Trench and camp. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, 1918-02-13
THE COUNTRYMEN OF
MUHLENBERB AND CUSTER

Theodore Roosevelt in the late number
of the Metropolitan classes himself with
the Germans as follows
I'VE are the llow-countrymen Of
Washington and Lincoln, of Lighthouse
Harry Lee and his great son, of Grant
and Sherman and Farragut, of Marian
and Paul Revere and Schuyler of Wash
ngton's General Sullivan and Lincolns
General Sheridan, These men We're of di-
verse ancestry; their forefathers came
from England or Ireland, or Scotland or
Holland. or France or Spain. But they
were Americans, and nothing else; and
if we are really to be loyal to their spirit,
we, in our day must be Americans. and
nothing else. And, above all. we must be
Americans and only Americans, in the
face of amy and every foreign foe
I'VE are Also and just as much. the
fellow ccuntEymen of Muhlenberg and
Custer. There is no more typicalIy Am
erican figure in the Revolutionary War
than that of Muhenberg, the American
of pure German blood, the pastor of a
Lutheran church at the outbreak of the
Revolution. On the Sunday after the
call for arms came he mounted his nulpit:
he admonished his flock that there was
time for prayer and a time for battle,
and that the time for battle had come.
Casting aside his frock he appeared in the
uniform of colonel of the Continental
army; and on many a stricken field he
proved his yalor and devotion. Custer,
a man of German descent, was one of the
most gallant and heroic figures Of the
Civil War and the Indian Wars; his name
and career made up one of the finest ira
ditfons of our army. In the Civil War
there fought beside many, many men of
German birth; Schurz, Sigeil, Osterhaus,
Hentzleman; innumerable others. They
proved their Americanism by their deeds.
Their grandsons are in our armies and
navy today. Their undivided loyalty is
given to one flag, to our flag. They are
incapable of a loyalty different from that
of their fellow-Americans of different
blood. These fellOw-Americans of theirs,
who happen to be of different blood, must
in their turn see to it that any one who
discrimlnates against these men because
they the - are ar Of 4 German blood is himself
81 speak as an American who has Ger
man blood in his veins. / speak on be-
half of all loyal Americans who are in
whole, or in part, Of German blood. Our
devotion knows no other country but this.
With all our hearts we are against Ger
many today exactly as the loyal Ameri-
cans of English descent who followed
Washington were against England in their
day. We feel it incumbent on US to be,
if anything, little more ready to follow
the call Of America against Germany pre-
cisely because of our blood. Our hearts
burn with wrath over the horrible bru-
tality, cruelty and treachery of the Ger
many of the Hohenzonerns. We abhor,
and would punish with relentless stern
ness, the American traitors of German
blood who in this crisis are false to AM
erica, or hostile to the Allies of America,
or who in any way or shape serve Ger
many. And, therefore, we feel the keen
est Indignation against all men who in
any way seek to discriminate against us
because OF the land from which our fore
fathers came. We do not beg as a favor,
we challenge as right, full equality Of
respect and of treatment for all our fell
Americans"