Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-05-24
poses called charitable.

poses called charitable.
The various forms of outdoor relief con
stitute, as McCulloch has shown, "a corrup-
ton fund of the worst kind. America ha>
virtually failed in the management of he
cities This failure is most complete where
the manipulation of paupers and criminals is
boldest and most effective. Moreover, the
efiluvium of municipal corruption flows ont
and poisons politics of tho State and ma
ton
THE MENACE OF THE vENAL VOTERS.
Every venal, cowardly or ignorant voter
is a menace to the safety of republican in
stitutions. The essential purpose of popular
suffrage is not to secure good government,
but to produce an interest in civil affairs
that will sooner or later bring about good
government. This growth in civic knowl
edge is impossible without a foundation of
intelligence.
The choice of negro suffrage was the
wisest choice among the many evils having
their rise in negro slavery. 1t was the least
of the evils, no doubt but an evil neverthe
less Every evil is likely sooner or later to
become a suppurating sore in the body pol
tito.
DANGERS OF IMMIGRATION.
The dangers of foreign immigration lie in
the overflow to our shores of hereditary un
fitness The causes that lead to degrade
ton have long been at work among the
poor of Europe. The slums of every city
in the old world are full of the results
Apparently few cases of hereditary inefli
cheney exist in America that could not be
traced back through similar lineage to the
dependent classes in the old world. 1t
takes many generations to found a pauper
stock. Misfortune sickness, ntemperance,
the weakness of old age often lead to
poverty and personal misery But personal
causes do not lead to hereditary pauperism.
The essential danger of unrestricted immi
grafton is not in bringing in an alien popu-
lation, strange to our language and our
customs. Language and customs count for
little if the blood is good The children
learn our language even 90 the forgetting
of their own. Love of country is lust ao
genuine in Norwegian or German dialect,
as it is i'll English or Irish. There is little
danger either in the violent opinions or leo
noclastic theories. The red flag of anarchy
will not wave whore real oppression does
not exist,
GERMS OF PAUrERlsM AND CRIME.
But the immigration of poverty, degrade
ton, and disease make government by the
people more and more difficult. Every fam,
lily of Jukes or Ishmaels that enters Castle
Garden carries with it the germs of pauper-
ism and crime. They bear the leproSy and
crime of the old world to faint the fields of
the new. The "assiste Immigration at
jamestown years ago has left its trail of
pauperism and crime from Virginia across
Carolina Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri
even to California. Wherever its blight
has gone there are the same inefficient men,
sickly women, frouzy children, starved
horses, barking cur dogs, careleSsness, vim
dctiveness and neglect of decency.
Withdrawal from the competition of life,
withdrawal from selt-helpful activity. aided
by the voluntary assistance from Others, --
these factors have made the tribe of lsh-
mae These conditions bring about the
same results in all ages and among all races,
among the lower animals was well as among
men The same effects of similar causes are
seen in the decline of the royalty and nobl-
ty of Europe, as well as the degradation of
European cretins and thieves, There is no
development without activity, and no race
is 50 perfect that judicious wedding out
could not improve ii.
What can be done to remedy this source
of evils TO know the evil is to go half
way toward its cure. Penal reform, chart
ties reform, civil service reform, the pro
hibition of papuer immigration, education
in social science-all these look i'll the drec
ton Of cure. In knowledge lies the sure Il
remedy for most social and political evils
Let us our enemy face to face and We
can strike him. What more can he done i,
the work of students of social science to de
termine. One thing is certain, in the word,
Of DIR. Amos G. Warner, that the "func
ton of charity is to restore to usefulness
those who are temporarily unfit and to al
low those unfit from heredity to become eX
tnct with as little pain as possible Sooner
or later the last duty will be not less impor
tant the first. Good blood well as fire.,
schools and free environment is essential tc
the making of a nation,
DAVID STARR JORDAN.
Palo Alto, California.