The Loyalty Question in Kennewick
A local editor questions the patriotism of German-speaking residents and parochial schools during the height of World War I.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
We can find nothing in the Bible to indicate that when the Apostle Paul delivered his epistle to the Ephesians he was speaking in German. Nor can we find any place where the apostle intimates that religious training requires the German language. We have no prejudice against the German language, but we have been startled by the attitude of children who have grown to manhood in the 'nurture and admonition of the Lord' toward the fatherland. We have talked with men born and raised in this country who refuse to answer if they want America to win the war, or answer they do not care who wins. These men pride themselves on being God-fearing, yet they pray to God in German and, in heart and spirit, are as truly German as if they lived under the eaves of Potsdam. To conduct a school in a thoroughly American spirit means to teach that Germany started the war, that America is right, and that it is the duty of every citizen to support the war effort.
“The language of America is English; the language in which they are being taught to pray to God is the native language of America’s enemy.”
This editorial reflects the intense, often xenophobic pressure exerted on immigrant communities in the Pacific Northwest during the First World War. It highlights how the 'Americanization' movement of the era weaponized loyalty to enforce cultural conformity, a recurring friction point in American history.
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