St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-10-10
Gbe CALIFORNIAN.
=. John-burr. Thur-da,. Oct. 20. 1853.
AN IMMIGRATION PROBLEM.

In his newest book the writer who
calls himself Max O'Rell describes
very brightly the Frenchman resident
in England =
You will meet there" he says, "a
type of Frenchman who, after resid-
ing 10, Is, 20 years in England, can
not speak English. He is proud of
it, and sometimes wonders that,
with so many Frenchmen in England,
the English do not speak French by
this time. =. He receives his paper
from France every day, and avoids
readinga an English one . This wor-
thy Frenchman carries his patriotism
to the extent of buying all his cloth
ing in France. He declares it i'm
possible to wear English garments
and almost impossible to wear out
French ones If his English vo-
cabulary is of the most limited, his
knowledge of England is still more
so. He will tell you sOlemnly that
the eldest SONS of the peers are bar
onets and represent in the house OF
commons the borOughs that their
fathers represent in the house of
lords. A correspondent of a Paris
ian paper once wrote to his editor
that Lord Salisbury had kissed
the Queens hand on his appointment
as leader of her majesty's opposi-
ton
This will be read by most people as
very amusing charactiza ton and
as nothing more. But it has a mean
ing for Americans which, perhaps,
they little suspect This is true
picture of Frenchmen by a French
man and is worth attention. Every
one will admit that the narrOwness,
the intense spirit of nationality, the
utter refusal to do in Rome as the
Romans do units such Frenchmen as
are here portrayed to be citizens OF
any but their own country. Yet
these men are, according to the testi-
mony of the man who draws them,
educated and intelligent. 1t was not
long since that we called attention
in The Advertiser to q warning cry
sent up by a writer in the Forum
against the French-Canadians, who
are flocking into this country in I'M
suspected numbers The French
Canadian is the same man as that
drawn by Max O'Rell, only, be it re-
marked, completely lacking in his
education and his intelligence. Con
Sequently his refusal to be anything
but Frenchman, to take any inter
est whatever in his adopted country
is even if possible, still more com
plete. His attitude is one of Sullen
and dOgged opposition to anything
that tends to change him from what
he is Plainly, Max O'Rell's descrip-
ton is something else than merely
amusing. In connection with this
subject, the following quotation from
the ST. Johnsbury (Vt) Caledonian
will prove interesting. The writer is
speaking of the proposed scheme of
colonizing Vermont with Swedes:-
THE French Canadians" he says,
ARE coming into Vermont in great
numbers. They already own a good
share of the farms in the northern
tier of counties and are filling the
manufacturing towns with opera
tives of both sexes, and laborers in
all departments of industry and
trade When it is known that in a
place no larger than St. Johnsbury
(which had but $500 inhabitants in
1880, the parish priest numbers his
parish at between 1900 and 1000
souls, the increase of the Canadian
element into Vermont begins to be
appreciated"
Now, what is said of Vermont is
true also of Massachusetts and other
New England states. 1t is believed
to be true, also, that the Roman
church is encouraging the emigra-
ton, and encouraging also the French
determination to remain French
There is danger in this. We do not
want a nation within nation. We
want no man here who is not, poten-
italy at least an American If immi-
grants won't sing Yankee Doodle,
they must be made to sing it. With
mature French-Canadians probably
nothing can be done; with the chill
dren something is possible. If we
wish not to have an alien and con-
nected body among us, armed with
great power by ballot which they
will use, if at all, to further their own
interests and not those of their
adopted country, we must have a
stringent school law, and moreover
enforce it we'll Boston Advertiser