Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-06-07

1854, 219 200 and our gain, without refer
ence to the actual capital which the immi-
grants brought, would exceed the dizzy sum
of billion dollars.
Optimists who reason thus. however, al
ways take it for granted that every man is
worth what it cost to raise him--which is,
in my opinion, far from being "A self-evdent
proposition. Many are worth Il vast deal
more; but the number of those who fail to
yield interest on the capital invested is also
very considerable Probably when both
classes are taken into consideration, Fried
rich Kapp's estimate will be found to be rs
near an approach to the truth as We may
ever hope to arrive at But unEapplv the
problem has another aspect which political
economists of this class have not sufficiently
taken into account. The immigrant is o good
deal more complex quantity than these gen
tlemeu are apt to consider him. IL brings
not only muscle and loose change with him;
but heart and brain which are epitomcS
of the history Of his race and his country
and which will politically affect the destiny
Of the race and country with which he
chooses to identify himself. He will raise
or lower in accordance with his quality, the
average intelligence and morality of our
electorate, which again will be reflected in
and national legislatures Being what they
are, the vast majority of immigrants and
particularly those Of alien race, complicate
by their presence the problem of self-gov
eminent and make its issue more prob
lematic than otherwise it would have been.
There is no constitution conceivable which
is so abstractly excellent as to be applicable
to all nations. Every known system of gov
eminent is completely adapted only for the
people which evolved it, and of whose spirit
and historical tradition it is legitimate ex
preston 1t may by stretch he applied to
a people differently constituted; but it will
in that case work less satisfactorily and the
alien people will instantly take it in hand
through the suffrage and gradually fit it to
their physical and moral condition. 1t is
this very thing which is taking place in the
United States to-day. Our people is no long
or what it was n century ago Fifteen mil
lion immigrants, many of whom We're the
subjects of despotically governed countries,
have since 1920 taken up their abode among
u.s. and if we take their descendants into ac
count, we cannot escape the conclusion that
scarcely one-half of the American nation to-
day are of American origin, that is, descend
ants of people settled here before 1920
cannot but believe that lin spite of much
I
Of the sinister phenomena in our present
political condition are due TO the changed
character of the electorate and its lack Of
ability to work representative government
for the greatest benefit of the greatest mum
Der | am well aware, of course, that the
widest political heresies have found their
adherents in States like Kansas Mississippi
and Colorado, which have attracted com
paratively few aliens; while Wisconsin and
Minnesota, which are preponderatingly
German and Scandinavian, are fairly well
governed States, with an intelligent and
wholesome conservative electorate. This
fact proves only that American birth is in
itself no guaranty Of political maturity; and
that aliens of kindred blood may make very
excellent American citizens. The Germauic
element in our population in fact always has
been a most valuable one, and furnished a
needed counterpoise against the mercurial