New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-12-23


TO either fortune, but assured in our souls that
England Is all right. though they tell as that
IL is trolleyiEed. broadened in its creed ana win
spots that modern comfort and culture nave
somewhat overlooked. The heaven OF the fore
fathers, as ! have said, viii stin leaVen the
whole lump. or all this spacious iand what por-
ton has proved itself from first to last worthier
of continued trust than dear little Nova Anglia
the radioactive tract OF granite and sandstone
and heat without diminution of its potential
supply?
Then 'fn simple and hearty Difference to one
who represents the majesty OF the nation" as
the menu had IL, toast was drunk to the
President. while the baaG played the national
air.
wHITELAw REDS REMARKS.
whitelaw Reid responded to the toast. Fore
fathers Day" Said he:
date you have printed on the menu reminds
US that this New England Society in New-York
is within two years Of its centenary. Its life
then reaches back more than a third OF the way
to Plymouth. Another date here shows that
this is the 2S3rd anniversary of the landing or
the Pilgrims. II was on the 200th anniversary
OF that landing that son OF New-England'
unsurpassed in her history then. and unsur-
passed still. in celebrating the marvellous
growth Of the two centuries. reached a climax
in the proud boast that two thousand miles
Westward from the rock where their Fathers
landed may be found the sons OF the PHI
grims. cultivating smiling fields rearing towns
and villages"
But Daniel webster's climax of 1920 is tame
for this New-England Society in New-York in
1903. Who shall measure the limit in miles
Westward where the sons of the Pilgrims are
to be found. cutivating smiling fields and
rearing villages? What UNEMPLOYED and unpoS-
sessed land have they left on the continent of
their Fathers? Nay, what great archipelago
has escaped them: what islands have they not
visited: in what have they not swarmed
since the Mayiower made Its vexed and lonely
way to Plymouth Rock? And as for rearing
villages-but I will not Cypress your modesty,
by word even of the one in which we are met
Well. we are again COMMUNICATING the Purl-
tan anniversary. We must confess. too-not for
the first time-that we are hardly doing IT in
Puritanicsl fashion. In fact, this New-York,
Twentieth Century celebration OF the feast OF
the Pilgrims has become not altogether unlike
what a celebration OF the feast of the Passover
might have been by the Canaanites in the days
of Joshua and the Judges. 1t is not presumlns
too much. l hope the Scriptural knowledge
still extant among the descendants of the
Puritans to venture upon that reference, and
that it might suggest what our forbears some
times called lesson for the day..
OUTNUMBERED AND LED ASTRAY'
Everybody knows the old. old story about the
resolutions at the first town meeting in New
England: Whereas, The earth is the Lords
and whereas are the Lords people. There
fore, Resolved" etc. We could pass that resolu-
ton to-day in any town meeting in the country,
men, con. What Is more. the conquest OF nature
and o. man achieved from side of this con-
tinent TO the other since the Mayfower landed
and the happy deliverance thus far out of all
our peris. give the American people warrant
for believing in that resolution; and they DO
believe in it, exactly as they believe in sunrise
or in the star-spangled banner. Well then, If
we arr a new chosen people, in this new land
OF proraise is there any danger that we, too,
may be oUtuumbered and led aStray, as were
the chosen people OF old?
The Puritan conquered the land from the
and the Dutch. His grandsons conquered it
from the English. His great-grandsons con-
quered it from Slavery. Can their descendants
conquer il from: itself?
Before any hasty answer on that question,
please remember that those descendants are
now in minority in the land conquered and
preserved by their ancestors. They are in a
minority, even if you re-enforce them with all
later immigrant from the same stock. This is
combination even Of P Iritan and Cavalier, as in
the days OF the Revolution. The proof is not
clear that IL is any longer an Anglo-SaXon peo-
pie. You Ist take in the whole Ind -Ciermanic
family to be sure of a mere majority now. in
the new word V~'cn we still think OF as simply
the outg -owth of tie seed piousiy planted by
CHANGES IN IMMIGRATION.
We have accustomed ourselves to consider i'm
migration as sure index of national power and
guarantee of national prosperity. and l heart
lily join in every word of grateful recognition for
the marvellous results II has brought us. But
nave we adequateIy CONSIDERED the extraordl-
nary change in the character of our inlmigra-
ton? Have we noted, for example where our
greatest accession came from in the fiscal year
last ended, or in the year preceding? The larg-
est immigration into all the ports Of the United
States in both years from Sicily. Sardinia,
and in lesser degree from other parts of Italy;
and in 1903 there were flfty-two thousand more
OF them than the year before. And the next
largest immigra ton? The second on the list for
both years were the Croats, Savs and other
races OF Austria-Hungary, and there were
thirty-four thousand more of them this year
than the year before. And whence came the
third largest number. pressing hard on the heels
nd 10 Is 'TnT he E>Tl-
pire Of Russia, and there were nearly twenty
nine thousand more of them this year than the
year before. China and Japan sent US as many
as England and Scotland last year.
This change in the sources is not due to any
dimtnutioa in the volume of the human stream
peTpetually pouring upon our shores. II is not
that the reservoir is low and that are
draining dregs On the contrary, our total i'm
migration for 1908 was over a hundred thousand
greater than for any other year ever recorded
In our history, and more than two-thirds of all
the steerage immigrants came from the three
countries first named. Italy, Austria Hungar y
and Russia. AS compared with either OF these
the German immigration was but a fifth as
great, and that of Ireland still less. Little
Greece sent us between a third and a half as
many Ireland
Look at another aspect OF It. In 1900 the total
white population Of the United States of any
STOCK that had been In this country more than
one generation was not quite forty-one millions.
Not only were you representa- tiVes of the Pill
grims. completely submerged, but even when
REINFORCED by all the whites of any race
or origin that had been In the country for
more than one generation. you came within six
millions Of being still outnumbered by the later
corners and the negroes. In New-York City the
actual foreign born population is thirty-seven
per cent.-to say nothing of the greater number
born of foreign parents. When this is sometimes
hippantly dismissed with the remark that New
York is only foreign city the fringe of the
country any way. we should remember that the
tendency is the same everywhere. All the cities
Of $4,000 Inhabitants over throughout the
United States contain less than one-fifth of our
native born population. while they have nearly
hal m hTrV a4I1N9
more than half OF the Italians, Poles, Russians
and Irish