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GERMAN-AMERICAN ACHIEVEMENTS. Bv ALBERT GEHÄING.

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Much has been written of late about the Germans» belittling their character and achievements. The German-Americans, too, . have been obliged to endure a goodly share of abuse. So many' derogatory things have been said of th^m, indee4»<( that one was occasionally tempted to wonder whether they were not a standing verification of the doctrine of total depravity. This being the situation-,, it seems proper to inake some inquiry concerning the achieve-mer.ts of the maligned people and to determine the value of their con­tributions to the civilization of our land.

In doing this, however, we must not expect too much. We mugt re member that the children of Ger mania of whom we are speaking constitute but a fraction of the pop­ulation, and that their achievements must be measured in proportion. In-diced, even this is hardly fair as a criterion. For the majority of Ger-man-Americans have come here with­in the past fifty years, most of them being comparatively poor and with but few advantages in the way of higher education. - A generation or two must elapse, accordingly, before they have established themselves sufficiently to be ready for the highest efforts. Again, the German-Americans have suffered under the handicap of not being able to speak the native language. In this they were at a disadvantage when com­pared with older Americans, as well as the emigrants from England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales nd Can­ada.

Nevertheless. their achievements have been remarkable: even greater, in many respects, than the rule of percentage would lead us to expect.

A brief survey must suffkfe. We may begin with industry and busi­ness, in which many of America's chief accomplishments lie. Foremost -among American captains of indus­try is John D. Rockefeller, the head •of the Standard Oil Company. His ancestors emigrated from Germany jn 1735, about a century before the birth of the oil king. Westinghousc, too, belongs to a family which orig­inally came from the fatherland. And Astor was another of the early German emigrants whose names were to become famous in the fin­ancial history of our country. Hc-ve-mcycr followed soon after. He was the head of the family which, with the German Spreckels, was to divide "the control of the sugar industry. Belmont and Dre: el must be in­cluded among the older group of financiers whose birthplace was nrder Teuton suns. Passing to more .recent times, we may refer to Vil-Llard (Hilgard), of Northern Pacific .fame; He-intze, the head of the United Copper Company, and Wey-

- erhäuser, the lumber king. Frick and Schwab are prominent in the steel business. Laer was well known in railroad circles. Wanamaker has won a niche in the hall of business fame as the originator of the big de­partment store, Siegel is a promin­ent follower in his footsteps. Busch, Pabst and Schlitz lead in the pro­duction of beer, a branch of in­dustry that -'s controlled almost en-

• rir-ely by Germans Heinz has •-achieved unexampled success in the »canning business, the Roebling Sons inarch at the head in the manufact­ure of cables, Faber is pre-eminent ,as a maker of pencils. The fame of itbe Steinway piano; has spread far beyond the confines of our country, while Knabe, Weber and numerous -others are also well known. Prang .achieved fame as a lithographer, the Herrcshofts have made the yachts

•.that have baffled English rivalry on the sea. Schwarzschild & Sulzberger, Brill, Guggenheim, Schiff, Schuma­cher, Gail & Ax, Foerderer and Nie-dringhaus are a few more among the many German lames that have helped to raise our industries to their high level, of fame and excel-3ence.

Passing to a related field, we may mention the famous Sutro tunnels of Nevada, constructed by the engineer of .ike name; as well as the numer­ous magnificent bridges that' were built by men of Teutonic extraction, of which the Brooklyn suspension bridge, the work of John A. .Roeb-

. ling, still arouses the admiration and amazement of all who gaze upon it.

Among inventors the Germans may claim Steinmetz and Berliner; while the linotype machine of Mer­genthaler is one of the most im­portant innovations of recent times. Rittenhaus, Lieber, Muensterberg and Francke are a few of the prom­inent German-American scientists and thinkers; Keppler, Ochs, Villärd and Ottendorfer some of the editors and publishers that have gained celebrity.

