V 620 .C6 Copy 1 D 620 .C6 Copy 1 HESS on SENATE Document No. 164 LOYALTY OF GERMAN-AMERICANS TO THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE CITIZENS OF JORDAN, MINN. ' ON NOVEMBER 10, 1917 By HON. JULIUS A. COLLER r PRESENTED BY MR. NELSON DECEMBER 4, 1917.— Referred to Committee on Printin* WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1918 REPORTED BY MR. SMITH, OP ARIZONA. In the Senate of the United States, January 21, 1918. Resolved, That the manuscript submitted by the Senator from Minnesota (Mr. Nelson) on January 4, 1918, entitled "An address by Hon. Julius A. Coller, delivered at Jordan, Minn., November 10, 1917," be printed as a Senate document. Attest : James M. Baker, Secretary. 2 MY LOYALTY OF GERMAN-AMERICANS TO THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. Address by Hon. Julius A. Coixek. We are gathered here, my friends, to publicly renew our fealty and devotion to our one and only country. You and I are proud of old Scott, we are proud — intensely proud — of the glorious history of our own native State, and of the loyal deeds of the brave men who settled and built up this great Com- monwealth of Minnesota; they who were the first to respond to Lincoln's call; they who sent more defenders of the Union than any other State per capita ; they who immortalized themselves forever at Gettysburg; it is of them and of their glorious deeds that we think to-day as we renew and reaffirm our fealty and devotion and pledge our unending loyalty to the land of the Stars and Stripes. I see before me in this splendid gathering men whose cradle was rocked on the highlands and lowlands of Hanover, on the moors of Oldenburg, on the Ehine " Wo die Rebe blueht," on Bavarian and Pommeranian soil; men from the uplands and lowlands of the Ger- man and Austrian Empires, and side by side with them I see men whose birthplace was under the sunny skies of France, in the templed woods of Bohemia, on the Emerald Isle, in the domains of Great Britain, and on fair Scandia's rugged soil. And these men, who left their homelands and their ties, came here, and by their toil, by their energy, by their thrift and frugality laid broad and deep the foundations of this great Eepublic and made it the richest, the fairest, and the best land under the sun. And it is but human that the land of their birth should hold for them some memories dear; that the land where rest in eternal sleep the father who nurtured him and the mother who bore him should fill his mind and heart with the fondest and most hallowed recol- lections. And, therefore, it was but natural that at the outbreak of the hos- tilities across the sea that each man's heart and each man's soul should hark back to the land of his birth and array itself on the side of that land that once was his and against every other land across the sea that fought against the land of his birth. I confess that even I, born and reared under the Stars and Stripes, felt the call of the blood of Hanover and of Oldenburg, and that prior to 1917 I yielded to no man in the ardency of my desire and in the strength of my hope that the eagles of Germany might emerge supreme in the conflict across the sea. That was the call of the blood. But what is the call of the blood to the call of our own, our only country? Your country and mine is calling, and the call of the blood sinks into insignificance when comes the call of the only country that we have, the only country that we love, the only country that we want, the only country to 4 LOYALTY OF GERMAN-AMERICANS. which we owe fealty and devotion and for which you and I will offer up every sacrifice. I am not unmindful nor unaware of the fact that a propaganda has been and is being made to instill into the minds and hearts of men of German blood and ancestry disloyalty — and if this does not succeed, then to still passiveness and inactivity in the cause of our country — passiveness and inactivity, which is nothing less than plain, everyday no.nloyalty. And I am here to tell you, and to tell you with all the power at my command, that passiveness, inactivity, and nonloyalty is just as treasonable, just as murderous to our country and to our brave boys at the front, in its results, as active, open treason. And because I am of German blood I resent this propaganda with all the strength of my manhood ; I protest with all my heart and soul against this most despicable work of these propagandists, who seek to destroy the good name and fame of the men of German blood in this country, earned and established by their loyalty and their whole- hearted service to country and to State in the century gone by. These propagandists are the worst enemies that the men of German blood have to contend with. I can not, however, understand how anyone of the blood of Han- over, of Westphalia, of Bavaria, of Schleswig-Holstein.