Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1918-08-16
A Day Of Judsment.

A Day Of Judgment,
Rev. J. Fontana. pastor Of the Ger
man Evangelical church, New Salem,
N. D., has been on trial at Bismarck
for the past two weeks. He is charged
with having uttered from time to time
seditious language for. the purpe Sc of
interfering with the military, activit :es
Of the government. The jury returned
. verdict Of guilty against him. In
passing sentence Judge Amidon said:
THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE
You received your final papers - .
-citissn In 1908. By the oath which you
sthsn took you renounced and ahjured
al allegiance to Germany. and 10 the
emperor Of Germany. and swore that
Jon would bear tue faith and allegi-
:ancs TO the United States. What did
that meani Tat you would set about
earnestly growing IN American soul,
and put away your German. soul. That
e Whist your oath OF allegiance meant.
Have you done that? do not
think you have. You have cherished
everything German. and stified every
thing American. You have preached
German, prayed German. read German,
sung German. Every thought of your
mind and every emotion Of your heart
through oil these years has been Ger
man. Youi 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 en-
vironment. It 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 oil
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 towards the Father
land when you left Germanyr
''MADE IN GERMANY.
There have been . good many Ger
mans before me in the last month.
They have lived in this country, like
yourself. ten, twenty, thirty, forty
Jsars, and they had to give their. evil
deuce through IN intsrpfSekr. It~Ass
been an impressive part Of the trial.
AZ ] looked at them and tried, rs best
could, to understsn them, there was
written oil over every one Of them.
"Made in Germany. American life
had not dimmed that mark In tho
least. 1t stood there ss bright and
fresh as the inscription upon . new
coin.
II do not blame you and these men
alone. blame myself. l blame my
country. We urged you to come; we
welcomed you; We gave you opportuu-
ity; We gave you land; We conferred
upon you the diadem of American citi-
zsnship-and then VS. eft you. We
paid no attention to what you have
been doing. 49,
''And now the world war has thrown
sesrchlight upon our national life,
and what have we discovered? We
find oil over these United States, in
groups, little Germaniss, little Italics,
little Austrias. little Norways, little
Russias. These foreign people have
thrown . circle about themselves, and
instead of keeping the oath they took
that they would try to grow American
souls inside Of them. they have studi-
ously striven to exclude everything
American, and to cherish everything
foreign. ~...
HOW WE DECEIVE OURSELVES
"A clever gentleman wrote . ro-
nance called America, the Melting
Pot.' It appealed to our vanity, and
through al these years We have bean
sesing romance instead Of fact. That
Is the swful truth. The figure Of my
country stands beside you today. It
says to me: DO not blame this man
alone. l am partly to blame. Punish
him for his offense, but let him know