Foreign Language Press Service

[The Great Fire]

Illinois Staats-Zeitung, Oct. 18, 1871

Serious complaints are being heard about the small consideration which the Germans have found from the Aid Committee and its sub-committees. Especially from the Germans who have found a provisional shelter in the 5th Aid District (Archer Road and surroundings) complaints are coming in. This treatment of the Germans is a shame and proves that there are some people on the committees whose narrow prejudice has not broken down even in the face of the horrible need of German fellow citizens. The great mass of the Germans stands outside the church organizations, and for the Americans the church communities are the alpha and omega of all aid. The recommendation of a cleric or church elder affects the committee members like magic, while the not so recommended German is immediately being regarded with some distrust. If the just demands of the Germans should be refused by the American committee, then it would become necessary to collect German contributions in and outside of Chicago separately, and to organize their separate distribution among Germans. We hope, however, that it will not come to this.

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