Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1919-05-30
They Must Be Ane,ieass..

We have si.~iy been forced to the
conviction that the hearts Of many
American citizens are still beating in
time with other b! INNS than America.
This is not the time to upbraid those
whose hearts still throb for mother
country, and who still have divided
allegiance.
There is no use arguing the right or
wrong of the matter; it is good time
to end forever this alien tongue thing,
alien tongue and alien thought and
alien sermon and alien editorial and all
the rites of the various fatherlands.
By q hair this nation remained ma
ticn recently.
Unless we speedily arrange our di.
gestive apparatus SO that we can ab.
sorb this great raw hunk of alien meat
within US we are likely next time to
have serious setback. perhaps ma
jor operation; mayhap. well attended
funeral.
All over this country foreigners to-
day gather in dozens and scores and
hundreds #
Gather in foreign clubs, where for
eign songs are sung, where foreign
speeches are made, where customs and
habits and traditions of nations that we
recently were in death grapple with,
are uplifted and lauded
We don't blame these folk; that's
silly. ,i5,!t
But we do insist that the sooner it is
made obligatory on every American
citizen to speak English. and teach
English, and preach English, and edi-
torialize in English the better.
Those who have been making their
daily bread, with large piece Of cake
besides, in this country for forty years
have had time enough to learn the 300
words needed to speak business and
social English.
There is no excuse for the public
school teaching of German. or ANY
OTHER LANGUAGE BUT ENGLISH.
Better make clean sweep, let the
occasional few who desire French or
Spanish, or German, or Russian, or
Chinese, or Japanese, or Cherokee, pur-
sue their studies privately, or after
the grammar grades when foreign Ian
gusges may really be of some slight
value in professional career.
Play no favorites, give no loophole
for excuses; this is the United States
of America for American citizens;
English-speaking citizens without any
Hochs, or 81 Senior, or We We Beebe,
or Georgia da Wash monkey business.
And those who can't be Americans,
who must hang on to fatherland Gus
toms and traditions and language,
while they CLEAN American dollars. let
them 60 back home where their hearts
are, and give real Americans chance.
Recently we have discovered several
groups Of Hun-minded folks slipping
out of the holes they crawled into
year and more ago. and these good
American citizens" are IS Hunnish as
when they went in.
There is one way to end this; pro.
hibit the public use Of foreign Ian
gusges; prohibit foreign sermons; for
eign language newspapers.
Did we kill and MAIN quarter mil
lion American boys. and pour out bill
lions to reserve this country for lot
of sly Hun-minded aliens to grow fat
therein?
Whether you are German, Dutch.
Pole, Rumanian. Greek, Chinese, Hot
tentot, or from nowhere in particular,
if you are going to accept the oppor-
tunities of this country, its protection.
it's freedom and its prosperity, you
must become an English.speaking,
American thinking. citizen without
backward look, or home" yearning.
And those who won't come clean,
throw 'em out.
We've been entirely too meek and
mild and gentle with these potential
traitors in our midst.
Throw 'em out!- Dubuque Telegraph
Herald.