Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-04-03

triotism as virtue are several IL usand
years ahead Of their time. With all the
tendencies 10 some Of the largest cities of
the country towards opolitanism, and
with all the enc engagement such tendencies
receive with every increased facility for
foreign communication, the fact remains,
we believe, that the person who cannot ex-
perience patriotic emotions, will continue
to be regarded as Of little account. Here
IS what the writer says of him: The
man who becomes Euroreanizsd, who
lo'es his power of doing good work on
this side of the water, and who loses his
love for hi, native land i, not a traitor; but
he is sill y and undesirable citizen. He is
A. emphatically noxious element in our
body polite as is the man who comes here
from abroad and remains a foreigner"
These are timely as well as vigorous words
by Mr.. Roosevelt and should be commend
ell to the consideration Of not a few silly
people who think that everything Of intrin-
sic merit mult come across the ocean, even
the manners which they ape. Fortunate
ly some of these people visited the Worlds
Fair and saw cultured foreigners lost in
wondermept and admiration of American
ISM
II is very apparent that the writer as
every American must, holds the sycophantic
imi.ator Of the for, ign in utmost contempt.
He says: 1T is always better to be an
original than an iml'ation, even when the
imitation is of something better than the
original; but what shall we say of the fool
who is content to be an imitation of some
thing worse? Even if the weaklngs who
seek to be other than Americans were right
| in deeming other nations to be better than
their own, the fact yet remains that to be a
| first class American is fifty-fold better
| than to be second. class Frenchmen
or Engl.hman. As a matter of fact,
however, those of our countrymen
who do believe in American inferiority
| are always individual, who, however cul-
tivsted, have some organic weakness in
their moral or mental makeup; and the
great mass of our people, who are robustly
| patriotic, and who have sound, healthy
minds, are justified in regarding these fee
BILE reneg,des with half impatient and
half amused scorn.'
! To weaken the in fuence of such Euro
/ iiprs and
to Americana, the European born who
come here to live and are only too likely to
bring their foreign prejuiices along with
them are two tasks for the real American
sud he should not be slow to recognize
his duty and to act upon it. With
that kind of "Americanism," described
by Mr.. Roosevelt thoroughly aroused, there
would not be such crying need for munich
| pal reform in our large cities. The foreign
born who come here are fresh from condi-
tons hard and narrow compared with what
| they fna IN America. 1t is little wonder
that they take such interest in the govern
ment of a country that holds out to them a
promise in vivid contrast to the memorable
demands they left behind them. We be-
lieve it is partially due to this zest that they
are so quick, very many of them, to enter
politics for which they have not been fitted
by Americsnizins Influences. If the apa-
thetic who have enjoyed the bless
/ ings of our government and condi-
tons so long that they don't appre-
| ciate them, if such American citizens
of our large cities could experience similar
zest, could feel the real fervor of patriot
ism they would vote AMI work on election
| day, would interest themselves for the
twelve months of the year in their
government, and municipal reform would
become q matter of practice instead of
theory as now.