The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1918-09-12
HOT STUFF!
A North Dakota Judge Sentences
a Preacher for SeditiOn.

Amidon of the U. S. Court, sentenced
the Rev. John Fontana, pastor of the
German Lutheran church at New
Salem, to prison for three years for
violating the espionage act of 1917. The
presiding judge talked to the preacher
in no uncertain way. This is what he
said:
"You received your final papers as
citizen in 1898. By your oath which
you took you renowned and abjured all
allegiance to Germany, and to the en-
peror of Germany, and swore that you
would bear true faith and allegiance to
the United States. What did that
mean? That you would set about
earnestly growing an American soul,
and put away your German soul. That
is what your oath of allegiance meant.
Have you done that? do not think
you have. You have cherished everv-
thing German and stifed everything
American. You have preached Ger
man, prayed German, read German,
sung German. Every thought of your
mind every emotion of your heart
through all these years has been Ger
man. Your body has been in America,
but your life has been in Germany. If
you were set down in Prussia today you
would be in harmony with your environ
ment. 1t would fit you just as flower
fits the leaf and stem of the plant on
which it grows.
"You have influenced others who
have been under your ministry to do
the same thing. You said you would
cease to cherish your German soul,
and that you would begin to build up
inside of you an American soul. That
meant that you would begin the study
of American life and history; that you
would open your mind and heart to all
of its influences; that you would try to
understand its ideals and purposes, and
love them; that you would try to build
up inside of yourself whole group of
feelings for the United States, the
same as you felt toward the fatherland
when you left Germany.
There have been a good many Ger
mans before me in the last month.
They have lived In this country, like
yourself, 10. 20, 30, 40 years, and they
have had to give their evidence through
an interpreter. 1t has been an impress
sive part of the trial. AS | looked at
them and tried, as best could, to I'm
derstand them, there was written over
every one of them, Made in Germany.
American life had not dimmed that
mark m the least. 1t stood there as
bright and fresh as the inscription upon
new coin.
II do not blame you and these men
alone. | blame myself. | blame my
country. We urged you to come; we
welcomed you; we gave you opportuni-
tY; we gave you land; we conferred up
on you the diadem of American citizen
ship and then we left you. We paid no
attention to what you have been doing.
''And now the world war has thrown
a searchlight upon our national life, and
what have we discovered? We find all
over these United States, in groups,
little Germanies, little Italics, little
Austrias, little Norways, little Rus
sias. These foreign people have thrown
a circle about themselves, and instead
of keeping the oath lhey took that they
would try to grow American souls in
side of them, they have studiously
striyen toeXclude everything American,
and to cherish everything foreign.
when we get through with this war.
and civil liberty is made safe once more
upon this earth, there is going to be a
day of judgment in these United States
Foreign born citizens and the institu-
tons which have cherished foreigners,
are going to be brought to the iudC-
ment bar of this republic. That day of
judgment looks more to me today like
the great Day of Judgment than any
thing that | have thought of for MANY
years. There is gong to be a separa-
ton on that day of the sheep from the
goats. Every institution that has been
engaged in this business of making
foreigners perpetual in the United
States will have to change or cease.
That is going to cut deep, but it is
coming. recognize the right of for
elgh-born citizens to hear their religion.
if they cannot understand it in English.
spoken to them in the tongue that they
can understand. If they haye not yet
acquired enough English to read, they
are entitled to have a paper that shall
speak to them the language that they
can understand. | cannot 90 farther
than that.
And this is the capital thing that is
going to be settled on that day of judg-
ment, namely, that the right to those
things is temporary, and it cannot be
enjoyed by anybody who Is not willing
to regard it as temporary. and to set
about earnestly making the time of that
enjoyment as short as possible. That