When Dakota Territory was settled, the United States encouraged the arrival of European immigrants. At a federal court hearing this week in 1918, Judge Charles Amidon, noted this in the sentencing of the Rev. John Fontana, pastor of the German Evangelical Lutheran church of New Salem, who was convicted for violating the Espionage Act of 1917. The judge said, “We urged you to come, we welcomed you, we gave you opportunity, we gave you land, we conferred on you the diadem of American citizenship, and then we went away and left you. We have paid almost no attention to what you were doing.”
But with the American Expeditionary Forces taking on increased front line causalities, Judge Amidon went on to note that the World War had thrown up a powerful searchlight that found “Little Germanies,” “Little Austrias,” “Little Italys,” “Little Norways” and “Little Russias.” He argued that these immigrants had cherished the American soil, but they had thrown a circle around themselves, and instead of keeping their oath of allegiance to support the United States Constitution, they continued to cherish and perpetuate everything foreign.
Rev. Fontana was sentenced to three years at the federal prison at Leavenworth, his offenses not very concrete – not buying war bonds, defending the attack on the Lusitania. Judge Amidon admonished him, stating, “Your body has been in America, but your life has been in Germany. You have influenced others under your ministry to do the same thing. A good many Germans have been before me, during the last month. They have lived in this country like yourself, 10, 20, 30, 40 years….but as I looked at them…(it) was written all over every one of them 'Made in Germany’.” “You promised you would bear true faith to the United States,” he continued, “That meant that you would grow a new soul as soon as you could and put aside your German soul. It means that you will speak the American language, sing American songs, study American history and open your eyes through every avenue to influence American life. It means you will begin first of all to learn English, the language of your country, so there will be windows and doors through which American ideals may enter.”
Judge Amidon felt a need to suppress the existence of these little “islands of foreignness," dealing with them in a firm hand. The business of making foreignness perpetual had to cease. If necessary, he declared they would cancel every certificate of naturalization in the United States. There was to be no more cherishing of foreign ideals. He reflected a common attitude of the times – that the day had arrived when every immigrant needed to grow an American soul.
Dakota Datebook by Jim Davis
Sources:
The Washburn Leader, August 16, 1918
