St. Paul daily globe., 1893-06-12
WHAT II ALL MEANS.
Chandler and Blair Will Wage
War on the Foreign-Born
Citizen.
How the American Protective
Association Copies the
KnoWnothings.
Bissell'S Life Tenure for
Foupth-Class Postmasters
Will Not Hold.
Secretary Hoke Smith and His
Liberal Rulings Toward
Settlers.
Special to the Globe.

Special to the Globe.
WASHINGTON, June 11.-Unless all
signs fail, the coming session of con-
gress will see an attempt to revive the
prejudices against citizens of foreign
birth which disgraced this country forty
years ago. In the senate, Chandler, of
New Hampshire, and i'll the lower
house, Blair, of the same state, will lead
the attacks. Chandler has already given
notice that he will introduce a bill
to limit the suffrage to those
immigrants who have actually taken
out their second papers," and thus
completed their naturalization. The
fact that this can only be done by coz
stitUtional amendment, which the states
would certainly never ratify. is proof
conclusive that the New Hampshire
senator has but one object in putting
forward this proposition; it is to arouse
the spirit of intolerance and bigotry of
period long past. The constitution of
the United States in the second section
says:
The house Of representatives shall
be composed of members chosen every
second year by the people of the several
states, and the electors in each state
shall have the qualifications requisite
for electors of the most numerous branch
o. the state legislature"
Belongs TO the States.
In Minnesota. for example, an immi-
grant can step up to the polls and vote
upon declaring his intention to become
a citizen after he has resided in the
state four months. In nearly all of the
Western and Southern states similar
laws are on the statute books. By eX-
tending the newcomer the hand of fel-
lowshlp in this way, it is argued that he
at once takes all interest i'll the govern
ment and is made to appreciate the re
sponslbilities of American citizenship.
However, were ChandIer's intentions
proper, there is no possibility of the
states ratifying such all amendment. AT
the present time and from the begin
ming this question has been settled by
the people of each state. 1t is one of the
reserved rights, and it will not be i'm
paired.
In opposing the Knownothings .of to-
day the Democratic party will be but
standing by her record i'll the past. In
the Democratic national convention of
1856, which met at Cincinnati to nOmi-
nate candidate for the presidency, the
declaration placed in the platform was
so courageous that it has stood ever
since. 1t was courageous because in
1854 and 1866 the so-called American
party had been carrying almost every
thing before it, and all parties. save the
Democratic, were ready to tOady and
trade with the Kn0wnOthings. The
Democratic national convention met the
issue sQuarely by adopting the follow
ing:
Liberal Principles.
"Ihe liberal principles embodied by
Jefferson in the Declaration OF lnde-
pendence, and sanctioned by the con-
sttutlon. which makes ours the land of
liberty and the asylum OF the oppressed
of every nation. have ever been cardinal
principles i'll the Democratic faith"
And OH this plain and unequivocal
declaration the Knownothings were
routed and the Democratic candidates
elected. 1t was considered good Dem
ocratic doctrine then as we'll as in every
succeeding contest, and is now. The
American Protective association which
is now at work in all parts of
the country is, like the American
movement of the fiftieS,a gigantic secret
society, and for that reason its leaders
boast that its full strength will be
known only at the ballot box 1t is for
this reason so much more dangerous.
An open foe can be got at and yigor-
ouSly opposed, at least. TO those who
have watched the recent performances
Of the common council of Duluth the
following extracts from James Ford
Rhodes History of the United States
from the compromise of 1850 will prove
interesting because showing the eX-
cesses into which intolerance and big
otry led the ancestor of the American
Protective association of the present
time.
Came Up In the Night.
"A far more important element pollt-
icaIly," says Rhodes, speaking concern
ing the political situation early in 1854,
"was the Knownothing movement. The
Knownothings made their power felt i'll
the municipal elections in the spring
and early summer. Their most notable
success was achieved in Philadelphia,
when the candidate they supported for
mayor was elected by large majority.
These results opened the eyes of the
politicians and of the outside public to
the fact that new force must be taken
into account"
All that is needed, as rule, to de
stroy a movement of this nature is an
exhibition or two like that made by the
majority of the Duluth common council
when Bishop McGolrick was refused
confirmation as member of the public
library board. But it took long time
to wipe out the KnOWnOthingS, although
it was most thoroughly done, and for
forty years to even inSinuate man was
KnownOthing has been regarded as
The GrOssest Insult
that could be offered one man by an
other.
1.-The methods of the Knownothings," :"
says Rhodes. ''Were more Objectionable
than their aims. The party was vast
secret society with ramifications in every
state. Secret lodges were instituted
everywhere, with passwords and de-
grees, grips and signs. The initiation
was solemn. The candidate who pre-
sented himself for admission-must, with
his right hand upon the Holy Bible and
the cross. take solemn oath of Sc
crecy. Then, if he were twenty-one, if
he believed in God, if he had been born
in the United States, if neither he him
self, nor his parents nor MS Wl1e were
Roman Catholics, and he had been
reared under Protestant influences, he
was considered proper applicant"
Strong in Minnesota.
This is the way the Knownothings of
forty years ago worked, and it is con-
ceded fact that the same disgraceful
business is now gong on in all parts of
the country, and particularly in Mime
sofa, where no doubt the Protestant
members OF the order, who may happen
to have had the misfortune to have been
born in a foreign land, will be glad to
learn that in the Eastern states the
American Protective association is
against all foreigners, regardless of
their race or creed.
Is this party that the people of Min
nesota can afford to nourish?