The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-01-21
ITALIANS NEEDED IN AMERICA.
AMONG THE MOST DESIRABLE
IMMIGRANTS.

/ AMONG THE MOST DESIRABLE
IMMIGRANTS.
They Take Their Americanism seri-
ousIy and Are Not Problem.
| John Foster Carr of New York, au-
thor of Guide for Immigrants" spoke
recently before the Twentieth Century
| Club of Boston. Mr.. Carr described
the character of the Italian immigrant
and the changes he is undergoing in
| America. He declared that foreign
born population is not a menace in any
way to this country, that economically
| it is of the class most needed for I'M
skilled labor; that morally statistics
show it is up to the American stand
ard and produces only it's exact pro-
portion of crime; that it gets ahead in
every line of employment, and that
there is poetry in it's life which it
could well add to the aspects of Amer
lean civilization.
He said: '"To my mind, the foreign
immigrant, and I am speaking now of
the present day south Italian and Sici-
liam, is not menace to our institu-
tions; he is not even a problem In
the early days of the inf1ood of Irish,
Scandinavians and Germans, Arch
bishop Ireland started colonies in Min
nesota to draw from the congested
tenement district of New York Later
he abandoned his very successful
work
When asked why, he said there was
more important work to do-that is,
the uplift of things in his own home
Jurisdiction. Later when we looked
back and saw how akin to us were
those north Europeans, some one ap-
pealed again to Archbishop Ireland.
Here surely was a menace in the new
immigration, Italian, the most prin1i-
tive of the Italians at that, also Greeks
and Syrians. What shall we do about
these? do absolutely nothing" cried
Archbishop Ireland, "but let them
breathe this air; let them work. They
will work, and they will become Amer
leans" And he was absolutely right
Eve are all better patriots than we
were in those days. And the Italian
and the Jew is better patriot, more
American than the Americans.
New York is the largest Italian city
in the world. Out of 100000 popula-
tion born in Europe, 100000 are Ital-
ians. Their life ID sudden transition
from rudest peasant conditions to the
fastest life on the globe.
They first come in touch with the
rudest and least sympathetic elements
of our national life, the tenement house
conditions, the brutality of the police
and of the foreman on the job, and the
stinging experiences of polyglot race
insult. But they are all taking their
Americanism seriously, and the new
Of cfnr lew oa11 %hn xryI1r
arrived today foreigner"
Speaking of the quality of the Italian
immigrant, Mr.. Carr said: "There are
already 200 newspapers and magazines
in this country owned and edited who'll
ly by Italians Encouraged by a few
successes at production in this country
of classic Italian opera, they are giving
UP their habit of affecting Bedelia and
popular rag time in order to win Amer
ican esteem, and are clinging to their
own. There are go important Italian
agricultural communities in the United
States.
italians successful in the learned
professions amongst us are as numer-
GUS as they ought to be. There are
100000 Italians of important CONNER
cia1 standing in this country. In New
York alone, they have $110,000OOO in
real estate holdings.
Morally there is still a strong pre-
judice against the Italian. But there
isn't single fact to support it. He is
the soberest of all the immigrants, ex-
cepting only the tea drinking Russian
Jew 1t has recently been shown in
San Francisco that no Italian woman
of evil repute has ever been arrested
in that city. In New York, where the
dance hall is the corrupting institution
of the tenement districts, not one is
owned or run by Italians.
But it is said that the Italian car
ries stilletto in his boot leg. The
public records show, however, that his
murders are in the same ratio to his
numbers as all the rest of the popula-
tion Increase of crime in this coun-
try, it has been discovered, follows, in
time, industrial depression, and so far
as foreign immigration is concerned,
it decreases always when immigration
increases, and increases when immi-
grafton decreases.
$50 far as we have a criminal class,
that is chiefly domestic production
growing out of commercial conditions
that mentally, morally and physically
cripple individuals of the working
class. The educated classes, whether
native or foreign born, furnish more
than their share of crime and failure.
"The illiterate Italian immigrant is
not criminal; he is laborer: the
most desirable class to take in. He is
willing and able to do the work we
need to have done"