Читать книгу History Of German Immigration In The United States - George von Skal - Страница 10

During the first three decades of the Nineteenth Century the number of German immigrants seldom exceeded one thousand within any one year. When the July revolution had broken out in Paris in 1830, the stream began to flow with new strength. The German liberals had been encouraged by this event to double their efforts for a constitutional government, while at the same time their rulers were frightened by it and concluded to put down the liberal movement with renewed vigor. The number of those who were forced into exile steadily increased. Thus, between 1830 and 1840 over 15,000 Germans came to the United States every year, and in the next decade, the annual average of German immigration, rose to 43,000 souls. The arrival of the Forty-eighters, as those were called, who had to leave the Fatherland because they had taken part in or sympathized with the German revolutionary movement of 1848-49, did not begin until the latter year and reached its height somewhat later still, because most of them lingered for some time in Switzerland, France and England, in the vain hope that the fight would be taken up again.

The immigration that came in consequence of the German revolution was in many respects different from that which had immediately preceded it. While prior to 1848, as has been pointed out, the liberal movement in Germany was practically confined to the educated classes, it had now spread, especially in Baden, the Palatinate and Rhenish Prussia, to the body of the people. Consequently the refugees were no long er almost without exception men of high attainments and superior abilities, as had been the case before. These classes still formed a large percentage, but with them came small shopkeepers, artisans, farmers and even laborers. The Forty-eighters showed a high average intelligence but were not, as has sometimes been supposed, without exception highly educated. Quite a number of them, in fact, were lacking in the experience, knowledge and judgment required to fully understand the ideas they had been fighting for. These frequently showed an exaggerated belief in their own importance, and were apt to cover their inability to defend their position by sustained argument with an aggressiveness sometimes verging on intolerant and intolerable fanaticism. They did considerable harm for a time. For while the leaders whose names had become known to the American people even before they arrived were received with open arms and showed themselves worthy of the appreciation extended to them, many of the rank and file repulsed the sympathy felt for their cause by word and action. The idea had taken possession of them that in order to be truthful, the common usages of ordinary politeness must be dropped, and for the same reason they believed themselves bound to give expression to their own opinions without regard to the feelings of others and without being called upon. Thus, for instance, many of the newcomers, who were almost without exception atheists, or as they preferred to call themselves, freethinkers, considered it their duty to ridicule all believers and to attack churches and ministers, as well as worshippers as narrowminded and unprogressive fools. Such behavior, coupled with an almost studied unconventionality of apparel brought about a revulsion in the American mind, and the German revolutionists were no longer looked upon as martyrs of liberty to be welcomed to the shores of the only free country on the face of the globe, but rather as a danger to a country whose people were imbued with deep religious feeling and, it must be said, were at that time rather provincial in their views on the larger questions which had come to the front in Europe. There can be no doubt that such actions formed one of the contributing causes to the know-nothing movement which swept over the country during the Fifties. While indefensible in itself, it was, to some extent, a reaction against the position taken by a part of the German revolutionists which caused the latent nativism always in existence to break out in agitation of an unreasonable and most deplorable kind. This feeling was intensified by the fact that quite a number of the German immigrants for quite a while considered this country only in the light of a temporary home. They were waiting for a new revolution in Germany and continued to dream of the establishment of the great German republic, which would call them back to the Fatherland. In the meantime, they shifted for themselves as best they could, with a firm belief in their own superiority, which they never hesitated to express, and with very little regard for the feelings of the people whose hospitality and protection they were enjoying.

All these defects disappeared quickly, however. Even the most ardent spirits made their peace with the new conditions surrounding them and settled down to work. They became most valuable citizens of the republic, as soon as their honest, but under the circumstances, purposeless enthusiasm had changed into the sober endeavor to secure an existence by hard work and industry. Many of them, it is true, did not succeed, because their training had not fitted them for the combat that was before them. Comparatively few were fortunate enough to continue in the professions they had followed before they emigrated, and quite a number were compelled to enter occupations which they would have considered far beneath them only a few years before. But they tried hard, and the great majority accomplished finally what they had set out to do.

