The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1918-04-12
(By H. l.. Hughes)

Wy LIZ iiuBhSot
That the people may not be fur
ther imposed upon by this man
Woehlke, suppose ! offer few quo
tations from his article on "The
Confessions of German-American,'
printed in the April, 1917, Sunset
Magazine, just before the declaration
of war. Here they are in the order
in which they appear:
His Divided Allegiance-Half
American.
81 am a German American. By
the time these words appear in print,
it may not be advisable to admit this
fact openly. If the TWO countries
having CLAIMS UPON ME should
follow the severance of diplomatic
relations with open war, conditions
will become decidedly uncomfortable
for me and my kind."-Page Is,
Sunset Magazine, April, 1917.
Woehlke took the oath of allegi-
ance to this country, and foreswore
allegiance to the Kaiser when he be-
came a naturalized American citizen,
then VIII y"TWO COUNTRIES hav-
ing CLAIMS UPON Me-?
Criticizes Our Neutrality
Because the United States never
has been really and impartially neu-
trail Because it's neutrality is like
the leaning tower of Pisa, the pop
ulace does not care when one set of
belligerents plays football with the
inalienable rights of American citi-
zens on the high seas, but supports
the government vocifferously when
it insists upon the last title of these
self-same rights against the other
set.-page 16, Sunset magazine,
April, 1917.
Woehlke, true defender of the
murderous German Imperial Govern
ment, sees no difference between the
interference with American COM
merce which if destroyed can be
compensated in money, and the muir
der of American citizens, men, wo-
men and innocent children, in the
sinking, without warning, of passen-
ger carrying vessels-a loss of life
Of acknowledgements for which there
can be no compensation.
"Yet l grew bitter and pugnacious,
and the thing that aroused my pug
nacity was the universal deification
of the self-sanctified, self-anointed
champions of democracy and defend
ers of small nations. page 81, Sun
set magazine, April, 1917.
Grows Bitterly Partisan
have no wish to justify
Germany's acts and policies, nor do
l hope to convert the United States
into an ally of the Kaiser, but l do
become bitterly partizan when Ger
many, to speak colloquially, is made
the goat and her foes are depicted
as knights in shining armor sacri-
ficing blood, life and treasure I'M
selfishly to rescue injured inno-
cence. page "a, Sunset magazine,
April, 1917.
injured innocence" is Woehlke's
idea of the rape of Belgium.
"When this neutrality began to
warp, when it became apparent that
American neutrality was passive
against infractions by the Allies and
active against German violations, l
felt hurt and injured, but l did not
become BITTERLY PARTIZAN I'M
til the hyphen was flung in my teeth,
until l was told officially and un-
officially that my particular citi-
zenship did not include the right to
be heard in the determination of the
country's foreign policy."-page 95
Sunset magazine, April, 1917.
If this brand of traitorous "citi-
zenship" were to be permitted
voice in determining the nations for
eign policy, it is fair to presume
that we would be still supinely, and
with dumb humility, submitting to
the murder of our citizens upon the
high seas by Germany's underseas
war-craft, without SO much as rails
ing hand in protest Why, we
might just as well let the Kaiser
himself determine our foreign pol
ICY
Death Rather Than Take Up Arms"
snow ON the threshold of open
hostilities between the two coun-
tries, the bitterness is growing. =
| am not going out to blow up pow
der factories, to dynamite bridges
or tunnels. But neither am l 60.
ing to rush to the nearest recruit