Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-11-20

| "A lew GSlldSLS lIoIl liC JSW "
| lege, which is att
| What kind of a man or woman is the
average Immigrant? There is no man
| living better qualified to answer this
question than Edward A. Steiner, who
| for twenty years has been studying
them, in their old homes, on the way to
this country. and in their new homes
| In his .'On the Trail of the Immigrant
he says:
Much ignorance needs TO be dispell-
| cd regarding these immigrants. Not
| long ago | heard one of the secretar-
les of a certain home missionary So
! ciety say, with much junction as he
pleaded for money for his work, I'VE
| land annually on these shores mil
| lion paupers and criminals" Unfor-
| tunately, much of such impression
prevails. 1t was my privilege recently
as member Of the national conference
on immigration. to be among the
guests of the commissioner of the port
of New York, and one of the spectacles
which we witnessed was the landing
of ship load of immigrants. We stood
in the visitors gallery and looked
down upon hall divided and sub
divided by the cold iron ratings. Many
of the visitors were beginning to hold
their noses in anticipation of the
stenches which would come with these
foreigners, and were ready to be shock
ed by the horrors Of the Storage
Slowly the bewildered mass came
into view; but strange to relate, those
who led the mass appeared like Ladies
and gentlemen.
The women wore modern, half acre
hats a little the worse for wear, but
bought in the city of Prague a few
months before; and they We're more
becoming to these young Bohemian
American sisters.
The men carried band- boxes. silk
umbrellas and walking canes, the
remnants of past glories. They were
permitted to come in first because they
wore good clothing and passed out
quickly into their freedom, the MEM
bers of our congress welcoming them
heartily by the clapping of hands.
after them scame Slavic women
with no finery except their homespun,
rough. tough and clean; carrying upon
their backs piles of feather beds and
household utensils. Strong limbed
men followed them in the picturesque
garb Of their native villages: Slovaks,
Poles, Roumanians, Ruthenians, Ital-
ians, and finally Russian Jews; but 10,
and behold! no smells assembled to our
nostrils, and no horrors were disclosed.
Taking a group of delegates down
among them, we found that they were
wholesome looking people, not devoid
of intelligence. and when the barrier
between us was broken down by the
sound Of their native speech, they were
communicative, at ease, and very hui
man.
The Immigrant as Citizen.
That the political problem of the i'm
migrant is a most insistent one, none
realize better than those who watch
the influx, and see at close quarters
the sort of men who are to be voters.
This is very clearly affirmed and very
strongly stated in "The Trail Of the
Immigrant" Revelrs) by DR.. Ed
ward A Steiner who for a score of
years has been not merely studying
but living with the immigrant.
"Side by side with the religious
problem is growing to menacing pro-
portions the problem of politics. A
nation like ours, ideally founded upon
universal suffrage, is putting it's des.