Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-09-09

Your ballot box slogan be American |
work only for the American born
American political Offices only to be |
held by those Graded under the shad- |
ows OF Mount Washington and Pixies |
peakT" oh, no. l am not preaching |
any such political nonsense. l do not |
believe there ever was political party |
wrapped i'm the swaddliGg clothes of
so many errors as that born in 1853 |
and which, with eN-Prcsident Willard |
Fillmore us it's presidential candidate. |
swept many OF our northern states In
1896 with the political cry. America |
only for the American born" Ameri- |
can liberties and American prowcss |
both on land and sea, militarily and in |
dustrially, have been won and built |
up by Americas adopted sons as well |
ms by her native born children. Were |
there not foreigners among George |
WaShington's mIghtiest companions in |
arms? Baron Johann De Kalb, who was |
shot at Camden in 1850. and Kosciusko |
and Lafayette and many others-they |
were all foreign born. Who was the |
most valued statesman during Wash- |
ington's administration next to the |
president himself? Alexander Hamil |
ton, who was foreign born. Who was !
John Ericsson. the inventor OF the |
Monitor, that revolutionized naval war |
fare and saved the American navy of |
Newport NewsI He was Swedish |
American; he was foreign born. Some |
of our greatest merchants, like \. L. |
Stewart of New York: our greatest
foundrymen. IKE Andrew Carnegie of |
Pittsburg: our greatest scientists. like |
Agassiz OF Harvard: our social reform |
ers. like Jacob 4. Riis OF New York. |
and the most eminent political leaders |
OF our day. like Carl Schurz, once SEN |
ator from Missouri and member OF
President Hayes cabinet-they were
NIL foreign born. II you blot cut from
our nations history all the deeds which |
Americas foster sons and daughters !
have accomplished for the land OF their
adoption you blot out some of its |
brightest pages.
where to Draw the Line.
But while We, as American citizens. /
would welcome gladly into our midst
the German or Englishman or Scotch
man or Swede and the men or any
foreign nationality who with intelli-
kclCt NVulu NOALC uAhOnk US uuu ",
Brother, give me thy hand, for today |
1 would be one with you and become
m American citizen" yet today we
would not welcome the ignorant, the
idle. the filthy. the pauper, the lazza-
roni or the criminal offscourings of
Europe or Asia, who would come to
this land. not TO become American clti-
zens, but 20 stay here just long
enough to scrape together n few thou
sand dollars and then go back TO the
land OF their birth. We would not
welcome the ignorant and depravcd of
foreign lands. who would underbid our
American workmen and compel our
American boys and girls TO live in
dugouts or as rats in cellar as they
live. These classes have neither part
nor parcel in the glorious Inheritance
OF freedom and equality for which our
forefathers fought and bled. While we
would gladly open our gates to the
oppressed OF other lands, we would
shut them against n horde that can
have no appreciation for the precious
privilege OF American citizenship and
no sympathy with our national aims
and ambitions, and whose coming is as
much OF menace TO our people as the
cloud OF lOcusts IS 10 n harvest field.
Nations, like individuals, should be
wise as well rs generous in their hos
pitality. We must protect ourselves
against the industrial locusts OF the
old world by wise and discriminating
laws which shall do injustice to none.
and which. while yindicating our an.
Giant l,.,.-r,ff,1f.,- 4
lum for the lovers OF liberty and in
dependence, shall shut out the swarms
or mere mercenaries and the indie
scribable elements" which other lands
seek TO thrust upon us. from whatever
quarter they may come.
Labor's next great afffiction Is TO be
found in the absurd and tyrannical de-
mands made by some labor unions.
which seem 10 have the suicidal policy
OF antagonizing capital Mt all times and
under all pretexts ancof widening the
breach between capital and labor. with
the result that labor itself is the heay-
lest sufferer through their insane fol-
lies The most brutal tyrant the south
ern negro knew in antebellum days
was not the white man, but the negro
himself who was made the overseer
OF the plantation. In the same way In
many cases the most brutal tyrant the
laboring man has today Is not the capt.
talist, but the walking delegate" or
the mercenary political trickstcr who.
as iaDoring man, manipulates the ex-
scutive committees which govern the |
Tabor unions for their own ruin. OF
course this Indictment Is not universal
In Its application. There are many
honest and upright and beneficent
labor organizations, like that OF which
the late Mr. Arthur was president
the Brotherhood OF Locomo-
i've Engineers. Mr.. Arthur brought
mat organization up TO such perfec-
ton that 1t not only looked after the
interests or the owners OF the different
railroads, but after the interests OF
the engineers themselves. There are
many clear Drained, sagacious and no
bic minded labor leaders whose object |
Is not TO disorganfLe the labor market.
but to steady IL, so that employers as
We'll as the employed may have their
due Il do not believe in strikes for
the laboring man." said Terence V.
towderly few months ago 1T Ia
true we had some when / was Mt the |
head OF the Knights Of Labor. but we
settled l,lOO labor disputes without
strikes. Indeed, I might say we pre-
vented over 1000 strikes" Yet, strange
to say, where there has been one able
and sagacious leader whose chief OBJ
ject seemed to have been to make
every man do his honest quota OF work
md set his just pay there have been
many whose chief object has been to
Ind out how little they can permit u
Iaborer to do and how much they can
make an employer pay without literal
~ breaking his back. Such men are
m incubus on labor. Like the Old Man
Of the Sea, who sat on the neck OF Sind ]
bad. they sat heavily upon the work {
ngman's shoulders, impeding his prog
ress and involving him in endless dis
Dutes and trouble. The sooner he rids
himself of such incumbrance the better.
Like Marie AntOinette