AMERICANS AND AMERICANISM BEFORE AND AFTER 1776.
One British, the Other American.

The political life of America in self-government dates from 1776. That year was the turning point in our history. Americanism before that date was one thing, and quite a different thing after the Declaration of Independence. Many confuse the two or substitute the one for the other, which is wrong, as they are very distinct. England lost in our epoch-making Revolu tionary War, but it was favored by its language continuing to be the leading speech of the Independent States, through which, consciously or unconsciously, English views on all questions circulated most freely and made our political life in course of time more British and less American than it was at its birth. Because the English language leads, the English people seem to think and act as if this was an English country and not merely an English speaking country, and they enjoy more privileges, rights and duties than people from any other country possess. This is unjust, unneutral and un-American to all other nationalities. It is wise and important to have one general language for the whole United States, but other tongues and nationalities have equal rights and privileges which must be respected.

AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS AND NEUTRALITY.

America the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

The principles declared so strongly in the following political classics of the United States on freedom, liberty, equality, truth and justice are the same regardless of the language in which published, and accomplish the end whether read by the immigrant in his own tongue or in English. An American is not different when he speaks or writes in English than when he does so in any other tongue.

The classics of the origin and development of our American political life are very pronounced on national or governmental neutrality. They speak for themselves, which we emphasize in bold black type as given below without comment. Liberty, independence, equality and justice run through them all. Washington and the Revolutionary War made us an independent people and secured our liberty and separation from England, a foreign power, who would lord it

over us.

Lincoln and the Civil War made us a united nation and prevented one part of our people from making slaves of another part, by giving the Negro the liberty and equality secured by the Revolutionary War. If all Americans are to be Americans, on a level and equal, the lowest must be raised and the exalted humbled. To Abraham Lincoln freedom and equality were sacred in that he elevated the slaves or rather restrained the lordship of one class of our citizens over another. Lincoln would not repress colored slaves seeking liberty and quality, should we repress white immigrants in seeking the same in the state and in our public schools? The Spanish war brought us out of our isolated state as a free and united people into vital relations with other governments of the New World.

The present world war marks a fourth advance in our political development by introducing us to the nations of Europe politically, as we had been introduced to them economically by immigrants, and culturally by American tourists and students traveling abroad, for "He who would the Germans understand, must visit first their fatherland." A new patriotism after this war will celebrate the Fourth of July with a deeper and broader meaning.

We live in war times, and in an epoch-making period of the greatest significance. The world's geography, history, laws and cultures are undergoing a change. Every nation is being touched most vitally and is readjusting itself to the new world conditions, tendencies and ideals. All is interesting from both a provincial and a world viewpoint. We are thinking in continents and not only in states and nations, with the aim of greater efficiency at home, in our own respective localities.

Americans are being tested, and they should squarely face the situation, and not be unneutral to certain foreign countries or to any nationality here at home. German-Americans should now be urged to do their civic and political duties in school and state more faithfully. Our overestimation of England should be corrected, that America and the world may have, in Lincoln's words, “A new birth of freedom and fairness," "Humanity First," "America First," but do not forget "All men are born equal" in our Declaration of Independence of Great Britain, that is read every 4th of July.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND NEUTRALITY.
In Congress July 4th, 1776.

The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America. When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitles them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with ccrtain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes: and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

We, Therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by authority of the Good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; That they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be Totally Dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, We Mutually Pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our Sacred Honor.

CONSTITUTION OF UNITED STATES AND NEUTRALITY. Preamble: We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

WASHINGTON'S NEUTRALITY.

Washington in his Farewell Address, to use his own words, laid great stress upon the "duty of holding a neutral conduct from obligation which justice and humanity impose upon every nation, in cases where it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity towards other nations." He also said, "Harmony and liberal intercourse with all nations are recommended by policy, humanity and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preference," and that "if we remain one people under an efficient government, the period is not so far when we may defy material injury from extraordinary annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected, when belligerent nations under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war as our interest guided by justice shall counsel."

JEFFERSON'S NEUTRALITY.

Jefferson lays down the rule in the simple proposition that "The duties of neutrality require equal conduct to both parties," meaning, of course, the parties at war.

Jefferson denied that food stuffs were considered contraband and said: "It suffices for the present action to say that corn, flour and meal are not of the class of contraband, and consequently remain articles of free commerce-We see then, A Practice Begun which Strikes at the Root of our Agriculture, that branch of industry which gives food, clothing and comfort to the great mass of the inhabitants of the state......If we permit corn to be sent to Great Britain and her friends, we are clearly bound to permit it to France. To restrain it would be a partiality which might lead to war with France, and between restraining it ourselves, and permitting her enemies to restrain it unrightfully, is not different...... This is a dilemma which Great Britain has no right to force upon us. She may indeed feel the desire of starving an enemy nation, but she can have no right of doing it at our loss, or of making us the instrument of it."

LINCOLN'S GETTYSBURG SPEECH AND NEUTRALITY.

(Address at the Dedication of Gettysburg Cemetery, Nov. 19, 1863.) Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting-place of those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work that they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION AND NEUTRALITY.
By the President of the United States of America.
A PROCLAMATION.

