The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-02-27
How Italian
 Becomes American

day evening, John Foster Carr, author
 of Guide for Immigrants,' which has
 been published in the Italian, Yid-
 dish and Polish languages and who is
 secretary of the National Liberal I'm
 migration League and a member of
 the ItaIian-American Civic League,
 spoke on How the Italian Becomes
 an American He said in part:
 During the past thirty years some
 +, 900, coo immigrants have come to this
 country. most of them coming up New
 York Bay, seeing the striking picture
 of the Statue of Liberty, which stands
 for the ideals of a new land.
 Enormous as is this army of new
 corners, great as one might expect its
 effect to be upon our national life, we are still becoming plainly more. and not less, American The spirit of our Americanism, that infinitely precious thing, whatever it is, not only survives in spite of these foreign influences,
 but the tide of % our patriotism is clear dear
 were few flags flying over American schoolhouses; the morning salute to the flag 9 in school assembly was un- known; theatre audiences sat Stolidly
 in their seats when the national an- them was played.
 Yet the popu ation of our great cities is made up of far more alien races
 York is the largest Jewish, Italian, Irish city in the world. But New York is most emphaticaIly and aggres- siveIy an American city. President Taft said last year that for the finest examples of patriotic spirit he would find it necessary to go to New YOrk's Ghetto.
 I believe that these new peoples are becoming Americans more rapid than even the Germans ever did, though in race and speech they are removed from us by a greater gap than our former immigrants. There is no mystery about this. Our nation has become con scious and there is an increased pow CT of national assimilation, and we are tyrannous in imposing the American standard upon newcomers And this new spirit of our is made effective, wonderfully effective, by the new and rapid educative forces of city life. Clearly to-day American life and work and American schools, and not the grave are the great assimilators.
 So rapid is this work of American ization that not only do I think that immigration is not a menace, but in my more optimistic moments I think
 that it is not even problem. The marvel of the change from alien to American grows upon you the more intimate your knowledge of 1t becomes and when you investigate the mater
 iaI that goes into our melting pot.
 The peasant that comes to us does not represent the wonderful advance of Italy these late years, in industry and commerce In science in political pr estlge and military power, that jus tified the New York Tribune" In say ing the other day, that for every es- gress, Italy now takes rank as the second nation of Europe.
 Few peope realize that it was not more than twenty years ago when the he carried his musket with him. Few people know that throughout large sec tfons of Sicily, electricity, the great motive power of our civilization, Is so ir-aIxr hnf far hn fnR ton of the peasants as they follow the roads to more than one of Sicily's great cities and meet the trolley lines, that 1t has been necessary to paint a red skull and cross bones upon the poles carrying the trolley wires with the inscription for those who can read:
 Touch at pour peril Death passes through these wires
 What is the change in life that a, man, coming from such a land, exper- fences when he puts foot upon Man haitian Island? It is a change from the most primitive agricultural life known on this planet-an agricultural life of wooden sticks for the plows-a change from that kind of fife to the most rapid moving urban life of our western civilization.
 There are several great influences that are effective in turning the for eigner into an American. In the first place there is our American influence, and the mo ding power of our Ameri- can opinion. The policeman repre- sents authority, with his almost 'invar- fable roughness to the foreigner, which the immigrant experiences when he first lands at the Battery and 1t is enforced upon him at ev- cry possible turn. As the policeman authority, so does the fore ! man represent the industrial forces | that change the foreigner into an American. These are far-reaching and i 0mnipresent. And then the foreigner | comes in contact with our more gentle i selves. Upon him at every turn we ! force our opinion-oftentimes contemp- 1 tuous opinions-opinions that often | times hold it as necessary theory | that the immigrant is, of necessity, a | criminal. This is theory that cuts deep to the heart a representative be- | Ing like the Jew, or anyone of our | from southern Europe.
 And yet the immigration commis- and spending over a million dollars 0f the government money-a commis- sion before it began its investigation law red restricting our immigration, - has been ompelled to admit that, if there is any difference n criminal character between the ma i've and foreigner among us, the diff And there is no mystery why this should be so. If we could remove rom our midst the halt. the blind, hose suffering from infectious and contagious diseases, our paupers and hose whose very outward appearance shows that they belong among the classes, we should have few 1T native Americans arrested and sen enced to prison terms in these cities )f OUTS.
 Another great Americanizing influ- ence which the Italian feels is the in- l tolerance of his tenement house neigh DOTS. Among these the young people Ire in the majority, and for the young people American style is everywhere he thing. The young women take intense pride in dressing like our Am ,rican girls and the young men, like. hem, make it a point of honor to speak English just as soon as they possibly can do so.
 To understand our Italians, we need l. O get close enough to them to see hat they are the same human pasta O use their word-as the rest of us. They need no defense but the truth. In ipite of the diverse character that all he provinces stamp upon their chill lren, our southern Italian immigrants till have many qualities in common. Nbei- uapIIta1. defects and vices have