The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1903-09-12
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.

Washington, d. c., Sept. 7th.-'rhe
fund for the endowment of the chair
of American history at the Catholic
university is now nearing completion.
but the knights do not propose to rest
upon their laurels when this work is
done. Other plans of national and
tarreaching character are being adj
vanccd and discussed, and will, no
doubt, be acted upon in due time.
One proposition is to have executed
by some great sculptor statue of
Columbus of heroic size, and present it
to the Congress of the United States.
to be located in one Of the public
squares of the national capital. There
is no statue of Columbus in Washing
ton, the only memorial of him being
the painting in the rotunda of the cap
itol representing his landing on Amer
lean SOIL The appropriateness of this
gift to the nation at the hands of the
knights of Columbus is, therefore, self
evident. Its acceptance by Congress
is not questioned, although it had been
suggested that it might share the same
fate as the statue Of Father Mar
quette. All of the senators and rep
resentatives who have been consulted
on the subject agree that such a gift
would not meet with the slightest op-
1,n of f1,ic r,%n f,,1
would undoubtedly. add another
! bright plume to the helmet of the
knights and be the means of strength
ening their membership and giving the
order Il national character. The I'M
yelling and presentation of the statue
could be arranged for embark;ltiOn or
for discovery day. and could he made
the occasion of Il great gathering of
knights at the capital of the nation.
May the plan prosper!
The Poles Boilcmians. IIungarians
and Italians. who have been coming to
this country in increasing numbers
during the last few years. are so fire.
uuently and so pcrSistently classcd
among the undesirable elements of i'm
migration, that the statement is ac-
ccptcd by many without question
| These immigrants are accused of clan.
ishness, because they form settlements
to themselves in the towns in Which
they locate. This is, after all. quite
natural. People Of all nationa lities arc
given to this practice. Americans
themselves follow it. for every foreign
city has it's "American colony" and
in the early days of Tcutonic immi
grafton the Little Germany" and the
Over the Rhine" became famous il
some of our cities. 1t is, therefor
nonsense to make this general custom
Il ground Of complaint against tho
Slavonic immigrants. We hear of oc
casional outbreaks among these people
and the newspapers promptly set then
down as lawless element. They Ger
tainly have never been heard OF
among "our prominent citizens who
take part in the frequent lynching:
throughout the country. The chiefs OF
police of several cities. whom inter
rogated OH this subject. agree tina
these people are, as a rule. honest
sober and quiet and give no more
trouble than the rest of the population
The charge has also been made tina
they are slow to become AmericaniZed
This is unquestionably true, but thu
reason is not ut all to their discredt
The Germans fall into American way
more readily than other immigrant
speaking foreign language, becaus
they acquire our language very quick
ly, rs the English is closely related t,
the German, being. in fact, frs
cousin. Now the Slavs, who speal
languages that have not the slightes
resemblance to the English. find, OF
that account. greater difficulty i'll &C
quiring our language and, through II
our ways and customs. The first al
rivals usually engage in common mar
ual labor. but many of the second ger
Grafton are already found establishe
in some modest business. That the