The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-06-07
MAKING AMERICANS.
(written by Burges Johnson for the
 National Security League.)

(written by Burges Johnson for the
 National Security League.)
 am an averaged-minded Ameri-
 can like to think that my mental
 heritage is that of a long line of
 post office philosophers and sugar
 barrel sages-men who contributed
 something to the community's pro-
 ductivity and then found time in
 their brief hours of leisure to settle all the problems of the universe in solemn conclave around the stove in Mir. Pease's general store.
 have no other claim to authority
 on questions of national welfare than
 such an ancestry and my present cit izenship.
 I consider myself liberal, with
 socialistic 1eanings I am not an in-
 ternationalist, if I understand the word. I am afraid that the world
 cannot lift itself to higher things by it's own boot straps. I consider that some people, for reasons I cannot fully understand, have advanced
 further than other peoples and ma tions. I do not believe that the sh hortest cut to the millennium is to be found by first going through a level ing process that pulls Anglo-Saxons, for instance, down to the level of the HottentOtS in order that all may
 move upward together.
 It seems to me that it is well for our ration to go forward as fast as 1t can. and as it gains in enlighten- ment and sense of justice, as well as
 in all of the more material advan- tages of civilization, it must gain in sense of responsibility toward those who have moved more slowly toward the realization of humanity'S hopes. Reasoning in this way, somewhat l crudely, I admit, I can have no pa tience with an alien disturber who comes within my national boundaries purposing to destroy. in order that he may force us to drop back and | begin on a level with his people. believe absolutely in human 1 brotherhood, and in our responsibility | for the welfare of his people, but we
 are not going to increase their wei | fare by that method, and we are go- | ing 10 decrease our own.
 l Free speech" and free press are | phrases crowded with history and | splendid tradition, and any human | being ought to thrill at the sound of | them. I do not thrill as I should, be- | cause both phrases have been mouth :
 ed by vapid thinkers, emotional man l ufacturers of claptrap, who climb on | board such words and think they are riding to the destination which these | phrases formerly attained | want my people to move forward | as rapidly as so great and unwieldly | a people can move. do not want
 demagogues pulling us back, and | free speech" and free press do not ! mean to me two institutions which | alien disturbers may pervert for their | own purposes, to retard the progress l of my land toward knowledge of
 truth, and direct it toward their own | aggrandizement
 | I am not certain which is the right | or wrong side of the question of re- l stricted immigration. But do be- lieve that, if unrestricted immigra-
 ton is to admit all the world, those
 who will take advantage of it are in | great. measure those who have pro-
 gressed the least at home, probably | as a result of human injustice. If
 they are to be allowed to come in | vast numbers, we must attempt to es- | tablish among them our best stand
 ards of living. They must not be al-
 lowed to enforce theirs.
 If some orator assures me that | their standards are fundamentally l better than ours. even though they | include ignorance, dirt and disease, l | must emphatically disagree with | him.s Which is right? It is a ques- | ton of fact that neither of us can ] prove, unless God will testify in a | language we both understand.
 | Until He does. my reasoning is
 that this nation must act according | to Its best lights, refuse to permit
 outside forces to block it's path, but with increased sense of responsibility for other peoples share with 1n-