Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1920-01-08
MIR. GEO. ". LIPPERT'S
SUGGESTIONS CONSIDERED


Germ, respecting DeDS Calen-
iar" which had been sent me by
some misguided person, seems to
have found in Mr.. Geo. W Lippert
a person concerned in the premises,
since he forthwith responded in a
preposterous communication assur-
ing me that the calendar was sent
to me for my enlightenment and ed
ification and to arouse in ME dor
mant sensibilities" to the end that
when Debs should come to his own
tout of PRISON. l might find myself
attuned in mind and soul to the
better days" that are to follow the
final Jail delivery of socialists of the
Debs- Berger-O'Hare stripe Why he
did not include Mooney, Berkman,
and Emma Goldman in his rogues'
gallery passes understanding.
AS a species of grotesque humor,
worthy of Caliban, this effort of Mr.
Lippert's can not be added to by
comment, and in that view of the
matter a languid public might well
be spared anything further on the sub
ject from either of us. But | shall not
treat this incident as a personal mat
ter. Indeed my personal relations with
Mr.. Lippert, whilst scarcely so init
mate as might be inferred from the
tone of his communication, have been
wholly free from unfriendliness. We
have come into collision but once since
| have known him-that was when he
invited me to go to hear Kate O'Hare
who, on her way to prison after
conviction of reasonable acts, was
to make an address that evening in
Wausau. To this invitation | re-
sponded with counter invitation to
Mr.. Lippert, to go to --, Gan
invitation still open to him). And
SO honors were easy.
By the way, Mr.. Lippert, then Dis
| trict Attorney, presided at that
| meeting and introduced the convict
| Furthermore he openly applauded
her when she announced her prefer
| ence for the Bolshevik government
| of Russia to our own.
For this reason, and for Others
which | shall set down, I propose tC
treat Mr.. Lippert's communication
as a challenge, from the Socialist
gang that infests this county, tC
loyal Americans of the community
In other words | look upon Social
ism in its present manifestation as
a disease-an itch-of the body
polite, of which Mr.. Lippert, so tt
| speak, is symptom, and it is OF
this plague found in this county
that Mr.. Lippert's letter gives me
this opportunity to discourse.
| In each of its crucial wars this
country has had to contend with 6
disloyal element. Our war of indie
pendence had its Tories; our wal
for the Preservation of the Unior
it's copperheads; our late war of de
| tense against Hun aggression its
| Pro-Germans. Of these three the
infamy of the Pro-German was the
greater for it consisted in disloyalty
during the wicked and wanton wal
of ruthless and barbarous enemy.
| The Socialists have consistent,
pandered to this class, chiefly be
cause loyalty to the existing gov
eminent is foreign to their alier
creed but also because it is part OF
their program to appeal to the base1
elements of human nature. In this
abominable appeal Debs, Berger &
O'Hare overstepped the boundaries
of the law. They planted them
selves on the following infamous
lies of the est. Louis platform"
We brand the declaration of
war by our government as a
crime against the people of the
United States and against the
nations of the world.
In all modern history there
has been no war more unjusti-
fable than the war in which
we are about to engage.
No greater dishonor has ever
been forced upon a people than
that which the capitalist class
is forcing upon this nation
against it's will.
In so doing they gave utterance to
sentiments which were calculated to
hamper the prosecution of the war
by this country and to give aid and
comfort to the enemy-the accept
ance of which would have resulted
in the abandonment of our soldiers
at the front and the final triumph
of the Hun. For these crimes each
was found guilty by jury after
fair trial; two Of them are now in
prison and Berger is on his way
In Berger's case, moreover, the
House of Representatives, after Civ
ing him the fullest hearing, con-
frnaed this verdict with but one dis
senting vote.
Later the National Convention of
the American Legion at Minneapolis
unanimously asked for Berger's de-
portation. In short, he is abon-
mated by every loyal American.