For the United States this immigration was of the greatest benefit. For we must not forget that the man who is ready to sacrifice his all for an idea is always superior to those who are willing to suffer oppression and tyranny as long as they are allowed to earn a scanty living. Thus even those who were not highly educated and who came from the ranks of the artisans and laborers were the best of their kind. They were filled with the same spirit that had made the colonies free and independent. They had been fighting for liberty without counting the odds which were overwhelmingly against them. With all their faults they fitted into the institutions they found here and they became excellent Americans as soon as the natural opposition to unaccustomed surroundings had worn off. And they brought certain traits which were still rare in this new country, born in strife and inhabited by a people that had been compelled to use its best gifts in the struggle for existence and material welfare. These Germans were idealists to a man; they were filled with a deep love for the beautiful in nature, in the arts and in literature. They saw in music not only a pleasant amusement which permitted them to spend a few hours agreeably now and then, but the means of elevating the soul. They exerted a softening influence upon the American character, hardened in the incessant fight with nature and the elements. They strengthened by their teachings and example the conviction that there was something higher in the life of man than the effort to amass riches, and they showed to those among whom they had settled that life had a beautiful side to it and that no harm could come to the soul by enjoying it. Above all, they proved that the correct policy in everything was moderation, and that all excesses were harmful, whether in the direction of self-denial or indulgence. They simply could not live without at least a taste of the beautiful, and wherever they settled they founded societies for the pursuance of higher objects, especially singing societies, which have spread and improved to such a degree that they form an important and valuable factor in the life of the nation at present. They laid the foundation for the development of athletics in this country through the numerous "Turner" societies, the first of which had been founded by Karl Follen, and which now sprang up everywhere. There were quite a number of poets and writers of more than average ability among the revolutionists, and the standard of the German-American press rose quickly. The desire for a higher life, so strong among these men, did not only influence the German part of tne population, but also the native Americans wherever they came in contact with the immigrants.

Considering all circumstances, it did not take so very long to bring about a readjustment. The Germans lost much of the roughness which, after all, was only external, adopted American ways and customs and became a homogeneous part of the American people, while the Americans learned to overlook the traits that at first had repulsed them, and began to appreciate the many good and valuable qualities their new friends possessed. The mutual appreciation was hastened by political developments. Up to the arrival of the Forty-eighters the Germans had been Democrats almost to a man. The Democratic party had attracted them on account of its greater liberality towards foreigners and its freedom from nativistic tendencies. When the great struggle for the abolition of slavery commenced, the German revolutionists threw themselves into it with the same ardor with which they had fought for liberty in the Fatherland. It was sufficient for them that the liberty of human beings was at stake, and their idealistic views of life left them no choice. The active part they took during the political campaigns which ended in the election of Abraham Lincoln brought them nearer to their fellow-citizens of American birth, especially as they succeeded in winning over the great body of German voters to the new Republican party. The task was a difficult one and not quite free from dangers, for it must not be forgotten that the Germans were almost fanatics in their adherence to the Democratic party at that time, and that they felt deep resentment against their own countrymen who tried to lead them away from their political moorings although they were comparatively recent arrivals and certainly did not possess the same knowledge of American institutions and the same experience as those who had already lived many years in the United States. But the work was accomplished and the Forty-eighters swung the German vote in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Missouri and other western states, as well as in Pennsylvania for the Republican party and the Union. It must be mentioned here that the west ern states named had been largely settled by Germans, not by revolutionists alone, but by many farmers who had come in the wake of the refugees. Wisconsin, especially, was overwhelmingly German and the same was true of whole districts in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Iowa, while in cities like St. Louis, Cincinnati and Indianapolis the German element formed a large percentage of the inhabitants.

