Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 April 1917 — LOYALTY TO U. S. ONLY PROOF OF LOVE FOR FATHERLAND, HE SAYS [ARTICLE]

LOYALTY TO U. S. ONLY PROOF OF LOVE FOR FATHERLAND, HE SAYS

New York, April • 6.—Frederick L, Hoffman, of Newark, New'Jersey, writing to t-he New York Evening Post, says: ./ “Born in Germany, I have for more than thirty years been a resident of this country and for twen-ty-five years a citizen thereof. The oath of"'allegiance requires ‘the support of the Constitution of the United States and the renunciation and abjuration of all allegiance and fidelity to every foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, whatsoever.’ This oath is binding upon millions of Americans of German birth, who are today confronted by a crisis which demands actions and not words. They are called upon to square their conduct with their oath of allegiance and to prove themselves- worthy of the priceless privilege of American citizenship in behalf of the cause of national defense against a foreign foe. It is the tragedy of history that by wanton acts of deliberate aggression against thp lives .and property of American citizens and the crowning infamy of conspiracy against our territorial integrity, the German government should have forfeited our confidence and good will. It is, therefore, obviously the patriotic duty of every "American of .German birth to render the fullest measure of unconditional loyalty to the national cause and whatever active assistance may be essential to the attainment of a final victory which shall guarantee to the world a lasting peace. The duty of the hour is unequivocal, and it is for each and every one of foreign birth to prove that oaths of allegiance are not meaningless and that their application to American citizenship can be effectively visualized into actions of enduring worth. The loyalty of Americans of German birth includes the duty, however trying, of active resistance against any and every foe of the American republic, including the government of their native country, specifically and unconditionally renounced in the solemn obligation to protect and preserve the government of the United States. By its own deliberate and wrongful policy of indifference to international law and treaty obligations, the German government has forfeited the good faith and confidences of the western world. By insidious'methods and means it has attempted to sow the seeds of disloyalty and discontent among our foreign born element, while still maintaining diplomatic and friendly relations with the government and the people of ’the United States. There could not possibly be a more humiliating admission than this, involving the national integrity of a truly great people, but the facts are beyond controversy, and it is the truth alone that can make us free. It is for Americans of German birth and qjieestrv to do even more than * their required share in behalf of the national cause, so that the world’s vanishing faith in German honor may 'be redeemed by those who. hold themselve.s to be accountable only to the Supyepie Being and .the government and the neople of their adopted country < The world is not at war with the German people, but with the Ger-' man government and its ruthless and ill-considered military policy, without a parallel in modern his-1 tory. - The German element, by common : consent., has' rendered substantial. services in the natl6n.nl struggle; •’or independence, in the second' war against England, and in the war for the preservation of the'

Union, and it will not be found wanting in the present crisis, which concerns'the future destiny of mankind for all time to come.

In a large measure the Germans of this country have shared in the most arduous labor of converting a continental wilderness into an earthly paradise, and they and their descendants may be relied upon to protect • and conserve, for the benefit of future generations, what, in part at least, has been created by their toll. They }have ever been conservative in their political influence, and their traits of home life, industry, thrift and obedience to law ajid order are proverbial, and a guaranty that, as a people, they will not be found wahting, however, shamelessly the interest of a higher civilization have I been betrayed by th© government of their native land. By the actions of the German military government in power indescribable sorrow and disaster have been brought upon the world, which has made patience on our part cease to be a virtue, and which demands drastic and far-reaching action in behalf of the ultimate attainment of the cause of universal peace. \ '

It is with a sense of deep humiliation that every American of German ancestry or birth must share in the universal condemnation of the wrongful action of the responsible powers which have misguided the > destin/ of the German empire and lowered it from a position of pre-eminence in public morality and the. arts of life to one of incredible indifference to the. recognized rules of rational and honorable conduct in international relations, without which the world can not exist and remain at peace. However deeply attached to the country of their origin, which gave birth to Martin Luther and the Reformation, the land of Immanual Kant, who was the first to propose a plan for an everlasting peace; of Lessing, Wieland, Lavater, Von Herder, Goethe, Schiller, Fichte, Richter, Von Schlegel, Hegel, Chamisso and Heine, whose every word breathes the spirit of true civilization, it is for all Americans of German ancestry or birth to clearly realize the duty which confronts them, and to solemnly and unreservedly consecrate their aims, their efforts and their possessions in the furtherance of the national cause. He needs, must fight To make true his own: He needs must combat might with might Or might would rule alone. —Alfred Tennyson.

Tn all the world there is no flag more inspiring than the Stars and Stripes; the. fairest , symbol of •jinstained honor, after mpre than a century- of national life and interh'lrionai relations. Life and service under that flag is priceless privilege and a guaranty’- of good faith in peace and war. Loyalty to that flag is the supreme duty, not only to the American republic, but to the cause of government by the consent, of the governed, and liberty and democracy throughout the world. Under this flag, Americans of German ancestry and birth, with the countless millions of other origins, have found a new freedom, which to. conserve and maintain is enough to have lived for, and, if need be, to have suffered and to have died for. Above and beyond the glory of empire and the achievements of military power lies the higher duty to the cause , of truth and the righteousness that exalteth a natibh.”