THE
UNITED
merican
A MAGAZINE OF GOOD CITIZENSHIP
Devoted to the Cause of
Americanization, Assimilation and Group Elimination; Pointing the way to a Constitutional
Americanism, to Equality in Citizenship, and a better understanding
between Native born and Foreign born.
[Vol. 4 Ä"0U8 22
November, 1925
Number 2
WHEN JUSTICE IS SWEPT OVERBOARD
[THE IMMIGRANTS MUST TOIL THROUGH OBSTACLES
By H. J. LANGOE
[WITHOUT A QUESTION it is true that the bulk
I •
of the federal and state legislative enactments,
■since the world war, pertaining to regulations and
■restrictions of the immigrant people in America, can
easily be traced to one common source.
Whether it be defined by the general term intoler-
lance, or separated into several contributing arteries
of mental perversities, such as inflated racial self-
Iconsciousness and superiority feeling, foolish pride or
I jealousy, all hidden beneath a thin veneer of patriotism,
I—it matters not, eventually it emerges into the great
■stream of intolerance which has swept through our
gland inundating and submerging every level of sound
■reason.
*
But as the torrential stream is receding and flowing
; into the normal channels of public opinion, its influence
is being checked. The survey is revealing a deplorable
■state of destruction far greater than any good that
■can be found and the American levels of reason and
■“square shooting” have fared badly.
While the Northwest can boast an exceptionally
■fine class of immigrants, a thrifty and industrious type,
of a higher average intellect than can be found in any
■ other section of the country, the appreciation of the
I immigrant and his contributions in this section is sadly
■below par.
In the maelstrom of maledictions that has been
■ flowing freely in this section of the country for some
■time, much of the constructive values have been over-
looked while the acts of the criminal aliens, though
■ comparatively few, have been magnified beyond all
■reason. In mills and factories and in construction work,
where there are great hazzards, as well as in field and
■ in forest, the immigrants have been sent forth to labor
■ and perform heavy and dangerous physical tasks. Out
■ on the fivers and streams, on the rough seas, from the
■ shore lines to the far distant banks, miles out the
■ ocean way, these sturdy people of foreign birth have
performed services of vast economic benefit to the
Northwestern states.
It is nothing but the truth that the immigrant
people actually started the fishing industry in this
section of the country. They knew how to fish, they
were trained in early life to brave the dangers that are
ever present when the storms are raging. Another
important fact is that it is the foreign born and their
children who furnish the demand for the fish products
that come in such great varieties from this section of
the country and in such great quantities. When we then
consider, if we are fair, that it is the foreign bom who
are catching the fish, citizens of a year, perhaps a few
short years at best, then it becomes clear that from an
economic standpoint, as a whole, the immigrant has
been contributing more than he has taken away. If
there is doubt in any one’s mind regarding who is
the producer and who is the consumer of the North
west fish products, verification can easily be obtained
from the canners and packers of the fish products who
know the fishermen and have gone to the trouble of
finding out who the actual consumers are.
The fishing industry alone has given the north
western states a tremendous source of annual revenue,
averaging pretty, well, through the years, in proportion
to the capital invested, in boats, nets, gears, canneries
and plants.
The native American has never taken to the actual
fishing end of the industry, except in rare instances,
and then it is usually the children of foreign bom fish
ermen who have been trained by' their elders. The
native American is creating a very small demand. His
taste is more for meat products than for fish. His fish
orders are few and far between. These facts should
always be borne in mind whenever the mountebanks
are “on the air” discoursing on “the terrible aliens and
how much better we would have been off if they never
had. come over.” ■
The American community, before the war, was