New-York tribune., 1918-07-07

heartedly supporting tier country
Iii Its war against Prussianized Ger
many. And to-day there are tens
of thousands of young men Of Ger
man descent, and even of German
birth, who have voluntarily enlisted
IN our army and navy, or who have
been willingly conscripted: and
many of them have already died and
many more are ready to die, for the
Stars and Stripes. Witness. too. the
generous support given by German
Americans to the various Liberty
Loans. and to the Red Cross and
Red Triangle funds. All such con-
slderations ought to prevent right
thinking Americans from svmpathiz-
ing with bind. unreasoniny ana
unreasonable suspicion Of every man
IN our midst that happens to bear
4 German name.
1t is well for us to be on our
guard against "GERMANISN". and
we have many evidences Of the fact
that to-day our country is infested
with thousands Of German snios
but even those spies must he deal,
|ioh only by the courts. where all
charges against the accused can he
carefully, sifted by Judge and jury
IN an orderly manner.
ihe accounts of the iynching Of
kooert Prayer at Col,insvi!le. ILL.,.
were read with horror by all true
patriots. That poor man was prob
ably as innocent as a baby Of any
ACT OF espionage, or even Of disloval
". But even if he had been a
German spy, he ought ia have been
dealt with by ''due process of law"
lhat IS the American way. When
that brutal MOB Of so-calel Amer
lcans" forced that helpless Bava-
ran tWho could not speak word
Of English to kiss the Stars and
stripes and TO sing "The Star
Spangled Banner and then uro-
ceeded to hang him without even
me mockery of trial, the lynchers
themselves put blot upon the clo-
fious flag of freedom and they
turned our national anthem. with
It's appeal to Our Fathers God" AS
TIE author Of liberty" into =.
devils litany. The leaders of the
mob that thus lynched defenceless
and probably innocent man we're
guilty of foul and cowardlv crime :
and every genuinely patriotic Amer
iGan mad hoped and believed that
that Illinois court would sternlv deal
with them as common murderers.
The prosecuting attorney and the
presiding Judge dii their full duty.
! Most righteously the Judge ruled
against the horrible plea OF the
counsel for the defence that tho
killing of Prayer was case of "pa-
trlotic murder" Therefore. when
those jurors, in the face of their
solemn oath that they would render
a verdict IN accordance with the
law of the land, promptly ACQUITTED
every one Of the accused on the
ground that 1t was no crime for an
american mob to hang defenceless
man that was suspected OF being q
German spy, the outcome Of the trial
was a gross miscarriage Of Justice
and was a shock to the conscience
of the whole country, making everv
real American hang his head in
shame. That verdict has disgraced
the great state of Abraham Lincoln
and it leaves "bar sinister" upon
our glorious national escutcheon.
Need to Safeguard
Against Two Types
But while We must be an our
guard against chauvinistic, hyster-
lcal and wholesale suspicion of all
the men of German blood in this
country, yet-when it comes to our
naturalization laws and the oualifi
cations for the franchise-all true
patriots, whether native born or nat
uralized, will join in the demand for
hundred per cent Americanisn. !"
so that as far as possible we NAV
safeguard the Republic against the
two types of American-GER-
MANS" discussed in this article.
Therefore, to that end:
We should amend the Federal
Constitution and the franchise laws
OF nine of our states SO as to with
draw the ballot from those "Ameri-
can GERMANS" those enemy
aliens who are now voting in the
municipal, state. Congressional and
Presidential elections.
We ought TO amend the Fedora
naturalization laws so as 10 NEE.
the menace of those German spie.
whom the Delbruck law seaks te
smuggle into our citizenry.