The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1918-04-02
WISCONSIN WAS
MSLED IN VOTES
FOR S~ENAT0RSH|P
Three Classes Found to Exist
Among LaFOIIettiteS,

MILWAUKEE,, Wis. April 2
Roughly speaking, the forces tina, ar
rayed themselves in the Wisconsin
senatorial primary in a position and at
titude generally construed as opposition
10 the government and opposition To IN,
Wharf.-The Thompson and the Beige.
vote-mlght be divided into tire.
y classes:
First-The prusSianistic elements.
h Second-Ihs p%aciiist elements.
Third (and probably the largesO-
The thousands Of voters who went &
the polls and cast their ballots no.
thinking Of the war first. hut Of eco.
monte questions closely akin, such a,
protiieetlng, the high cost OF living. III,
price OF farm products, and enmity "a
capitalism in many OF its phases. Much
OF this last issue wa artificially Stimu-
lated many Of the votes cast as n rc-
suit OF II were not opposition TO the war,
but protest against actual conditions
existing, or conditions as they were
7 portrayed by INSCRIPTIONS agitators.
u False Leaders Misled Them.
" The practical working Of It all was
TO play the German game just as the
J Secret agents Of the kaiser would have
II and show 10 the world some 10000
voters, or nearly one-third Of the yot-
ing strength Of the state. as arrayed
' against their government In is hour Of
need. But to brand the entire vote and
every voter who so cast his ballot, as
a troitor is to speak blindly Of the facts
OF the case. Many Of them were many
. were not. Many were conspicuouSly or
7 unconsciously following false Gods.
false leaders and false ideals. .
), The most vicious condition presented
twas the strength OF the PrussianlStic
Influence. II exhibited itself in its
l'worst form and may be expected to do
so again next Tuesday when the cleo
.tion is held, unless il becomes cautious
and waits a more opportune time 10
strike with its viper iangs again II
represented the votes Of German citizens
of the United States who, while citizens
here and making their homes here, keep
their allegiance 10 Berlin and the
kaiser. II represents the thousands Of
b German Americans who, when called
upon to choose between their adopted
country and the country OF their birth,
Or where their fathers were born, choose
the latter. This doesn't mean that every
citizen Of German descent here is dis
loyal far from it.
Most German Born Are Loyal.
Americans Of German extraction are
.heading the Liberty loan fight they
have sent their boys to war In count
less instances without waiting for the
; draft, but on the first call for yolun-
teers, Probably a big percent of all
dhe German born or German descent
Americans here are loyal. But the
Urinary gave thousands, who had sui
Jenly accepted the war because they had
10, a chance togo to the ballot box and
secretly express their inward feeling
They took il. This PruSSianism was
concentrated largely in some ten or
twelve counties along the lake, ccntering
around milwaukee,, and in the Fox
river valley. Five or six OF the counties
were democratic German strongholdS,
including Milwaukee, where the big
democratic majorities must come frcm
10 meet the heavy republican majorities
upstate.
The German democratic counties,
most of then, overwhelmingly demo-
cratic, either gave Berger, the social
ist anti-war candidate, who has de-
i nounctd the United States entrance
into the war in unmeasured terms, a
vote far ahead of any other candidate,
or else they for the first time in years
gave a huge republican vote for Thomp-
son, the Lafollette candidate on the re-
publican ticket. Davies, loyalist re-
publican, got only a handful of votes
ION the other hand, in strong German
Republican counties Thompson general
9iy got the bulk of the vote, Berger, the
socialist, second, and Lenroot and Da-
yics only a handful.
The writer sought to get the Ger
man-American view as well as the ma
live born view, One man expressed it
This way:
Was Not a Disloyal Vote.
"All TINS vote wasn't d~isloyal or even
against the war. 1t was a vote Of irri-
tation. Since the outbreak Of the war
1.-THE German-America citizens as a
iclass have been charged with ~diSloyalty
, and being traitors and everything else.
A few probably have been disloyal, but
the bulk have complied with every war
Gall. There have been fewer arrests
flor disloyalty or sedition in Wisconsin
THAN any state in the union almost;
There was no draft disturbance here,
for example, comparable to trouble in
other states. This may surprise the
public, for any anti-war opposition in
Wisconsin is big news. The public ex-
,pects it and eats it up, and every word
lbf it gets out. There are many fac
tories working N war orders in Mil
waukee and elsewhere throughout the
state, but there hasn't been the sugges-
ton Of an i~ncendiary fire or trouble.
There has been elsewhere. The hate of
lell things German that is growing, he
Heels. He hears his blood kin called
Huns and resents it, even though he
may have a boy in the American army
going to fight Germany. An lrishman,