The end of the first year of the war in America has, in every way brought proof, that the German Americans have done their duty towards the country wholly and completely. Among those who died for the "Stars and Stripes" there are many German names. German-Americans have, in greater measure than their proportionate number would justify, contributed to the liberty loans of the Red Cross and to every war necessity of the country. The German newspapers have given full expression to the voice of patriotism. All this is so natural, that no special mention is necessary and it will, as long as the war lasts, be repeated. But what we always are compelled to allude to, is the continous enmity, the continous intentional or thoughtless insults of sufficiently wounded feelings, in which not only uneducated individuals, but before all, the newspapers indulge in. In the editorials there will be in accordance with the repeatedly expressed wishes of the government in Washington praise for the loyalty of the German Americans and it is pointed out, that there are only a few 2misled people who are guilty of antagonistic remarks. It is said and acknowledged, that it is the tragic fate of the Americans that one part of the people who are engaged in bloody warfare with blood relations have attacked the German Americans as they did the Anglo-Americans in 1812. It is admitted that the sacrifice and the devotion of those affected have to be even more appreciated. Unfortunately, in many newspapers the right hand does not know what the left is doing, and opposite the editorials mentioned stand words, which show, that the German American population has, as in 1812, to stand for unjustifiable distrust. With great minuteness it is related, that a chaplain of the army was discharged because he bears a German name and there was fear that his work among the soldiers might be unfavorable.

The worst thing is that the newspapers in reports sent by their correspondents 3use such notes as are customary in France, and can only be explained by the animosity of hundreds of years and the total absence of German elements in the French Nation. This general designation of Germans as "Huns", or as "boches", which in reality means "pigs", is not directed against the German government against which we fight - it is directed against the German soldiers, who must obey orders. And it is incomprehensible that those correspondents and even "headline" writers and Editors who give their reports to the press should not feel that with such words, not only can wars not be won, but that they tend to hurt the feelings of the loyal American citizens of German descent. Have not the German Americans, to say the least, a just claim that their unconditional loyalty should be rewarded by a tactful sparing of their feelings, and that such insults should once and for all be avoided?