ns and
streets were erased--half a dozen Berlins vanished overnight--and in
their places appeared the names of French, British, and American
heroes.

But though the names might be erased, the German element remained. It
had become incorporated into the national bone and sinew, contributing
its thoroughness, stolidity, and solidity to the American stock. The
power of liberal political institutions in America has been revealed,
and thousands upon thousands of the sons and grandsons of German
immigrants crossed the seas in 1917 and 1918 to bear aloft the starry
standard upon the fields of Flanders against the arrogance and
brutality of the neo-Prussians.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 25: According to the Census of 1910 the nationality of the
total number of white persons of foreign stock in the United States is
distributed chiefly as follows:

Germany 8,282,618 or 25.7 per cent
Ireland 4,504,360 or 14.0 " "
Canada 2,754,615 or 8.6 " "
Russia 2,541,649 or 7.9 " "
England 2,322,442 or 7.2 " "
Italy 2,098,360 or 6.5 " "
Austria 2,001,559 or 6.2 " "

Furthermore, the significance of the foreign born element in the
population of the United States can be gathered from the fact that, in
1910, of the 91,972,266 inhabitants of the United States, no less than
13,515,836 or 14.6 per cent were born in some other country.]

[Footnote 26: _An Account of the Manners of the German Inhabitants of
Pennsylvania._]

[Footnote 27: J.G. Haecker, a well-informed and prosperous German who
took the journey by steerage in a sailing vessel in 1849, wrote an
instructive description of his experiences. Of his fellow passengers
he said: "Our company was very mixed. There were many young people:
clerks, artists, musicians, architects, miners, mechanics, men of
various professions, peasants, one man seventy-eight years old,
another very aged Bavarian farmer, several families of Jews, etc., and
a fair collection of children."]

[Footnote 28: There were three potent reasons for this migration:
financial stringency, overpopulation, and the growing rigor of the
military service. Over ten thousand processes a year were issued by
the German Government in 1872 and 1873 for evasion of military duty.
Germans who had become naturalized American citizens were arrested
when they returned to the Fatherland for a visit on the char