The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-22

! the earth earthly. Already that word America
mas an intellectual and moral content. That
word America already stands for 400 years
OF history; 1t stands for battles icsr and won;
II stands for sacrifice heroism and the grand
the world has ever seen, and it is simply
true that Columbus only pioneered the
way to the field upon which others fought
tnese battles, won these victories achieved
TINS history and founded these new institu-
tlons Well for us that he did not succeed
IN planting here the ideas and institutions
70 winch he belonged-feudalism absolute
monarchy in government and absolutism in
IeHglon. III you wish to see what the diff
ference would have been you have but to
cast your eyes southwark and compare South
Win North America, for Central and South
america possess the institutions and religion
or Columbus
Into this problem OF ultimate America
from the Intellectual and moral point of view
mere enter many factors. Since 1880 our
n ns,a. mas resembled huge mosaic, with its
separate DTS OF material, composed OF people
| OF various nationaltties Here bit Of Ger
man; there a lfttel Pole or Hungarian: here
ar,I particle OF Scandinavian. and there
orignt spot OF Spanish, and only back
| ground or native American. The hetroeene-
GUS elements mongrel and polyglot must be
i Anaossa down and fused. and the ultimate
! Ailnerlcan cast as resulting product, as the
hnerty bell of the Columbian exposition was
cast from the thousands of different articles
! contributed for that purpose
| UP to 1880 our country had no such prob-
iel1 OH nand do not mean to say that we
nad no foreigners. We had There were
l q
OF Dutch, English and Swedes in New Jer-
sey' ana, strange to say the greatest mix
Jure OF all in Pennsylvania, where there were
I TasSn' SSweees, English, German and Scotch
irish. GOOD authorities tell US that Penn
! savanna was the only colony that contained
| such thoroughly mixed population as we
a. az accustomed to see all over the country
~ our own time. Taken as whole the col
on1es were distinctly English and Protestant.
me foreign element was slight and mini
poptaht- Even the French Huguenots who
11parn fad
that as a distinct race they soon ceased tn
exist, and could be distinguished onIv hu
oneir names All the mixture in New York
anu pennsylvania were not enough to give
q mixed tone to our country. Massachusetts
ana other New England colonies were thor
otban Enghsh, and so We're Virginia and
| otner Southern colonies.
II Is also significant fact that during the
uIse hIty years or our history and through
| lne period OIL the Revolution the most of our
| great men were the products of the two com
4 monwealths that were more homogeneous
IMAM any other in race, religion and ideas
massachusetts, and Virginia 1t is a simple
lact tnat since that time we have had no
| set OF men equal to them in splendid ability.
IoItness OF ideas and grandeur of public life
:; In the period beginning with the Reyolu-
ZION, and lasting about forty years there
was little immigration, and the foreign ele-
ment was absorbed and overwhelmed by the
| native growth We are told by authorities
that IN mat period our population doubled
itself each twenty-three years by births alone
| an fncISase never equaled SINCE even with the
ala or the greatest foreign immigration that
could be poured in upon u.s.
But with 1880 began the increasing tide Of
immigration that has poured in upon us ever
since. 1t Is needless to dwell upon its ex-
| tent or results. In the decade from 1880 to
| 1890. over 5,000o00 exclusive of Immigrants
! from Mexico and British North America were
AIDED to our population. From 1850 to 1890
To- Ooo. In 1882 alone the number Of i'm
migrants was equal to that Of our entire his
| tory up to 1840 Our foreign population dou-
pied itself in the decade between 1880 and
1880. And now 1t is estimated that the for
elgnIDorn and those Of foreign parentage
| constitute fully one-third of our population.
| The population of sixtyfve cities and towns
| OF Massachusetts, contain so per cent of for
| e1gn birth and parentage, while at least so
per cent of Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit
Cleveland and New York are Of the same
| alien element.
| The peril lies, not in the quantity, but in
! the quality of this enormous addition. The
character OF immigration has changed. For
meriy we received the choice product Of
/ England, Ireland and Northern Europe
! skilled laborers and useful citizens. Now
/ 80 per cent of our immigration is unskilled,
and herds in our cities and is composed of
! undesirable Observation-Disclosures Huns and
| Poles. Down into New England the French
Canadians are erowding, bringing their Ian
| guage, customs, education and religion. They
/ are held together and are prolific in family
! life. so that ultimate New England Is likely
| to become New France
| What will be the result? There may be
those who purely optimistic in viewing
/ the situation. 1t was MIR. Beecher who said
! In substance that America was like the ele-
phant. This huge animal may be seen strid-
ing through the forest, pulling up trees and
breaking off limbs which he consumes for
| food. But the food taken in so capaciously
IS all transformed into elephant. So, said the
/ speaker, this land takes in yoraciously all
! the peoples of the old world but it's assin1
iiatVe and transforming power is such that it
makes them ali into good Americans.
Now Mr.. Beecher was believer in eyoIu-
ton, and one of the modifying forces rec
! ogn1zed by that science is that Of food In
| the Origin of Species Mr.. Darwin men
tons the black bear of this continent which
has been seen swimming for hours with
wide open mouth thus catching, like whale
insects in the water. Mr. Darwin declared
tnat even In SO extreme case as this, if the
supply Of insects were constant he could
see no difficulty in race Of bears being rem
dered, by naturel selection more and more
aquatic In their structure and habits, with
larger and larger mouths, till g. creature was
produced as monstrous as a whale.
One of the subjects upon which modern
science turns its attention most strenuously
Is that OF food 1t is known to the medical
fraternity as the prolific cause of disease To
imagine that the American elephant can
escape the results Of poor food is to tax our
credulity. Food affects the temper of the
elephant as boyish experiments taught u.s.
The American elephant fed on Russian Jews
German anarchists, Italian beggars Huns and
Poles will be q very different animal from
the one fed by the offspring of homogeneous
American homes.
So they tell us that by the mingling Of
Prof Edmund ]. Wolf declares that at is
the fusion of diverse races and elements
that has given this country its phenomenal
and splendid development, and in the trans
fusion of blood lies the condition and guar
antee of the future The amalgamatipn of
Celtic Saxon and Norman blood created the
Anglo-Saxon race. The continued fusion Of
Norman and Saxon blood with out stock is
making nation on the like of which Gods
sun never shone."
So distinguished writer has said: ssWhen
in near future the United States shall have
one hundred million inhabitants their ma
ttonal peculiarities will be German thor
oughness, solidity and fidelity; Anglo Saxon
positiyeness and energy, and Celtic magma
ton." 1 cannot help thinking that the dis
tinguished writer possessed of an over
whelming portion of the last-named element
the Celtic imagination.
There is power in America to American
iZe, but whether the whale swallows Jonah
or Jonah swallows the whale depends on
relative capacity, to say nothing of the eff
feet after the swallowing has taken place
1t Is beautiful dream that of imagining
the coming American characterized by
only the best qualities of all the peoples who
compose his diversified ancestry.
Mrs. DR.. DeLoss Love followed in
an address upon the best manner of
honoring the memories of the Pilgrim
Fathers. Mrs. Love said that there
must have been magic in the call for
the topic, as it seemed as if the spirit Of
Priscilla herself had been called down
amongst the guests. It was largely
puritanical sense of duty and love
which had called the guests together.
1t was one of the Pilgrim fathers
greatest characteristics was their
loyalty to their principles. Mrs Love
was a great admirer Of the pilgrims.
She wittilly remarked that she was
sorry she could not say she was a
Priscilla, but she could not, as she only