It is, of course, impossible to give anything like a complete list of the men who came to America in consequence of the German revolution and reached eminence in one field of hu man activity or another. We must confine ourselves to the most prominent among them. At the head of the list stands, of course, Carl Schurz, the great orator, author and statesman. His career would have been a brilliant one, even if a native American had reached the same heights. How much more admiration do we owe to him when we consider that this man came to America without knowing the language and the customs of the country, and in spite of these drawbacks within a few years was counted among the ablest men of the nation! Schurz had hardly taken his citizen papers when he was made the candidate of his party for the lieutenant-governorship of Wisconsin, and took part in the councils of the party as one whose advice was to be listened to and heeded. It was his influence more than that of any other single man that induced the Germans of the West to enlist in the campaign against slavery. After the election of Lincoln he was appointed minister to Spain and rendered a great service to the country which is not as generally known as it deserves. His observations in Europe prompted him to inform Pres ident Lincoln that the only way to prevent successfully the recognition of the Confederacy by the western European powers, notably England and France, was the declaration of the American Government that it waged war for the abolition of slavery. It is well-known that the Government for a long time hesitated to do this for many reasons, chiefly because the effect of such action upon the Democrats in the North and upon the border states was feared. Schurz's earnest appeal hastened the adoption of the only policy which could have prevented the strengthening of the Confederacy to the danger point. He served with distinction in the Civil War and as United States senator for Missouri, and was Secretary of the Interior under Hayes. The most important work in which he engaged and to which he consecrated almost his whole life consisted in the relentless and unremitting fight against the spoils system and for the establishment of the merit system, generally known as Civil Service Reform. For many years the president of the National Civil Service Reform Association, he gave his full strength to this work. He saw clearly that the spoils system was a cancerous growth which was slowly but surely destroying the very life blood of the nation, and that without its abolishment the public morals would be hopelessly corrupted, not to mention the impossibility of ever securing a decent administration.

The work he has done in this direction is not yet fully appreciated, but some day the services of Carl Schurz for the country he loved so much will be recognized. As an orator he belongs in the front rank, and few, if any, Americans of his epoch have surpassed him. His literary activity was abundant, and his essay on Abraham Lincoln as well as his life of Henry Clay in the American Statesmen's Series have become classics. He was the finest type of the Forty-eighter, always ready to fight, and if needs be to die, for his convictions; never hesitating to defend them, whatever the consequences might be for him; the born idealist to whom wrong of any kind was abhorrent, and who lived in the firm belief that no good could come from any other mode of life than the steadfast pursuit of the highest ideals. Always ready to suffer defeat in the conviction that right must triumph ultimately, he never compromised on points which he considered of vital importance in order to gain a temporary success. He was so imbued with idealism of the very best kind that his influence alone would have been sufficient to prove the immense benefits America derived from the German revolutionists, but there were many like him, though not quite so able and not of so far-reaching importance.

