New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1918-05-04
OPPOSED WAR DECLARATION
BUT HAS LOYALTY SUP
PORTED IN STRUGGLE
ASSERTS EDEN
BORN.

William Edenborn. with the
consent Of his lawyer, Judge K. f.
Milling, dictate and gave out the
statement reproduced below short
" after noon Tuesday.
Except for the promise to re
name the station Wilhelm on
his railroad line, there is little In
the statement that was not coy
cred in The Item s interview Of
the morning.
The statement follows:
Never Disloyal.'
81 feel consciously innocent Of
any wrong. What ] said at the
meeting was eXtempOraneOus, and
all | said has not appeared in the
newspapers. IF it had all been
reported, l feel perfectly sure
that no construction could have
been placed upon it which would
in the slightest reflect upon my
loyalty. and if any other con
structiOn is placed thereon, it is
an improper construction, for ]
neither. in thought or action have
at any time been disloyal to the
American nation.
81 was released ON yesterday
ana | understand the grand jury
is in session today for the pur,
pose of considering my case. If
an Indictment should be returned,
| will gladly face the issue, and
am anxious for a speedy and i'm
partial trial. Securing such trial.
] have no doubt Of the result.
81 was born in Germany. My
mother died before | was II years
of age. The year ! was IA my
father died. was then DESTROYS
of coming to America, as my
grandfather had done before, but
ne,n. an orphan the government
would not permit it, and | was ap-
prenticed to learn the wire trade,
which | did, and when | had
served in that capacity for four
years. having learned the trade, ]
carried out my desire to come 10
America for the purpose of becom-
ing an American citizen. I ar
rived in the winter Of 1861, and
secured naturalization papers
promptly, and voted for president
in 1868. America has always
been my country. | swore al
Iegiance to that nation, and re-.
nounced allegiance to any foreign
government or pOtentate when /
became naturalized. and | have al
ways lived up to that oath.
Opposed to War Entry.
when war broke out in 1914
between Germany and other ma
tons. / was very anxious indeed
for the United States not to en-
gage in that struggle. under
stand that there is now great
criticism of my expressions and
statements at that time. What
ever ! said or wrote at that time
was for the purpose, if possible of
keeping out Of the war. | under
stood that that was the policy of
the United States government at
that time, and at that time every
citizen of the United States felt
free to express his ideas or views
and his sentiments, and it certain
~ was regarded as no offense.
Since the war broke out i have not
knowingly done, nor said anything
that would have injured the Unit
ted States or the cause that she
espoused. While Germany is the
nation of my nativity, America is
my nation by choice and adoption,
and whatever have accomplished
in life, whether to my own advant-
age or to the material develop
ment of the state or nation. has
been for the government of my
adoption, and without being ego.
tistical | believe that / can state
that my effort has resulted in ma
terial upbuilding Of the nation,
especially the state of Louisiana
and the city of New Orleans. For
example, | by inventing a new
process for the manufacture Of
barbed fence wire. which was
then selling at IL cents per
pound. succeeded in ultimately re-
ducing the price to ! "a cents per
pound. Wire nails which sold in |
1875 at 10 cents. l succeeded in re-
ducing the price, between 1895
and 1900 to l IA cents, and the
T. 4