The Washington herald., 1922-11-04
The 5srald's
Open Court
Enropenn Populations.

10 - neissr. m ws1hs.sssu H>rsiss
Tour sditoriai. III the Lord Came
Back" was not written In spirit
Of chauyfnism or spread-essIslsn.
and Ehiie it conveys a pobulsr COM
parison another point Of view viii
make tt more interesting.
The British Isles tEnglsnd, Ire
land. SCOTLAND and waies) have an
area Of isi.sso square mfies and a
population Of fs.3ss.bss: or ss4 per-
sons TO q square mile. The United
states. without their insuiar posses
sions. have an area Of 37s3.sts
square miiet with . population OF
ioo. 900 900. or twenty-six persons 10
the square mile. Let ms imagine
what the conditions may be In L. s.
A. when they have q proportional
population OF the British Isles to-
day, namely. L47o.oio.sss. Isn't IL
quite possible the -'sordid. rum
soaked. poverty-stricken slums Of \
London. Birmingham. Manchester,
Edinburgh. Glasgow. Belfast andS
Dublin" win be eaualled ~ not sur
passed.
Indeed. i fear you have little per-
sonsl knowledge Of the East Side Of
New York city. Some years ago the
writer served on a jury in New York
City and a case came before the
panel I was In OF the death Of lit
Tile child by a horse car on Mulberry
street on a Sunday afternoon In
midsummer. Evidence was given
before us by police officers that up
ward Of 10000 persons. mostly chill
dren, were on the sidewalks and
street of q single block where the
accident occurred Also evidence
that as many as four 60 six persons
lived in a single room in houses on
that street. II this can be sur
passed in London win he sur
prised. although when you take into
consideration the density OF the
population in the British Isles and
IN comparison of the spsrseness in
L. s. it is in favor OF the British
Isles.
You make smother statement.
namely. american artisans whQ6
live in clean houses with electr
lights. steam heat and bath roomsy
Let us take for granted this is gen
another aspect apropos TO the
thought. The writer's parents lived
in that part of ireland known
through Goldsmith's immortal poem
Of The Deserted Village" Many
OF my kinfolks live there yet. No
electric light lighted their houses.
no steam heated them and possibly
no bathrooms. They were and are
yet poor. but there are greater
things in this world than electric
heated or lighted homes. and ! be-
lieve the British home has ~ in a
greater degree than almost any part
of the world. Candles may light
these homes and turf heat them. but
there is a devotion TO the simpler
things of God and home that is most
beautiful: it is not perfect but il
fills the church pews on Sunday and
the obedience to law and order civ
lily is universal. The British Isles
had between 100000 and 5.000.0oo
OF the flower of their manhood in
the war. yet in 1891 there was more.
crime committed in New York CiS
with its 100000 of population. d
In the British Isles. Does this
demonstrate something?
do not want to be mIsunderstoex
and IL is with fervent sincerity 4
say. as an American Citizen. that
under the deep blue sky Of heaven
no better people in every respect
lives than the real American people.
but they are gradually becoming
submerged by an element that is
far. far away from the principles OF
this republic. and unless there Is a
solidifying Of the old-time Ameri-
csnism and a formidable force
against the dissipation through
great riches and its attendant rami-
hcations. like the great empires Of
old. but far greater, for we have
many thousand times the riches
America will disintegrate and be-
come a Sodom and Gomorrah.
ELIJAH r. KNOTT