In the military field there are Muehlenberg, DeKalb and Steuben— intimately connected with the revolu­tion; Sigel, Osterhams and Rose-crans—famous in the civil war; Cus­ter, the Indian fighter, and Schley, the hero of Santiago. Among pio­neers the names of Astor and Sutter stand forth, the latter having settled the land on which gold was discov­ered in 1848. '

This may be the place to mention two pioneers of a different nature: Jacob Leisler and Peter Zenger. The former may be regarded as the first

* champion of republicanism in • this country. It is from his death that the fight against aristocracy and

- privilege dates, the fight which final­ly ended in the war of liberation. He was also the first to bring the col­onies together for united action, thus paving the way for the Contin-

: ental Congress- Peter Zenger was -the first to vindicate the freedom of the press. The lawsuit which he won

a in 1734 is a cornerstone of American -> liberties. B It is in the realm of art, however, -rthat the Germans have made some

-öf their most important contribu­tions. Music, for example, owes its position in this country very largely to them. A host of great performers .and competent teachers of Teutonic 3>irtV carried the message of this

wonderful- artj'ito the remotest corners of the land. Most of the great American conductors were of German , birth. Bergmann, Thomas, Damrosch, Zerrahn and Seidl readily come to mind when we review the .history of orchestral music in this (and. The foremost publishers of music are Germans, the best pianos are made by them, and among writers, and critics: too they are ably represented. Even the most typically American contribution to the art of recent tinges, * the Sousa marches.

. were written by a man who, if we may judge by» his. mother's name, has German blood in his veins. _

In painting, again, the Germans have been pfominent. Bierstadt, Weimer and Schi-eyvogel did excel­lent work. Marr has . won an en­viable place among modern artists. Leutze was the creator of the fam­ous "Washington Crossing tHe Dela­ware," as likewise of the immense "Westward Ho!" that adorns the capitol. And Nast, the; cartoonist, must by no means be forgotten.

Karl Bitter achieved national celebrity through his excellent sculptures at the - Chicago, Buffalo and St. Louis expositions. And the finest building of the country, the Congressional Library, had its in­ception in the brains of Pelz and Schmitmeyer.

Among actors who Were partly or wholly of German descent we may mention Edwin Forrest, Mary An­derson and Richard Mansfield; among theatrical managers we may refer to the German sound rf such names as Frohman, Grau, Conried, Hammerstein, Erlanger and Schu­bert.

These are a few ofe the individuals who have helped to make our coun­try wha* it is. But collectively, too, the Germans have been highly influ­ential; and while the results cannot be traced so closely as in the case of single personages, they are none the less present. First we may refer to the furtherance of music which, as before stated, is due so largely to them. Physical culture also owes much to their propaganda, and .to the excellent teachers which their "Turnlehrerseminar" supplies. The enrichment of Christmas must not be forgotten, with the introduction of the decorated tree. Likewise the establishment of roof gardens^ The Germans have furthered the cause of true temperance through the substitution of beer for whiskey as a beverage. And they have contribu­ted immensely toward the general brightening and sweetening of life. They have helped to soften the rigi(3, austere' views of the Puritans, and taught the native Americans how to enjoy their leisure hours without' falling intcf licentiousness and vul­garity.

Their record in the fight against slavery is inspiring. The first pro­test against this form of servitude —not only in America, we are told, but in the entire civilized world— was made by Pastorius in 1688. The idea was so radical at the time that even the humane Quakers did not dare to subscribe to the principles which it embodied. It bore no im­mediate fruit, but may have con­tributed to the agitation against slavery which began in Pennsylvania soon after. The general attitude of the Germans toward this institution is shown by the subjoined census table, which exhibits the proportion of slaveholding families in 1790, ap­portioned according to nationalities:

. , White Families. Total Slave- Per

Nationality. Number, holding. Cent All nationalities .405,475 , 47,664 11.8 English and ,n.3

27,250 4,362 16.0 6,285 962 15.3 9,399. 2,625 27.9 1,913 589 30.8

23,300 871 3.7 213 33 15.5 464 76 16.4

The compiler goes on to say: "It is significant that the smallest pro­portion is shown by the Germans, who even at this early period were obviously opposed to slave owner­ship. Had the proportion of slaves for the entire white population of the United States in 1790 been the same as it was for the German element, the aggregate number of slaves at the first census would have been but 52,520. instead of approx­imately 700,000" *

