Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1918 — SERMON ON PATRIOTISM [ARTICLE]

SERMON ON PATRIOTISM

By a 1,000 Per Cent American. Here Is a sermon on patriotism. It comes to Chicago from Sturgeon Bay, Wis. The standard -of patriotism preached in this sermou is so much above the patriotism of many thousands of men and women in the Seventh reserve district that the Liberty loan executive committee is sending the story broadcast throughout the district in the hope of rousing a spirit of emulation in the breasts of all citizens, both naturalized and native born. Were every man in the Chicago district to attain the standard of Demosthenes of Sturgeon Bay, Wis., it is pointed out, the whole $3,000,000,000 would be subscribed in this one district alone. Demosthenes, a 1,000 per cent American, has the following message for Uncle Sam: “You can borrow anything and everything I have.” And this is not his message alone. It is also the message of his two brothers —Antoneos and Stavros. Their surname is Anagnostopoulos, and they conduct a small candy store in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. Let Demosthenes Anagnostopoulos do the rest of the talking: “We boys didn’t have anything when we came to this country. My brothers and I were very poor in the old country. All we have we made here. This country has given us great opportunity. Whatever we have we owe to this country. "We don’t consider that we have done anything beyond a fair share in taking $3,000 worth of Third Liberty loan bonds. We took $1,600 of the second loan, and our allotment for the third loan, figured by the apppraisal committee on the basis of assessed valuation of property, was SIOO each, or S3OO for the three of us. But as we had the money and we knew that Uncle Sam wanted to raise much money for the war, we decided to let him have all our savings. We know that it is a safe Investment, and we don’t consider that we have been particularly patriotic in lending this amount to the government. “We talked It over and we decided that we owed this country something —yes, everything —and we felt the least we could do would be to lend money to the government. “ ‘Tony’ Is in the draft and probably will go to one of the cantonments on the next call for soldiers. He is glad to go and fight for his country. We—Stavros and myself—are glad to have him go, and if we are called, we, too, will fie glad to go. “We don’t consider that we are entitled to be known as patriots for lending our money to the government. The security is so good, the interest is so high, the investment is so excellent ig every way, that we would have been glad to take advantage of the opportunity even if the best country in the world had not been at war and in need of money. “In the sixteen years we have lived here we have prospered. We know that America gives every industrious man a splendid opportunity. We want that opportunity continued. That is the reason we subscribed.”