The Washington herald., 1921-03-17
DIR. EDGE HAS NO FEAR
OF RACE SUICIDE HERE.

ENH~='7!wfFrlElHHI
DIR. EDGE HAS NO FEAR
OF RACE SUICIDE HERE.
The ''unassimilated foreign eie-
ment" is nothing but . bugaboo. In
the opinion Of DR.. Theodore Edge.
Of Emporia. Kan. seen at the
Franklin Square Hotel yesterday.
DIR. Edge was discussing the fear
entertained by so many since the
passage of the suffrage amendment
that the granting of the ballot to
the mothers OF America would take
them from the home and would have
tendency to discourage maternity.
II have heard good people with
out number hold forth on the grave
danger OF the foreign-born out
stripping the natives OF the United
States In bearing children" said DR..
Edge. "Alarmists declare that the
American woman is leaving the
home for the ONCE. the shop, tho
factory. and the professions, and
that unless an effort is made to pre-
vent this exodus from the firesids
we shall find the next generation Of
Americans practically all the on
spring Of .foreign-born parents.
1T is pointed out" DR.. Edge con-
tinued. that the birth-rate amongst
the two and three generation Amer.
lean women Is decreasing every
year and that the entry of women
into new fields will serve only to
aggravate this condition, and thar
in forty or fifty years the Maynower
stock will be greatly depleted to the
detriment of American institutions
and ideals.
ATS ALL B0sH,-
HE DECLARES.
Il have thought q great deal
about this matter" said the doctor.
for I have always been interested
in the feminist movement, and often
used to listen to Miss Anthony and
others during the pioneer days of
suffrage. I have come to the con-
clusion that this fear of our being
overrun by the foreign element" 10
all bosh.
Suppose there should be fewer
mothers because Of entry Of women
into new fields. Grant even that
immigration Is unchecked and we
find a gradual influx of blood from
Norway. Sweden. Denmark. France,
England. ireland and the Central
Empires. Does that mean that the
country Is going absolutely to the
bow-wows? Not at all. Has not
that condition been characteristic of
the last 100 years of American his.
tory?
What IL we do get new blood
into American veins? New blood
has always invigorated. never i'm
this virtue of being first in a coun-
try. what does II mean?-often
mere snobbery. It is true that we
look up to the descendants Of the
men and women who fought in the
American Revolution as custodians.
in a sense. of the best American
ideals and traditions. We grant, too,
that their ancestry obligates them
to work for what the present gem
GRAFTON calls Apprehension but we
are not willing to grant that they
have any copyright on true Ameri-
can feelings.
The foreigner who lands on our
shores. and beholding old Glory
then and there dedicates himself to
the principles on which this gov
ernment is founded, is Just as truly
an American as IL he were able to
point with pride to a family tree
heavy with colonial sires and danes
and a houseful of mahogany and
pewter heirlooms."
DENOUNCES ALIENS WHO
RETAIN RADICALIsM.
DR.. Edge has implicit faith in the
right kind OF foreigner who comes
to this country. but he is equally
emphatic in his denunciation of
those aliens who come over here and
refuse to forget the poisonous doc
trines of Old World radicaiism.
These misguided men and
women" said DIR. Edge. should be
regarded with the same tolerance,
and at the same time wariness, as
that with which we regard the GRIM
inally insane. They are every bit
as dangerous as the mentally un-
balanced whom we keep in institu-
tions in this country. They are.
however. the logical fruits of the
system which has prevailed in Eu-
rope. and the United States govern
ment is doing good work in sending
them back by force.
The money Uncle Sam invested In
the recent deportation of Russian
communists who had been agitating
the foreign-born population of New
York. Chicago and other congested
centers, was money well spent. The
government should throw out an
other drag-net and keep up the good
work Of deportation. I understand
that Russian radicals deported from
this country are playing a promi-
nent part in the present revolution
in Russia From all reports, how
ever, those who were elected from
this country. among them Emma
Goldman. have not found the mill
lennium over there they were ex-
pecting"
DR.. Edge believes that the depof-
tation Of these radicals and their
subsequent disillusionment will
serve as a forcible object lesson to
other aliens now within our borders.
provided they are amenable to
reason. F. W. G.