"1683-1920 - free ebook by Frederick Franklin Schrader

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"1683-1920

Frederick Franklin Schrader

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“1683-1920”

“1683-1920”

The Fourteen Points and What Became of Them—Foreign Propaganda in the Public Schools—Rewriting the History of the United States—The Espionage Act and How it Worked—“Illegal and Indefensible Blockade” of the Central Powers—1,000,000 Victims of Starvation—Our Debt to France and to Germany—The War Vote in Congress—Truth About the Belgian Atrocities—Our Treaty with Germany and How Observed—The Alien Property Custodianship—Secret Will of Cecil Rhodes—Racial Strains in American Life—Germantown Settlem

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PREFACE

PREFACE

With the ending of the war many books will be released dealing with various questions and phases of the great struggle, some of them perhaps impartial, but the majority written to make propaganda for foreign nations with a view to rendering us dissatisfied with our country and imposing still farther upon the ignorance, indifference and credulity of the American people. The author’s aim in the following pages has been to provide a book of ready reference on a multitude of questions which have bee

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Allied Nations in the War.

Allied Nations in the War.

Allied Nations in the War. —The following countries were at war with Germany at the given dates: The following countries broke off diplomatic relations with Germany:...

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Alsace-Lorraine.

Alsace-Lorraine.

Alsace-Lorraine. —Dr. E. J. Dillon, the distinguished political writer and student of European problems, in a remarkable article printed long before the end of the war, called attention to the general misunderstanding that prevails regarding Alsace-Lorraine. He said that the two houses of the Legislature in Strasburg made a statement through their respective speakers which, “however skeptically it may be received by the allied countries, is thoroughly relied upon by Germany as a deciding factor”

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Americans Not An English People.

Americans Not An English People.

Americans Not An English People. —Careful computation made by Prof. Albert B. Faust, of Cornell University, shows that while the English, Scotch and Welsh together constituted 30.2 per cent. of the white population of the United States of the whole of 81,731,957, according to the census of 1910, the German element, including Hollanders, made up 26.4 per cent. of the total, and constituted a close second, the Irish coming next with a percentage of 18.6. According to this table, more than twenty-s

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Americans Saved from Mexican Mob at Tampico by German Cruiser “Dresden.

Americans Saved from Mexican Mob at Tampico by German Cruiser “Dresden.

Americans Saved from Mexican Mob at Tampico by German Cruiser “Dresden.” —The destruction of the little German cruiser “Dresden” by the British in the neutral waters of Chili, in March, 1915, must call up sentimental memories in the hearts of certain Americans. For it was the gallant little “Dresden” under command of Capt. von Koehler, that saved the lives of hundreds of American refugees who were surrounded by a bloodthirsty mob of Mexicans at the Southern Hotel, Tampico, Mexico, April 21, 1914

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Armstadt, Major George.

Armstadt, Major George.

Armstadt, Major George. —After the sack of Washington, the burning of the White House and the Capitol, in 1812, the British proceeded to attack Baltimore. This action brought into great prominence two Americans of German descent. General Johann Stricker, born in Frederick, Md., in 1759, was in command of the militia, and Major George Armstadt commanded Fort McHenry. He was born in New Market in 1780 of Hessian parents. “If Armstadt had not held Fort McHenry during its terrific bombardment by the

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American School Children and Foreign Propaganda.

American School Children and Foreign Propaganda.

American School Children and Foreign Propaganda. —The tendency in some directions to picture George III as “a German King,” in order to shift upon the shoulders of a historical manikin the responsibility for the American Revolutionary War, has gone so far as to attempt to blind the unthinking masses to the truth about our war of independence; but it should be remembered that if the responsibility rested wholly with this alleged “German King,” then Washington, Jefferson and Franklin deceived the

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American School Children and English Propaganda.

American School Children and English Propaganda.

American School Children and English Propaganda. —The Encyclopedia Britannica says: “The notion that England was justified in throwing on America part of the expenses caused in the late war was popular in the country .... George III, who thought that the first duty of the Americans was to obey himself, had on his side the mass of the unreflecting Englishmen who thought that the first duty of all colonists was to be useful and submissive of the mother country.... When the news of Burgoyne’s surre

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Astor, John Jacob.

Astor, John Jacob.

Astor, John Jacob. —“The inborn spirit of John Jacob Astor made America what it is,” is the judgment passed upon this famous German American by Arthur Butler Hurlbut. Popular conception of John Jacob Astor’s personality and work is based upon a collossal underestimate of his tremendous service in the cause of the commercial and economic development of the United States. More interest attaches to those things which appear adventurous in Astor’s life than to the genius which inspired all his under

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Titled Americans.

Titled Americans.

Titled Americans. —The correspondent of the New York “Evening Post,” writing from Paris after the armistice, commented on the power of propaganda through the medium of decorations bestowed on Americans by some of the foreign governments. The war has assuredly added a long list to the roll of titled Americans, Knights of the Garter and of the Bath and Chevaliers and Commanders of the Legion of Honor. Except Secretary Daniels and former Senator Lewis, practically all accepted the dignities with wh

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Atrocities.

Atrocities.

Atrocities. —It is easily conceivable that had Germany been invaded early in the war by the joint world powers, instead of the reverse, there would have been a decided sentiment in favor of Germany instead of an increasing hatred which in a short time was extended to people of German ancestry in the United States; it held them morally responsible for the alleged atrocities of the German armies in Belgium. When a paper like the New York “Sun” holds that “the Germans are not human beings in the co

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Bancroft, George—Treaty with Germany—Vancouver Boundary Line.

Bancroft, George—Treaty with Germany—Vancouver Boundary Line.

Bancroft, George—Treaty with Germany—Vancouver Boundary Line. —The very cordial relations which subsisted between the United States and Germany from the days of Frederick the Great were carefully nurtured by the great men succeeding the establishment of the republic, as shown elsewhere by the comments of President Adams on the treaties with Prussia, and were strongly cemented by the aid extended the Union by Germany during the Civil War, as acknowledged by Secretary Seward and prominent members

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Baralong.

Baralong.

Baralong. —An English pirate ship commanded by Capt. William McBride, which sailed under the American flag, with masked batteries, and sank a German submarine which had been deceived by the Stars and Stripes and the American colors painted on both sides of her hull. On August 19, 1915, the “Nicosian,” an English ship loaded with American horses and mules and with a number of American mule tenders aboard, was halted by a German submarine about 70 miles off Queenstown. The men took to the boats an

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Berliner, Emile.

Berliner, Emile.

Berliner, Emile. —One of the most important inventors in the United States, distinguished for his improvements of the telephone; born at Hanover, Germany, May 20, 1851; came to the United States in 1870. Invented the microphone and was first to use an induction coil in connection with the telephone transmitters; patentee of other valuable inventions in telephony. Invented the Gramophone, known also as the Victor Talking Machine, for which he was awarded John Scott Medal and Elliott Crosson Gold

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The Boers—England’s Record of Infamy.

The Boers—England’s Record of Infamy.

The Boers—England’s Record of Infamy. —The success in causing the surrender of the Boers by exterminating their women and children by slow starvation and disease is the incentive which prompted the British nation to violate international law by stopping the shipment of non-contraband goods, Red Cross supplies and milk for babies, to Germany and contiguous countries. The number of deaths (in the Boer concentration camps) during the month of September, 1901, was 1,964 children and 328 women. There

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“Illegal, Ineffective and Indefensible Blockades.”

“Illegal, Ineffective and Indefensible Blockades.”

“ Illegal, Ineffective and Indefensible Blockades. ”—The World War has evolved principles of warfare, upset practices and sanctioned acts that place war in a new aspect, present it as a new physical problem, like the discovery of a new planet. So many laboriously achieved understandings, agreements and principles of international law were swept overboard that the world must begin its efforts all over, if humanity is to regain the rights which it had slowly wrested from reluctant power during fou

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Brest-Litovsk Treaty.

Brest-Litovsk Treaty.

Brest-Litovsk Treaty. —It is an approved trick of political strategy to raise a hue and cry over one matter in order to divert attention from another, and by this token to accuse one’s enemies of treachery, baseness and all the sins in the calendar with a professed feeling of righteous indignation. Thus the Brest-Litovsk treaty between Germany and Russia, when the former was in a position to impose her terms as conqueror upon its beaten foe, was made to appear as an act of unexampled oppression.

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“Bombing Maternity Hospitals.”

“Bombing Maternity Hospitals.”

“ Bombing Maternity Hospitals. ”—Nominally a favorite occupation of the enemy throughout the war. The following was written by the late Richard Harding Davis in the Metropolitan Magazine for November, 1915: “So highly trained now are the aviators, so highly perfected the aeroplane that each morning in squadrons they take flight, to meet hostile aircraft, to destroy a munition factory, or, if they are Germans, a maternity hospital . At sunset, like homing pigeons, in safety they return to roost.”

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Creel and the “Sisson Documents.”

Creel and the “Sisson Documents.”