That there was no later deviation from this attitude is shown by the part which German-Americans played in the agitation preceding the Civil war. Schurz, Folien, Lieber, and Heinzen were among those who championed • the cause of the negro with impassioned utterances, risking life and position in doing so; and they were supported by multitudes of similar-minded compatriots. It is well known, for example, that a great majority of the jjrominent "forty-eighters" became enthusiastic Re­publicans upon the formation- of the party. But the best evidence of the spirit animating the Germans is shown by the war itself. The num­ber of German-born fighters in the northern army has been estimated variously at 176,817, 187,858 and 216,000." Whichever of these figures is right, it cannot fail to arouse amazement when we r£membgr that there were .only 1,300,000 - people • of German birth living in the north during the war, or about 1,600,000 if we include the Germans who were classified as Austrians, Swiss, and the like' The Germans, indeed,..fur­nished a greater percentage|$^of soldiers than the emigrants of "any other European country, greater by far ever than the native Americans. Their excess of soldiers over the number they ought ' proportionate!/ to have „furnished . amounted to at

Welsh Scotch Irish Dutch French German Hebrew All other

j/M x-i . •<»„ *>,!«* ~ ' *\«a ft,«:- i,'-'"have officials with German names,

least 50 per cent. Ana their ranks &T. ... •nuii-jiuw« ct t «..;» were "enwttd Jg '^lr^ «lwa4=J mS ® tictoatL thousand* ̂ vvho- m jj s Does it not look as if the Teutons country but ware Gen^^ by pai^n^ : already settled on fhe fewer

Ts^wS Gern^, Niddas been estimated at over 700,000. or «°» cl,mb hgher and about one-third of the northern ni°"e . , . • ^ army !- Certainly a show of patriotic How considerable is the number devotion that merits. something, dif- of Germans that ^re winning promi-ferent from the ridicule and hostility - nence is shown by Who s Who in which are so often mete,d out .to the, America- In the seventh edition of "Dutchman." -A, this -werk, (1913rl913) ,almost 12 per

, . cent of the names are German or of With i.^11 these positive achieve- obvious- German derivation, ' If we

mentis the negative virtues of nie . ;icjd- to this,list?: all/'.thps^ person's Germah-Ameritiätis have been equal- w^0 ;ire German through a maternal ly great. Says another United ancestor, who have anglicised their States report: elative to. their names, and who, being identified numerical representation^and. import- vrith less conspicuous German work, ance among the foreign-born peoples have been overlooked (Conrad Nies, of the United States, the Germans for example, the-eminent poet, does are the least conspicuous^ among the not appear), the number will very foreignrborn prisoners. According finely be increased well on toward to this report—which ony covers >>0 per cent-—certainly a good show-1904, but is sufficient as an index > jng when we remember the disad-the German emigrants constitute vantages under which the Germans 25.8 per cent of the foreign-born „ have „labored. population, but commit only l'i.3 ^ (It is but fair to say that the per-per cent of the. crimes and offenses centage Qf German names in the for which this element is respons­ible. A simple calculation on the

eighth edition (1914-1915) is some-ibie. A simple calculation on tne ^ smaller). basis of the figures presented by the , A

report .shoves that there is only one prisoner committed for every 616 Ger-

An especially telling indication of the things that may be expected in the future is to be found in the mans, while there is 1 for every 253 of , the -future is to dc rouna m tne

all non-German nationalities consid- , quality of school work doije by Ger-ered as a group, and one -for every ' man-American children. My conclu-163 emigrants from the British Isles. J sions in this respect are Only based Of fifteen nationalities enumerated • 011 observations in Cleveland, and so there are only three—the Danes# | cannot claim universal validity. 1 Norwegians and Swiss, all related to inclined to believe however, that the Germans and the- latter for the 1 they could be verified elsewhere, for greater part true Germans-that j the Germans are probably no bright-make a slightly better showing. t

er here than in other cities, and the | Americans are certainly no duller.

