemies of English institutions and fought against freedom; for seven con- turies they fought against every step 1r the advancement of democracy and he said they stand before Christendom as the outlaws of civilization. He compared them to the Phoenecians who had extensive commerce and trade. who built cities in East Africa. built carthage With more than million population, but who left no literature no art, no science, to be remembered py and who today are known only for their commerce and cruelty. He said that no indictment against the Ger mans could be more damaging than that of Julius Ceasar, who said they were perfidious untrustworthy. while ne called the Gauls. the ancestors of the French, his allies.
 NO PEACE IN EUROPE
 He recited incidents of German bar- parity and cruelty on down ~through his- tory from the days of Julius Caesar to the present day; of their pillage and plunder of weaker states; the Poles. the Bohemians. the Slavs; of their o,Ifra oa Of France in 1870, and of Belgium ana Serbia in 1914. He said their atrocities jr the present war were nothing new: that Napoleon said that the greatest mistake of his career was that he did not re- move the HohenzoIlerns and the Hans purgs, for as long as they are in power there can be no peace in Europe. He said the statesmen of England and France warned against the Germans. that Benjamin Franklin had warned against them; that Frederick the Great was the only monarch except the one in Austria who had refused to see Lee sent by the United States to the courts Of Europe; that Lee wrote back that not one German should over be permitted to settle in America
 He said the Germans had never been the friends of America, and referred to the actions of Pitt and Chatham and Burke and Cornwallis, who opposed George the Thirds measures against the American colonies: said not one English regiment was sent from England to fight the colonies; that King George sent small armies from distant possessions that were under his control and German hire lings.
 He denied the claim that Germany had contributed to the worlds storehouse of useful inventions and discoveries, say ing that the Germans had contributed less than any other civilized nation to the things worth while, and claimed that the textile industry owed nothing to Germany: that 1t was citizen of Lor- raine, stolen from France. that made the great Krupp gun works possible: that an English metallurgist had made possible the development of low-grade ores.
 LOYAL TO NONE
 He said the Germans first began their political activities in America in 1850. and that Carl Shurz was their leader; he said Carl Schurz lived in seven States and was not loyal to either; that he hoasted of having run away from Ger many during the revolution in Europe, and that the Germans were the only people who ever boasted of having run away. He branded Carl Schurx as the most perfidious man in the history of American life. and related the story of President Johnsons commission. com posed of General Grant and Carl Schurx, appointed to investigate and report on conditions in the south after the Civil war and to make recommendations for the return of the seeding states to the union of Grants report that the south- ern people were sensitive and the great