Creel and the “Sisson Documents.” —George Creel, a Denver politician, was appointed head of the Committee of Public Information pending the war, and was practically in control of the American press and the propaganda work. Exercising almost unlimited authority and directing general publicity at home and in Europe, including the presentation of war films, many of the oppressive measures against the liberal press are justly charged to his account, at the same time that numerous measures inaugurate

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Cromberger, Johann.

Cromberger, Johann.

Cromberger, Johann. —A German printer who as early as 1538 established a printing office in the City of Mexico....

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Custer, General George A.

Custer, General George A.

Custer, General George A. —Famous American cavalry leader in the Civil War, and the hero of the battle of the Little Big Horn, Dakota, in which he and his command were destroyed by the Sioux Indians, June 25, 1876. Of German descent. Frederick Whittaker in “A Complete Life of General George Custer” (Sheldon &amp; Co., New York, 1876) says: “George Armstrong Custer was born in New Rumley, Ohio, December 5, 1839. Emanuel H. Custer, father of the General, was born in Cryssoptown, Alleghany Coun

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Cavell, Edith.

Cavell, Edith.

Cavell, Edith. —An English nurse shot by the Germans as a spy at Brussels in October, 1915, an episode of the war which supplied the English propagandists in the United States with one of the principal articles in their bill of charges of German atrocities. Colonel E. R. West, chief of the legislative section of the Judge Advocate General’s Department, before the American Bar Association’s Committee on Military Justice, declared that the execution was entirely legal. S. S. Gregory, chairman of t

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Concord Society, The.

Concord Society, The.

Concord Society, The. —Born during the latter part of the war of a desire on the part of a few Americans of German origin deeply impressed by the events of the times to have an organization that would stand for the promotion of good fellowship and friendship between them and their kin as individuals, and to encourage the study of the share of their race in the founding and development of the United States. The society takes no part in politics or affairs of state or church. Its sole aim is the f

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Christiansen, Hendrick.

Christiansen, Hendrick.

Christiansen, Hendrick. —Soon after Hendrick Hudson discovered the noble river which bears his name, a German, Hendrick Christiansen of Kleve, became the true explorer of that stream, undertaking eleven expeditions to its shores. He also built the first houses on Manhattan Island in 1613 and laid the foundations of the trading stations New Amsterdam and Fort Nassau. “New Netherland was first explored by the honorable Hendrick Christiansen of Kleve.... Hudson, the famous navigator, ‘was also ther

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DeKalb.

DeKalb.

DeKalb. —Major General Johann von Kalb, who gave his life for American independence in the Revolutionary War, was a native of Bavaria. Fatally wounded in the battle of Camden, he died August 19, 1780. A monument to his memory was erected in front of the military academy at Annapolis, which states that he gave a last noble demonstration of his devotion for the sake of liberty and the American cause, after having served most honorably for three years in the American army, by leading his soldiers a

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Declaration of Independence.

Declaration of Independence.

Declaration of Independence. —The first paper to print the Declaration of Independence in the United States was a German newspaper, the “Pennsylvania Staatsboten” of July 5, 1776. It is also claimed that the first newspaper in Pennsylvania was printed in the German language. Benjamin Franklin at one time complained that of the eight newspapers then existing in Pennsylvania two were German, two were half German and half English, and only two were printed in English....

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Dorsheimer, Hon. William.

Dorsheimer, Hon. William.

Dorsheimer, Hon. William. —Lieutenant Governor of the State of New York; born at Lyons, Wayne County, 1832. His father was Philip Dorsheimer, a native of Germany, who emigrated from Germany and settled at Buffalo; he was one of the founders of the Republican party and in 1860 was elected Treasurer of the State....

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Dutch and German.

Dutch and German.

Dutch and German. —In the history of early American colonization the terms Dutch and German are often confounded, as the English had little first-hand acquaintance with the people of the continent save Dutch, French and Spanish. Hence many have inferred that the Pennsylvania Germans were somehow misnamed for Pennsylvania Dutch, because the latter designation is the more frequently employed in describing the most important element of the population concerned in the settlement of Penn’s Commonweal

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Dual Citizenship.

Dual Citizenship.

Dual Citizenship. —It was frequently alleged before and during our entrance into the war that a native German might under the laws of Germany become a citizen of another country without thereby being released from his obligations to his native country, and the attempt was made to make it appear that naturalized Germans could still be regarded as citizens of Germany, or as possessing dual citizenship. It is true that the German law (Reichs-und-Staatsangehorigkeits-Gesetz) of July, 1913, says: “Ci

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Earling, Albert J.

Earling, Albert J.

Earling, Albert J. —President of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company and one of the recognized authorities on modern railway economics. Son of German immigrants....

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Eckert, Thomas.

Eckert, Thomas.

Eckert, Thomas. —General superintendent during the Civil War of military telegraphy, and assistant secretary of war (1864). Given the rank of Brigadier General Appointed general superintendent of the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1866, and in 1881 became its president and general manager, and also director of the American Telegraph and Cable Company also of the Union Pacific Railroad....

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Eliot, Prof. Charles W.

Eliot, Prof. Charles W.

Eliot, Prof. Charles W. —One of the most eminent as well as bitter enemies of the German cause. Prof. Eliot has attacked German civilization and German institutions in magazines and newspaper articles and in a book. Yet in 1913, one year before the war, at a public dinner, Prof. Eliot paid German “Kultur” this high tribute: “Two great doctrines which had sprung from the German Protestant Reformation had been developed by Germans from seeds then planted in Germany. The first was the doctrine of u

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England Plundered American Commerce in Our Civil War.

England Plundered American Commerce in Our Civil War.

England Plundered American Commerce in Our Civil War. —From Benson J. Lossing’s “History of the Civil War:” “The Confederates ... with the aid of the British aristocracy, shipbuilders and merchants, and the tacit consent of the British government, were enabled to keep afloat on the ocean some active vessels for plundering American commerce. The most formidable of the Anglo-Confederate plunderers of the sea was the ‘Alabama,’ which was built, armed, manned and victualled in England . She sailed u

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English Tribute to Germany’s Lofty Spirit.

English Tribute to Germany’s Lofty Spirit.

English Tribute to Germany’s Lofty Spirit. —The following tribute to the lofty spirit of the German Empire is from the pen of Prof. J. A. Cramb, “Germany and England,” (Lecture II, p. 51, 1913): And here let me say with regard to Germany, that, of all England’s enemies, she is by far the greatest; and by “greatness” I mean not merely magnitude, not her millions of soldiers, her millions of inhabitants; I mean grandeur of soul. She is the greatest and most heroic enemy—if she is our enemy—that En

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Election of 1916 and the League of Nations Covenant.

Election of 1916 and the League of Nations Covenant.

Election of 1916 and the League of Nations Covenant. —Save for artificially engendered belligerency, owing its inspiration to a subtle propaganda conducted through a portion of the press known to be under the direct influence of Lord Northcliffe, there was no demand for war with Germany among the people in general over the various issues that had arisen. The McLemore resolution in the House was defeated through the direct intervention of the administration under whip and spur. It requested the P

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English Opinion of Prussians in 1813-15.

English Opinion of Prussians in 1813-15.

English Opinion of Prussians in 1813-15. —The British, as is well known, revise their opinions of other nations according to their own selfish interests. The ambition of England to crush Prussia is in strong contrast to England’s gratitude to Prussian military genius for saving Wellington from annihilation by Napoleon at Waterloo. The sinister years of 1806-13 speak an eloquent language. The Corsican conqueror thought he had crushed Prussia for all times. He had stripped Prussia of half her terr

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Espionage Act, Vote on.

Espionage Act, Vote on.

Espionage Act, Vote on. —By a vote of 48 to 26, the Senate, on May 4, 1918, adopted the conference report on the Espionage Act. It accepted all recommendations of the conference, even to the extent of rejecting the France amendment, designed to protect from prosecution newspapers and other publications whose criticism of the Government was shown to be not based on malice. The actual count showed the result as follows: AYE: Democrats—Ashurst, Bankhead, Beckham, Chamberlain, Culberson, Fletcher, G

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Exports and Imports to and from the Belligerent Countries, 1914.

Exports and Imports to and from the Belligerent Countries, 1914.

Exports and Imports to and from the Belligerent Countries, 1914. —The following figures are taken from the “Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1915.” The table shows that the normal trade with Germany was the largest next to that with the United Kingdom, and that Germany took more of our products than Canada. It shows that Germany was not only one of our best customers but that the balance of trade was largely in our favor, the excess of American exports to Germany over imports in 1914 a

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Under the Espionage Act—A Chapter of Persecution.

Under the Espionage Act—A Chapter of Persecution.

Under the Espionage Act—A Chapter of Persecution. —The sudden decision of our government to enter the European war, on April 6, 1917, found the German element wholly unprepared for the outburst of bitter hate which in the course of a few weeks threatened to overwhelm every standard of sense and justice. Though a minority element, it approximated closely the dominant Anglo-American element; it far outnumbered every other racial element, and it was not conscious of anything that justified its bein

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England Threatens the United States.

England Threatens the United States.