In connection with this subject it For years it has been- a matter of may be well to draw attention to the j comment in Cleveland that the Ger-fact that, while the Anglo-Saxon, mans have furnished so many of the Latin. and Slavic races are repre- ; valedictorians in the high schools, sented in the names of our presiden- : Sifting the matter statistically, I tial assassins, the German is not. j have found, in the first place, that We fail to find a Schwarz or a about 35 per cent of the graduates Schneider, but we read about a Booth, a Guiteau and a Czolgosz. Of course, this may be a mere coin­cidence, to he upset any day by the deed of a German miscreant, but it harmonizes perfectly with the gen­eral course of German history. For unless I am mistaken in my re-

from these schools have German names. As the Germans attending the public schools probably do not constitute much more than 25 per cent of the total number of pupils, this already shows a lively interest in education and presages well for the future. But more significant is

searches, only three German emper- j 'the record of scholarship. Among ors have been assassinated since the ! 409 speakers for the last five years, foundation of the empire, 1,100 j representing in the main the best years ago, and none within the last j pupils,' 166 or 41. per cent had Ger-600 years. And of thirty-three pol- j man names. And among fifty-six itical assassinations which took valedictorians, representing the

MzM»N-MkWS«^W«»

- - 1 * - - I l i ~ ' a 8 | '

•A . Century of Population . Growth in the United States, 1790-1900. p, 123. To be perfectly fair, we must state that' the big percentage of the French is due to the fact that po many French families lived in South Caro­lina, one of' the most prominent slaveholding states at thy time.

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place between 1865 and 1915, and which are enumerated in the World Almanac, though twenty countries are represented, none, involved an official of Gerhiany.

In literature and politics the achievements of the German-Amer­icans have not been as marked as in other fields. To be sure there have been admirable writers; and among statesmen German names are also to be found. Hillegas was the treas­urer of our country from 1776 to 1789. This office, indeed, has beeil held by men of i German extraction for at least one-fitth of our national existence. Muehlenberg, a brother of the general of like name, was the first speaker of the House of Re­presentatives. Schurz and .Altgeld, too, were powerful forces in more recent times. On the w^hole, how— ever, the Germans have not played» a specially prominent part in. this'1" field; as likewise in. literature. One; reason for this is * doubtless to be found in the difficulty of mastering the English language, a prerequisite for success. Otherwise, why their great prominence in business and music and art, and their relative obscurity in literature and states­manship? ,

There are many indications, how­ever, that this will soon be different. In fact, we incline to the view that the day of the German-Americans has not yet come, and that, great zis their accomplishments have been in the past, they will be greater still in the future. Our reasons for this are manifold. To begin with, the Ger­man-Americans are of the same virile stock ̂ as their brothers across the ocean, and if these have achieved such wonderful results in the last fifty years, is it unreasonable ' to ex­pect similar things from their American kinsmen? We must re­member, to.o, as mentioned above, that great numbers of the German emigrants have hardly had time to learn the native language and win the financial independence which is the condition of so many higher achievements. Most of the celebrated Americans of German descent be­long to families that came here long before 1850. Rockefeller, Westing-House, Astor, Havemeyer, Belmont, Drexel, Wanamaker, Frick, Baer, Schwab, Roebling, Custer, Schley, Leutze, Sutter and Herreshoff are examples. But if the meager number of Germans of the older days have brought forth such eminent men. what may we not expect when the millions that have since landed have become thoroughly established? :

In fact, indications of the future prospects are already in evidence. German names, which were some­what of a rarity in former presiden­tial cabinets, are beginning to ap­pear more plentifully. Roosevelt gave us two, Taft even three. Per­using a German paper the other day, published in Ohio about seventy years ago,* I was amused to read the account of a municipal election in which a German had been chosen for some minor office. This fact fur­nished a prominent feature of the article, and was eloquently pro­claimed with the words: "Who was he? He was a German!'' Today, three of the four largest cities of Ohio have mayors with German names. Of eighty-eight cities men­tioned in the World's Almanac, fif­teen, or more than one-sixth, are presided over by men whose names indicate Teutonic extraction; and the proportion is doubtless much larger, in view dt the fact that many people are German through a maternal .an­cestor or have anglicised their orig­inal name. But most significant -of all is the fact that of the twelve largest cities that are presided over by mayors,'five, or nearly one-half.

••Prisoners and Juvenile Delinauents in Institutions: 1904, p, 43. .

scholars with the very highest rec­ords, twenty-four or 43 per cent were evidently German. That is, while something over 25 per cent of the pupils attending the • public schools are German, 35 per cent of those who graduate from the high schools, 41 per cent of the speakers, and 43 per cent of the valedictorians* have names that indicate German parentage.

