Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-10-21
IMMIGRATION AND LAW

Professor s. 4. Steiner Of Grnnell
college Iowa. In a recent address, spoke
Of m, immigration problem He re-
minded his hearers of the fact that peo-
ple are coming from southern Europe
from Italy and Sicily and that the
Russian and Polish Jews are coming by
thousands, and threaten to come by the
hundreds Of thousands But unlike
some tlmld labor agitators, he Ola not
500 I'm this "a danger" on the COM
trary he warned this country against
the spirit of excusiveness Don't close
the door IN their faces he exclaimed.
Don't shut out their only ray OF hope.
don't do II until we have dug dry all
the wealth from our mines, until our
fields can no longer produce enough for
the mouths at home, until America can
no longer offer any hope for the amell-
Grafton Of their hopeless condition.
Nobody denies that this is In full har-
monywith the spirit In which this repub-
Nc was founded But II must not be for
gotten. that we accept grave response
bnltles. with the opening Of our doors
wide to European refugees from desti-
tuition and oppression Our duty Is to
demonstrate to them the superiority OF
democratic form Of government, by
proving that authority Is all the more
sacred. because founded In the will Of
the people. that law Is all the more
binding. because given by the people:
that justice is an the more desInterest-
eddy administered. because rs servants
are responsible TO the people II We
fail In this, we may as well close the
doors 10 Europe's outcasts. For II
they ind Indifference to law and au-
thorIty. they are almost sure to 60
one step further, and land In anarchy.
The American people are too busy or
too Indifferent to look after the proper
administration of law They spend
time and money at regular intervals
on the election Of officers to whom
they entrust that business, and then
they generally forget all about n, sup
posing that no more Is TO be done on
their part But the officers too often
permit laws and ordinances to be vo-
lated. until this goes so far that a num-
Der Of citizens feel alarmed. and goad
them into some action, Then there Is
spasmodlc activity for rome time until
the watchtuluess Of the citizens Is re.
Taxed, This has tendency to bring
our laws ana ordinances into contempt
strangers who come here are quick to
catch the spirit of lawlessness. And
the growing generation is no less eX.
posed to the danger OF becoming IN
different 10 an law and authority
When a tobacco.using boy knows that
Il IL against the law for anybody 10 sell
him a cigarette or to allow him to en-
ter saloon, yet he sees the police
looking on without interfering, he will,
I'm time, break other statutes he
knows that the saloons should be closed
on Sunday and on legal holidays, and
he knows too that the police know they
are not closed. lie knows that gam
bling is Illegal, and he also knows that
the police wink at Il So long as they
are not specially told 10 suppress It,
What is the effect? Let the daily REQ
ords Of hoodlumism among the Ameri-
can youth, and the growth Of criminal
ansrchism among a certain class OF
our forelgn-born population furnish the
answer 10 that question.
This country certainly should be open
to the oppressed Of an the earth, but
they should ind here a school In which
to be taught TO obey law and serve their
Creator. They should be taught, by
example, to become good citizens In ey-
cry respect