England Threatens the United States. —On September 7, 1916, some remarkable statements were made in the Senate by Senator Chamberlain, of Oregon, and later replied to by Senator Williams. The moment for war had not arrived, the Presidential election was still two months off. Senators were speaking their minds concerning the arbitrary acts of England against the United States, and Senator Chamberlain, representing the great salmon and other fishing interests of the Northwest, told how they were b

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France’s Friendship for the United States.

France’s Friendship for the United States.

France’s Friendship for the United States. —The “French and Indian wars” with which the American settlers had to contend in the early history of the colonies long antedated the Revolution, and massacres were instigated by French policy of conquest and retaliation. In the Revolution a number of patriotic Frenchmen, nursing a long grievance against France’s ancient enemy, England, saw opportunity to enfeeble their country’s hated rival. Encouraged by Frederick the Great, who had a score to settle

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Benjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin. —In his pointed comments on the disfavor with which practical politicians regard the independent voter in politics, Prof. A. B. Faust, of Cornell University, in his valuable work, “The German Element in the United States,” says of conditions in Pennsylvania preceding the Revolution: “The Germans, with few exceptions, could not be relied upon either by demagogues or by astute party men to vote consistently with their party organization. The politician catering to the German vot

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Frederick the Great and the American Colonies.

Frederick the Great and the American Colonies.

Frederick the Great and the American Colonies. —Because Frederick the Great was a Hohenzollern and a Prussian, it became the fashion early in the course of the war to frown upon all mention of his connection with the revolutionary struggle of our American forefathers, and his statue before the military college, which was unveiled with so much ceremony during President Roosevelt’s term, was discreetly taken from its pediment and consigned to the obscurity of a cellar as soon as we entered the war

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The “Fourteen Points.”

The “Fourteen Points.”

The “Fourteen Points.” —On January 8, 1917, less than sixty days before we found ourselves in a state of war with Germany, President Wilson presented to Congress the following fourteen specific considerations as necessary to world peace: 1. Open covenants of peace without private international understandings. 2. Absolute freedom of the seas in peace or war, except as they may be closed by international action. 3. Removal of all economic barriers and establishment of equality of trade conditions

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Fritchie, Barbara.

Fritchie, Barbara.

Fritchie, Barbara. —Immortalized by Whittier in a patriotic poem bearing her name, in which her defense of the Union flag during the Civil War is celebrated, came of an old German family which settled in Pennsylvania in colonial times, and her own life spanned the two great crises in the history of her country, the founding of the republic and the struggle for the preservation of the Union. She was born in Lancaster, Pa., December 3, 1766. Her maiden name was Hauser....

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First Germans in Virginia.

First Germans in Virginia.

First Germans in Virginia. —Jamestown, Va., the cradle of Anglo-Saxon America, is the place where the Germans are met with for the first time. The earliest incidents on record are cases of imported contract laborers. Those sent to Virginia in 1608 were skilled workmen, glass-blowers. Capt. John Smith (“John Smith, the Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, the Summer Isles,” London, 1624, p. 94), characterizing his men, gives the following account of them: “labourers ... that neuer did know

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First German Newspapers.

First German Newspapers.

First German Newspapers. —The oldest German newspaper in the U. S., the weekly “Republikaner,” at Allentown, Pa., ceased publication December 21, 1915, after an existence of 150 years. Another old paper in the German language, the “Reading Adler” ceased in 1913, after continuous publication since November 29, 1796....

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German Americans in Art, Science and Literature.

German Americans in Art, Science and Literature.

German Americans in Art, Science and Literature. —An analysis of a comparatively recent edition of “Who’s Who in America” shows a list of 385 German-born persons in the United States who have achieved fame in art, science and literature, against a total of 424 English-born persons so distinguished, a remarkable bit of evidence, considering that the former were initially handicapped by the necessity of having to learn a new language in their struggle for recognition. Nor does this list include a

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German-American Captains of Industry.

German-American Captains of Industry.

German-American Captains of Industry. —Kreischer, Balthasar, of Kreischerville, Staten Island, N. Y., born March 13, 1813, at Hornbach, Bavaria. In December, 1835, occurred the great fire which destroyed more than 600 buildings in the business part of New York City. Young Kreischer, who had learned brick manufacture, was struck with the opportunity that the disaster afforded to one of his trade. He arrived in New York June 4, 1836, and helped to rebuild the burned district. Discovered in New Jer

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The German American Vote.

The German American Vote.

The German American Vote. —The following table shows the vote of the Germans, Austrians and Hungarians (according to the census of 1910) in ten states where their vote is above 40,000, the figures being compounded of those naturalized and those having applied for their first papers: These figures are but remotely representative of what is called “the German vote” or the vote of the Austro-Hungarians, as no account is here taken of the first generation born in the United States, the sons of these

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The German Element in American Life.

The German Element in American Life.

The German Element in American Life. —The following commentary of Carl Schurz on the influence of the Germans in America is worthy of note: “Friedrich Kapp, in his ‘History of the Germans in the State of New York,’ says: ‘In the battle waged to subdue the new world, the Latins supplied officers without an army, the English an army with officers, and the Germans an army without officers.’ This is signally true as regards the Germans. They emigrated to America and settled here as squatters without

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Germany and England During the Civil War.

Germany and England During the Civil War.

Germany and England During the Civil War. —The attitude of England during the Civil War contrasted strangely with that of the German States, and this attitude is rather clearly shown by the “Investment Weekly,” of New York, for June 21, 1917, though not intended as a reproach to England. In the course of an article, headed “Bond Market of the Civil War,” the “Investment Weekly” says: Another difference is that the United States until recently had been the greatest neutral nation in the world, wh

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Germans in Civil War.

Germans in Civil War.

Germans in Civil War. —Four authors have dealt exhaustively with the subject of the German-born soldiers in the Union army. They are Wilhelm Kaufmann in his valuable work, “The Germans in the American Civil War” (R. Oldenbourg, Berlin and Munich, 1911), J. G. Rosengarten, “The German Soldier in the Wars of the United States” (J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1890), Frederic Phister, “Statistical Record of the Armies of the United States” (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1883) and B. A. Gould, “I

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Germans in the Confederate Army.

Germans in the Confederate Army.

Germans in the Confederate Army. —Among the German-born officers in the Confederate army the most distinguished was General Jeb Stuart’s chief of staff, Heros von Borcke, a brilliant cavalry leader. Prussian officer. Came to America 1862 to offer his services to the Confederacy and was immediately assigned to duty with the great Confederate cavalry chief, Gen. Stuart, and became his right hand. Was seriously wounded at Middleburg and for months his life hung by a thread; was rendered unfit for s

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Germantown Settlement.

Germantown Settlement.

Germantown Settlement. —On March 4, 1681, a royal charter was issued to William Penn for the province of Pennsylvania, and on March 10, 1682, Penn conveyed to Jacob Telner, of Crefeld, Germany, doing business as a merchant in Amsterdam; Jan Streypers, a merchant of Kaldkirchen, a village in the vicinity of Holland, and Dirck Sipmann, of Crefeld, each 5,000 acres of land, to be laid out in Pennsylvania. On June 11, 1683, Penn conveyed to Gavert Remke, Lenard Arets and Jacob Isaac Van Bebber, a ba

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Why Germany Strengthened Her Army, Told by Asquith.

Why Germany Strengthened Her Army, Told by Asquith.

Why Germany Strengthened Her Army, Told by Asquith. —(From a London dispatch by Marconi wireless to the New York “Times” under date of January 1, 1914): “The ‘Daily Chronicle’ this morning publishes the conversation with the Chancellor’s consent.... Another reason which the Chancellor (Asquith) gave was that the continental nations were directing their energies more and more to strengthening their land forces. ‘The German army,’ he said, ‘was vital to the very life and independence of the nation

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Hagner, Peter.

Hagner, Peter.

Hagner, Peter. —First to hold the position of Third Auditor of the U. S. Treasury upon the creation of that office in 1817 under President Monroe. Served the government 57 years and died at Washington, July 16, 1849, aged seventy-seven. Born in Philadelphia, October 1, 1772....

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Hartford Convention, The.

Hartford Convention, The.

Hartford Convention, The. —In no section of the country was there louder acclaim of President Wilson’s public insinuations of disloyalty against German Americans than in New England. The Boston papers particularly distinguished themselves in applauding this unwarranted sentiment. And it came with particularly bad grace from this section, which long antedated the South in measures designed to embarrass and disrupt the Union. During the War of 1812 the New England banks sought to cripple the feder

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Hempel.

Hempel.

Hempel. —German American inventor of the much patented iron “quoin,” used to lock type in the form, and in common use by printers....

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New York Herald Urges Hanging of German Americans.

New York Herald Urges Hanging of German Americans.

New York Herald Urges Hanging of German Americans. —The New York “Herald,” owned and directed by James Gordon Bennett, since deceased; who for thirty-five years was a resident of Paris, in its issue of July 12, 1915, advocated the lynching of German Americans by referring to them as “Hessians” and adding: “A rope attached to the nearest lamp post would soon bring to an end their career of crime.”...

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Hereshoffs and Cramps.

Hereshoffs and Cramps.