- and ether Principalities and Provinces within the German Empire can be swayed into having any sympathy for or adhesion to the Pruss : an autocracy, even leaving cut of question the fact that this country is at war with that autocracy, because of the treatment accorded to your homelands in the papt by this same autoer^cv. You of Westphalia, Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein, and Hanover, who enjoyed peace and happiness and contentment under your own Governments, until the robber came and stole your land and over- threw your constitution and your Government, especially you of Hanover and of Schleswig-Holstein . what cause have you to sym- pathize with Prussian militarism and Hohenzollorn autocracv? You k^ow it, and you know it in your heart, that it was this self- same militarism and autocracy th^t overwhelmed vour country, over- threw the Government and ruthhsslv and forc'bly annulled your constitution, destroyed ycur citizenship, and annexed your country as a part of their Prussian domain : and. not content with that, snonred at your misfortune and misery and taunted you with being a " Muss Preuss." You of Hanover know how this injustice rankled in your hearts and how in impotent rasfe you oried ou*" afa^st this great wrong and gave expression to your feelings in the following verses: Prupssen he? H°nover Rtohl — Pmessen f o1 J dei P T ~evel holn — B'sivprck dnt ^Uc Sw'en — He will usere Koenig s'n. (-Prussia stole Hairvr la><1— Fru-ssin eba 7 l tb Q devil 1 nd — ■ Bism"rck. Pie old h^g, he Our King would be.) Wie heb eon Kaiser — h^> wh^nr in Wien Wie heb een Rneuber — be whont in Berlin (Wp bave on? Ka'ser — he l'v.es in Vienna — We have one robber — he lives in Berlin.) LOYALTY OP GERMAN-AMERICANS. 5 You. of Hanover and Schleswig-Holstein ; you whom the autocrats of Prussia have robbed of your birthright; "you whose Government they destroyed, whose king and ruler they dethroned; you whose homeland was wiped out by these autocrats; you whom they, after destroying your Government and robbing you of your home and •country, snceringly refer to as the " Muss Pruess " (must be Prus- sian). You whom they made feel for all the days you lived in your homeland that you were a vassal, an underling, a servant of the Prussian master; you they are now approaching with sophistries and lies to weaken your loyalty to the best land in all this world. Is it .any wonder that I am astounded at their supreme gall in trying to enlist the sympathies of men in their cause who have felt tlie iron heel of the military autocracy on their necks ? What arguments have these propagandists in their attempts to incite inactivity and nonloyalty? Briefly they are these: First. The draft law is unconstitutional. Second. Our boys should not be sent across the water. Third. This is a rich man's war. Fourth. Men of German blood should not be asked to kill their brothers across the sea. It is self-evident that there is nothing in the first argument, because a government, if it is a government, must possess the inherent power to protect itself and to perpetuate itself, and it must therefore have the inherent power to call to its aid all the resources of the country, in- cluding all of its man power, for its preservation and perpetuity. The second argument is nonsensical. The men who make it will urge that Germany is the greatest military power on earth and that it possesses the greatest military genius — this we readily admit. Now, this very military genius did not wait until its enemy was on German soil. No; it packed its battlefields on the soil of France and Belgium and the world has seen the wisdom of their choice. Fight we must, and it is better for us and our children and women that we fight our bat f les in France or Belgium than to fight them in New York, in New England, or the South Atlantic States; we will at least in that way protect our women and our children. If to-morrow we would get into trouble with Great Britain, and if cur General Staff failed to pick out the fighting ground in Canada, these self same propagandists would be the first to crv out against the inefficiencv and incompetency of our General Staff and clamor for its removal. This is not the first time our boys have fought on foreign soil. In 1812 our boys fought in Canada; in 1818 Winfield Scott marched with 12,000 men from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico; in 1898 we fought in Cuba, in Porto Eico, and in the Philippines; and there was not a word of protest from these propagandist's. The third argument is an absolute untruth. If this war was made by the rich men they are certainly the greatest forls the world has yet produced. The big men of the country were making money without limit before this country entered the war, and if it was money they wanted they would have left things as they were. The entrance of this country into the war con Id only hurt them, and thev knew it, and the war has hurt them. Wealth is being conscripted just as well as man power. You know that ; you know that all corporations and 6 LOYALTY OF GERMAN-AMERICANS. all firms and individuals must pay an excess-profits tax on all in- comes over $6,000. You know that the income tax, while it is 2 per cent on amounts up to $5,000, mounts at every increase of income until it reaches 33^ per cent of the income, so that while you and I are required to pay the amount of $60 on a net income of $3,000, for the same sum the rich man must pay (if his income is large enough) a tax of $1,000; and you know that the rich man's son had no exemp- tion, while the son of the poor widow was readily exempted. This is a democracy — Germany is an autocracy. In Germany the nobles and the " vons " do the commanding, the common herd the fighting. Here, rich and poor, high and low, all bear an equal part in the defense of their country. The fourth argument is an insult to the American of German blood — it doubts, and casts suspicion on his loyalty. We are Ameri- cans — not Germans — and we fight for our land against all enemies, even if these enemies are of the same