The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-01-17

wards the successful conclusion or
the war is the one and supreme duty
OF every American, regardless OF
birth, of sympathieS and of political
views.
The American of German descent
who, at this time of test and trial,
does not serve the land of his adop-
ton with the utmost measure of
single-minded devotion and with
every ounce of his power, perjured
himself when he took his oath of al
legiance and proves himself guilty
of treacherouS duplicity. Thank
heaven the number of those luke
warm in their patriotism, or failing
in loyalty, is very small, indeed, faI
too small to affect the record OF
Americans of German birth for good
citizenship and service to the coun-
try in peace and war.
There is abundant evidence that
the overwhelming majority, indeed
all but an insignificant minority
meant what they said when they
swore full and sole allegiance tC
America, that they will prove them
selves wholly worthy of the high
privilege of citizenship and of the
generous trust Of their native fellow
citizens. and that they will not fail
or falter under any test whatsoever
They will not permit the blood in
their veins to drown the conscience
in their breasts. They will heed the
call of honor beyond the call of race
They will wear as a badge of honor
as | do-the abuse and spite OF
those few in this country who love
Germany better than they love
America.
Yet, it is not enough for us Amer
leans of German descent to do our
duty by our country and fellow citi-
zens. however fully and unreserved-
ly, if we do it in resigned and op-
pressed silence. l believe We should
speak out. We give voice to our in
flexible loyalty and to our deep con-
viction of the justice of America S
cause.
1t is hard, indeed, for us to ar
raign publicly the country from
which we sprang and to turn against
our own kith and kin, however deep
our detestation of their wrongdoing,
under the spiritual and actual sway
of the Prussian caste. and however
sincere our allegiance to America. 1t
will be easily understood by all fair
minded men that right thinking per-
sons will shrink from so speaking
and acting as to lay themselves open
to the accusation of being time-serv-
ers or popularity seekers, and to ex-
pose their motives to misconstruction
These scruples are honorable, and
they are felt by many whose patri-
otic loyalty and devotion are beyond
all question. But, to my thinking,
they are stamped out by the iron
tread of the times.
| believe that We should speak out,
we Americans of German birth, be-
cause we have been misrepresented
to our fellow citizens and to the
world, by a small minority of pro-
lfessional spokesmen and pernicious
agitators by no mean sail of German
birth.
We must protect the German name
as far as it is in our keeping, in
America, if, alas, we cannot protect
it elsewhere. 1t has always, and
rightly, been an honored name here,
and those who bore it have ever
done their full share for the common
-weal, in the works OF peace no less
.|1a in every crisis q A,ation, S
history. Let us do what IN Us neg
to preserve the nam es we bear in
honor and good standing amongst
our fellow citizens.
l believe that we should speak out,
because our voices may reach the
ear and the conscience of the Ger
man people when no other voices
can, and because they will reach the
ear of it's rulers. These, l know,
counted upon the moral, if not the
actual, support of the German-born
in America, to the extent at least of
preventing our joining in the war,
and now when we have joined, they
count upon that support to agitate
for an inconclusive and unrighteouS
peace.
l believe that we should speak
out, to convince our natiVeborn fell
low citizens that our Fundamental,
conceptions of right and wrong are
like theirs, that the taint of Ger
many is not in the blood, but in the
system of rulership, that we are with
them and of them wholeheartedly,
singlemindedly and unreservedly; be-
cause if we failed in conveying to
them that con LECTION in the hour of
our common country's stress and
trial, there would ensue the calamity
of spiritual, if not an actual, breach
between them and us which it would
take a generation to heal.
There are some of you, probably,
who will still find it hard to believe
that the Germany you knew can be
guilty of the crimes which have
made it an outlaw amongst the ma
tionS.
But do you know modern Ger
many? Unless you have been there
within the last twenty-five years, not
once or twice, but at regular inter-
walls; unless you have looked below
the glittering surface of the marvel
Gus material progress and achieve
ment and seen how the soul of Ger
many was being eaten away by the
virulent poison of Prussianism; un-
less you have watched and followed