Norwich bulletin., 1922-08-11

He was apt to try to stand up so straight that he not infrequently leant ] over backward. He worked out his own problems by himself and in his own way. His theory of life was that every tub must rest on it's own bottom and ever yTnan stand on his own feet. This i habit of mind admittedly tended to- ward crankness and stand-ofishness. i But it didn't tend towards producing mediocrity as seems to be the aim of too many labor organizations. It didn't require the greyhound to restrict his pace to that of the differently built l snail, nor insist that the sprat should have rations or wages equal to the whale, It sought neither to level up nor to level down, to any arbitrary standard, but to give each one an open road, a. fair chance, an equal opportu- nity, and then let him make his own level
 And so on ad libitun. These were
 some of characteristics of the America that used to be- They are the eharac-
 teristics. in view Of which our form of government was devised. That form
 was fitted to them. It is not fitted to
 other and sharply opposing charaeteris- : tics
 Mr Lincoln once said in the old sIas- cry days that this nation could not en-
 dure half slave and half free. It can't
 endure in it's present form half Anaeri- r can and half European. During many Il years we called ourselves the world i melting-pot, took freely all of Europe r that chose to come and set about mak. 2 ing the immigrants over into Americans 9 For a time we succeeded. But latterly . the flood of immigrants has been toe = great. They are already a majority ir s the cities. And city residents are now e majority in the country. Instead ot e our making them Americans. they art | actually, whether Intentionally or not n fast at work Misunderstanding us. I The recently adopted laws limiting - present and future immigration are be Il lated evidences of the discovery of tfi. t fact. It is yet too early to tell how thel
 will work out. Almost every weel o brings tales of the sporadic injustice I, done in their application. We hear less = naturally, of the good they are accom-
 plishing. Anyway, they are but emer
 gency agencies. The longer I live, tn
 less confidence I have in the value 0 a statute laws. and the more feel com u pelled to fall back on the slower. sub ', tier. more variable forces which indee, make for righteousness" but whicl
 don't attempt to cram it down ou T throats with a policeman's night-stick Whether the old America is to surviv Il and resume it's lofty flight towards al e phexplored future seems to be, just now q in the hands of those of us who dwell il l. the rural districts. Seventy per cent. 0 5. US are still of the old American stocl ' and, supposedly. actuated by the ol' a American characteristics.
 d It is rather heavy responsibilit, n which rests on us. On count of nose > we are still in a slight majority. Bu IL majorities are uncertain and not al > ways successful Napoleon once cyni oi cally said that God usually fought o IT the side of the heaviest battalions, Bu 't Napoleon ended his days as a prisone y on the rock of St Helena. It was. ts wiser man who said "One with God Is ' majority
 = In the meantime 1t is our business t ,e hold aloft, in all weathers and in fac ! of all foes or traitors, the banner of !, 0 pure and yivifying Americanisrn whic
 fate seems to have put in our ward. 9 This does NOT. imply any contemr H- for or hatred of foreigners. or any cru 's sade against them. It means only 5. sturdy defence of whatfs our own It . as far removed from 'know-nothingism
 as it is from pro-Germanisn. It
 simply a recognition of the fact ths
 America Is the special field not neces
 sartly for native-born Americans, br
 very emphatically for those characteri.
 tics which have come to be accepted g
 distinctively American
 It is much less question of wher
 the man is from than of where he is g,
 ing; less of where his cradle was rocl
 ed than of where his heart now Is.
 "By their fruits ye shall know chem
 It Is our business to see that the frui
 age is kept up to grade, no matt
 ing.
 THE FARMER.