The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-11-22

President Charles S. Barrett Writes an
Open Letter to the Members Of the
Farmers nion on Social Problem
Of Vital Importance to American
Life and Observation-Disclosures the
Union to Take Steps for the Reform
alton of Immigration Laws
u the Officers and Members Of the
Farmers Union:
our country has justly been called
the melting pot of the world" W.
receive into our borders the best and
worst elements of every nation under
the sun, and from the resultant flux
We are pouring into the moulds Of
character and custom the citizenship
that is to determine the destiny of our
people-Whether we shall attain the
development foreshadowed by our
gifts and inheritances or fall tragically
short of that development
l am not one Of those insular Amer
leans who would erect Cnlnese WaIIs
around this country, and keep our
shores herm etically sealed against
foreigners of every class and grade.
Many Of the most consecrated patri-
cts in our history, many Of the men OF
great heart who have come to the
rescue of the nation in the time OF
stress and trial, many who have risen
to eminence in the fields of commerce
and industry and agriculture and art
and craftsmanship and literature
first saw the light Of day in foreign
lands.
l realize also, that this country Of
unending diversity Of climate and re-
sources and habits Of thousht and
conviction, has wonderful power or
assimilation.
But l realize, first OF all, that that
power has it's limitations, and that
they are now being strained and taxed
and threatened TO accomm odate some
of the rankest human products OF
Europeans and ASiatic institutions,
such as may enter our body-poHhc to
tester and spread corruption, to infect
our people with destructive and an
arChistic tendencies, to undermine ouI
political sanity and to reach a Shiny
trail Of decoy and disruption over the
enti. fabric of our ideals and our as
pira tons.
VI G are told that we need men tC
aid Us develop America. But ii we
need men at all. we need those only
who approach our own economic
standards, who can stand the test OF
moral and mental cleanliness, of pny-
silal sOundness and Of freedom from
seeds of violence and dlSintegratlon
that are making poverty, wee ano
crime an charging spectacle through
out the old world.
We have our own problems OF law
leSSneSS, vice, unemployment, plo1eS-
alOnaI lndolence. Let US, the organ
lied farmers of America, exhaust odi
influence to the end that these prop
lens be not complicated Dy d Hol oe
of sickIy importations drlbbhng IN
ward f.om Ellis Island and other
ports of entry.
I will be asked where we Woulc
draw the line-and the line shouid Ut
drawn. The answer is easy.
object to the class Of Immigrants
that are responsible for an increase
in one year of Is per cent OF the Grim
lnal arraignments Of New YORK CITY
If the influence of New York city ai'
its people were confined to its owl
limits, / would raise no oDjeclioii
Neither of them are thus confined
! object to that class of Immigrant:
that in many American States colil
prise from fifteen to "a per cent y
the inmates of institutions-Jalis Is
asylums for the insane, hospitals
pOorhOuses-maintai at the puDIl'
expense.
| object to that class of Immigrants
that make the so-called cultured GU.
Of Boston one of the most rHiSgOV
erned municipalities in America, th'