Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1912-05-11
From The Magazine Press.
Excerpts of Opinion from the Leading Writers of Today

tains a very important leading ar
ticle ON Race Admixture in A
merica, " America is likely to be
not the cradle of a new, but the
grave of an old race" is a pro
phesy which certain pessimists
have of late been endeavoring to
sustain. In the North American
Review, the Rev. Percy Grant re-
Gently presented the ade for the
optimists, his purpose being to
show that America has nothing to
fear from race assimilation.
Frankly admitting that mot CO.
lonial independence, not federal
unity, but racial amalgamation is
the heroic problem of the pre-
sent, :" the writer faces the prob
lem squarely. He says:
Our free government is a stand
ing invitation to the oppressed of
other countries, and our undevel-
oped wealth makes a constant APP
peal for strong arm and head
workers. What can we do, then?
We cannot shut out foreigners .
and still be true either to our
own ideals or to our practical re-
luirements. Nor can we pick and
choose. There is no accepted
standard of excellence except
health and " literacy.' Moreover,
there are not enough of one for
eign stock, were we to select one
as the best, to do the work wait
ing i'm the United States to be
done. Quoting from ON ar
ticle by Prof. William u. Ripley
on Race Progress and Immigra
tion,' he thinks that all will a
gree with the professor that:
The first impression from com
parison of our original Anglo
Saxon ancestry in America with
the motley crowd now pouring in
upon us is not cheering. 1t SEEM
a hopeless task to cope with
them, to assLmilate them with olr
present native born population.
Yet there are distinctly encourag
ing features about it all, these
people, in the main, have excellent
physical qualities, in spite Of I'M
favorable environment and politi-
cal oppression for generations.
The great problem for us in deal
ing with these immigrants is not
that of their nature, but that Of
their nurture.
Assimilation takes place by %
intermarriage, (2) the common
school education and (3) the eX
ercise of political rights; and the
rapidity of race assimilation in
the United States " is proved by
the abs nee of racial denomination
where given races are numerically
in the ascendancy." Prof
Franz Boas, too, in his recent vol
ume, 1.-The. mind of Primitive
Man" says he "does not fear
the effects of inter mingling OF
races in America. Reference is
also made to distinguished men
having" an ancestry of a mongrel
sort.
Alexander Dumas West Indian
negro blood) Alexander Hamil-
ton French and English Du
Maurier, st. Gaudens and Dante
Gabriel Rosetti stand for still
greater strains of bonds of ma
tionality. Lafcadio Hearn Greek
and lrish.) These few examples
show that intermixture is at all
events not destructive in it's eff
feet.
Robert Browning was rather
proud of the fact that he was
the product of four strains of |
European blood and both Wen
dell Phillips and Phillips Brooks
had Du Maurier's drop Of He
brew blood, :"
Mr.. Grant considers the rapid
lty with which the democratic
ideas are taken ON by immi-
grants under the Influence of our
institutions are remarkable.
For the Jewish immigrant, Mr..
Grant has the following good
word: The intellectual problems
and the advanced thinking of the
Hebrew, his fondness for study,
and his freedom on the whole
from wasteful forms of dissipa-
tion, sport, and mental stagnation
constitute him a more fortunate
acquisition for this country than
are thousands of the descendants
of the Colonial settlers.
The Dwindling American Dol
lar-From The Worlds Works.
One day in February, 1912, a
New Jersey commuter bought a
dozen strictly fresh" eggs, for