Taking all the foregoing together, the splendid achievements of the German-Americans in spite of the disadvantages of language and initial poverty, the general virility of the Teutonic race, the fact that millions of this race have now adapted them­selves sufficiently to the conditions of this country to put forth their best efforts, and the promising signs already evident, in many directions, we are justified in predicting a bril­liant future for the members of this race. We are inclined to believe that when the history of the United States is reviewed by our descend­ants a century hence, it will be found that a great share of the best work will have been done by the German-Americans.',, •

PAUL S6HEIMPFLU6 HÄKES HIS ESCAPE FäOi RUSSIA.

Conductor of Blüthner Orchestra in Berlin Brings Back Tale of

Many Hardships,

The "Berliner Tageblatt" of June 6 contains an account of the adven­tures of Paul Scheinpflug, the con­ductor of the Blüthner Orchestra of Berlin, in escaping from Russia where he was conducting when the war broke out. ' ; '

Herr Scheinpflug states that he went to Russia in Iune,. 1914, to conduct a series of symphony con­certs in Riga. He was _ courteously received, he says, and the concerts were enthusiastically attended. How­ever, in luly coldness appeared to develop, and 'when the war was declared with such suddenness he and the members of his orchestra were made prisoners. Through the kindness of some of his friends in Riga Herr Scheinpflug received a passport. When he reached Petro­grad the passport was confiscated and he was placed in the city prison. He was incarcerated for two weeks with Chinese, Tartars and Russians, and, he says," was not permitted to communicate with the outside world. Then he, with other -interned t Ger­mans, was transported to Wologda, in the Ural Mountains. The journey over the steppes, he says, was a nightmare. Without money or food, the. sufferings of the prisoners were intense. Made insane by their hard­ships, eighteen of the prisoners who were members of his symphony orchestra committed suicide by drowning in the Volga, V;

1 The life in Wologda brought no end to his sufferings. Pood was scarce, and the Russian officials made no attempt to relieve the three thousand hungry German prison ers,-he declares, but just when starvation threatened to put an end to their misery the United States Ambassador in Petrograd, who Had heard of their plight, came to their relief with money and food. The Russian peasants, too, took pity on their condition and smuggled food to. the prisoners at night. ' ^ - .Herr Scheinpflug states General Rennenkampf, who was defeated by Field Marshal von Hindenburg at

'.Tannenberg, was arrested on his return to Petrograd and placed "in solitry confinement in the . famous

, fortress, and adds that little-mercy is shown to the defeated general.

Herr Scheinpflug returned to Ger­many by way of Sweden. >.

THBTBTUDE OF ?f!„.

By ALEISTER CROWLEY. The Press And The Public. j rcalAold Mngllsh blood is not

When the sun-beetre first began to roll up this ball, he never guessed that one day there would be on its surface a political unity so disunited, at-least tt* the superiicial observer, as the United States of -America. Russia and England possess ' ter­ritories of superior' size,, but the po^ver - is concentrated in the same place as the wealth and intellect. The Englishman in India after fifty years still • speaks of home, meaning firstly a certain ancient hall sur­rounded by a park,, with' ar Village' whose church has, a lychgate, and, secondly, the parish of St. James. The Russian of Tobolsk or Ekate-rinoslaw concentrates . loyalty, and affection on the Czar. But in Amer­ica there is no center. New York is not even the capital of its own

, state. Washington is a city apart, Utterly out of touch with the .feeling in any one district. It is difficult to give the English mind any idea of the feeling involved, but it is räther as if the king resided, and Parlia­ment met at Bishopstoke. Inde­pendent and historical as are Eng­land's. greatest institutions^ they all tend toward London. The metropolis has a string on them. Eton and Harrow, must pay cricket at Lord's; Cambridge and Oxford must row the Pütney-Mortlake course, and no other. The detachment of the archbishoprics of Canterbury and York from the capital has been the essential weakness of the Church of England. With these exceptions of the clerical and medical, which has a »very vital center at Edinburgh, all other professions must go to Lon­don, and the successful man man­ages to stay there. The others rad­iate thence.« Even such centers as Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Glas­gow and Edinburgh draw life from London. It is the financial center of the world. Washington is aloof, a colony in* just the same way as Reno, Nevada. The inhabitants are on short lease, like consuls. Nobody really lives there in the same sense as he might live almost anywhere else, and this detachment from the real life of the country has insulated it. This circumstance, more than

. any other, heaps the responsibilty for the utter indifference of the average American citizen to politics, and for the corruption of the latter.

