Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-09-21
AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP
Some People See It Tn Different
 Light From Others.

l LdSuC FWOIu OuHCI5s
 | Edtbor of Democrat:
 The Rev MT Stockdale in his ser | mon hast evening must certahndy have made very strong plea for AmeGacah citizenshdp if we may judge from the parttaa report tn the Republican ol tl1is morning. And no one who loves this country but will tinank him fol an honest endeavor to uplfft American citizenship. For just now when we are face to face with scandal in htgf | places amongst tine foremost of Amer I dcan citizens, when there is being un' 1 earlthed. every day systematic alttemprs to defraud the government, when oul I political matterSs are so rotten thai they are a stench in the public nos frifs, evidently too strong an appeal cannot be made for the maintenance of a high oulder of American citizen ship. But where Lies the fault? IS 1t with the foreigner who knows noth- ing of Bunker Hill or Lexington or Valley Forge? I venture the asser- tion that am impartial investigation would reveal the fact that the deepest dyed rascals in American politics are those who not ouly have lived here twenty years, but who have been born here or passed the majority of their years here. Is 1t the man of recent foredgn importation that corrupts state antd national legfslaturesp And if he takes a hand in this nefari0us business has he not learned the lesson from those who f1rst saw the light Of day r1ght here in the United States Are Matt Quay and Gas Addicks ard Captain Garter and Lttbauer and most of those mixed up in the posto0ice scandal men of recent foreign tmporta- tion? Most of them are names racy of the soil of this free and glorious republic.
 MT Stockdale seems to assume that these foreigners are all illhtsrate. that they cannot read nor write. That is true of a contain percentage of them and it is also true ot certain percent- age of our nativs born citizens. But it is alphabetically false of q very large portion of them Poor they may be, unculttrred in the society sense of the word they may be, but fl1ltegate Yhoy are not And Is al tne ,l9Bger from the illitsrate wfelder Of tue ha1lOt? l trow not Our wonst rascals, the men who make pOlitkcal deals and fix up pO0IIESdL JCbcs S1AC udnS OSS1NSt1SA A0AS calls.
 MT Stocbdale speaks of Bunker Hill and Lexington and Valley Forge. Is he aware that George Par1ae Curtis, tlhan whom no one knows better, de- olared thatt previous to the coming of tlhe French more than half the Con- tinental army was made up of men of Irish birth? And evidently these were foreigners. Were not Lafayehbe and DrEstaing, and Rochambeau and Kosciuslao and De Kabb all foreign CTS? And were it not for the aid bhese men and the cormtrdes whence they came gave, it is extremely doubt full if our tr1itial round for independ- ence would have proved successful In all probability John Bull wouIo have dealt US a solar plexus blow that would have knocked us more completely out than the gentle Jef- fries did his recent antagonist Before we too severely condemn the foreign CT let us remember tafaf to him in great measurs are due our independence and the matter ial growth of our nation. Let us ex- anime, too, if he is the one mainly re- sponsible for the decadence of Anerl- can citizenship and perhaps ytSe result of our inquiry will make US feel that there are some nativelborn citizens who in honesty, imtegrity and respect for the Samct1ty of American inGstt1bu- tions will not compare favorably with the SC much abused foreigner.
 MT Stochdaie speaks loudly and ad- mhdngfy Of Mbsrty and seems to de light in hhait special brand brought over by the Pilgudm Fathers In the name of liberty, for the lowe of liberty, dn the sacred cause of liberty ex- claia1 May God forbid that such mo- tions Of liberty would ever again find foothohd in thfs land! Thet- liberty was confined ito themselves, whdlst they persecuted others with s ven- geamce for wishing to exercise that same liberty which they asserted to be the right of every man.
 MT Stocknale speaks of our recent labor troub1es, and mo one who has the cause of the workingman at heart but must re-eoho his sentiments as to the drastic measures sometimes employed to coerce men to john unions despite themselves. Yet the union man is himself morally coerced to form a de- fensive alliance Cor elf-prOtectiOn. And who forces him2 Is 1t Ghe fldt- erate foreigner of recent Importation Or is it the nattfve-b born capitalist and syndicate member, wno i'm tin1es gorre by ground hdm bo the dust and made hin 'tthe white slave" whose cfrcum- stances were sometimes worse than those o6 his coIored brother in the paln1fest days of southern slaveTy7 In thhs free and glorious republic every citizen is theoretically emttled to vote tor whom he pleases. yet the time was end not so many years ago, when the American workfngman was notified i'm many chops HhaE his term of employ met depended upon the casting of his ballot for cerbafn canldfdate. Was 1t the illtterGte foredgner of recent i'm porrtataon who did thss2 Answer. ye naltive iborn manufacturers. who for geItful of the sacred oath of cttizen- ship, threatened expulsion from your shops to the mann who would not for swear hhs rights and perture his soul f0 lhaost f11J.n office f;h6a mnrl nSf v>ou1Ts