Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-12-17
GERMANS CURED
BY SHORT VISIT
TO 'VATERLAND'
Americans Advised to Leave
Accent Behind Before
Entering Country.
HARD TO GO OVER LINE

H Il
BERLIN, Dec. 17.-Germany is curing
the hyphenated German-American. A
dose of vaterland administered daily for
a period Of one to four weeks purifes
the blood of dual nationality and dis
charges the patient an American.
The kaisers imperialistic ambitions re-
suited In an elaborate system OF propa-
ganda to retain the loyalty Of German
emigrants even to their children's chill
dren That was before the revolution.
The German leaders Of today are too
busy seeking an outlet for the surplus
population which their country cannot
support to waste time or sentiment on
the German who migrated generation
ago.
DOUBTS ABSENCE
FROM GERMANY.
A Milwaukee manufacturer entered the
office Of the German consul general IL
The Hague Holland. Priding himsef$'
on his perfect knowledge of the German
language, he requested a visum to enter
Germany.
when did you leave Germany" de-
manded the consul.
I've never been there" replied the
American.
You've never been to Germany and
speak German like a native? What's
back Of this why are you attempting
to deceive me?"
I'm an American" replied the NIL
waukean.
You can't blur me with that" re
Piled the consul sharply. In this case
a too perfect knowledge Of the German
Eoio T1bf
layed rather than facilitated securing the
visum.
IF you are an American I would ad
wise YOU to stick to your Americanism
In these troubled times warned the
consul when he had proved to his own
satisfaction the validity Of the United
States passport.
That the masses hold no considerable
grudge against the United States is dem
onstrated to the tourist by the hundreds
OF Germans he daily sees clad in cast-off
American Army uniforms. Thousands OF
these uniforms were sold to the German
government by the United States Army
salvage officers in CObienZ. Germany for
mally outftted her postal employees in
the uniforms and sold the rest to needy
citizens. The recipients not only did not
bother to remove the buttons which bear
the United States coat Of arms; they
didn't even rip of the gold service and
wound chevrons.
VISITOR MET
WITH CURIOSITY.
The American coming TO Germany
usually expects trouble. and his cold re-
serve is generally met by a more or less
friendly curiosity. The German-Ameri-
can in many cases crosses the ocean with
the vague feeling that he is going to his
reward for the indignities he imagines
heaped upon him during the last thres
or four years because Of his steadfast
loyalty to the land Of his fathers. He
expects to be greeted with open arms for
his faithfulness He might be were the
Kaiser and his mates still at the helm.
The loss OF the war, the revolution,
the Versailles treaty and the wave of
Bolshevism have in one way or another
radically affected the lives of every Ger
man, and the German-American arriving
with his 1914 point Of view. ideaIised by
distance, must be a born diplomat to
avoid bitter arguments. He finds that
Germany has repudiated the kaiser and
practically all the institutions which he
so vigorously defended in America.
A New York manufacturer, 8 nat
uralized American, by his loudly out
spoken anti-American talk recently IN
suited some American citizens on a liner
hound for Hamburg. On board was a
demobilized United States Army major,
who was an official Of the line. Instead
OF staying q year in Germany to take
the cures as he had announced daily he
intended to do, the manufacturer ap-
peared at the Hamburg shipping Office .
within a fortnight and ordered passage
on the next boat returning to America.
The major refused and spared no words
explaining why. The New Yorker volun-
teered to apologize for every remark
he had made and bitterly announced that
he had been an assorted variety OF I'M
printable fools. He returned to Ameri-
ca on the next boat-and left his hypheR
in Hamburg.
TOURIST GREETED
But SOAKED HEAVILY.
peculiar trait of German character
emphasized by their isolation during the
war, is a great curiosity, frequently
coupled with admiration, for foreigners
An Englishman or American who doesn't
speak a word of German is frequently
charged double and triple the German
prices, but in return ne receives
the envy of a German privy councillor.
The tourist soon discovers this and he
never permits himself to be mistaken
for German by speaking the language
too perfectly American automobiles,
American pointed shoes, American Golf
fures, American fashions, American jazz
music and the American dollar are non
plus ultra in Germany today. The Amer
lean tourist reflects their glory
The Characterization who tries 20
identify himself as a German destroys
HIS own glamour and he stands in line
with the Germans while the American
is shown in Immediately An American
Is expected to brag about America
they're world famed for it-but a Ger
man American making the same state
ments IN an accent as perfect as a ma
tive, causes resentment
A German tailor in New York who hadA
emigrated from Germany about ten years
ago and taken out his first naturalIza-
ton papers voluntarily reported himself,
after the armistice, as an undesirable
alien, and asked to be deported back to
Germany. Uncle Sam agreed and paid
his passage to Hamburg. few weeks
later this German appeared at the United
States embassy in Berlin and asked per-
mission to return to the United States.
he had been disillusioned. For a year
he haunted the office Of every American
IN Berlin into which he could pry him.
self and made speeches which would fur
nish a Fourth Of July orator with ma
terial for the rest of his oratorical career.
Today he is back in New York-without
his hyphen.