Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-05-18
The Lamp Beside the Golden Door.

sonnet by cIIiid AdHdi 10, WHICH wa"
written 20 years ago. when the statue
was erected. has been placed, this
week, inside the pedestal Of the statue
of Liberty enlightening the world, on
Bellows island in New York harbor.
Not like the braxen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land
to land;
Here at our sea-washed sunset gates snail
stand
A mighty woman with torch, whose
In the Imprisoned lightning. and her
Mother OF Exiles From her beacon hand
CLOVIS world wide welcome, her mild eyes
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities
Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!"
With silent lips. Give me your tired,
your poor,
free,
The wretched refuse of your teemins
Send these. the homeless. tempest-tossed'
lift my lamp beside the golden door"
1t is a beautiful bit of verse, and is
in the main an adequate expression of
the American spirit of welcome to
those of every land who seek freedom
and opportunity. But since that SON.
net was penned and the lamp beside
the golden door, was lighted, 20 years
ago, the flood of immigration has be-
come so great and it's character
changed to such less desirable elements
than in earlier years, that thoughtful
people are realizing the imperative
protection and restriction. For the
honest, the intelligent, the industrious,
the sober. the sound in mind and body,
of whatever race and land, there has
always been and always will be
cordial welcome at our gates. But for
the ignorant, the vicious, the diseased,
for those who promise to find home only
in our prisons, asylums and aims
houses. and for those whose theory
and practice threaten our form of gov
eminent the gates should be more
tightly closed.
In the OPEN heartedness of our well
come the gates have been too loosely
guarded. Congress has been too re-
luctant to impose the needed education
al qualification and to make more rigid
the other restrictions and, each year,
more of the scum of Europe and less
of its cream is coming to us. 1t has
been charged that there have been or
ganized movements in Europe to ship
paupers. criminals. anarchists, and
hopelessly sick persons to America, and
that steamship lines have conspired
with those behind such movements to
cheat our immigration officials. How
ever this may be, it is certain that the
great mass of our new arrivals are
much less desirable than those of for
mer years, coming now largely from the
southern and eastern parts of Europe
rather than from the northern and
western. Our unprecedented prosper
ity is drawing them here in increasing
multitudes. and the problem of as
Stimulating such mass, particularly in
our great cities, is becoming a very
grave one.
The stream from Europe has been
increasing for several months. In
March nearly $1,000 foreigners came
Into the country with the intention of
making their homes here. This was
$4,000 greater than the record for the
corresponding month of last year.
April had n similar thrush, and May,
which is normally the leading month of
the year. promises to show remark
able number of arrivals. 1t is thought,
therefore, that the immigration for the
current fiscal year will break all rec
ords for similar periods, and probably
reach 100000, while for the calendar
year 1903 the showing will be even
p larger. And if present prosperity con-
tinues it is predicted that in the fiscal
year beginning in July the total may
reach a round million. Such additions
to the country's population, and with
the average standard Of the immigrant
not improving, are full of significance.
And so when the poetess represents
the statue which holds high the lamp
beside the golden door" as saying to
the Old World:
:. Give me your tired. your poor
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe
free,
The wretched REUSE of your teeming
Send these; the homeless. tempest-tossel
she Is issuing, more sweeping invita-
ton than this country can afford to
make good. There is certainly no room
In this country for "the wretched
refuse" of Europe. nor for the tired"
who are too tired to do honest work,
nor for the poor who will become
public charges, nor for the masses"
who "huddle" in filth and disease and
ignorance. These and many other I'M
desirable classes must be excluded