Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1903-08-26
CHRISTIAN ENDEAvoR.


Vii. 1. s; II Chron. vi. 81. SC. dIome mis-
siors.)
There is no more important problem
before the Christian church of America
today than that Of dealing with tie
stranger or the foreigner in our land.
The prayer of the church used 10 be.
Lord, open the doors Of al lands to
the gospel and not only has tAis
prayer been answered, but God has
brought and is bringing TO our shores
thousands and thousands from other
lands who are in serious need of the
gospel of Christ.
The seriousness Of the problem be-
fore the church today from the stand
point of the foreigner is evident when
we take into consideration several i'm
portant facts concerning our foreign
population.
1. Their numbers. Our population in
1900, not including our insular posses
sions, was 76.303.3ST. OF this number
no, 460,0S5 We're foreign born and TO-
6ST 800 were the children of foreign
born parents. Thus every third person
In the United States is either foreign
born or the child of foreign born par
ents. Moreover. immigra ton is in
creasing instead of decreasing. 1t has
averaged for the past five years about
10000 a week, and it has been esti-
mated that there will come TO US this
year $4,000 foreigners. an average of
over 10000 a week. What a serious
problem confronts us from the stand
point of numbers alone,
2. Their character. The nations
which produce the most undesirable
classes of people are steadily sending
larger numbers to us, while the best
nations of Europe are more and more
sending less immigrants to our shores
Formerly the best nations Of Europe
gave us their people. and to them we
are indebted for much of our greatness.
But today this Is changed. While
Great Britain. Germany. France and
Greece are sending fewer immigrants.
Austria Hungary, Italy, and principally
southern Italy. and Russia are sending
NJ more. In the calendar year of 1906
we received 111.0SS immigrants from
Italy, 10S, T01 from Austria-Hungary
and 90. 4S6skrom Russia. while In the
same year there came from Great Brit
ain but 1852 immigrants. from the
German empire 20.96S. from Greece
1904 and Prom France but 2,9I1. The
worst nations Of Europe are sending us
their worst classes-foreign in speech,
in customs, in religious beliefs and in
character
8. Their methods of settling in our
land. The general tendency of the for
eign element is to congregate according
to nationalities in certain sections Of
our country, the chief places of segre-
CATION being our large cities. our great
eastern industrial sections and the ag-
ricultural districts of the west and
northwest. Thus our large cities have
their Little Italy," Little Germany"
Little Scandinavia" and chinatown"
Crowded together by the thousands,
they live surrounded by squalor and
confusion and by moral and spiritual
degradation. In our great industrial
and agricultural centers similar condi.
lions exist. In the very heart of such
an American commonwealth as Penn
sylvania entire communities can be
FOUND where foreign languages are
spoken. costumes worn, newspapers
read, political and religious beliefs held
and practiced.
! The problems of such an element IN
our population are serious and great.
These people must be lifted up or they
will drag us down. Our social, polit-
acal and Christian institutions are all
endangered by their presence in our
land. They must be Christianized and
Americanized or their presence here
will be a constant menace to our ma
dcnal welfare and Christian institu-
lions. The church should measure up
to its resp possibility in this matter.
Solomon prayed concerning the
stranger which is not of Thy peopl.
Israel" and SO we should pray and
labor for the salvation of the stranger
within our gates"
+ BIBLE READINGS.
Neh. II, is; Ps. cxxxvii, 5, 6; cxlvi,
o; lisa. Iii, vii; NahN i, 10; Matt. XIV,
81, 35; John xii, 20-22; Acts, viii, 26-40;
Rom. /, IA; tx, Is.
A Cathedral and It's Chapels.