Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-10
FILES STRONG PROTEST
OPPOSITION TO IMMIGRANT
STATION OF FIT. McHENRY.

Mrs. Hubbard, the wife OF Maj. r. w.
Hubbard of the Coast Artillery Corps,
commanding at Fort McHenry, has writ
ten a vigorous protest against the propo-
sition that has been made to the quarter
master department at Washington to
turn the military reservation at Fort NC
Henry into a station for immigrants.
The news is startling. Overwhelming,
she saws, land as / look at the old his
toric fort a feeling of Indignation comes
over me. I feel as If the nag noatins
over the old ramparts we're being denied
its mission to the American people LOT
purposes purely material
After expressing heartfelt sympathy Tor
every emigrant, women, cnlldren, oio
men and young. as they lano win tnelr
earthly possessions on their backs. look
ing haggard from deprivation, oppression
and long suffering; bewildered with the
strangeness of their new surroundings
homeless and friendless, hoping to find in
this promised land what their own
countries cannot afford them, she con-
tinues But looking at them from an
other standpoint. many rof these same
immigrants have nothing to bring put
spirit of unrest. rebellion and anarchism
which make them a threatening evil TO
the country.
But" she adds. "this unweeded crowd
Is proposed to be landed on one of the
most sacred spots OF American SOIL no
less a SPOT than that which holds the old
fort where still floats the flag which In
spired The Star Spangled Banner. the
national song, the song which is first
taught in the schools throughout this vast
country and it's possessions, the song
which prompts every man TO uncover MS
head the song which is the outburst or
noble heart swelled with patriotism IN an
hour of peril past.
Alternative Proposition.
why not teach the little children the
story of Fort McHenry. the part it played
in YOUR war: get all the schools of Balti-
more to come out in body and let the
voices of their little children unite In
singing the hymn on the spot and under
the flag that inspired The Star Spangled
Banner? You would hear an anthem
pure. grand and solemn. which ought to
stir the depths of every human soul and
ring to heaven itself.
why not fix a day each year before
the school year closes and make II a local
institution for the children of Baltimore?
Teach the generations to come to guard
and revere the birthplace of The Star
Spangled Banner Let the country come
in a pilgrimage to Fort McHenry as they
go to Mount Vernon or to Grants tomb;
let Francis Scott Keys remains be buried
here, in the shadow of the flag which in
Sp1feO Hill, d HIihIoiJ 6ooiu o06hI ~ NC
established: honor ought to be done to
the man whose words will rally our sons
under the flag which will lead them to
battle and rouse them to heroic deeds.
Baltimore must be jealous of her pos
session. Let Fort McHenry remain d
military post-the Enclosure which holds
a shrine Do not turn it over to the peo-
pIe but let all people have access to it,
The whole reservation of Fort McHenry
must remain in the hands of the War
Department. for the simple reason of its
history and associations and as the birth
place of the national hymn, The Star
Spangled Banner.
Brig. Cen Peter Leary. .jr., lisa. re-
tired. strongly indorses Mrs. Hubbard s
protest.