Speech #580061222

President Roosevelt has expressed a sentiment that will meet with the sincere and cordial approval of all thoughtful Americans. It is no reflection upon the millions of good and loyal citizens who have come to us from other lands to say that no other country has contributed to our cosmopolitan population so large a proportion of good. so small a proportion of evil. as has come to us from Germany. Sound and sturdy of body. strong and sane of mind. frugal. thrifty. and industrious. patient. persistent. orderly. and lawabiding. home loving and home keeping. the German immigrant who has sought and found a home here has from the beginning been an important and valued factor not only in the development and upbuilding of the industrial and commercial interests of- our country. but also in the strength and stability of our institutions. Fair minded. tolerant to the last degree of the opinions of others as he is. the average German has a profound and unalterable attachment to strong. orderly government. In the great crisis of our civil war. as the President has well said. our citizens of German birth and origin were substantially a unit in support of the cause of Union and liberty. hundreds of them freely offering up their lives for a country whose language they had not yet learned to speak.