Hereshoffs and Cramps. —Who in the great yachting world of America has not heard of the Hereshoffs, the famous builders of racing yachts whose achievements won international fame for the United States? The original Hereshoff, Karl Friedrich, was born in Minden, Germany, and came to this country an accomplished engineer in 1800, establishing himself at Providence, R. I., where he married the daughter of John Brown, a shipbuilder. Their son and their grandsons took up naval architecture, and their

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Herkimer, General Nicholas.

Herkimer, General Nicholas.

Herkimer, General Nicholas. —Won the battle of Oriskany, which many regard as the decisive battle of the Revolution. Was the eldest son of Johann Jost Herkimer (or Herchheimer), a native of the German Palatinate, and one of the original patentees of what is now part of Herkimer County, N. Y. Was commissioned a lieutenant in the Schenectady militia, January 5, 1758, and commanded Fort Herkimer that year when the French and Indians attacked the German Flats. Appointed colonel of the first battalio

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The Hessians.

The Hessians.

The Hessians. —The bitter partisan feeling during the war has led to a widespread misrepresentation of the share which the Germans took in the Revolutionary War. The employment by England of some thousands of mercenaries recruited in Anspach and Hessia against the American colonies has been extended to include all Germany, regardless of the fact that there was no more ardent supporter of the cause of the colonists in Europe than the King of Prussia. The Hessians were sold to Great Britain at so

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Hillegas, Michael.

Hillegas, Michael.

Hillegas, Michael. —First Treasurer of the United States, appointed July 29, 1776; son of German parents; born in Philadelphia, where his father was a well-to-do merchant. Served till Sept. 2, 1789. Hillegas with several other patriotic citizens came to the aid of the government in the Spring of 1780 with his private means to relieve the distress of Washington’s soldiers, and in 1781 became one of the founders of the Bank of North America, which afforded liberal support to the government during

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House, Col. E. M.

House, Col. E. M.

House, Col. E. M. —It is claimed that the part played by Col. E. M. House in the diplomatic history of the war has been correctly gauged by but few persons, and these attribute to him the exercise of a greater influence in shaping the program of the Wilson administration than any one else, not excepting the President. Some have sought to trace an intimate connection between the policies that invested the Chief Executive with more power than any president before him with an anonymous novel, “Phil

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The Humanity of War.

The Humanity of War.

The Humanity of War. —About the time of the sinking of the Lusitania, our official notes on this and other subjects in the negotiations with Germany teemed with appeals to humanity. No such view was accepted by England. In the British note of March 13, 1915, Sir Edward Grey, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, told the President: “There can be no universal rule based on considerations of morality and humanity.”...

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Illiteracy.

Illiteracy.

Illiteracy. —As a related element of interest in the study of the war from a cultural as well as a military angle the illiteracy of some of the contesting and neutral nations bears strongly on the question: United States, 7.7% population over 10 years. Of this, the native white population of native parents furnished 3.7% of the illiterates; the native white of foreign or mixed parentage, 1.1%. The negroes are down with 30.4% illiteracy, less than that of Italy or Greece and several other Europea

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Immigration.

Immigration.

Immigration. —How much does the United States owe to immigration, as regards the growth of population? Frederick Knapp, worked out a table covering the period from 1790 to 1860, the beginning of the Civil War, intended to show what the normal white population at the close of each decade would have been as a result of only the surplus of births over deaths of 1.38 percent each year, compared with the result as established by the official census figures. The natural increase of the white populatio

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Indians, Tories and the German Settlements.

Indians, Tories and the German Settlements.

Indians, Tories and the German Settlements. —The descendants and successors of those who form the very foundation of the government of the United States, bled and died for its existence, cannot suffer themselves to be segregated into a class of tolerated citizens whose voices may be silenced at will. The history of the German element is too closely interwoven with the records of the past and as an element it is too much a part of the bone and muscle of the American nation to remain silent when t

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Inventions.

Inventions.

Inventions. —Among the many evidences of German moral and intellectual obliquity cited to justify our indignation was their lack of inventive genius, Prof. Brander Matthews in particular alleging that the Germans had contributed nothing to making possible the automobile, the aeroplane, the telephone, the submarine, the art of photography, etc. The aeroplane, the automobile and the submarine were each made possible by the invention of the gas engine, and the gas engine was invented by Gottlieb Da

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English View of Paul Jones.

English View of Paul Jones.

English View of Paul Jones. —In the process of rewriting the history of the United States, as now in progress, in what light will American school children be taught to regard their great naval hero, John Paul Jones, whose remains in a Paris cemetery were exhumed about twenty years ago by order of our government and brought back to America with all the solemn pomp paid to the greatest of men? England’s estimate of him is evidenced by clippings of the contemporary English press, which Don C. Seitz

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Jefferson on English Hyphenates and English Perfidy.

Jefferson on English Hyphenates and English Perfidy.

Jefferson on English Hyphenates and English Perfidy. —Thomas Jefferson to Horatio Gates, Pennsylvania: “Those who have no wish but for the peace of their country and its independence of all foreign influence have a hard struggle indeed, overwhelmed by a cry as loud and imposing as if it were true, of being under French influence, and this raised by a faction composed of English subjects residing among us , or such as are English in all their relations and sentiments . However, patience will brin

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Jefferson’s Tribute to German Immigration.

Jefferson’s Tribute to German Immigration.

Jefferson’s Tribute to German Immigration. —From Thomas Jefferson’s letter to Gov. Claiborne: “Of all foreigners I should prefer Germans.”...

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Kultur” in Brief Statistical Form.

Kultur” in Brief Statistical Form.

“Kultur” in Brief Statistical Form. —A brief statistical abstract of comparative data which vitally illustrates German “kultur” before the war, has been compiled by D. Trietsch and published by Lehmann of Munich under the title of “Germany: A Statistical Stimulant.”...

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Knobel, Caspar.

Knobel, Caspar.

Knobel, Caspar. —It was Caspar Knobel, a German-American, eighteen years of age, who, in command of a detachment of fourteen men of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry, arrested President Jefferson Davis of the Southern Confederacy, near Abbeville, Ga., and it was a German-American, Maj. August Thieman, who was in command of Fortress Monroe while Mr. Davis was confined there. Knobel, after two days’ march without food, discovered the camp of the Confederate leader, and, throwing back the flap of his ten

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Know Nothing or American Party.

Know Nothing or American Party.

Know Nothing or American Party. —A political party which came into prominence in 1853. Its fundamental principle was that the government of the country should be in the hands of native citizens. At first it was organized as a secret oath bound fraternity; and from their professions of ignorance in regard to it, its members received the name of Know Nothings. In 1856 it nominated a presidential ticket, but disappeared about 1859, its Northern adherents becoming Republicans, while most of its Sout

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Koerner, Gustav.

Koerner, Gustav.

Koerner, Gustav. —One of the most conspicuous fighters in the Civil War period, “whose important life is well documented,” Prof. A. B. Faust, of Cornell University, says, “in his two-volume memoirs. They furnish abundant evidence of the fact, well established by recent historical monographs, that the balance of power securing the election of Lincoln, with all its far-reaching consequences, lay with the German vote of the Middle West. Koerner’s modesty and unselfishness were extraordinary. He rep

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Kudlich, Dr. Hans, the Peasant Emancipator.

Kudlich, Dr. Hans, the Peasant Emancipator.

Kudlich, Dr. Hans, the Peasant Emancipator. —The name of Dr. Hans Kudlich has been coupled with that of Abraham Lincoln as “the great emancipator.” Through measures carried by him through the Austrian Parliament, attended with revolutionary outbreaks, violence and bloodshed—he himself being wounded in the struggle—14,000,000 Austrian peasants were finally relieved from serfdom. Dr. Kudlich fled to the United States in 1854 and died at Hoboken, N. J., November 11, 1917, aged 94. He was born in Lo

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Langlotz, Prof. C. A.

Langlotz, Prof. C. A.

Langlotz, Prof. C. A. —Composer of famous Princeton College song, “Old Nassau,” one of the songs of which it is said that they will never die, and sung by fifty-four Princeton classes. Was born in Germany, the son of a court musician at Saxe-Meiningen. Prof. Langlotz came to the United States in 1856, already a distinguished musician, opened a studio in Philadelphia, and later became instructor of German at Princeton. He composed “Old Nassau” in 1859. Died at Trenton, N. J., November 25, 1915...

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Lehman, Philip Theodore.

Lehman, Philip Theodore.

Lehman, Philip Theodore. —Born in the electorate of Saxony, emigrated to this country and became one of the secretaries of William Penn; and in that capacity wrote the celebrated letter to the Indians of Canada, dated June 23, 1692, the original of which is framed and hung up in the Capitol at Harrisburg....

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Lehmann, Frederick William.

Lehmann, Frederick William.

Lehmann, Frederick William. —Solicitor General of the United States, December, 1910-12, and prominent lawyer, resident of St. Louis. Born in Prussia, February 28, 1853. Government delegate and chairman committee on plan and scope Universal Congress of Lawyers and Jurists, St. Louis, 1904; chairman commissions on congresses and anthropology, Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company; president St. Louis Public Library, 1900-10; chairman Board of Freeholders City of St. Louis; president American Bar A

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Leisler, Jacob.

Leisler, Jacob.

