German Americans in Art, Science and Literature.—An analysis of a comparatively recent edition of “Who’s Who in America” shows a list of 385German-born persons in the United States who have achieved fame in art, science and literature, against a total of 424English-born persons so distinguished, a remarkable bit of evidence, considering that the former were initially handicapped by the necessity of having to learn a new language in their struggle for recognition. Nor does this list include a number of Germans credited to Austro-Hungary by reason of their birth.

Dating back to the early decades of1600 down to the present day, the German element has produced a formidable literature, ranging from travel descriptions to political works, like Schurz’s “Life of Henry Clay,” von Holst’s important work on American constitutional government, George von Bosse’s comprehensive volume on the German element, A.B. Faust’s “The German Element in the United States,” Seidensticker’s and Kapp’s books on the early settlements of Pennsylvania and New York, and further including scientific books by eminent authorities, original explorations, discussions of the fauna and zoology of certain regions, novels and contributions to the poetry of America in both languages.

One of the most active minds in political circles was Carl Nordhoff, who came to the United States with his father in1835 at the age of five, and in his later years represented the New York “Herald” as its Washington correspondent through numerous sessions of Congress. At the age of nineteen he enlisted in the United States Navy, visited many parts of the world during his term of three years’ service, and after publishing some books about the sea, he worked for many years for Harper Brothers in a literary capacity and for ten years was employed in the editorial department of the New York “Evening Post.” In the interval he published several books, notably his popular “Politics for Young Americans” and then acted as Washington correspondent of the New York “Herald.” His chief literary work was published in1876 as the result of a six months tour of the South, “The Cotton States,” in which he exposed the Republican misrule in the South.

While Steinmetz, Mergenthaler and Berliner rank high among American inventors, Herman George Scheffauer, George Sylvester Viereck and Herman Hagedorn are among the foremost poets of the present day, to cite those writing in the English language, without taking account of a generation of German-writing poets of the distinguished lineage of Conrad Kretz and Konrad Nies. Theodore Dreiser is one of the best-known novelists. Bret Harte had a strong German strain in his blood; Bayard Taylor had a German mother; the second name in Oliver Wendell Holmes indicates German relationship; Joaquin Miller was of German extraction; Owen Wister owns to German antecedance, while one of America’s greatest actors, Edwin Forrest, was the son of a German mother, and Mary Anderson is likewise credited with this racial admixture; Maude Powell, the famous violinist, had a German mother to whom she attributed her genius for music.

The greatest American historical painter is still Emanuel Leutze, whose “Washington Crossing the Delaware” and “Westward the Star of Empire” are among the most cherished art possessions of the American people. Save Remington, none has pictured the stirring life of the frontier as Charles Schreyvogel, notably in his painting, “My Bunky,” while a host of others, like Albert Bierstadt, Carl Marr, Carl Wimar, Toby Rosenthal, Henry Mosler, Henry Twachtman, F.Dielman, Robert Blum and Gari Melchers, have permanently taken their place in the gallery of famous artists. A.Nahl was selected to perpetuate in historic paintings the frontier days of California, and his works may be seen in the capitol at Sacramento and in the Crocker Art Gallery of that city.

Hiram Powers’ name is one of the most familiar in the art history of America, but few are aware that the sculptor’s instructor was Friedrich Eckstein, who went to Cincinnati in1825 and opened an academy where Powers obtained the training that enabled him to create his masterwork, “The Greek Slave.” In fact, one of the most enduring influences exercised by the German element has at all times been as teachers and instructors.

American musical history would have had an entirely different aspect had it not been for the pioneer work of Theodore Thomas in carrying the cult of classic music into the remotest corners of the land under all kinds of physical discouragements, and had it not been for the numerous brilliant conductors who passed various periods in America to give it the best products of their genius, but particular credit is due to the host of individual Germans who scattered throughout the country and became part of town and village life as tireless instructors in music and art. Their influence was similar to that of the countless thousands of skilled chemists and mechanics who contributed so vastly to the development of our industries.

The number of distinguished architects, sculptors and engineers is legion, though a few can be named here, famous architects like Johannes Smithmeyer and Paul J.Pelz, the architects of the Congressional Library in Washington, and other public buildings; Alfred Ch.H.C. Vioch, Ernest Helffenstein, G.L. Heins, Otto Eidlitz and Carl Link. Famous sculptors: Karl Bitter, Joseph Sibbel, Charles Niehaus, Albert Weinmann, Albert Jaegers, F.W. Ruckstuhl, Otto Schweitzer and Prof. Bruno Schmitz, the designer of the Indianapolis monument.

The great engineers and bridge builders of America are Johann August Roebling and Gustav Lindenthal. The former built the first suspension bridge over Niagara Falls, the Brooklyn bridge and Ohio River suspension bridge, and was the first manufacturer of bridge cables; Lindenthal constructed the new railway bridge across Hellgate from Manhattan to Long Island, said to be the most perfect piece of bridge construction in the United States.

Famous among novelists, whose works were translated into all languages, was Charles Sealsfield (Karl Postel) who wrote equally well in both languages, writing in English “Tokeah, or The White Rose,” and several other works. Friedrich Gerstaecker and Otto Ruppius lived many years in the United States and wrote novels of American life which were translated into English, French and Spanish. A female writer of considerable repute was the wife of Professor Robinson, known by her pen-name of “Talvj.” She was born in Halle, Germany, and was a friend of Washington Irving, and, after publishing “Ossian not Genuine,” a story of Captain John Smith and a work on the colonization of New England, wrote in English “Heloise, or The Unrevealed Secret,” “The Exiles” and “Woodhill.”

Such names are selected at random out of hundreds, like that of Julius Reinhold Friedlander, of Berlin, who founded the first institute for the blind in Philadelphia in1834, subsequently taken over by the State. He is called the father of the institutions for the blind in America. Dr. Konstantin Hering was the father of homeopathy in America. Friedrich List was one of the pioneers in the advocacy of a protective tariff, writing in1827 “Outlines of a New System of Political Economy,” which attracted wide attention. Philip Schaff soon after his arrival in1844, attained fame in miscellaneous and religious literature, writing in English “The Principles of Protestantism,” “America, Its Political, Social and Religious Character,” “Lectures on the Civil War in America,” etc. Demetrius Augustin Gallitizin, better known as Father Schmidt, founded the Catholic mission Loretto in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, in1798, and his life is commemorated by a statue. Johann N. Neumann wrote “The Ferns of the Alleghanies” and the “Rhododendrons of the Pennsylvania and Virginia Mountains”—and so an almost endless array of German names troop in review before our minds to show the influence of this element on our literature and our institutions. From no European source have we received a stronger accession of intellectual currents than from Germany, and whether the field be literature, art, science or music, among their foremost figures are men with German names. They never belonged to the coolie class; they were never identified with the various movements for the suppression of rights, they have had fewer of their race figure in the crime records and more in the ranks of those who stood for liberty, education and progress than any others. Their literature would fill a library, and as Professor Scott Nearing has shown, the American people are a conquering race because they are composed of the descendants of conquerors, the English and Germans.