The Portland daily press., 1897-10-02

ible with genuine patriotism should read
the address of Archbishop Ireland at st.
Cloud, Mimi, on Tuesday, in which he
reaffirmed the loyalty of the church in
this country to American institutions
and American ideals. He said: 'EThis
morning there are here no Engli shmen,
no Irishmen; there are here no Germans,
there are here no Frenchmen; we are all
Americans by every fibre of the heart and
by every thought of the mind' That
does not sound like narrow and bigoted
utterance, such as our friends of the A.
P. A. insist the typical Roman Catholic
is won't to indulge in. 1t has just the
kind of ring we might expect in the
Fourth of July address of somebody
whose ancestors came over in the May
flower.
AS the Archbishop pointed out in the
course of his remarks, the United States
does not bar the use of foreign languages.
We are all of us glad to know that an i'm
migrant has learned the English Ian
guage, because that is the national
tongue in a very practical as well as in q
sentimental sense. Anyone who cannot
talk English is seriously Handicapped
IN his intercourse with his fellows on this
side of the ocean, and is somewhat OF o
nuisance to those with whom he comes in
contact. 1t Is the part of common sense
for any new conner to these shores to pick
up as much of the prevailing language
as he can, and the great majority of our
Immigrants of course do that very thing
They are quite as anxious to learn Eng
lish as we are to have them, and their
rapid progress in acquiring enough to
serve them Is frequently surprise. But
why should we desire them to abandon
their former tongue entirely? They are
attached to 1t by host of old associa-
lions. 1t calls back to them some of the
most intimate recollections OF their
earlier life. If the continued use of 1t
has its dangers 1t has certain value
also.
"The more languages we know, the
better" says Archbishop Ireland, land 1t
were unnatural to believe that we could
at once forget the music of other lam
guages and that our tongues should not
lisp their words. All such things Amer
lea permits. She is the land of liberty
and the land Of common sense" We
should resent any interference with our
right to speak English If we ourselves
emigrated to another country. 1t would
impertinence if the Chinese government
forbade our missionaries to teach Eng
fish, to speak it and to conduct their re-
Hg1ous services in 1T, merely because they
happened to be on Chinese territory. Is
there any terrible menace to our insUitu-
tions inIthe use of a foreign tongue in re-
ligious servicesP If body of Christians
wish to worship in Sanscrit or Corean,
what is to hinder them? "But mean
while America says Archbishop Ire
and, sis our own country; her honor and
her life are to be always preferred, and
memories of other lands are to swell up
within our bosoms only when no harm
from them can come to America, and
only on condition that America is always
supreme" That is patriotic enough to
suit anybody.
We should remember that the tendency
among immigrants is to become assimi-
lated in an overwhelming population
rather than to assimilate 1t. Little bodies
Of aliens who speak foreign language
are almost certain in the course of time
to give up their old speech in measure
and become better acquainted with the
tongue of those about them. 1t Is indeed
unfortunate when whole communities, as
is the case in some portions of the Middle
States and the West, are composed of
people who speak another than the Eng
lish language habitually, but unless we
are foolishly lax in our restrictions of i'm
migration in the future no such far
| reaching harm as the alarmists are won't
to predict will ensue from this condition.
Some of the greatest plague spots in our
population are among those who speak
the English language. There are no enc.
mics OF our common progress more dan
gerous than may be found among those
who have never been outside the limits of
the United States. We ought to recall
these things before we indulge In whole
sale denunciation of Immigrants who
cling to their old religion nd,language.
So long as leaders like the Minnesota
Archbishop are dominant in the Roman
Catholic Church we need not fear that it
will become an unpatriotio institution.
"We are all one," he says" proclaim
1t before the altar-one in faith, one in
nationality"