El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-12-06

N rivers and east of the Missis-
sfppi river live about half of
all the people Of Continental United
States. Within that section, included
in the foregoing half, are ten million
persons who, when the census man
comes around, give him some place in
a foreign country as that of their
birth Hence, when starting out Tor
the day, il one lives IN TINS INDUSTRIAL
section of America one IS likely 10
run up against a foreign porn person
in about every fourth man or woman
one meets. And the stream of immi-
grafton has not dried up
There is no danger that they viii
do 50 but lust suppose that these ten
millions of men and women were TO
pack their belongings late on some al
rernOOn and that night depart Tor the
lands they came from! reared IN
rural REGIONS of Europe these people
can have no special fOndness for our
sitting tenementS, and our unprotected
coal mines American cities can show
many quite as objectionable tenemenuS
as can European cities and American
mines are constantly imprisOning
helpless and hapless men and taxing
big tolls in tragic deaths Why should
immigrants remain2 What base OF
COMPLAINT would Americans have II
their bakers. confectiOners, clothiers,
fcemen. coal beavers, RAILROAD and eel
lar diggers their almost every form OF
manual labor and small tradesmen, dld
go back to the scenes Of their child
Would Be a Bad Night.
But the days Immediately following
departure would be desolate ones for
those of US who remain. bad night
for America indeed!
This is the day when Americans
look to their water power, their for
ests, their soils BOundlesS IN re-
sources Americans have been prOd1gal
in he 81 n
But now all is changed. What we
have we have decided to take care OF.
What We have not, but may have by
proper handling, we are training our
selves to get Efficiency in shop, on
farm, in mine. in publicity, in sales
craft-much is the order everywhere
One commodity Of transcendant i'm
pOrtance is left out OF these conSerVa-
ton considerations by a good many
people. That commodity is American
national character Where did Amer1-
ca get it, It is unlike the character
of any other nation fortunately, those
foreign born peoples who might go
away between some shutdown and sun
rise cannot take with them the con-
tributiOn they have made to American
character. We are lucky TO that eX-
tent These millions more who enter
at New York and other ocean har-
bOrs are bringing more characteristics
to dump into America-the most re-
markable human melting pot the world
4
but on a scale that the original Pente-
cost never dreamed of.
Conserving National Character.
So while some people conserve re-
sources in forests, in water, IN MIN
erals. and make them in crease by
wise methods. Christian leaders are
conserving national character, very
real commodity, affecting for good or
for evil every other COMMODITY and
irving to make it grow in right dtrec-
rIcn from the contributions Wnlcu
these millions of new immigrants
make Character development. Char
acter conservation. A campaign that
started last month commits all Chris
tan churches to this form OF conSer-
walton from now on.
Those who know say We got hustle
in politics from the Irish English
have politics, but it is not the Amer
lean kind Our kind is the Irish kind
the land on top quality.
Politics was by no means all Of the
contribution to our national traits
made by the Irish, any more than the
Christmas tree, sausage, beer and
music were all of the contributions of
beer were things Irish and German
brought with them over the ocean
chiefly because 1t never occurred to
them TO leave them behind And Amer
lea is infinitely richer because Of their
thoughtlessness. Germans have given
to American character frugal1ty,
thoroughness, and Industrial training.
Carl SchurZ, soldier, statesman, writer,
scholar, was the typical German
Indebted to the Dutch
How poor would be American char
acter, for example, had not the Dutch
thrown in their stubbornness. their
setintheirway makeup, their cleanliness
and their missionary zeal2 The Scotch
zeal, and threw them in. But the
kindly canny Scot famed for certain