The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-05-11
Through the Real East Side

That the cortege honoring the dead
who fell at Vera Cruz should be diverted
to-day at City Hall from the usual
route Of parades, to move through the
East Side Of Manhattan. Is appropriate
and commendable. Its course will take
the marchers past the homes and work
ing places Of a large and important
population frequently misrepresented
and generally misunderstood by their
fellow citizens. 1t should attract to
them attention. not as civic problem,
not as they are represented by their
unfortunates In the bread line and the
criminal courts. but as they are-re-
spectacle, industrious Americans. cul-
tivating the virtues Of Independence
and patriotism, devoted to their homes
and their country. struggling intellt-
gently and manfully to align themselves
with all that Is best In land to which
they are as truly attached as are those
whose fortune 1t was to have their an
cestors immigrate to these shores gen.
eratiOns ago.
Too many we'll intentioned persons
lacking personal knowledge of the East
Side Of Manhattan are victims VI the
false belief that It's residents number
among them an unusual proportion OF
weak. criminal and vicious creatures;
that 1t Is a too fertile field for the prop
agatiOn OF ruffians. impostOrs and was
| trels; that its public moral tone Is
low. attuned to liberation Of law
lessness threatening the welfare Of the
community and indicative Of a common
baseness Of character. How incor-
rect and unjust this opinion Is no per-
son acquainted with that great con-
course of orderly and ambitious men
and women who are collectively known
az the East Siders needs to he told.
Unfortunately. those having such an
acquaintance are comparatively few,
even In New York. and beyond the
boundaries OF the city they are natu.
| rally legs numerous.
The bowling anarchist, the beggar
in the bread line. the gangster with his
ever ready pistol or knife. the gambler,
the swindler. the thieving bankrupt,
the corner loafer; these are not the
East Side. though they bulk large in the
literature that has done 40 much 10
form popular notions. They are the mis-.
cradle dregs of a great community COM
posed OF men and women Of decent
anteceients, strong clf-respect and
praiseworthy aims. whose hope lies In
frugality. industry and the future Of
their children. Their lives record lit
tie to piQue curiosity or satisfy the
longing for the sensational. They dwell
in the commonplace OF domestic afec-
ton. labor happily performed and
pleasures rcasoncb bly, enjoyed that Of
fers no opportunity for the professional
uplifter Of humanit.'. and fails to at
tract the interpreter OF man to man.
BY them the public schools are filled
with children whose eagerness for In
structiOn matches their astonishing ca
pacity to absorb knowledge; the free
libraries are made places for serious
reading, instead of mere exchanges FOR
the latest popular fiction; their clubs
and societies seek to perpetuate In a
new environment the best they have
derived from priceless past; their
thoughts are for the permanent better
ment Of themselves, their posterity
and the land In which they have cast
their lot. From them the nation will
receive a rich heritage Of honorable
capable men and women.
That these excellent citizcns---from
whose sober and temperate lives many
lessons for the guidance Of their con
tempOraries might well he learned
should tie exhibited in their real aspect
is highly to be desired. If the pas
sage through the streets In which they
live OF a solemn procession officially
paying tribute to the men of the ma.
tiOnal defence shall direct thought Il
them as patriotic and valuable Ameri
cans, and dissipate some of the foolish
: misconceptions that surround them /,
7 will serve a dOubly valuable purpose,
/, RecL q snaas In Tho Air