blood. And this is not the first time in the history of this country that blood fought against blood, and brother against brother. The English under Washington fought the English under Cornwallis; the Germans under Washington, and there were many, fought the Hessians under the English leaders — and the men of the North fought their brothers of the South, that liberty might live and this Union remain one and inseparable. But, my friends, the war is on — all debate, all question, all inquiry, as to its propriety or impropriety, as to whether it could be avoided or not, as to its justice or injustice, is at an end. This is a democracy, and the people have spoken. Our Eepresentatives in Congress of our Nation have, by an overwhelming vote, declared that a state of war exists^ and there is only one slogan now : " Our country — right or wrong, our country." And it is now our duty, from now until peace dawns again upon a troubled world, to give our whole heart, our whole soul, all of our being, to our country, to this country that has clone so much for us, this countiy that to many of you is the land of your choice and adoption. And to you whose birthplace was on foreign soil, you know that the land-of your birth offered you no future. There you had sacri- fices, and these sacrifices brought you no recompense. Toil, unremit- ting toil, and service to the crown was your lot; and as you existed there in silent despair there came glinting to you across the waters the message of the flag of the people, the flag of freedom, equality, and. liberty, and it bade you come Jo this land of the free and enjoy the full measures of its freedom and happiness, and you came, and by and through the opportunities which this flag has given you, you have grown prosperous beyond the dreams of your youth, you have enjoyed liberty, equality, and happiness without stint or measure every day of your life, and you owe it to this country of your adop- tion, you owe it to yourself, you owe it to your children and your chil- dren's children to give to this flag the full measures of devotion, and loyalty — loyalty full, undiminished, and undivided. You must be all American, there must not lurk in your heart one spark — I will not say of disloyalty,. for you can not be base enough for that — b\ v there must not be in that heart and soul of yours one atom that does not throb and pulsate with love for country, that does not burn with loyalty for flag and motherland. LOYALTY OP GERMAN-AMERICANS. 7 The Son of Man, the gentle Nazarene, who trod the soil of Galilee, has said " He who is not with me is against me " ; Abraham Lincoln, the great emancipator, said: " This nation can hot endure, half slave and half free." And so it is my friends, we may not have a divided allegiance, half foreign and half American; we must be all American. We may not sit idly by with folded hands, while the Iifeblood of our boys is ebbing away in the trenches; we may not decry war and cry peace, when there is no peace and our very own boys are being mutilated and killed that we may live. " He who is not for me is against me." He who does not come to the aid and service of his country at this time is against this country and is an enemy of the 60 boys who have gone from this county, is an enemy of the brave volunteers who are in the service of their country, and an enemy of every son of Scott County who gives his service and offers his life in the service of his country. An enemy did I say? He is worse. Because a fighting enemy has some compassion, some sympathy, and he has none. If the pacifist and nonloyalist had his way, our boys would hunger and starve at the front, would go naked and unclothed, for he buys no liberty bond that our boys might be clothed and housed and fed ; he would let our boys, our wounded boys, wounded in the defense of the country that shelters and protects him, suffer and perish in despair, because he has no use for the Red Cross and will not donate one penny to aid it in its noble work for the relief of our brave boys who are fighting to pro- tect his country, his home, and his liberty; while the Red Cross of Germany and of Austria, supported by the pennies of the starving women and children of the central powers, will bring succor and re- lief to our suffering boys, enemies though they may be, while the non- loyalist, by his inactivity ,-dvis nonsupport, would and does allow the glorious sons of his own land, fighting for humanity, for freedom, for democracy, lie in agony and suffering, and die unaided and alone. My friends, I have been and am proud of my German blood, but I am prouder, intensely prouder, of my own country, my American- ism; and in behalf of the good name and fame that Americans of German blood have always enjoyed, in the name of those of German blood who fought with Washington, for freedom and against au- tocracy; in the name of that great American of German blood who loved freedom and liberty, as no other man ever loved it more — Carl Schurz — in the name of those brave heroes of German blood who fought " Mit Siegel " and Rosecrans, with the great Grant and Sher- man, that this Union might be preserved, I appeal to you of German blood to be true to the loyal and glorious record that has been made by Americans of German blood in other times and in other days ; be true, as they were true, and fight in the very front ranks, for mother- land and freedom. St. Paul, the great apostle of the Gentiles, wrote : " There