THE WESTERN AMERICAN
: December, 1922
lordes from southern Europe, forget our great debt of grati­
tude to these aliens of an earlier day.
I As
XX» the
wie son
bull of
UX an
all immigrant
UlUlll£Xa.XlU I X call
Villi on
Mil you
JUU whatever
nuawfw your
jwwx
Ice—Scandinavian, German, English, Scotch, Irish, Italian,
■ Russians, Bulgarian, whatever you may be—to subscribe to
■ phese sentiments that no alien shall be admitted through the
ates of Ellis Island unless he is fitted for citizenship and
arenthood.
I
)
I
The character of our immigration has changed vastly during
ie last twenty-five years. It has followed a course from the
orth of Europe to the south.
If you want your New England civilization perpetuated, you
lust cease to pour upon these shores the millions of strange
®ime
London.
If Chicago
were
Ices as that
have already
made
us, as in large
spots as at London
least, it
a would
foreign
Rive
thirty-six
as many
of law. today
London
'luntry!
Most times
of the
crime violations
in this country
can is be
Wade
up
of
a
homogeneous
people
whose
roots
extend
far
’laced to the kind of immigration we have had in the into
last
sBie
past; Chicago
a polyglot
place
'I'enty-five
years, is Chicago
today
has where
twelve every
times language
as much
’Ender the sun can be heard. New York has eight times as
Wuch crime as London—metropolitan New York is two-thirds
"Be size of London. If New York were the size of London,
■ew York would have twelve times as much crime and for
Itactly the same reason as with Chicago.
♦
4¡
♦
I Out in this great Northwestern part of America the
weponderance of our stock is of English Teutonic
lid Scandinavian blood. In these parts of America
the fusion is still normally healthy. Here the moron
e
Les not breed with his kind. The life plasm changes
aid
the melting pot is actually melting and fusing the
y
rains.
r-
This cannot be said any longer of our larger eastern
ties in particular, where a new biological condition
h risen. That condition has its political reflex and
{that reflex we see the moron majority piling up.
And in these cities we detect the spawning ground
r the thug, the assassin, and the exploiting elements
r X
-------
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!--1—- . from
---- the
fho
buy
or x__x..
trade ..---------
immunity
or privileges
X jiief magistrates to the petty police officer.
I Our Constitution and our laws have been written,
ii nd our government established for one kind of people,
steamship companies are transporting another
r- Ind of people from across the sea, who care little for
lir Constitution, our laws, and our government.
I The history of Greece contains a forceful lesson to
is in America at this time.
>: I America is an attempt to institutionalize the Puri-
in ideal. It contains the aspiration of the greatest
hi pod for the greatest number and that all men are
■>:
rested equal. This can only be true as far as they
oi re equal before the law.
ny
Senator Walsh’s resolution must be defeated. It
In be defeated by a popular expression of public
linion speaking its unmistakable sentiment: “They
|h all not pass!”
Individuals and organizations can serve their coun­
ty effectively by wiring or writing the immigration
knmittee "in either house of Congress a protest
jainst proceedings looking toward the adoption of
le million or more war refugees of Smyrna and
brace.
ss
While there is one single American laborer unem-
Í
loyed in America let public opinion hold it a misde­
9
meanor to import alien labor to take the places of the
American workingmen, though the alien may be able
and willing to work for less.
Let us have a public clamor for American protec­
tion that will be heard and heeded in the American
legislative halls until there shall not be one represen­
tative who shall have the courage to ask for the
slightest compromise involving American protection
against an inevitable invasion of foreign peoples and
the menace of an open door immigration policy.
AMERICANIZATION AND EDUCATION PRO­
GRESSING IN THE MOUNTAIN REGIONS
OF THE SOUTH
'THE Textile Industrial Institute at Spartanburg,
South Carolina, has recently been forced to turn
young men and women away who were eagerly seek­
ing an education. With equipment for only 200 pupils
and more than twice this number applying for ad­
mission each year, it is easily understood how this
mill school has become inadequate. In this industrial
institution they are trying to provide simultaneously
an education and a livelihood to the mountain folk of
the South and make them better Americans and bet­
ter and more intelligent workers at the same time.
With a capital of $100 and one pupil—a married
man, thirty-three years old—this institute began its
work ten years ago and in this short space of time
has succeeded in gaining the confidence of the moun­
taineers, who now send their sons and daughters to
work in the mill without fear of their being led en­
tirely away from home influences. Many of the pres­
ent workers have been sent to the school by parents
who were also pupils there. In this way Americani­
zation has gradually invaded this isolated southern
mountain region.
In order that the operatives may be entirely self-
supporting they are given one week of schooling and
one week of work. In this way even those who are
grown-up near-illiterates get ready for college in
from three to five years. At the same time, the men
and women are being taught a trade which will give
them a living wherever they may go. Experts have
pronounced the Textile Industrial Institute “the best
textile laboratory in any school in America.”
Many of the pupils are married. A man and wife
often enter school at the same time. The students
live in the dormitories provided by the institute,
which are easily accessible to both their work and
their classes. The average age of the student body
is twenty-two years and the majority have not
reached the sixth grade when they come to the In­
stitute from their mountain homes.
The founders of the mill school have had their fond
hopes realized, seeing the men and women who are
trained in the mill school eventually become the lead­
ers of the three-quarters of a million textile popula­
tion of the South. The school is a great factor in
settling labor difficulties. It keeps the workers quiet
and interested. The knowledge which they are ac­
quiring each day means more to them than anything
else in the world. And the education which these
young people are gaining will throughout their lives