Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-04-23
SCUM OF THE
MELTING POT

past year. III tue neat anu n'i' -
preparation, the scum has risen TO
the top.
AS America has turned her face
toward the enemy, every dirty cur
in the country has snapped at her
heels. We have found that enemy
intrenched in America as well as
in France sapping in oul schools,
undermining in our press. burrow-
ing in our municipal and state
governments-sni whenever
back has been turned.
1t looks bad, but it is only scum,
and beneath 1t Americanism IS
coming to the boiling point We
are in the healthy condition of
knowing what the troub } is. We
have been too free with America
giving everything and demanding
nothing. We have had a happy
go-lucky, don't care theory that
nobody need worry about what the
unassimilated foreigner did or
thought; that everything would
| come out right in the end; that
there was some magic in our air
that would transform the lazy, the
weak, the vicious into hard-work-
| ing, honest. desirable American
citizens. We have considered the
| rights" of every nationality in the
world except our own.
The immigrant who comes to
| America to become an American
and who works at that job should
/ be welcome. but of late years too
many of another kind have settled
here. Powerful influences have
| been at work against their Ameri-
canization in the old way. Free
entry and opportunity have been
/ given, not only to the honest,
sturdy immigrant with a sincere
| admiration for our country and
! the will to work and become a
| loyal American, but to the fellow
| who had only the will TO. work us
and against us. The foreign agi-
tator has been welcomed and told
| to go ahead and agitate, even when
/ he blackguarded our country and
lied to the ignorant and the credu-
! lous about its government. The
/ professional troublemaker has been
| permitted TO go ahead and make
| trouble Almost any scoundrel III
I Europe who fancied a trip TO our
shores has had a fair field and
plenty of favor over here be-
cause this is a free country and
! the refuge of the oppressed" 1t
! has been the refuge of the OPP
pressed, but it has also been the
/ haven of a lot of rascals who have
abused our hospitality and be-
smirched our institutions mot only
from the soap box but from the
! forum
The final blame for these condi-
| lions rests at the door of natural
| lied and natiye-bOrn American pol
! iticians and demagOgues who, ID
gain and keep office, have basely
appealed to sectional and race pre-
! judice, to passion, ignorance and
! discomfort. They have made pos
sible the perpetuatiOn of babel of
tongues, a segregation Of races,
/ growing class prejudice in this
country They have exalted the
/ hyphen until it has become badge
/ of honor; they have grovelled ID
every vote except the American
vote. 1t is about time to show them
what the solid Americanism Of this
country can do to them at the
polls.
grating, sinister, we have the class
appeal-the easiest of all with thu
uneducated or half-educ&ted for
/ eigneT, who has been class-ridden
all his life, without the opportu-
nifty that he has over here to be-
come a member of any class for
which his brains and his will to
work qualify him. AS the appeal
! to discomfort, to class is the cas-
/ lest, so it offers the best field 70"
the demagOgue, the CRATER, the
! cheap intellectual" limelighter.
Its apostles, men with soft hands
and hard faces" or with hard
| hi nds and soft faces, are every
where just now among labor, bid
/ ding it take advantage Of the ma
| TONS need: among farmers, telling
| them that they are getting a\raw
/ deal. They search out a particular
! sore spot, local grievance in each
town and county, and base the.r
appeal on that. Last and least
are those fatuous fOols--the nut
! sundae Socialists from the ranks
of the self-styled "intellectuals
and the well-to-do lemon pop Boil
| sheviki uplifters-preachin some
thing they don't quite knew what.
and urging anything, they don't
| just care what, so it keeps the
| spotlight on them. They are self
| sacrificing idealists to the last dol
| lar of the other fellows business,
! but hard as nails in their own af-
fairs.
They look like a formidable lot,
| but they are not These men are
simply scum-pikers, grafters, liars
and demago gues-fnsincere, selfish
and dishonest-who will run like
rats once America recognizes that
even rats can spread malignan:
disease.
We must start by cleaning them
out of the schools, the press and
the government. The man who
plays partisan politics and appeals
TO class and race is self exposed
work against him: vote against
him: throw him out. Never mind
what he calls himself Republican,
Democrat, Socialist or Non-Parti-
san leaguer-the label is camou-
fiage. We need brains, honesty and
Americanism this year. 1t Is bet
ter TO keep 10 men out of office on
suspicion than to let one traitor
in. And not all the traitors are !
Germans or pro-Germana. There |
Is something peculiarly vile about |
the American who tries to make |
money or office out of this war