The Society of German Teachers celebrated its first anniversary last night at the Union Hotel, with Dr. Mencke as master of ceremonies. The first speaker of the evening was Mr. E. A. Zutz, who was followed on the speaker's platform by Dr. Gustav A. Zimmermann, supervisor of German instruction in public schools. Briefly, he expressed his hopes, that the dark clouds, hanging so threateningly over the German language in schools, may dissolve before any serious effect takes place.

The third speaker was Mr. Chris Meier, who was heartily greeted by the audience. He said in his speech, that the German instruction in public schools has always been threatened with discontinuation. The Anglo-American, he said, is ever ready to attack the so-called "fads" and according to him, teaching German is one of these fads....

The next speaker, Mr. E. F. L. Gauss, assistant librarian at the public library, commended his address by asking: "Did Edison speak German? Did Shakespeare speak German? Did Milton speak German?" And then said: "This highly 2intellectual and commendable dialogue, which took place during a meeting of the School Board yesterday, is just the thing, to mix a little humor into my address.... I wish to speak of this affair as the affair of our people, and their further intellectual development..... There have been arguments that with almost every foreign nation well represented in this country, teaching their native languages would seem just as important as is the teaching of German. But German is the mother tongue of the largest group of the foreign element composing the American nation, a nation which is still in the state of development. But this is not the exact reason either. It is, because the entire American intellectual life is based upon it.... The German language should become one of the principle subjects, taught in every school of America, because it is one of the most important disciplines in the nation's cultural development....

"Goethe, the great German poet said: "To have no knowledge of any other language but one's own, is to say that one does not know one's own either"....