The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-11-06
HOW TO MAKE GOOD ANIER1-
CANS.

If the immigrant fares as badly IN
this country as T. v. Powderly would
have us believe. it is a mystery that
he does not give the United States 81
wide berth and seek a more hospita-
BILE haven a.. If the immigrant is. as a
rule, Knocked. rsviled. snubhed,
cheated. and robbed" as Mr.. Powder
~ maintains. why is it that SO many
of the new arrivals induce their
friends in the old country to leave
their happy homes and come across?
Many millions of American money
have been sent abroad to poverty
stricken foreigners to enable them to
pay their passage, make the required
showing of financial resources at Ell
lis Island. and Join their friends and
henefactors. Other millions of Amer
lean money go abroad to support
those whose infirmities are a bar to
their admission under II laws.
Newly arrived foreigners will be as
greatly surprised as the ~native-born
Americans to hear that upon coming
here they fell among strangers who
only lacked the %cannibalistic Instinct
to put them on a par with South Sea
islanders. Mr.. Powderly doubtless
could cite isolated cases where the
lower class Of immigrants have been
badly treated by interruptions en-
ployers, hut to say it Is a common
thing is l~udicrously wide of the mark.
1t sounds like that which is everlast-
ingly dinned into US about robbing
the Indian of his racial tendencies,
whereas the Indians have more riches
per capita than the whites and are
the bencfciaries of government boun-
ty and private contributions on a
scale Of lavishness not enjoyed by a
dependent people in any other part
of the globe.
Referring on the view held by some
thai the immigration of today Is the
scum of Europe, Mr.. Powderly again
turns the tables on his fellow citizens.
saying that the scum has been coming
ovcr acre eve since Columbus time.
That is Il hard slam at u boosted an
cestry and their descendants unto this
generation. but it is not inconsistent
with the vein Of %detraction Of the peo-
pie of America which runs through
Powder)y's plea for the foreigner. Still
hn lets US see farther on that he puts
the American on a lower scale than
the foreigner merely for arguments
sake. Is it not admitting our supe-
riority when he says "our duty to the
immigrant is to fill our mission az
patriotic Americans by making good
Americans of the many who come
from afar to make their homes with
us?" OF course it is. And pittine
the testimony of the congressional
immigration commission against Mr..
rowderly's charge that We are not
doing our duty, we see reason I 0 take
sharp issue with what the latter says,
although he is identified officially
with the immigration service.
The commission has reported ia
congress that it found, among other
things, that life in America appre-
ciably changes both physical and
mental characteristics in foreign born
adults, and that in the second gener-
alton, through the children going to
American schools and associatine
with American children. that which
we decry as being undesirable is no
longer observable. Our duty is full
filled the moment our tutelage ha.
changed the foreign bent into the di.
rection that makes for good Ameri-
cans.