France is a democracy, bui the same centralization as in England is apparent on all the more important sides of life. The railway systems all converge on Paris. The Bourse, the university, the government, the art center, the social center, all are

-in Paris. Consequently when Paris speaks, France acquiesces. Probably France does not care very much what Paris says, but at least there is no independent and opposing cur­rent of thought.

It follows that in America the ob­server is placed at .a great disadvant­age. In London the expenditure of six pence. would make him acquaint­ed with the who e thought of the country. In America the press does not represent the people, or even any section of the people. It ' re­presents the pull of. clique in most cases. -It-exercjses no influence at* all upon thought. People buy news­papers for amusement; but yellow journalism has achieved its great and glorious task of discrediting it­self.

To take a. recent example. The ef­forts of the New York daily press, with one definitely German paper as an exception, have been directed to secure sympathy for the allies. They have earned for them the sobriquet all-lies. They have stopped at noth­ing in the campaign of mendacity. They have given prominence to the most ridiculous inventions; they have suppressed the most potent facts. They have falsified truth with shamelessness unequalled in history, and they have even dis­credited their own War correspond­ents.' And the result has been a steady flow of the tide of public opinion towards Germany.

I must single out the New York Times as having published the most infamous leader ever written. It advocates the complete suppression of the right of free speech; any one who disagrees with the Times should be in jail. And this is neu­trality! This is the land of $he free! "My country, 'tis of thee!"

"The editor is so blinded by rage that he does not even see that he is sawing off the branch he is sitting on. A newspaper against free speech! It is treason to its own first principle. If the government suppressed the Fatherland as sug­gested, why should not some other government suppress the Times?

I was on the platform* at vthe meeting of the "Friends of Peace" at Madison Square Garden. There

. were many German societies offic­ially represented, but the feeling was not particularly pro-German. It was chiefly pro-American, including a love of.fair play. But when a speaker wanted to rouse the hundred thousand people present to an ab­solute fury, he had only to gasp "New York press," and they rose and roared. Such loathing- and contempt I have never seen ex­pressed- so fiercely. And it must be remembered that these people were the puftlic to whom that press ap­peals for pennies. The situation is intolerably rotten. I .am first of all the friend of Ireland in this war, and after that the friend of France; but the method of her sympathizers makes me vomit.;/ rl should like America to insist örif the integrity of France—but these English flunkeys are an abomination unto the Lord.

• — The Hyphenated American.;.^ Of these there are three prin­

cipal kinds; the Irish-American, the German-American and the Anglo-American. Many other races are, of

^ course, ^represented, but they have not con« to the front in the same way, or kept their nationality.' The shrewdness and courage of the Irishman have won him a unique position in politics anl laws;, the thrift, foresight and industry of the German have made him supreme in

, commerce' and manufacture. The Anglo-American is not a genuine case of surviving nationality, for the

1

hyphenated at all-, That is the old "J* style American, whether in - Boston M or Richmond; and he- hatfes .England -Hz more -than the Irish themselves (for

the Irishman - finds it hard to bear '% malice). But tlfe real American ,s

brought up on the Declaration of - \ Independence. ' Few " Englishmen have read that remarkable ;do„cument. It is a standing insult to the ability ? of Burice, for it is, the strongest i possible indictment of a whole people 1 There are twenty nine par-

;Hgraphs, differing ?but- slightly- in the j degree of their damnation. The rest . 1 of -the Declaration of Independence j is but exordinum to and corollary : A of this rehearsal of British abomina­tions. And, as with a branding iron, all this is literally burnt- into the blood of every American of old stock. • I