is a glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and an- other glory of the stars, but one star differeth from the other in glory." And this applies to us, my friends, we here in this great melt- ing pot of the world, are of the blood of every land and country under the sun, and naturally have some pride in the glories that twine around our own homelands; those of England are proud of tne glory that is theirs because Shakespeare and Milton and Nelson and Wel- lington were of their blood ; those of Ireland are proud of Emmet and 8 LOYALTY OP GERMAN-AMERICANS. Moore and O'Connell; those of Scotland of Bobbie Burns; of France of the great Napcleon; of Germany of Moltke and Bismarck and Goetthe and Schiller; of Poland of Sobieski and Kosciusko; and so each is proud of the men who added luster to the glory of his land, yet what are these glories compared to the glory of our own immortal Washington, who founded tfrs freemen's Republic and set up a gov- ernment for and by the people? What are the glories of the men of other lands compared to the glory of our own Abraham Lincoln who made the words of the declaration " that all men are created free and equal " a living fact and ring true down all the ages? This is our country, and this is our flag, the best, the dearest, the sweetest country in all the world. A country incomparably above all other lands — freedom and liberty is ours for all time — opportunities the greatest that the world possesses or can offer is ours for the ask- ing and the grasping — and to this country of ours you and I will re- new on this day our fealty and devotion and pledge to it our best service and undivided allegiance. They may talk about fatherlands — this is motherland — and as motherhood rises supreme above fatherhood, just as motherhood is the sweetest and holiest thing in all this world, so is this motherland of ours the best, the sweetest, and dearest land in all this world. Some of us here will be called upon to make the supreme sacrifice, so that this Government may not pass away, but may live and pros- per. You and I who are not called into the active service of our country, have this to do to show our love and loyalty for country and for flog. Our boys at the front must be clothed and must be fed, they must be cared for in sickness and in distress — this is a people's gov- ernment and you and I are sovereigns of the land, and being sov- ereigns it is to you and I that these boys who go to the front from Scott County must look to for protection and help. They can look to no one else. You and I must clothe them, you and I must provide for them, you and I must nurse them when they are wounded and must care for them when sick and in distress. Are you going to be true to these boys or are you going to let them suffer and endure the hard- ships that our forefathers did when half naked and unfed, in snow and in storm and chilling blast, they fought at Valley Forge that you and I might enjoy the blessings of liberty and peace? This is our war. It is mine, it is yours — and it is our solemn duty to give of our resources, freely and unstintingly — that our Govern- ment may live and that our boys may be guarded and protected. We can show our loyalty, we can serve our country, loyally and well, by unselfishly and promptly responding to the country's call for help, by buying liberty bonds. Not baby bonds, because baby bonds are for babies, but full-grown bonds, man-sized bonds, so that our boys at the front may be properly taken care of so that this war will be won; that militarism will be forever destroyed (and you, and I, and all of us, hate militarism, we hate to see our boys go — but go they must), that militarism be crushed, so that from now and hence- forth as long as time shall last, there shall never be another mother whose heart shall be crushed as her first born is offered up to the hor- rible Moloch of war, and that peace, sweet peace, shall- forever reign supreme. LOYALTY OF GEKMAN-AMERICANS. 9 Under this starry banner our boys go to the front, under it, like their forefathers in years gone by, they will fight for freedom against autocracy. Under it, like the heroes of the Civil War, they fight for liberty and freedom — but unlike they who fought for freedom and liberty on American soil alone, these boys will fight for humanity and for liberty and freedom as wide and broad as the world. And to these boys of ours, for ours they are, we pledge our un- swerving loyalty, we will buy liberty bonds to the fullest extent of our means, we will support the Red Cross with all our power and all our might, and we will welcome the victors when home they come, for victors they will be without question, for they fight under a flag that has never seen defeat, they fight for the holiest cause, freedom and liberty, they fight to make of this blessed flag that once was ours alone, the flag of humanity, the flag of Belgium, of France, of Po- land, of Ireland, of Bohemia, and the flag of the new Republic of Germany. And with the peoples of all these lands and of all the nations, we will rejoice at their homecoming, and thank God in gratitude, that liberty and freedom are saved, and will be forever enthroned in all the lands for all the people — never to fade — never to die. o LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 020 913 180 8 $;£;!;:{!■£ : 020 913 f fl«-,4-)- > l f-i i r\r\r\~* i*. « <«■ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Q 020 913 180 8