The Elbert County tribune. [volume] (Elbert, Elbert County, Colo.) 18??-1920, 1918-05-31
BY EMERSON HoUGH.
(From the Committee on Public In
formation, Washinuton D. CN


few memories of those days. ! can
recall the figure of major, later my
Sabbath school teacher He wore a
black hat with a gold cord. and car
ried very large and heavy sword. /
can recall some of the old fife-and-
drum music. / remember seeing the
railway engine come in covered with
crepe-the train which bore the news
OF the assassination of President Lin
coin. can remember the fall of
Richmond; my mother was I'll In bed
ut that time. and 1 remember that she
sat up and pounded against the foot
board Of the bed with her two hands,
she was SO glad to believe that the
end of the war was now at hand.
recall other and yet more somber
scenes. My father was In the recruit
Ing service under Gen. James B. Fry.
I remember that during one of his
visits home 1 saw him melting lead in
the old bullet ladle In the kitchen
etove-he was running bullets for his
rife. Two men of the recruiting serv-
ice had been wnylaid and killed by
spies within the past week. 1t was
department would also be waylaid.
can still remember the grim look on
my fathers face as he cleaned his
rifle and ran the bullets for it.
believe got them my first touch
Of real hatred for an enemy. learned
then that spy was about as bad as
any creature In the world ever could
be. He had killed without mercy. He
was himself to be killed without mercy
If need came for that.
This country is honeycombed with
German spies today. They are worse
than any spies that ever nested on
this soil before. They do not lie low.
They are trifie exultant. trifie con-
fldent They always have been bla-
tant, clumsy. awkward, from Bern
storff and his crew on down.
Time for Drastic Action. q.
What are we doing to take care Of
this dangerous element which is carry
ing on the German war campaign on
this side of the ocean, For a long
time we have remained as awkward.
as clumsy. and as blatant as they
themselves. We have had before our
eyes always the somewhat sacred
image OF the American melting pot
God save the mark We have retained
the belief that any man who kneeied
down and sobbed on shipboard when
he first saw the Statue of LIBERTY
believe that is the correct description
Of twas by some miraculous process
at once made into an American.
There has been certain pacifist
sentiment, made the stronger by a GER
tain political feeling, which has been
afraid to antagonize the German ele-
ment in America, spies or not spies.
A great many peaceful gentlemen have
thought that we ought not to declare
war on a country in part owned by
some of our citizenry-it might hurt
the feelings of such men. And has the
alien not sobbed before the justly eel
ebrated Statue of Liberty in the mar
rows below Manhattan And is he
not, therefore, an American?
On the day when the Lusitania was
sunk went home with newspaper
in my hand. pretty much a-tremble my
own self at the thought of all those
women and babies-it is hard thing
to talk Of even yet. We ought not,
suppose, to call to mind that Lusi-
tania medal struck In Germany-ought
not to recall Ger1nany's exaltation over
the foul murder of those little ones
I suppose 1t sounds vengeful to say
that we ought to wash that out deep
and deep, SO long as there is any Ger
man of this generation left alive.
But do you really think that Ger
many did not indorse that deed7 Do
you really think the Germans on this
them-did not sympathize with Ger
many in that act7 Let me mention
one little fact:
When I stepped into the elevator
with my newspaper in hand I showed
the great black headlines to the man
who was running the elevator-he is
a good GerTnan-American, has been
naturalized as an American citizen,
has lived In this country for great
many years, speaks very good English.
and has always been held quiet and
useful sort of man.
"Vell," he said, looking at the head
lines, "Dey vos warned, vosn't dey7
Vot made dem sailT'
Wolf in Sleeps Clothing.
Now the point is that this German
American actually thought that the
Kaiser Of Germany had the right to
print demand in New York daily
on the morning that ship sailed. warn
ing our people not to take to the high
seas about their business. He really
thought TINT Germany was right in
killing those women and 'hildren.
This man was a servant I could
not abuse him nor argue with him. I
simply said-and choked somewhat as