"That on the first day of January in the year of our Lord One thousand

eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, henceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and navy authority threof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

And by virtue of the power for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforth shall be free; and that the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and navy authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free, to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence, and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.

And I further declare and make known that such persons, of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States, to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

In witness whereof, I have set my name and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

L. S. Done at the City of Washington, the first day of January, in the year of our Lord, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh. By the President:

-ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

It is refreshing and reassuring to American patriotism to read the above sentiments in our early political documents at this time, whether you look backward into the past or forward into the future. They breathe the spirit of freedom and humanity, for which Germans, located in the heart of Europe, fought and there developed a culture in harmony with that freedom.

RIGHT HUMAN RELATIONS BETWEEN OLD AND NEW WORLDS. Europe is the cultural continent of the old world. America is bound to Europe by the right of discovery, settlement and development. The people of both are of the same Caucasian race, speaking the same languages, and alike in their schools, churches, arts, sciences, industries and ideals. In every respect America is a part of or an expansion of Europe, except the political tie and life. New York has more Germans than any other city except Berlin. Chicago is the third Swedish and the third Norwegian city in the world. France lives in Quebec, Canada; Spain in Central and South America; Portugal in Brazil; Scandinavia in the Northwestern and Germany in the Central states of the United States, and England in Canada and the United States. New York City has more Italians than Rome and ten times as many Hebrews as Jerusalem. Boston is an Irish city; Philadelphia, German; Chicago, German-ScandinavianPolish; New York, Hebrew-German-Irish-Italian. The hyphen is in America to stay, especially in the large cities and they rule the country. It would be as easy to erase it from Europe as from America. If erased, their blood, culture and languages would and should remain unerasable. In the United States of Europe, for which Americans hope, should the French, English, Spanish, Portuguese hyphens be erased by Germany and Scandinavia? There will always be European-French, European-Spanish, European-German, European-English. Why then should the French, English, Spanish and Portuguese people, who are rooted in different parts of America, not give the Germans, Scandinavians, Italians and others the rights they claim and possess for themselves? As far

as we know, it is only the English who fight the hyphen and that act proves they are weakening. The hyphen is natural, human and binds people separated by oceans and continents into a world United States, a world brotherhood, a world federation of peace, while the enemies of the hyphenate people spell division, rebellion and war.

EUROPE, THE HOME OF LIBERTY AND TRADE.

Two voices freedom has: "One is of the seas, one of the mountains."-Wadsworth. The Netherlands, Denmark and Greece developed the freedom of the seas, Switzerland that of the mountains, Germany and Scandinavia that of both, the mountains and the seas.

The continent of Europe is the fatherland of civilization and culture. To it the younger nations of North America, South America, Australia, Africa and the Isles of the Seas, look back as to their old homesteads.

"No commerce enriches a nation like the commerce of the seas." The reindeer of the frigid zone and the camel of the tropics are giving place to the railroads, automobiles of the temperate zone. Europe is the star fish continent, reaching in every direction with its peninsulas, bays and harbors for commerce by land and water.

The Norwegians are the most maritime people in the world and have the largest merchant fleet in proportion to its population. The Baltic sea is icebound four months in the year, while Gothenburg, Sweden, is ice-free. "Tell me the geography of a country and I will tell you its future."-Victor Cousin. GERMAN CULTURE IN A CLASS BY ITSELF.

Europe differs from other continents in many respects. It is the only conti nent whose central territory enjoys a high state of culture and civilization. The central territory of Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas are still in their native state, untouched by culture. It is to the lasting honor of the Germans that they are the only people to civilize the heart of a continent, to develop there the highest culture that by virtue of its own worth spreads over the earth from every harbor in every direction. It is an easy task to civilize an island, or a peninsula, as were Greece, Italy, Spain, France, Scandinavia and England, but the Germans stand in a class by themselves in developing their culture in and from the center of a continent. They, therefore, have learned to know other nationalities surrounding them, can better move vast armies and do things on a large and solid scale. It is their central continental development that island and peninsula nations can not appreciate, that is largely the secret of German success in this world-wide war. They are a proposition worthy of study by other continents. Planting torches of light along the coast of a continent avails little before railroads are built to carry that light to its heart. Warships shelling harbor cities may conquer heathen tribes on the coast, but not the interior. The world is entering upon the era of continental civilization. German culture spreads like leaven from within and breaks through the ring of all its enemies.

EMIGRATION AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT.

Emigration is an old but a very important subject. Its history is the history of the development of the human race. As travel by land and sea becomes cheaper, quicker and more comfortable, and nations are drawn closer together by human progress, its importance will increase. It is more a question of the future than of the past. This world war will affect world conditions, and not least, all emigration, which will also enter upon a new era. It will continue to be a live question for America. The broadest patriotism is the patriotism of humanity.

It is not in place here even to mention the many important movements of humanity among the nations of Europe, Asia and Africa, either ancient or modern. We have to do only with the emigration to America, only with that part of American immigration which concerns our own nation, the United States, which is a large chapter in a big book.