Leisler, Jacob. —The first American rebel against the British misrule in America to die for his principles. When the people of the Colonies heard of the revolution in England, they at once made movements to regain law and freedom. In New York, on May 31, 1689, Jacob Leisler a (German) Commissioner of the Court of Admiralty, took the fort on Manhattan Island, declared for the Prince of Orange, and planted six cannon within the fort, from which the place was ever afterwards called “The Battery.” A

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Lieber, Francis.

Lieber, Francis.

Lieber, Francis. —One of the most distinguished German Americans of the Civil War period, was born in Berlin in 1793, and as a schoolboy enlisted under Blücher and participated in the battle of Ligny, which immediately preceded the battle of Waterloo, and was wounded, returning home to resume his work as a schoolboy. Studied at Jena, Halle and Dresden, and taking part in public movements which were characterized as dangerous, was twice arrested, and at twenty-one took part in the Greek struggle.

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Light Horse Harry Lee.

Light Horse Harry Lee.

Light Horse Harry Lee. —Delivered the famous eulogy on Washington, in which occur the words, “First in peace, first in war, and first in the hearts of his countrymen,” Dec. 27, 1799, in the German Lutheran Church in Philadelphia. (Representative Acheson of Pennsylvania.)...

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Lincoln of German Descent.

Lincoln of German Descent.

Lincoln of German Descent. —For some years a very interesting discussion has been going on among historians as to the ancestry of President Lincoln. Some claim that he was of English descent and others that his forebears were German. Each disputant gives facts to uphold his theory and is unconvinced by the other, so that the discussion is not yet closed. When Lincoln became a candidate for President, one Jesse W. Fell prepared his campaign biography. When he asked Lincoln for details as to his a

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Leutze, Eugene Henry Cozzens.

Leutze, Eugene Henry Cozzens.

Leutze, Eugene Henry Cozzens. —Rear Admiral, U. S. N., born in Dusseldorf, Germany, 1847. Appointed to U. S. Naval Academy by President Lincoln, 1863; graduated 1867. While on leave of absence from academy volunteered on board “Monticello” on N. Atlantic Squadron in 1864. Served on numerous surveys, at Naval Academy, 1886-90; Washington Navy Yard, 1892-96; commander “Michigan,” “Alert,” “Monterey,” and participated in taking city of Manila; commandant Navy Yard, Cavite, P. I., 1898-1900; sup’t n

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Long, Francis L.

Long, Francis L.

Long, Francis L. —Was a sergeant in Custer’s command. On the day before the massacre, Long volunteered to carry a message from Gen. Custer through the Indian lines to Major Reno, calling for help. Long got through and Reno moved, but camped at night, and thus failed to save the heroic command. Long was the first trooper to arrive on the scene of the massacre. He was also one of the six survivors of the ill-fated Greely arctic expedition. The New York “Sun” said of him the day after his death, Ju

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Ludwig, Christian.

Ludwig, Christian.

Ludwig, Christian. —Purveyor of the Revolutionary Army. Born in Giessen, Germany, 1720; fought in the Austrian army against the Turks, and under Frederick the Great against Austria. Sailed the oceans for seven years and settled in Philadelphia in 1754. Served on numerous committees during the Revolution, and was popularly called the “governor of Latitia Court,” where he owned a bakery. When a resolution was passed by the Convention of 1776 to raise money for arms, and grave doubt was expressed i

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Liberty Loan Subscriptions.

Liberty Loan Subscriptions.

Liberty Loan Subscriptions. —The German element passed heroically the test of their loyalty in the amounts subscribed to the Third Liberty Loan for the prosecution of the war, and, as usual, they far exceeded the record of other racial elements. The Central Loan Committee gave out a summary on May 3, 1918, which showed the following subscriptions: The subscriptions of the English and French are not given. A letter addressed to the Central Committee for a more complete report, embodying the subsc

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Ideals of Liberty.

Ideals of Liberty.

Ideals of Liberty. —When discussing the question of liberty and the ideals of political freedom, it is safer to consult the recognized authorities on ancient and modern history, famous students of constitutional affairs, than to accept the dictum of political opportunists whose judgments and pronouncements vary with the shift of the wind. The World War over night transformed the stupid, slow-going, dull-witted German, the “Hans Breitmann” of Leland, and the familiar “Fritz and his little dog Sch

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Marix, Adolph.

Marix, Adolph.

Marix, Adolph. —Rear Admiral U. S. N. Born at Dresden, Germany, 1848. Graduated Naval Academy 1868. Served on various European and Asiatic stations; Judge Advocate of “Maine” court of inquiry; Captain of port of Manila, 1901-03; commanded “Scorpion” during Spanish-American war and was promoted for conspicuous bravery; chairman Lighthouse Board, retired May 10, 1910. Died in 1919....

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Massachusetts Bay Colony Contained Germans.

Massachusetts Bay Colony Contained Germans.

Massachusetts Bay Colony Contained Germans. —The first Germans in New England arrived, as far as we know, with the founding of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. The proof of this fact, as well as the influence of this first small group, is found in one of the most important pamphlets published in connection with New England colonization, “The Planter’s Plea” (1630). This tract, published in London shortly after the departure of Winthrop’s Puritan fleet, and supposed to have been written by John

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Massow, Baron Von.

Massow, Baron Von.

Massow, Baron Von. —Member of Mosby’s Men on the Confederate side during Civil War. According to a statement of Gen. John S. Mosby, Baron von Massow joined his command on coming to this country from Prussia, where he was attached to the general staff; was severely wounded in an engagement with a California regiment in Fairfax County near Washington, D. C., on which occasion he displayed conspicuous gallantry. He was then discharged and returned to Germany, serving later in the Austro-Prussian an

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McNeill, Walter S.

McNeill, Walter S.

McNeill, Walter S. —Prominent lawyer and law lecturer at Richmond, Va., discussing the “Burgerliches Gesetzbuch,” which is the codified common law of Germany, says: “As a crystallization of human, not divine, justice, let our lawyers compare the German Code with the Federal statutes and decisions, or the legislative or judicial law of any of our States. Then we can get at something definite, not imaginary, concerning civil liberty in Germany.... The less said by way of comparing German with Amer

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Memminger, Christoph Gustav.

Memminger, Christoph Gustav.

Memminger, Christoph Gustav. —Secretary of the Treasury in the Confederate Cabinet, appointed 1861. Born in Mergentheim, Wurtemberg....

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Mergenthaler, Ottmar.

Mergenthaler, Ottmar.

Mergenthaler, Ottmar. —Inventor of the Mergenthaler Linotype machine, used in almost every printing office throughout the world. Born in Wurtemberg, Germany, and arrived in Baltimore in 1872, working at his trade of clock and watch manufacturer. The Linotype was the result of years of study and experimentation and represents as great an advance over hand composition as the sewing machine does over the sewing needle....

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Military Establishments of Warring Nations.

Military Establishments of Warring Nations.

Military Establishments of Warring Nations. —Germany, occupying the third place in population of eight leading powers, stood in the second place in regard to enlistment in her army and navy, behind Russia and England, respectively. Her expenditures for maintaining the armed force, however, were surpassed by those of England, Russia and France, and in the case of the navy, by those of the United States as well. The per capita cost of her armaments was $4.54, while that of France was $7.91 and tha

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Minuit, or Minnewit, Peter.

Minuit, or Minnewit, Peter.

Minuit, or Minnewit, Peter. —Director General of the New Netherlands, purchased the island of Manhattan, the present site of New York City, from the Indians for 60 guldens. Born in Wesel on the lower Rhine. According to a report of Pastor Michaelis, who opened the first divine service in the Dutch language in New Amsterdam in 1623, Peter Minuit acted as deacon of the Reformed Church in Wesel and accepted a similar assignment in the newly founded church of Manhattan. Later entered the service of

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Morgan, J. Pierpont.

Morgan, J. Pierpont.

Morgan, J. Pierpont. —American banker and financier, appointed by the British Government to look after British interests in America and known as “Great Britain’s ammunition agent.” In a speech in Parliament, Lloyd George stated that D. A. Thomas would “co-operate with Messrs. Morgan &amp; Co., the accredited agents of the British Government.” Morgan floated the famous Russian ruble and $500,000,000 English-French loans and was the chief promoter of the arms and ammunition industry to supply

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Missouri, How Kept in the Union.

Missouri, How Kept in the Union.

Missouri, How Kept in the Union. —Everyone, even only slightly acquainted with the history of the Civil War, knows that the question of first and greatest importance which arose and demanded solution was that of the position in the struggle of the border slave states, namely, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, writes Prof. John W. Burgess. Mr. Lincoln’s administration gave its attention most seriously and anxiously to the work of holding these slave states back from passing secession ordinances, a

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Muhlenberg, Frederick August.

Muhlenberg, Frederick August.

Muhlenberg, Frederick August. —German-American patriot, brother of General Peter Muhlenberg. Elected to the Continental Congress by the Assembly of Pennsylvania 1779 and 1780; Speaker of the Assembly 1781 and 1782; Chairman Pennsylvania Convention to ratify the Constitution of the United States 1787. Member of Congress for four terms, and the first Speaker of the American House of Representatives; also Speaker in the third Congress....