Oswald Ottendorfer was another of the men of this period who may justly be called great. Several reasons may be assigned for the fact that he did not attain the same prominence as Schurz. Although a Unionist in the critical epoch of the republic, he was a Democrat of firm convictions and could never bring himself to look upon the Republican party otherwise than as the propagator of theories dangerous to the continuance and life of the institutions forming the foundation of the Union. While he, like most Germans, did not hesitate to take a firm stand against his own party whenever it succumbed to influences which, to his mind, were wrong and dangerous, he lived and died a firm adherer to the doctrines of the Democracy. Under the circumstances it was natural that political preferment was not for him, because the party of which he counted himself a member was out of power during the largest part of his life. In addition Oswald Ottendorfer had become the editor of a great newspaper, the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, which position compelled him to devote a large part of his time and activity to his business. All this might not have prevented his acceptance of political honors if his health had not been such that he had to husband his strength very carefully. It is difficult to estimate what this man would have accomplished if he had been stronger in a physical sense and if conditions had been more fortunate. By no means must the inference be drawn from these remarks that Oswald Ottendorfer did not participate in public affairs; on the contrary, he was for many years a power in his party as well as in the independent element that esteems the welfare of the country higher than that of the party, and even during his last years, when he was almost constantly confined to his room, his ad vice was eagerly sought by men standing high in the nation. And while he and Schurz differed radically in temperament, Ottendorfer was as much an idealist as the former. Every movement that promised to improve the conditions under which his fellow beings were living, or of the public morals, whether it emanated from his political friends or opponents, was certain of his earnest support. Like Schurz, he was a mighty power for good in the life of the nation. Hans Kudlich, the liberator of the Austrian peasants, arrived in the early fifties. As a young man he had been elected a member of the first Austrian parliament, and as such moved the abolishment of the mediaeval laws which compelled the servants to work for the owners of large estates without receiving pay, thus making them virtual serfs of the nobility. These laws had long been abolished in other parts of Germany but had remained in full force in Austria. While Hans Kudlich modestly declined to take the credit for this great reform and tried to arouse the impression that a mere accident made him take the step which any other member might just as well have taken, it is nevertheless a fact that he, himself the son of a peasant, and therefore a daily witness of the wrongs perpetrated, was, from the beginning of his public career, filled with the desire to free the sufferers from injustice. Great changes like this one are indeed not brought about by single men; when the time is ripe for them it requires only action at the right moment to complete them, but they are often delayed because an opportunity is lost. The man who acts when he knows that the right moment has arrived, and who thereby achieves the result wished for is justly entitled to all the credit attached to the deed. History has recorded the fact that Hans Kudlich freed the Austrian peasants from serfdom, and nothing, not even his own modesty, can take this away from him. And it was not only compassion with the suffering servants that caused Kudlich to act, but his deep love for freedom and for humanity. With all his enthusiasm for the cause of liberty he threw himself into the revolutionary movement, was condemned to death and fled to America, where he established himself as a practicing physician but engaged with the vigor he had displayed before in every cause that made for liberty and equality and for the happiness of mankind.

There were others who reached political prominence, in those times always a proof of moral and mental superiority. Gustav Koerner, who has written a very valuable history of the German immigration before 1848, was elected lieutenant-governor of Illinois, Jakob Mueller held the same office in Ohio, Nikolaus Rusch in Iowa and Ed ward Salomon in Wisconsin. Quite a number of Germans served in the state legislatures and in Congress. The most valuable services were rendered, however, in the field of letters and on the battle-field. It has already been mentioned that after the arrival of the German revolutionists the German-American press began to spread and to improve. This was quite natural, for among the immigrants were many who could use the pen better than any other way to earn a livelihood, and the great mass of the Germans were used to reading. We have referred to the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung founded by Jacob Uhl and expanded into the greatest German paper by Oswald Ottendorfer. Hermann Raster, after a stay of several years in New York, did the same service for the Illinois Staats-Zeitung in Chicago, making it the best and most influential German paper in the West. Schurz founded the Abendpost in Detroit, and later, with William Pretorius, brought the Westliche Post in St. Louis to a high state of success. William Daenzer did the same for the Anzeiger des Westens in the same city. Friedrich Hassaurek, a man of rare gifts, founded the Hochwächter; P. V. Deuster edited the Seebote in Milwaukee for many years. Before them Eduard Schaeffer had founded the Nationalzeitung der Deutschen, Daniel C. L. Lehmus had edited with success Die alte und die neue Welt, and Heinrich Rödter had started the Volksblatt in Cincinnati. From this time on, and under the guidance of men of ability, the German press in America became an important factor in the life of the American nation. It confined itself no longer to entertaining its readers and giving them the news they wanted to hear, but it discussed American political problems in an instructive way and strove to explain to the newly arrived immigrant American institutions and customs. With few exceptions these newspapers were edited in a more independent spirit than the American papers. While they supported one of the two parties, they never went so far as to defend every one of its acts. They were always ready to criticize when this seemed necessary, and the blind partisanship that knows no reasoning was quite foreign to them. They were thus able to educate by encouraging the reader to judge for himself, and they did this work thoroughly. It has been continued to the present day by men of equal devotion to principle and, in many cases, of similar ability.