Where Do You Stand Author:Hermann Hagedorn Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Ill WHEREIN does the American of German origin believe that he has been unjustly treated? Here, in brief, are his grievances: He believes that from the ver... more »y beginning of the Great War, the attitude of the American government was un- neutral favoring the Allies, especially England, and discriminating cruelly against Germany. He claims that in the face of British aggression our government was weak, while in the face of Germany's most moderate demands, it was relentless and hard. It protested vociferously, for instance, against Germany's proclamation of a war zone about the British Isles, though it had remained silent when England several months previously had issued a similar proclamation concerning the North Sea. It insisted on hamperingthe activities of Germany's submarines, he claims, but accepted meekly all of England's Orders in Council in regard to contraband, the blockade and the blacklisting of American business houses. English mines, he contends, sank as many American ships without warning as German submarines. But instead of protesting, the American government surrendered its soul into the hands of the British Foreign Office and obediently declared war against Germany. There, briefly, are the German- American's grievances against the American government. Some of them are fantastic, some have a measure of truth behind them; all of them are sincere and deeply felt. None of them is to be lightly thrown aside by other Americans, as inconsequential. No belief, however mistaken, is inconsequential when it is fervently held and passionately defended by thousands or hundreds of thousands of intelligent individuals. But these are not all of the grievances which have temporarily embittered the American of German origin. He has grievances not only against the American gov...« less