Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1912-04-10
THE IMMIGRANT AS COM
PARED WITH THE AMERICAN.
(By j. N. Lenker, D. d.

(By j. N. Lenker, D. d.
Physically, the foreigner is the
equal Of the American. Old-country
men, women and children are as
strong and healthy Of body as those
born here, and capable of doing just
as much manual labor, They can
endure as long hours Of severe toll
and as great extremes of heat and
cold. The physical life of the fam
lily is as healthful as that Of the Am
erican family. That the women help
their husbands in the field when ne
cessary, at certain seasons, or bear
heavy burdens, ought not to be put
down against them. If they have the
strength and the inclination to do so,
they should be given such liberty in
this free land. Admittedly, the orig
inal New England stock is dying out,
and hence this fresh blood should be
Welcomed Because of the severe
climate, or for other reasons, no race
has ever peopled America. North
and South America are grave
yard continents. Europeans, Afri-
cans and Asiatics have and are un-
dertaking the task Of building per-
manent on the ruins of the meas,
Aztecs and Indians. Will they sue
coed? In the western hemisphere
humanity has decreased, while in the
old world it has multiplied. The
white race here, New Englanders,
German, Scandinavian, seems to de-
teriorate and die. Hope, then, is in
immigration from the old world. The
white, yellow and black races will
compete as to which is best suited
for the climate. The task Of the
white man will not be an easy one.
Again, the immigrants do not fall
behind Intellectually. They easily
learn our language, while We fail to
learn theirs. He who can speak but
one language ought not to be regard
ed as more accomplished than he who
speaks two. The immigrant may be
slow to show his knowledge in Eng
lish, but he should not be judged to
have no more intelligence than he
can express in that tongue. "He
who learns another language gets
another SOUL" says one. In other
words, he lives a double life. The
individual who knows only English
can live only where English is spok-
en-. If he learn also German and
Scandinavian, he can live with Ger
man and Scandinavian people. He
lives a broader, fuller life. Nothing
is more profitable for mental disci-
pine and for practical purposes than
learning languages.
Immigrants are in school here,
both parents and children. Public
school teachers will admit that for
eign children are as easily taught
and disciplined ais are American
children. Individuals reared in civ
iliized Europe ought. to be. as intelli-
gent as those brought up in Amer
lean wilds. Germany is the school
Of the world; the brightest Americans
go there to study. Europeans COM
ing to us leave behind them good
two Language schools. It is not gen.
erous to give these people no chance
for a two-language education, when
our nation can do it so easily and
thus invite others to come.
With the foreigner and the Amer
lean, morally one is not much ahead
Of the other. Both might be better
Yet when they are accomplices in a
wicked deed, the foreigner is blam-
ed for leading the American astray
in his own land. It is natural fo1
Americans to think the foreigner the
guilty one. Many mean and vicious
tricks instigated by Americans are
skillfully- saddled on to some inno-
cent European. In the vices COM
mon to acknowledgements,
profanity, dishonesty, unchastity.
hypocrisy, envy, SANDER, covetous-
ness, violation of all the ten COM
mandments of God-Americans are
so far advanced, so adept, that nc
people will ever get very much ahead
Of them.
It is difficult to make, a religious
comparison between Americans and
Europeans. Across the water they
are Catholics or Protestants, as in
America. There the Catholics lead
here the Prostestants. The doc
trines Of the two churches are the
same there as here. Europe being
the older, the more civilized and the
more Christianized continent, its
children in America do not far sur
pass their parents. In our day.
children in general hardly come ur
to the religious standard maintain
ed by their parents. One thing is
against the foreigner here, besides
having a different tongue, he is sell
dom judged according to his religious
failings by members Of his church
All denominations are more lenient
10 those Of their own faith. This
moral and religious bias appears ir