The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-06-14
Why We Fight
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Tasor IeaGua Cub Of Chicago.


NOT tust q diplomatic pretext-why
re are at war with Germany II that
for q seneratfon Germany has been
making war on MS Germany mas
made ibis war not openly, bfaveiy or
humanely. but secretly, treacherousiy
and persistentiy. She has sought to
create raee discord. to corrupt and de-
He politicians and ofdceholders, and
10 create separate German communi-
Hes within our borders. She has pol
soned the minds Of children I'm our
schools in m endeAvor to make Ger
mans OF them instead Of have them
crow up into loyal American citizens.
She has invaded the sacredness Of the
pulpit itself In an endeavor to corrupt
our people through the very leaders
of morality to whom they are accus-
TONED to look for guidance.
These may be startling assertions
but they are all true. ~ y0u shall sec
from the documents Of the Germans
themselves. We all knew that IL was
q German heet which stripped for &C
tion when Dewey sailed into Manila
bay. We M knew II was the Germans
who sought TO bring about European
Alliance against Ms when we were en-
xaged IN the war with Spain. Few Of
us relaxed, however. that all these
years Germany has been busy within
our own borders, through editors,
teachers and preachers, seeking to
break down our national unity, so that
when the time came 1t would be easy
to defeat the United States in open
warfare, to set ut naught our cherish
ed Monroe doctrine, and to seize. In
the Western hemisphere, anything
that the land grabbing rulers Of the
German empire might desire.
The climax Of Germany's under
handed war on the United States came
bn 1918, more than year before the
outbreak Of hostilihes In Europe. This
was the enactment Of what is known
a the Delbruck law, which provides
that II an emigrant from Germany
who Is about to be naturalized makes
application to a German consul. he
may retain his German citizenship
even after he has become citizen OF
his adopted country.
In plain words, this law, and the ap-
plication OF It, mean just this:
A German goes into court in this
country and solemnly foreswears ale
legiance to the kaiser and pledges
his word-the temptation was to say,
sof honor''-that he will become loy-
IL citizen Of the United States. Then
he slips around to the German consul
and says:
.sYou know didn't mean that, ut
all. Those Americans are easy marks,
and they fell for that stuff right Oh.
But you Just put me down on your list
IS good, loyal German, and II the
dime ever comes when can prove 1t,
vou can count on me-"
SO the German consul puts his name
down in the little card index of which
the Germans are so fond, and this
man,-this creature who swears al
legience to the country which gives
him an opportunity to make real liv.
Ing and to become somebody In this
world, and at the same time swears
secretly to be true to Germany-is
turned loose to work his win, while
Americans 60 carelessly about their
business and refuse to see the danger
In the arrangement.
Long before the passage u the Del
bruck law, there was formed the We
rein fur das Deutschtum i'm Ausland-
the Union for Germanism in Foreign
Lands. This organization, officially
eostered In Germany, issued quarter
~ magazine, which, in Its very first is
sue, outlined it's aims as follows:
1.-THE purpose Of this union Is the
preservation and promotion Of the
Germanism Of over 3OO00.OOO people
Of German blood dwelling outside the
German empire" All 1t aims to do,
you see, is to keep Germans who come
to this country from becoming Ameri.
cans.
Away back in 1890 the Alldeutscher
Verband, or the Pan-German league.
vas formed. It now consists OF 269
chapters of which two now are-or at
least were Immediately before the war
lin the United States, one In New
York and one In San Francisco. TO
quote from the Alldeutsche Batter, its
official publication, "the Pan-German
league IS founded for promoting Ger
man National interests, both in Ger
many and in foreign lands"
A few thinking Americans knew
I'LL the time what was coming what
must come. But America, as whole,
went along In that carelessness and
Indifference with which 1t treats all
things unpleasant, and allowed this
German war on our most sacred insti-
tutions to continue unchecked.
So Germany stands today, with one
foot on PROSTATE Belgium and the 9TH
er on the neck Of poor deluded Rus
STA; with bayonet planted in the
heart Of Serbia. and the point Of its
sword at the throat of Roumania,
while It looks out over the vassal
States OF Bulgaria and Turkey to In
ilia and the Orient. And 4 II stands