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Muhlenberg, Heinrich Melchior.

Muhlenberg, Heinrich Melchior.

Muhlenberg, Heinrich Melchior. —Founder of the Lutheran Church in America. Born Sept. 6, 1711, at Eimbeck, Hanover. Sailed 1742, and after paying a visit to the Salzburg Protestants near Savannah, Georgia, settled in Pennsylvania. Erected what is known as the oldest Lutheran Church of brick in America at Trappe, where it is still preserved. He built the Zions Church, dedicated 1769, in which by order of Congress the memorial services to George Washington were held, attended by the Senate, House

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Muhlenberg, Johann Gabriel Peter.

Muhlenberg, Johann Gabriel Peter.

Muhlenberg, Johann Gabriel Peter. —American general in the Revolutionary war. Born in Montgomery Co., Pa., October 1, 1746, son of Heinrich M. Muhlenberg. With his two younger brothers, Frederick August and Heinrich Ernst, he went in 1763 to Halle, Germany, to study for the ministry, returning to Philadelphia in 1766. At the outbreak of the Revolution he was pastor of the German Lutheran Community of Woodstock, Virginia. Participated actively in the measures preceding armed resistance to the unj

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Nagel, Charles.

Nagel, Charles.

Nagel, Charles. —Secretary of Commerce and Labor under President Taft, 1909-13. Born in Colorado County, Texas, August 9, 1849, son of Hermann and Friedericke (Litzmann) N. Prominent lawyer, resident in St. Louis. Studied Roman law, political economy, etc., University of Berlin, 1873; (LL.D. Brown U., 1913, also Villanova U., Pa. and Wash. U., St. Louis). Admitted to bar 1873; lecturer St. Louis Law School, 1885-09. Member Missouri House of Representatives, 1881-3; president St. Louis City Counc

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Nast, Thomas.

Nast, Thomas.

Nast, Thomas. —America’s foremost political cartoonist, originator of the Elephant, the Donkey and the Tiger as symbols for the Republican, Democratic and Tammany organizations, whom Lincoln, Grant, Mark Twain delighted to honor as their guest, the critic whose broadsides shattered the careers of hosts of political crooks and swindlers, the patriot whose faithful service won support for the cause of the country. One of the greatest fighters for truth and decency known in American history. He it

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National Security League.

National Security League.

National Security League. —An organization of active patriots who, with the American Defense Society and the American Protective League, spread rapidly to all parts of the country during the war to report acts of disloyalty and soon became synonymous with repression and terror. It ultimately took on a political character and with its backing of men interested in war contracts and general profiteering, started in to defeat the re-election to Congress of members who had not voted “right.” At the i

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Neutrality—“The Best Practices of Nations.”

Neutrality—“The Best Practices of Nations.”

Neutrality—“The Best Practices of Nations.” —President Wilson’s message to Congress in August, 1913: “For the rest I deem it my duty to exercise the authority conferred upon me by the law of March 14, 1912, to see to it that neither side of the struggle now going on in Mexico receive any assistance from this side of the border. I shall follow the best practise of nations in the matter of neutrality by forbidding the exportation of arms and munitions of war of any kind from the United States —a p

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New Ulm Massacre.

New Ulm Massacre.

New Ulm Massacre. —New Ulm, a settlement of Germans in Minnesota, was August 18, 1862, attacked by Sioux Indians, who in resentment of their ill treatment by Government agents and for the non-arrival of their annuities from Washington, took advantage of the fact that many of the male white population had departed for the war and left the homes unprotected. The Indians adopted the ruse of entering the houses of settlers under pretext of begging or trading for bread. Not suspecting any treachery,

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Lord Northcliffe Controls American Papers.

Lord Northcliffe Controls American Papers.

Lord Northcliffe Controls American Papers. —Lord Northcliffe not only owns the London “Times,” “Mail” and “Evening News,” but the Paris “Mail.” He also owns an important share of stock in the Paris “Matin” and the St. Petersburg “Novoje Vremja.” His influence in American journalism has long been known, and J. P. O’Mahoney, editor of “The Indiana Catholic and Record,” in a statement in the Indianapolis “Star,” directly charged Lord Northcliffe with owning and controlling eighteen very successful

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Osterhaus, Peter Joseph.

Osterhaus, Peter Joseph.

Osterhaus, Peter Joseph. —Regarded by some critics the foremost German commander in the Union army, called by the Confederates “the American Bayard.” He attained the rank of major general and corps commander. Born in Coblenz in 1823. Served as a one-year volunteer in the Prussian army at Coblenz and rose to the rank of an officer of reserves. He participated in the German revolution and fled to America, settling at Belleville, Ill., and St. Louis. In 1861, at the outbreak of the war, he enlisted

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Palatine Declaration of Independence.

Palatine Declaration of Independence.

Palatine Declaration of Independence. —The history of the Tryon County Committee, identified as it is with the events in New York State immediately preceding the Revolution and throughout the latter, and commemorating as it does the name of General Herkimer, is the more interesting for being probably the first, and surely among the first, to make a declaration of independence in anticipation of the formal Congressional announcement of the break with Great Britain of July 4, 1776. The claim of pr

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Franz Daniel Pastorius and German, Dutch and English Colonization.

Franz Daniel Pastorius and German, Dutch and English Colonization.

Franz Daniel Pastorius and German, Dutch and English Colonization. —What the Mayflower is to the Puritans, the Concord is to the descendants of the Germans who were among the pioneer settlers of America. It was this vessel that bore to American shores the first compact German band of immigrants, under the leadership of Franz Daniel Pastorius. While the first Dutch settlement, that of Manhattan Island, or New York, was founded in 1614, and that of Plymouth by the Puritans in 1620, that of Germant

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Propaganda in the United States.

Propaganda in the United States.

Propaganda in the United States. —It has been charged that though a large number of American newspapers were controlled in England through Lord Northcliffe, a joint commission of English, French and Belgian propagandists was deemed necessary early in the war to create public sentiment in the United States in favor of intervention on the side of the European Allies through the process of “retaining” a number of prominent speakers as attorneys and employing a staff of well-known writers, novelists

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Pitcher, Molly.

Pitcher, Molly.

Pitcher, Molly. —Not only was Barbara Fritchie of German descent, as shown elsewhere, but so also was the famous “Molly Pitcher” of Revolutionary fame, whose story is known to every American patriot as the woman who brought water to the fighting men in the battle line in a large pitcher, to which she owed her name in history. Her maiden name was Marie Ludwig, and she was born of good Palatine stock October 13, 1754, in New Jersey. Her husband was John Hays, a gunner, who was wounded at the battl

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Press Attacks in Congress.

Press Attacks in Congress.

Press Attacks in Congress. —Representative Calloway quoted in the Congressional Record of February 9, 1917: Mr. Chairman, under unanimous consent, I insert in the Record at this point a statement showing the newspaper combination, which explains their activity in this matter, just discussed by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Moore): “In March, 1915, the J. P. Morgan interests, the steel, shipbuilding and powder interests and their subsidiary organizations, got together 12 men high up in the

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Pathfinders.

Pathfinders.

Pathfinders. —In reply to the question, “Who are the twelve greatest Americans of German descent?” the following were named by a small committee who conferred upon the matter: Franz Daniel Pastorius, founder of Germantown and author of the first protest against slavery on American soil. Conrad Weiser, “the first who combined the activity of a pioneer with the outlook of a statesman.”—Benson J. Lossing. Governor Jacob Leisler, acting governor of New York, the first martyr to the cause of American

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Poison Gas.

Poison Gas.

Poison Gas. —That the Germans were not the first to use poison gas in warfare, that the practice originated with the English, and that the French used gases in the world war before the Germans, was well known to thousands in a position to inform others, but no denial of this falsehood has ever been made. The first recorded use of poison gas in modern times was in connection with the bombardment of Colenso by the English during the Boer War. The fact is testified to by General von der Golz in a b

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Penn, William.

Penn, William.

Penn, William. —Founder of Pennsylvania, under whose jurisdiction the first Pennsylvania German settlements were effected. His mother was a Dutch woman, Margaret Jasper, of Rotterdam. Dutch was Penn’s native tongue, as well as English. He was a scholar versed in Dutch law, history and religion. He preached in Dutch and won thousands of converts and settlers, inviting them to his Christian Commonwealth. (Dr. William Elliot Griffis.) Oswald Seidensticker (“Bilder aus der Deutsch-Pennsylvanischen G

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Pilgrim Society.

Pilgrim Society.

Pilgrim Society. —A powerful organization in New York City, nominally for the promotion of the sentiment of brotherhood among Englishmen and Americans, but in reality to promote a secret movement to unite the United States with “the Mother Country,” England, as advocated by Andrew Carnegie, the late Whitelaw Reid, and, as provided for in the secret will of Cecil Rhodes. Among its prominent members are the British Ambassador, J. Pierpont Morgan, Thomas W. Lamont, partner of Morgan; John Revelstok

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Quitman, Johan Anton.

Quitman, Johan Anton.

