The pulpit was a recognized part of the German system of spy work in America, as has elsewhere been noted. It is not just to accuse all Lutheran ministers of desecrating the cloth they wore. There are good Lutheran ministers who are loyal Americans without question. At the same time it is true that more charges have been brought against pastors of the Lutheran church, and charges of more specific nature, than against any other class or profession in our country. There are scores and hundreds of such reports which came into the National Headquarters of the A. P. L. from all parts of the country, more especially those parts which have heavy German settlements. These are so numerous that one cannot avoid calling the Lutheran pulpit in America one of the most active and poisonous influences which existed in America during the war. A sample report comes in from the Chief of the A. P. L. at Armour, S. D.:
I have reported on five German Lutheran preachers of this vicinity. They are all of the same stripe—profess loyalty, but actions speak otherwise. It seems strange to me that they have such an anxiety to get into active war work in the army and navy.
In yet another and longer specification, the same chief states:
I am becoming concerned about the large number of reports I get locally regarding German Lutheran ministers in this part of South Dakota. They are attempting to obtain positions of trust in Government work in the army and navy. I would not trust one of them in this part of the State. We have had trouble continually with the German communities where these ministers are located. Twenty-nine were convicted from Tripp.... Our Government might as well choose men from Berlin as to select German Lutheran ministers from this part of South Dakota. It seems to me that the A. P. L. should investigate and see what is inducing all these German Lutheran ministers to apply for Government positions. If even one succeeds in obtaining an appointment, it would be an opening.
This matter went before the Military Intelligence Division in Washington and received proper handling there.
A report from Osage, Iowa, came in against a certain priest in another Iowa town. The entire record of this man is given, besides other details regarding his parentage, his education, and his conduct of his church. “Previous to the entry of the United States into the war, he upheld Germany in all particulars. Since war has been declared, he has been more careful in his speech. A service flag was dedicated in our village, which consists of but one street. The ceremonies were held in front of this man’s house. He did not attend the services. The next Sunday he roasted his congregation for giving money toward the flag and told them they should give quite as much to the church. A committee of five men visited him and invited him to subscribe to the Third Loan.”
One of these clerical gentlemen who have remained loyal to the Kaiser, though not to Christ, is the Reverend John Fontana, Lutheran clergyman of New Salem, North Dakota. He was convicted for preaching sedition, and got a three-year sentence in a Federal Court. This did not deter his likewise loyal Kaiserliche congregation. By a vote of fifty-seven to twenty-two the members decided to continue him as their beloved pastor. Yet this is what Judge Amidon said to Fontana when he was arraigned,—words which ought to be printed in large letters and displayed prominently in every street of every city of every portion of America. The Judge said to the prisoner:
You received your final papers as a citizen in 1898. By the oath which you then took, you renounced and abjured all allegiance to Germany and the Emperor of Germany, and swore that you would bear true faith and allegiance to the United States. What did that mean? That you would set about earnestly growing an American soul, and put away your German soul.
Have you done that? I do not think you have. You have cherished everything German and stifled everything American. You have preached German, prayed German, read German, sung German. Every thought of your mind and every emotion of your heart through all these years has been German. Your body has been in America, but your life has been in Germany. You have influenced others who have been under your ministry to do the same thing.
There have been a good many Germans before me in the last month. They have lived in this country, like yourself, ten, twenty, thirty, forty years, and they have had to give their evidence through an interpreter. It has been an impressive part of the trial. As I looked at them and tried, as best I could, to understand them, there was written all over every one of them, “Made in Germany.” American life had not dimmed that mark in the least.