The Irish standard., 1909-03-13
PREJUDICE OF THE PURlrANs.

~ ~ d IeLldThdUle IdcC that RELIGIOUS
and racial prejudice dies slowly among
the descendants of the Puritans. One
would suppose that the educated
classes. would free themselves from
rarrow minded intolerance in this en-
lightened age. They affect to- believe
that they are "the salt of the earth"
and that men Of other races and creeds
are infinitely inferior to them. Such
an eminent educator as Charles w.
Eliot, who was for forty years the
head of Harvard University, thinks he
is of superior mould, because o. his
English ancestry.
4 + We have no desire. to deprive the
Puritans OF any credit due to them.
They have been lauded by Macarlay
4, prose. and by OReiny in poetry, but
the most ardent Of their eulogists adj
nit that they had some imperfections
There are spots op the sun. and there
are stains on the character of the
Puritans which are indelible. They
We're narrow minded b.gots, full! OF
sanctimonious self-suff1ciency, and
they prosecuted others who differed
from them in religious belief. Tne.r
children to this day Inherit some OF
their worst characteristics.
DR.. Eliot is now on lecturing tcu''
in the South. He was recently in
Minneapolis but said nothing offens-
i've in a city which Is largely Scandi"
ravian. In the South, however, he has
changed his tone. Speaking. at Mem
phis, he referred to problems that
demand solution in all parts Of >the
country, and said:
'In the South it is the Negro prab-
lem. In Protestant Massachusetts, the
land of Pilgrims and Puritans, the
population today is mostly, Catholic.
There are Irish, Italian and PortuEes,
that present the same race problem to
that part of the country that the
Negroes do to the South. On the Pa
cific coast, it is the same with the
Japanese"
What will the Irish Catholics Of the
Old Bay State, and particularly of Bos-
ton think Of Dr. Eliot for CHASING them
with the Negroes and Japs? Does he
want the Blue Laws revived? He
apparently forgets that the Irish came
-
to Massachusetts, a long time ago. The
"Genealogies Of New England" con-
tains many Irish names. The Kellya
arrived in 1910 and they ought to be
Americanized by this time. Many
Irish Catholics fought with Warren at
Bunker Hill, and their names are still
preserved in the archives. Has Dr..
Eliot ever seen them? Evidently not.
In an interview at Montgomery, Ala,
he is reported to have said: 4.
There should be. no admixture, OF
racial stocks. believe, for example.
trat the Irish should not intermarry
with the Americans of English descent.
that the Germans should not marry ,ins
Italian; that the Jews should not mar
~ the French. Eachrace should main-
tain Its own individuality"
!, Now, what do you think Of DR.. Eliot
the literary lion Of Harvard? Every
recognized authority believes TINT
amalgamation Of the white races is
beneficial from physiological stand
point. There is hardly any unmixed
white race in Europe. Nature is wiser
than this Yankee professor. The Irish
are not q pure race; neither are the
English. They have been interm,r-
rying for hundreds Of years. The ex-
fstence Of 4the Amsricans Of English
descent. has been prolonss ca by inter-
with the Irishs
g1iy should "a y German marry ~