Quitman, Johan Anton. —One of the most prominent and daring soldiers of the Mexican War; son of Friedrich Anton Quitman, a Lutheran minister at Rhinebeck-on-Hudson. Born 1798, took part in the war for the independence of Texas from Mexico, and in 1846 was made brigadier general. Fought with the greatest distinction at Monterey; first at the head of his command to reach the marketplace of the hotly-contested city and raised the American flag on the church steeple. Was in command of the land batte

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Representation in Congress, 1779-1912.

Representation in Congress, 1779-1912.

Representation in Congress, 1779-1912. —Table compiled of the membership of Congress from 1779 to and including the 62nd Congress:...

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Rhodes’ Secret Will and Scholarships, Carnegie Peace Fund and Other Pan-Anglican Influences.

Rhodes’ Secret Will and Scholarships, Carnegie Peace Fund and Other Pan-Anglican Influences.

Rhodes’ Secret Will and Scholarships, Carnegie Peace Fund and Other Pan-Anglican Influences. —It is a well-established principle of strategy as practiced by diplomatists to arouse public attention to a supposed danger in order to divert it from a real one. Long antedating our association with England, secret plans were laid by far-seeing Englishmen, and sedulously fostered by their friends in the United States, to reclaim “the lost colonies” as a part of the United Kingdom. While the so-called G

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Ringling, Al.

Ringling, Al.

Ringling, Al. —One of the most successful of American circus managers, who died at his home in Baraboo, Wis., in the early part of 1916, was the son of German immigrants, who started as a musician, became a juggler and in 1888 organized the famous circus known by the name of himself and four brothers, “The Ringling Brothers’ Circus.” His circus far eclipsed any ever organized by P. T. Barnum and his illness dated from superhuman efforts made by him to save his property from destruction by fire.

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Rittenhouse, David.

Rittenhouse, David.

Rittenhouse, David. —The first noted American scientist, born of a poor Pennsylvania German, son of a farmer, at Germantown, April 8, 1732. Owing to a feeble constitution was apprenticed to a clock and mechanical instrument-maker, where he followed the bent of his mechanical and mathematical genius, though too poor to keep informed concerning the progress of science in Europe. While Newton and Leibnitz were warmly disputing the honor of first discoverer of Fluxion, writes Lossing, Rittenhouse, e

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Roebling, John August.

Roebling, John August.

Roebling, John August. —One of the greatest engineers and America’s leading bridge builder. Among his famous achievements are the Pennsylvania Canal Aqueduct, across the Alleghany River (1842), Niagara Suspension Bridge (1852), the Cincinnati-Covington bridge, with a span of 1,200 feet, and the famous Brooklyn Bridge across the East River, completed by his son, Washington, upon the death of its designer. Roebling was born June 12, 1806, at Muehlhausen, Thuringia, and learned engineering at Erfur

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Rassieur, Leo.

Rassieur, Leo.

Rassieur, Leo. —The only German ever elected Commander of the G. A. R. Served as major throughout the Civil War....

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Roosevelt, Col. Theodore.

Roosevelt, Col. Theodore.

Roosevelt, Col. Theodore. —Ex-President Roosevelt’s early position on the war has never been cleared up satisfactorily. For more than two months after the outbreak of the war, August, 1914, he held that we were not called upon to interfere on account of the invasion of Belgium. During this time he was not only accounted neutral, but rather friendly to the German side, as was generally understood. He had been cordially received by the Kaiser, whom he allotted the chief credit for his success in b

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Roosevelt and Taft Praise the Kaiser as an Agent of Peace.

Roosevelt and Taft Praise the Kaiser as an Agent of Peace.

Roosevelt and Taft Praise the Kaiser as an Agent of Peace. —Theodore Roosevelt in 1913: “The one man outside this country from whom I obtained help in bringing about the Peace of Portsmouth was His Majesty William II. From no other nation did I receive any assistance, but the Emperor personally and through his Ambassador in St. Petersburg, was of real aid in helping induce Russia to face the accomplished fact and come to an agreement with Japan. This was a real help to the cause of international

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Scraps of Paper.

Scraps of Paper.

“ Scraps of Paper. ”—The frequency with which England has accused us of the violation of solemn treaties was shown in a light not flattering to the accuser by the late Major John Bigelow, U. S. A., in his last book, “Breaches of Anglo-American Treaties” (Sturgis &amp; Walton Company). Only a few years ago, incidentally to the public discussion of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, the United States was arraigned by the British press as lacking in the sense of honor that holds a nation to its promise

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Schleswig-Holstein.

Schleswig-Holstein.

Schleswig-Holstein. —The case of Schleswig-Holstein, though one of the most complicated problems for statesmen of the last century, is perfectly clear as to the vital factors involved. Some centuries ago the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein—which may be described as the original seat of the Anglo-Saxons who peopled Britain—conquered Denmark and was proclaimed King of Denmark. As Duke of Schleswig-Holstein the duchies became attached to the crown of Denmark, but were never incorporated as parts of the

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Submarine Sinkings of Enemy Merchant Ships.

Submarine Sinkings of Enemy Merchant Ships.

Submarine Sinkings of Enemy Merchant Ships. —Without seeking to pass final judgment on the question whether Germany was or was not justified by the rules of war and considerations of humanity in sinking merchant vessels by means of her submarines, it is important to quote briefly what those who are considered authorities on the subject have to say about it: New York “World,” March 21, 1919: “High officers of the British Admiralty have justified the unrestricted use of the submarine by Germany on

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Schurz, Carl.

Schurz, Carl.

Schurz, Carl. —The most distinguished German American, author, diplomat, Union general, United States Senator, Cabinet officer and founder of the Civil Service system. Born March 2, 1829, at Liblar, near Cologne. Educated at Bonn. Participated in the Baden revolution, and after the romantic rescue of Prof. Gottfried Kinkel from Spandau, he and his old instructor escaped to London, and in 1853 came to Philadelphia with his wife. Later moved to Watertown, Wisconsin, completed his law studies at th

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Scheffauer, Herman George.

Scheffauer, Herman George.

Scheffauer, Herman George. —One of the foremost American poets, translators, and dramatists, born in San Francisco 1878, traveled in Europe and Africa and spent two years in London. Author of “Of Both Worlds” (poems); “Looms of Life” (poems); “Sons of Baldur,” forest play; “Masque of the Elements,” “Drake in California,” “The New Shylock,” a play. Translator of Heine’s “Atta Troll” and “The Woman Problem,” both from the German....

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Schell, Johann Christian and His Wife.

Schell, Johann Christian and His Wife.

Schell, Johann Christian and His Wife. —One of the most inspiring stories of the Revolutionary war centers around this brave Palatine couple and their six sons, who tenanted a lonely cabin three miles northeast of the town of Herkimer, N. Y., and who in August, 1781, while at work in the fields were attacked by 16 Tories and 48 Indians. The marauders captured two of the younger boys, the remainder of the family gaining the shelter of the cabin. Here they successfully defended their home all day.

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Schley, Winfield Scott.

Schley, Winfield Scott.

Schley, Winfield Scott. —American admiral who conquered Cervera’s Spanish Squadron in Santiago Bay during the Spanish-American war, was descended from Thomas Schley, who immigrated into Maryland in 1735 at the head of 100 German Palatines and German Swiss families. Founded Friedrichstadt, afterwards Frederickstown, Md. Thomas Schley was a schoolmaster, and Pastor Schlatter of St. Gall, in the story of his travels (1746-51), wrote: “It is a great advantage of this congregation that it has the bes

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Steinmetz, Charles P.

Steinmetz, Charles P.

Steinmetz, Charles P. —One of the greatest scholars and scientists in the electrical field of today, Chief Consulting Engineer of the General Electric Company, and professor of electro-physics at Union College; Socialist president of the City Council and president Board of Education of Schenectady. Intimate associate and collaborator of Thomas A. Edison, and to whose genius many of the most important developments in electrical science are due. A native of Breslau, Germany; born April 9, 1865. Th

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Sauer, Christopher.

Sauer, Christopher.

Sauer, Christopher. —The first to print a book (the Bible) in a foreign tongue (German) on American soil; famous printer and publisher of German and American books. Born in Germany, arrived in the Colonies in the fall of 1724, settling in Germantown. Published the first newspaper in the German language, “Der Hochdeutsche Pennsylvanische Geschichts Schreiber, oder Sammlung Wichitiger Nachrichten aus dem Natur und Kirchen Reich.” His magnificent quarto edition of the Bible, issued in 1743, after t

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Starving Germany.

Starving Germany.

Starving Germany. —(Lord Courtney in Manchester “Guardian”)—“The attempt of England to starve Germany is a violation of the Declaration of London and a brutal offense against humanity. For these two reasons—if not for many others—it is a dishonorable proceeding.” (Dispatch of March 21, 1915.) The silent policy of starving people into subjection is eloquently shown in the history of Ireland, of India, of the South African republics and of the Central Powers, and, strangely, the one country that h

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Steuben, Baron Frederick William von.

Steuben, Baron Frederick William von.

