Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1918-06-12

enough and harmless enough, but there
is not one spark Of Americanism in
their hearts. They are alien in their
feelings.
Now in times of peace, when we are
at peace with other nations, the pres
ence of such an alien element in our
country does not disturb us much. We
scarcely know that it exists, and if we
do know we do not give it much
thought Neither does weak spot in
our throat or chest disturb us as long
as we remain in good health. But
when the grippe gets its grip upon us
good and hard, then the weak spot be-
gins to tell; and because Of it we
must fight a much harder battle and
pass through a longer convalescence
to regain our health, if indeed we are
not carried off altogether And so
when war gets its grip upon the ma
ton, this alien element becomes dan
gerous; and because of its. positive
hostility or it's negative attitude, the
war is prolonged, it's burdens are in
creased, and make loyal son of the
country must lay down his life in the
trenches.
Well, what are we going to do about
it? So far as the foreign spy is con-
cerned, it seems to me that the time
has come when our government should
stiffen its backbone sufficiently to deal
with this class of traitors as they
ought to be dealt with. Any man who
will come to this country, enjoy the
hospitality of this country, thrive up
on the advantages of this country, and
then fasten the deadly fangs of his
miserable spy work into the vitals Of
this country, deserves to be hanged.
There are no American spies in Ger
many; it is not healthy for them to
be there. There are thousands in this
country, because when one is caught
he is given a gentle sort of prison SEN
tence and boarded and lodged at pub
lie expense. Some people, with their
heads in the clouds, tell us that we
must not stoop to the methods Ger
many is using. I reply that when the
fate Of the nation and the freedom Of
the world are at stake, this is no time
for namby-pamby sentimentalism We
can take our choice, either stamp out
by heroic measures this serpent brood
of German and Austrian spies, or let
hundred thousand additional Amer
lean soldiers lose their lives because
of them. So far as l am concerned, I
would rather any day see ten or a
dozen of this vermin shot in this coun
try for every American boy whose life
it would save in the trenches.
AS for the pro-German and pro-
foreign element in general, in this
country, the remedy is not hard to
find. I would not go to the extreme
of prohibiting all foreign immigration
in the future, as some suggest. We
get too many good citizens in that
way. Some of the finest and most 10y
al strata of our population have come
from foreign sources, and some of our
native American elements have sadly
But l would suggest
that hereafter, for the future safety of
our country, we do three things, none
of which we have ever thought of do
ing in the easy-going days when we
left everything to the melting pot:
/. We should not leave citizenship
optional with the immigrant. We
should demand of every foreigner who
comes to this country with view of
making his permanent home here that
he become a naturalized citizen as soon
as he is fitted for that responsibility
2. We should see to it that every
foreigner does, in the shortest pos