Throughout his life, but now as never before, he told his
countrymen, there was no place in America for a divided loyalty. No
German-Americans, nor Irish-Americans, nor Scotch-Americans. He would
have no man try to split even, and be a "50-50 American."
Shortly after war had ended, he sent this message to a patriotic
meeting:
There must be no sagging back in the fight for Americanism merely
because the war is over. Any man who says he is an American, but
something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but
one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which
symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much
as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile.
We have room for but one language here, and that is the English
language, for we intended to see that the crucible turns our people
out as Americans, of American nationality, and not as dwellers in a
polyglot boarding-house; and we have room for but one soul loyalty,
and that is loyalty to the American people.[28]
[28] Hagedorn, p. 384.
It was practically his last word to the country he had loved and served
so well. That was on January 5, 1919.
Years before, when he and his children had played together, he had told
them a story about lions. Some of the boys had been called the lion
cubs, and henceforth their father was to them "The Old Lion."
On the sixth of January, one of his sons, who was at home recovering
from his wounds, sent a message to his brothers in France:
The Old Lion is dead.
He was buried in a small cemetery near his Long Island home. A
plain grave-stone marks the place. To his grave have come a King
and a Prince and other men of great name from Europe, to lay
wreaths there, as they put them on the tombs of Washington and
Lincoln. But what would have pleased him even more is that every
Sunday and holiday thousands of men, women and children who knew
him, thousands who loved him, although they never saw him, men who
fought at his side, and men who fought against him, go out to
stand for a moment at his grave, because they know him now as a
wise, brave, and patriotic American.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
* * * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Any image which split a paragraph was moved.
Two quoted sections were reformatted as block quotes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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