Steuben, Baron Frederick William von. —Major General in the Revolutionary army. Descended from an old noble and military family of Prussia. Entered the service of Frederick the Great as a youth, and fought with distinction in the bloodiest engagements of the Seven Years War, being latterly attached to the personal staff of the great King. After the war, was persuaded by friends of the American Colonies and admirers of his ability in France to offer his services to Congress, and on September 26,

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Sulphur King, Herman Frasch.

Sulphur King, Herman Frasch.

Sulphur King, Herman Frasch. —Inventor of the method of pumping up sulphur from its deposits, known as the water process, patented in 1891, which made available the large sulphur deposits in southern Louisiana and other places, which had puzzled engineers for years. Frasch came originally from Germany in the steerage, obtained work sweeping out a retail drug store, became a clerk and finally was graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. He joined the Standard Oil Company, and in prosp

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Sutter, the Romance of the California Pioneer.

Sutter, the Romance of the California Pioneer.

Sutter, the Romance of the California Pioneer. —The romance of American colonization contains no chapter more absorbing than that of the winning of the West. A poetic veil has been cast about the California gold excitement and the rugged pioneers of the gulch, by Bret Harte, Joaquin Miller and Mark Twain; but few historians have thought it worth their pain to uncover the romance of the original pioneer of California on whose land was found the first gold that formed the lodestone of attraction f

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“Swordmaker of the Confederacy.”

“Swordmaker of the Confederacy.”

“ Swordmaker of the Confederacy. ”—Louis Haiman, born in Colmar, Prussia, who came to the United States at a tender age with his family and was brought to Columbus, Georgia, then a small village. At the outbreak of the Civil War Haiman was following the trade of a tinner. “His work,” according to the Atlanta “Constitution,” was successful, “and in 1861 he opened a sword factory to supply the Confederacy a weapon that the South at the time had poor facilities for making. Such was Haiman’s success

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Tolstoy on American Liberty.

Tolstoy on American Liberty.

Tolstoy on American Liberty. —Although Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia University, New York City, never surrendered the decoration bestowed upon him by the Kaiser, and though he had delivered sundry sound scoldings to England for her professed fears of German aggression, in the days before the war, his name stands out conspicuously among a considerable number of heads of colleges for the suppression of free speech and liberty of conscience in regard to the war. A number of the prof

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Commercial Treaty with Germany and How it Was Observed.

Commercial Treaty with Germany and How it Was Observed.

Commercial Treaty with Germany and How it Was Observed. —One of the most humane and liberal treaties in the history of nations was that entered into between the United States and Prussia in 1799. It was renewed in 1828 and became the treaty governing the relations between Germany and ourselves in 1871 on the establishment of the German Empire. This treaty was in force in 1917 when we entered the war. Some high eulogiums have been passed upon this treaty, which was signed by Thomas Jefferson, Ben

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Villard, Henry.

Villard, Henry.

Villard, Henry. —A distinguished war correspondent during the Civil War, afterwards built the Northern Pacific Railroad, largely with German capital. Born in Speyer, 1835. His real name was Heinrich Hillgard. Married a daughter of William Lloyd Garrison, famous abolitionist. Father of Oswald Garrison Villard, editor of “The Nation.”...

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Vote on War in Congress.

Vote on War in Congress.

Vote on War in Congress. —A resolution declaring the United States in a state of war “with the imperial German Government” on the grounds that the imperial German government had committed repeated acts of war against the government and the people of the United States and that in consequence of these acts war had been thrust upon the United States, was passed in the Senate on April 5 and in the House on April 6, 1917. In neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives was the resolution passe

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War of 1870-71.

War of 1870-71.

War of 1870-71. —What may be expected from the process of rewriting our school histories of American events by the friends of England is patent from the manner in which some of the most vital historical data of the world’s history was distorted during the war. For example, it has been persistently dinned into the minds of Americans that France was trapped into war with Prussia in 1870 by the subtle diplomatic strategy of Bismarck, who is represented as having forged a dispatch. The facts are eas

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War Lies Repudiated by British Press.

War Lies Repudiated by British Press.

War Lies Repudiated by British Press. —The following article deals with venerable subjects that have done much to inflame international hatred and misunderstandings. It is taken from the Glasgow “Forward,” of Glasgow, Scotland (1919), and will have a tendency, it is hoped, to enlighten the minds of many who have believed everything that was printed about war’s atrocities: We are continually receiving requests for information about the Lusitania, poison gas, aerial bombs, corpse fat, and other po

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Washington’s Bodyguard.

Washington’s Bodyguard.

Washington’s Bodyguard. —At the outbreak of the war of independence Herkimer, Muhlenberg and Schlatter gathered the Germans in the Mohawk Valley and the Virginia Valley together and organized them into companies for service. Baron von Ottendorff, another German soldier, recruited and drilled the famous Armand Legion. And when Washington’s first bodyguard was suspected of treasonable sentiments and plans it was dismissed and a new bodyguard, consisting almost entirely of Germans, was formed. This

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Washington’s Tribute.

Washington’s Tribute.

Washington’s Tribute. —The Philadelphia German Lutherans held a memorial service on May 27, 1917, made doubly impressive at Zion’s Church, by the circulation of a letter written to the congregation by George Washington, in reply to congratulations on his first election as President of the United States. The letter concludes with the following words: From the excellent character for dilligence, sobriety and virtue which the Germans in general, who are settled in America have ever maintained, I ca

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Weiser, Conrad.

Weiser, Conrad.

Weiser, Conrad. —Along with Franz Daniel Pastorius, Jacob Leisler and John Peter Zenger, the name of Conrad Weiser deserves to be commemorated as one of the outstanding figures of early American history, for no man of his period exercised such influence with the Indians or did so much to promote the peaceful development of the settlements by insuring the friendship of the Six Nations. The following sketch of this famous character in American history is taken from “Eminent Americans” by Benson J.

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Wetzel, Lou.

Wetzel, Lou.

Wetzel, Lou. —The present generation is not too old to recall the flood of Indian stories of their youth, for in the ‘70s the Indian was still a factor in the contest for the development of the West and the papers at times contained thrilling accounts of battles with Indians on our frontier. Cooper was still a much-read novelist, and less famous writers still sought their inspiration in the French and Indian wars, the wars which the English and Tories, with their Indian allies, carried into the

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Wirt, William.

Wirt, William.

Wirt, William. —Famous jurist and author. During three presidential terms Attorney General of the United States; appointed by President Monroe to that office in 1817-18; resigned under John Quincy Adams, March 3, 1829. Born at Bladensburg, Md., November 18, 1772, becoming a poor orphan at an early age. Learned Latin and Greek and studied law at Montgomery Court House, being licensed to practice in the fall of 1792. Commenced his professional career at Culpeper Courthouse, Va., the same year and

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Wirtz, Captain H., of Andersonville Prison.

Wirtz, Captain H., of Andersonville Prison.

Wirtz, Captain H., of Andersonville Prison. —For many years after the Civil War, Andersonville Prison served as the outstanding symbol of the atrocities practiced upon Union prisoners by the Southern Confederacy. The prison was commanded by Captain Wirtz, who was subsequently tried by a court martial at Washington and hanged. General Lee’s nephew, and his biographer, has stated that General Lee used his influence to save him by showing that Wirtz was not primarily responsible for the sufferings

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Wistar, Caspar.

Wistar, Caspar.

Wistar, Caspar. —In 1717 emigrated to America from Hilspach, Germany, where he was born in 1696, and established what is supposed to be the first glass factory in America in New Jersey, thirty miles from Philadelphia. (It is believed that an earlier glass factory was established by Germans in Virginia.)...

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Zane, Elizabeth.

Zane, Elizabeth.

Zane, Elizabeth. —Described as the handsome and vivacious daughter of Col. Zane (Zahn), founder of Wheeling, W. Va. In 1782 a fort near Zane’s loghouse on the site of the present city was attacked by a band of British soldiers and 186 Indian savages. The defenders of the fort were reduced from 42 to 12, and as the supply of powder was running low, the little garrison seemed doomed. The enemy was covering every approach to Zane’s loghouse, about sixty yards distant, where a full keg of powder was

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Ziegler, David, Revolutionary Soldier and Indian Fighter.

Ziegler, David, Revolutionary Soldier and Indian Fighter.

Ziegler, David, Revolutionary Soldier and Indian Fighter. —American soldier and first mayor of Cincinnati; born at Heidelberg, August 18, 1748; served under General Weismann in the Russian army under Catharine II and took part in the Turkish-Russian campaign which ended with the capture of the Krim in 1774. Came to America in the same year and settled in Lancaster, Pa. Joined the battalion of General William Thompson which appeared before Boston, August 2, 1775, where it was placed under command

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Zenger, John Peter, and the Freedom of the Press.

Zenger, John Peter, and the Freedom of the Press.

Zenger, John Peter, and the Freedom of the Press. —Noted in American history as the man who fought to a successful issue the problem of the freedom of the press in this country. Came over as a boy in the Palatine migration and was an apprentice to Bradford in Philadelphia. Established the New York “Weekly Journal,” November 5, 1733. Was arrested and imprisoned by Governor Cosby for his political criticisms; the paper containing them was publicly burned by the hangman, and the case was then throw

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