Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-05-03
SPROUL VETOES
BILL OUSTING
GERMAN TONGUE
Nothing to Be Gained by For
bidding Enemy's Language,
Says the Governor

Governor William C. Sproul to-
day announced that he had vetoed
the bill sponsored by Representative
John Thomas Davis, of Indiana
county, forbidding the teaching of
German in the public schools and
in the normal schools, saying that
the people must not be hysterical
in their patriotism and must view
questions growing out of the war in
broad, liberal manner.
The bill was presented in the
House on February IL, passed the
House by $50 to Z and the Senate by
43 to 3.
The Governor says in his mes
sage; which will be submitted to the
House on Monday night:
This bill would prohibit the
teaching of the German language
in the public schools and the nor
NAL schools of this Commonwealth.
While l do not doubt that the mo-
tives which impelled the passage of
this measure by the Legislature
were highly patriotic and that the
intention of the author in the mat
ter is entirely good, l can not be-
lieve that the effect of this propo-
sition, were it enacted into law,
would be beneficial to our people.
Nowhere in Pennsylvania public
schools is there any requirement
that any one shall study German
unless he so elects. Whatever may
be our feelings toward our national
enemies in Europe, now, happily
vanquished by our noble Allies and
ourselves, no good end could be
served by forbidding our young men
and women the advantage of ac-
ri fn mi liD ri fNr with
man language. There are over 1885,
900, 900 people in the world to whom
this language is the mother tongue
and a very large proportion of the
population of Pennsylvania is made
up of people who are of Teuton
stock. Whether we are to remain
at peace with the German-speaking
nations in Europe, or whether We
are to again meet them in combat,
it will be to our advantage to know
their language. If we are to trade
with them or again to fight them
knowledge of their language
would give us an advantage which
is not inconsiderable. officers re-
turning from the battlefield in
France say that one of the particu-
lar reasons why our Pennsylvania
troops were so effective in battle
against the Germans was that so
large a proportion of them under
stood the language and could meet
the enemy upon his own ground,
I understand his commands and his
! military strategy.
Moreover, much that is worth
while in science, in engineering, in
art, in literature and in music has
been written in the German Ian
guage and it would place our people
at a decided disadvantage if our
| students were not able to read these
! writings and understand the shades
of meaning in the original.
'At the close of the Revolution
| and of the second war with Great
Britain we did not forbid the teach
! ing of English in our schools; after
the Mexican war and the Spanish
war, instead of forbidding our stu
dents to learn the Sanpish Ian
! guage, we set to work to encour-
age the study of this tongue in or
| der to promote our intercourse and
! lade with the nations which use
! it, 1t seems to me that to deprive
our people now of the opportunity
OF learning the German language
would be extremely shortsighted
and that if we were to take such
! action we should soon regret it. We
must not be hysterical in our pa
! triotism and we surely must not
pursue the policy of cutting off our
noses to spite our faces. Rather
must we view these questions in a
broad. liberal manner and try to
give our people the advantage of
| every facility in education which
| will help them to meet the compe-
tItion of other peoples in every part
| of the world and prepare them for
| the eventualities of these times
when we are taking. more than ever
| before, hand in international af-
| fairs. This is a question where the
practical view should outweigh the
sentimental. and for these reasons
| / can not approve of this bill"