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property of other peoples they have been trying to expand in knowledge and
works of peace. The days of Gustav Adolphus and King Charles were
days of war and conquest. Individual courage and strength were then the
main essentials. During the reign of Gustavus the 5 th all these things have
greatly changed. This is a time of work and serious thought, a time when we
have good statesmanship to depend upon, and more than ever, we depend
upon love to all mankind, but above all—good common sense. The duty of
Sweden is to stand neutral as long as it is possible, and we sincerely hope
that this may always be possible, but we would not say that the nation is
forgetting to prepare. Sweden today is prepared as much as possible. It can
put 600,000 men in the field immediately and I am sure we can look to the
future with great trust and confidence even though we should be brought into
the war, which God forbid!
The Swedes are mostly honest and straight-forward men and we
Swedish-Americans should not be afraid to say that we still have a warm feeling for
the country of our fore-fathers. We must stick to the truth but we must also
respect our President’s wishes and instructions concerning hyphenated
Amer-canism in every possible way. A man should stand by his wife and family
first but there is no good reason why he should not love his parents also..
Sweden is still loved and respected amongst the millions of
Swedish-Amer-icans who have been adopted by these free states of America, but we
Swedish-Americans want it thoroughly understood that we are loyal citizens of the
United States in political and social life, and believe that we so stand in the
eyes and judgment of the American born people. Our loyalty has never been
questioned in all these long years. We strive to be the most loyal of the loyal
and the most honorable of the honorable amongst the citizens of this great
republic. With all the strength of our souls and bodies we defy any one to
state anything to the contrary, or that the Star Spangled Banner has any better
or more courageous defenders than those through whose veins flows Swedish
blood. AMERICA FIRST is our motto and one for which we Swedes all
stand today, but if American patriotism means that we should forget all about
our childhood days and all about our mother country, then I am afraid we
shall have to very respectfully, but nevertheless firmly, stand out against such
instructions.
Every one of us ought to be careful, both Americans and coming
Americans, not to fix our ideas of Americanism prematurely. Everything good about
us—our ideals—our principles, we have brought with us from our mother
country, and instead of throwing these things away we ought to cherish and
use them in the service and for the good of this, our great American adopted
country. Every good and patriotic Swede has the best chance in the world
of becoming a good American citizen, ought to adopt this country for his
own and ought to be for America first, last and all the time, but this does not
prevent him in any way from being proud of Sweden and its people.
HISTORY OF THE SWEDISH DAY
As early as during the year of 1915 it had been suggested that
arrangements be made for a great Swedish-American Festival to be held at the San
Diego Exposition, but in order not to hamper or interfere with the Swedish
Festivals at San Francisco, nothing was done at that time. The question was
taken up later through a letter in our Swedish newspaper here in town by B.
F. Randell. The first meeting was called together in Los Angeles with
delegates representing all the churches and societies of Southern California, and
it was at that meeting it was decided to make arrangements for a great Swedish
festival to be held on the 24th and 25th days of June, 1916. A Nomination
Committee of 1 0 was then and there elected and these 1 0 representatives
nominated all the officers and various committees for the coming great festival.
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