Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1873-05-16

The Christian Era, referring to former
fears that the large Catholic emigntion to
this country will give predominance to the
Catholic element in our national life. says
The danger, if real, has long since passed.
1t need create no alarm The number of
Irish emigrants is fast diminishing, and the
ratio OF emigration to the older population
grows steadily smaller with each successive
year. Ireland has nearly exhausted itself.
The hive no longer overfows, pushing its Wig
orous swarms to seek new homes. The pop
ulatlon Is even now too small for the needs
OF the country. The demands for labor are
abundant and remuneratiye and all, of in
dustrous habits, can find constant employ
ment at satisfactory wages. Motives to tempt
emigration are still powerful The hatred of
English supremacy is deep rooted, and impels
jealous patriots to escape from the yoke.
The letters from friends in the United States
are frequent and eloquent. urging all to seek
home in the new world. But the attach
mcnt to the Emerald Isle is strong, and as it
improves in wealth and comforts and wages
ior the industrious, its sons will be less in
chned to desert the mother land. Recent
travellers in Ireland uniformly refer to a great
social change in Ireland. resembling that So
often noticed in New England The period
Tor large families has gone by. 1t is rare
event TO find a peasants cottage crowded
with ten or fifteen children. Even five or six
children are seldom seen, and it is more COM
mon 10 find only two or three. The contrast
to the old times, preceding the famine, when
every hovel Swamed both withinand without
with unwashed urchins, Is said to be extra
ordinary. Whether the fecundity of the ma
tional stock Is weakened, or orothersocial causes
have induced the change, the result is
the same in its influence ON migration. The
change Is net yet apparent in this country.
Large families in Irish districts are the rule
rather than the exception. But either the
change of climate, or careless habits living,
occasion an alarming mortality. The death
rate among Irish children is two-iold larger
than in native families, so that the number
Of those who reach adult years in the latter
Is probably as great as in theiormer, in spite
of the great disparity Of births. Nor should
1t be forgotten that emigration has less dis
turbing influence on the national life every
year. When our population ranged from
five to twenty millions, the annual incoming
Of three hundred thousand strangers was an
important event, whose effect every states
man was bound to consider. But the inflow
of the same number. when the nation has
grown to forty millions, is scarcely felt 1t
makes but Slight ripple on the surface, and
soon disappears, swallowed up in the great
mass. The Irish element in the migration is
already smaller than the German or the En-
gli>h. and may soon be inferior to the Swedish
or Norwegian. The national influences which
tend to fuse all races into one. ought to be
mightier than clannish divisions, though the
latter are nurtured by vigilant priesthood
The danger from migration has gone by. 1t
only remains for American citizens to pre-
serve their institutions intact, especially the
system Of public schools and in the end pa
triotiSm viii draw even the Irish Catholics
lm.l an lntn- -inent and hnartr r.rnltr