However, in the smart seh gen- 'ß erally, especially in New York, there is a violence of Anglophilia based ) on the stinging shame of the fact that English visitors do not consider . them gentlefolk. So the schools and colleges do all in their" power to turn out "English gentlemen" from such recalcitrant material as is fur­nished by admixture:? of various bloods, principally Portuguese. The result is very satisfactory. It is these good • oecple who are more j English than the English, and their comparative success is due to their < extravagance of snobbery. Unfortun- > atejy, as a class, they are wealthy ; and idle, and the British aristocracy —as mirrored by the gutter press— is their constant model in all things. The plain Yankee is a damned good sort, of simple Republican manners, and one can respect and like him, for all his . contempt of "effete Europe." The Southern gentleman 1 is just «. gentleman of as distinct yet: j recognizable a breed as the Indian, \ Chinese, or Montenegrin gentleman. j He is himself, and is not trying to > be anybody else. But the Anglo- j—. American is always anxious to wear the same neckties as Lord Flip, and ^ drink the same brands of champagne "j as the Earl of Flop. He wears I evening dress whenever he can, and ! supports the Broadway chicken upon the Broadway lobster. It is the most j vicious and corrupt class in the -i country, and it thinks itself the salt ^ of the earth in its moments of in­toxication. When sober, it climbs ] desperately after the estate which is j the birthright of the poorest country • < gentleman in England. It is from | this class that the noise proceeds, ? and the passport thereof is that it j is bad form to be pro-German. f

What America Thinks. ' .*"* The attitude of the real American 1

is very concise. He has a gift of i epigram, often expressed in the . most pungent slang ever invented in any country in the world. And this i is the placard which hangs. in thousands of business, offices all over America: 'f "If you want to fight, go to Europe. If you want to talk war, go to hell. This place is neutral."

There was never so clear and so emphatic a definition of a mental -. attitude. The more you think it over the more you are annoyed at : its perfect literary form. It - says everything, and not a word is wasted. .

What America Feels. Since, howe.ver, all men must have-

some sympathy, however remote, with all actualities, there is un­doubtedly a certain feeling even among the great silent masses of the , people. Taciturn and self-centered, » going on their own way with bitter earnestness, they are yet not with- . out great human qualities These are principally shrewd common sense

•and a love^of fair play. There is a certain hysterical class which reads the papers and is (at least subcon- i sciously) influenced by them; but the members of this class are not in positions of responsibility. Men who have won their way- in the world have done so by energy and courage, no doubt, but they have also, nearly j' always, possessed a grejit sensq of actuality. Poverty, or struggle, has taught them to look at facts. Such J men were never for an instant de­ceived by the lies of .the press. Every one of them knew of his own knowledge what Germans were like; <•-he did business with twenty of them 1

every day. He saw them steady, sober, thrifty, honest, reliable and ' industrious, incapable of aggression, and progressing by dint of attention ; to business, and all the homely vir- : tues of his own old stock. -The at- ** tempt to . represent them as drunken 0? fiends, lawless, savage and cowardly, was consequently ludicrous. When the' Lusitania sank, he saw the Ger- ^ man side of' the case instantly. He . '! couldn't see why the hell the flurned fools couldn't keep out of the war zone. And the hysterical shrieks of papers notorious for lying headlines, — and the most infamous traffic in in­decent advertisements, only moved him to scorn. Go to war? Not/ lie. ! He might sell-munitions to the al­lies; that was business. The Ger­mans might sink the ships; all the -better; it meant a repeat order. v H a r d a s n a i l s , y o u b e t y o u r l i f e ^

The sentiment was so universal '* that Bryan, having carefully can­vassed opinion, all over the West and South, too- a chance to resign on' a 'peace program." And the story goes ,-that Wilson then check- _ mated him by beating the sword into a ploughshare, and soaring as d: g e n t l y a s a n y s u c k i n g d o v e i n t h a t m i famous second note to Berlin. We ™ read it with amazement; why on earth had Bryan resigned? It was ,f |f ; as war-like as> an invitation to din-/ -ner! (Well, we shall read the sequel" M, of that story in 1916.) I personally ' ~U-have no doubt that Wilson knows (

the temper of the oountry as well ,»;(•-as Bryan does, and lias deliberately created delay upon delay, and en| *" couraged Berlin in a similar course^. ;S in order to allow the few noisy folic /'-} who were screaming for revenge for^, 1$ the Lusitania to cool off. - No; there- . ? is nothing to it. ~ i If you want to fight, go to Europe*, A If you want to talk war, go to h'ell|{ J, This place is neutral , , . -1%,

(The' International.) 1

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