The labor advocate. [volume] (Cincinnati, Ohio) 1912-1937, 1915-11-13
HYPHENATED AMERICANS
By FREDERIC ]. HAsKIN


foreign order. This classification in
cludes every person in the country who
was born abroad, or whose parents
were born abroad; and there are 33,-
100000 such people in the United
States.
OF course, in popular sense, that is
not what ''hyphenatcd" means at all
| The hyphen has come to imply a di-
vision of the individuals loyalty be
tween the country OF his origin and that
OF his adoption. An Irishman who
landed here year ago is apt to be as
| loyal to the United States as any de-
sccndant of the oldest English family
in Virginia. True, he still worships the
Emerald Isle and loves the songs and
stories about it, Scntimentaly, he is
devoted to Ireland, but politically he
belongs heart and soul and both fists
to the United States OF America.
Certain other races, however, lack
the lrishman's adaptability. Instead OF
mixing with Americans and becoming
like them, they form little colonies by
themselves, where they cherish their
national languages and customs. After
several generations they may still at
heart be loyal to the land OF their origin.
With the European struggle going on,
1t IS interesting to analyZc this great
mass of material for the melting pot.
OF the 33,OOO,OOO people OF foreign
origin i'll the United States 14,OOO,0O0
were actually born abroad, 13,00O,0O0
were born here OF parents born abroad,
and 5000, 900 had one American and one
foreign-bOrn parent.
OF these Germany has the largest
numerical share. Onc-fourth OF all
Uncle Sans folk OF foreign origin is
from Germany. There are S,2j0,0O0 oi
them altogether. Next to that nation,
ireland has furnished the greatest mum
Der Of American residents who are not
more than a generation from the land
of their fathers There are 4,5OO,O00
people in America who came, or whose
parents came, from ireland.
Russia and Finland together con
tribute nearly 3,OOOOOO Italy is crow
ing the million and a half mark. Nor
way, Sweden and Denmark have sent
Us 3,O0O00O Scandnavans. England
has yielded 3,500,OOo, while France is
represented by but 300 900, and stands
on par with Switzerland and Holland.
/ Austria hungary is an important
factor. being the origin OF 3OO0,OOO
people living here. Greece and ROu-
mania have contributed most from the
Balkan countries, which have, all to-
| gcthcr, sent 100000 OF their sons and
daughters to America.
With this horde OF Europeans among
its population, the United States offers
a field for race study that is without
an equal. The Government has been
closely watching these people as they
enter the melting pot, to determine Just
how fast they fuse into the whole and
become Americans. 1t has been at
tempting to determine where the
hyphcn disappears
Aside from IlngIish-spcaIling peoples,
the palm for rapidly acquiring all the
qualifications OF undivided American
ism goes to the Scandinavans. This is
due primarily to the fact that they usu-
ally settle ON farms and are thereby
scattered among Americans.
The Jew, OF all the citizens OF the
United States, takes most uniailing ad-
vantage oi the public school, In this
way the son OF iorcign-born parents be
comes thoroughly American. This is
made easy Tor the Jew, OF course, by
the TACT that he is bound to no other
country by the ties OF race,
The Germans are asSimIatcd more
slowly than any OF these. Deeply de
voted to the social customs ol their
iathcrland, they are apt to form COM
muniticS. clubs and other organizations,
ior the purpose oi preserving these in
tact As natural result, the children
often learn German in the home before
they learn English in school. 1t is in
cvitablc that where the customs and
Language 10 a country are use, the
u. :, -