New Britain herald., 1917-03-12
ALIENS AND OTHERS
 SEEN BY DR. HILL
South Church Pastor Talks on
 New Residents Of America :

w. c. Hill gave an address on
 Americans or Aliens in the course
 which he isSnow, giving at these ser-s
 vices, on the American State and
 Civilization He began the address
 by calling attention to the distinction in Roman citizenship between citi-
 zens by y"adoption and the. native-born
 and stated that this distinction was
 one that had been known in some
 degree among all nations. Starting
 from this as an illustration he pro
 ceeded to speak of the situation m
 America.
 Never in the course of history has
 there been more interesting or more
 perplexing condition than this matter
 of citizenship in the United States.
 he said. ..It is this which constitutes distinctive American problem, not liquor, not social vice, neither the In- dian or the Negro is the great Ameri- can question but this.-Who will be an American a hundred years from now? It is interesting to note the rise of this problem on the establish ment of our nation under the princi- pie of lf-government. With univer-
 sal education and free churches, free speech, economic rights, fair taxation with corresponding representation. commercial justice and thoroughly democratic government, those born in 1 the colonies were naturally considered citizens. All these institutions. so entirely strange in history. began to attract attention abroad and many bethought themselves of the advant- age that might accrue from .citizen- ship under such "a government.
 s'In 1915 the second peace between ! the United States and Great Britain was concluded and the way was | opened for great economic oppor- l tunity in the states. At tnis Junc- ture also the close of the Napoieonic wars left period of the greafest eco. homie distress in Europe. Great brit- I ain is even now paying lnterest on 1 the debt incurred in these wars. Then began to start In great tide or am- migration for the first ten years or which we have record, 1870. to lSSV. 16O, 900 came to the new country. This number has gradually increased funtil in the last ten years. 1900 to 1910 nearly nine million of Europe's nopulation found home in tho 1 United States. Tn the ninety year1 nearly twenty-eight million peoph have passed the open gates into the New World. The causes which a3 first led to this astounding flood of population were, first of all the grsat l famine in Ireland and the hard timfs l in Germany on the one hand, and the l discovery of gold in California on I the other. Added to this were tho ] intolerable burdens of taxation, es- pecialiy for military estabiishme entH in various European nations, politi-
 cal. and religious prosecutions at va rious times, and our free institutions
 and democratic government, to- l xether with the healthy condition of our labor market in which greatly l higher wages could be obtained than
 in European countries.
 '.The first immigration was rom l the North and West of Europe, prfn- cipally the Teutons and Celts, but ar ter 1882, because of better social and I industrial conditions in Germany and Britain, the character, of the tmmi- grafton changed and immense num- bers from South and Eastern Eu- rope began to pour in. Siavs, nus slams, Italians and peoples rom tne Balkan regions. !"
 New Problem for U. s.
 The sneaker then gave some in- terestine illustrations showing the vr..t vo,,nr of this immigration erd +ha rerplexing problem which 1t raised. +,.
 "whole cities of peoples from the ] vo ,,oua countries landed on >ouF l .ha~.." be said. '"The immigration nr single wear showed Italians sur a.,ar+ +o~ neople a city the size or NT;nneanolis. Austro- o-Hungagians equal l in number to the population or Do- +ro,+ and Jews and Poles that dNpia- ca+s the inhabitants of Providence. l Tn the wear 1905 there were enough ,,,,+aro+es among sthese incoming ,ao,,,es to re-populate Kansas City. 1 A1har,, Mer,den and New Britain, or. +o hut 1t in another way, a single vear,s immigration was twenty-five tho,sand more than the whole popu- iot,on of the State of Connecticut At first this immigration settled for the
 most part in the West, encouraged by
 large land grants. but later when these grants were withdrawn settle ment was for the most in the cities of the East. Now New York city. as is we'll known. has large centers or foreign population-more Germans than are in any city !n the German
 empire except Berlin, more Italians than in any city in Italy with the exception of Naples; more Jews than were ever in the City of Jerusalem in it's palmiest days and twice as many l Irish than in the City of Dublin.
 These startling and significant facts are somewhat indicative of the problem which has been created. In many quarters this hisimmigration has l increased greatly the questions of pauperism and crime. A glance at the court reports in our local papers l or an inquiry at the charity depart ,nent of our city will show the truth