THE .AMERICAN
'AM FU'CA FOR. A V ER1CANS" W bold that li men r Americans who Ser AllegU"' to the United SuU- without mental reaervatloo.
TRICE FIVE CENTS
A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER.
OMAHA. NEBRASKA. FRIDAY PHPEM UKU 10. 1897.
VoLCMK VII.
DliatATION AND
Prcscot F. Hall Points Out
Where There Is a Cer
tain Progression.
if
t
4
Ime rlcan Enter l N I'rolent Lof
ait the Ureal Hulk of the reputation
Came From England, Ormanj,
France and Scandinavia.
Under the foregoing title the North
American Review for October contains
a noteworthy article by Prescott F.
Hall, secretary of the Immigration Re
striction league. Mr. Hall's main con
tention is for an educational test to
bar out all immigrants who cannot
read and" write their own language,
and he fortifies his arguments with
some interesting and significant facts.
That the immigration laws at pre
sent in force are not particularly
efficacious must be admitted from the
simDle fact that the persons debarred
and returned under these laws are but
a paltry fraction of 1 per cent of the
total immigration. It is practically
imnosslble to say whether or not a
man will become a burden on the state
within a year by looking at him or at
his purse, and the result is that the
Blums of our great cities are daily
growing at an alarming rate from this
source. The importance oi tne mat
ter lies not only in the fact that our
Blums are almost wholly sof foreign
crowth. but also in the less wldelv
realized fact that the slum elements
come from the countries which have
most markedly rncreased their immi
gration in the last ten years. In other
words, immigration as at present al
lowed Is feeding the slums faster than
It is filling vacant positions or lands.
Immigration during the ten years
from 1880 to 1890 amounted to 5.246.
613 souls, or over 35 per cent of the
total immigration from 1820 to 1890.
Previous to 1870 three-quarters of all
immigrants came from . the races of
northwestern Europe the United
Kingdom, France. Germany, and
Scandinavia. By 1880 these countries
were sending us only three-fifths, and
in 1896 only two-fifths, of the total im
migration. On the other hand, south
ern and eastern Europe Austria
Hungary, Italy, Poland and Russia
which in 1869 sent less than one
hundredth of the total immigration,
in 1896 sent us over one-half. A most
profound change has taken place in
the character of the foreign elements
admitted to our society, and the Im
migration question is much graver
than It was a dozen years ago.
On an average it Is found that the
foreign element furnishes one and one
half times as many criminals, two and
one-third times as many insane per
sons, and three times as many paupers
as the native element. In Massa
chusetts in 1895 the criminals of for
eign birth outnumbered those of native
birth ten to one iand Massachusetts
does not get the worst class of im
migrants by any means. From the
prison reports of that state Mr. Hall
deduces a certain progression in the
number of criminals furnished by
each of the nationalities. Germany
gives 3.6 per thousand, Scandinavia
5.1, Russia, 7.9, Austria, 10.4, Hun
gary 15.4, Poland 16.0 and Italy 18.2.
The native born give 2.7 criminals to
the thousand and the foreign born 5.4
or just tiwice as many.
Turning now to the figures On illit
erancy, one is startled to find a pro
gression almost exactly parallel to the
foregoing progression in criminality.
In 1896 the percentage of illiteracy
among the Scandinavians was less
than 2, among Germans less than 3,
English 5, Scotch 6, Irish 7, Greeks 26,
Russians 41, Austro- Hungarians 45,
Italians 55. In other words, the na
tions that have so largely increased
' their immigration since 1880 are at
once the most illiterate and the most
undesirable. Moreover, they form the
element that has neither the ability
nor the ambition to till the ground or
to do any skilled work the element
that makes the slums.
Those of foreign birth or parentage
form 77 per cent of the total popula
tion of the slum districts in Balti
more, 90 per cent in Chicago, 95 per
cent In New York, 91 per cent in Phil
adelphia. What is worse, these for
eign colonies are drawn from the illit
erate nations. Southeastern Europe
has furnished three times as many as
northwestern Europe in Baltimore,
nineteen times as many in New York,
twenty times as many in Chicago, and
seventy-one times as many in Phila
delphia. In other words, the slums of
mm.v w:- ctAv--:
HMMili ill I
SM h i v; fete
pS?r S" ; s :
our largest cities are a foreign product
and the present Immigration laws are
powerless tp prevent their rapid In
crease. "Do you want this country to be peo
pled by British, German, and Scandi
navian stock, historically free, ener
getic, progressive," asks Mr. Hall, "or
by Slav, Latin and Asiatic races, his
torically downtrodden, atavistic, and
Btagnant?. .The facts are that over
four-fifths of our recent immigrants
are utterly unskilled in any employ
ment, while of some races which have
been increasing in Immigration of
late, such as Italians, nearly nine
tenths are laborers."
Just here another important point if
worthy of note. In proportion as this
influx of unskilled foreign labor has
increased the American have with
drawn from the manual pursuits thus ;
invaided, producing at times a large
contingent of Americans who could
not find congenial employment. The
result has been that these men have
not married, or, if they have married,
they have refused to increase the size
of their families until they had the
means to raise their children above the
lowest social class into which they
were thrown. This Is one cause of the
halving of the American birth rate. On
the other hand, the birth rate of illit
erate immigrants is not only uncheck
ed, but their children remain almost
as Illiterate as themselves.
On the whole Mr. Hall makes a
strong case to the effect that the illit
erate are undesirable and that the un
desirable are illiterate. It is not to
be expected that a test of reading and
writing would keep out educated
criminals and anarchists. But, as the
writer remarks, "we know how to deal
with these gentlemen, as was Bhown at
Chicago and Detroit." The danger to
the state comes not so much from the
few educated cranks as from the mass
of ignorant material upon which they
can work.
"A reading and writing test will ex
clude the dangerous and unassimll
able elements by a certain and uniform
method; it requires evidence of a ru
dimentary education indispensable in
a democracy, and it will exclude fewer
desirable immigrants than any other
test."
Such is the summing up of Mr. Hall's
argument. He holds with reason that
the ability to read and write their own
language is no exorbitant thing to
demand of men who ask to join oui
democracy. The statute of Liberty in
New York harbor holds in one hand a
torch and in the other a book, which
may be interpreted as meaning not
merely that immigrants shall be ed
ucated to a higher degree after they
get here, but that they must be able
to read the fundamental law of the
land by the light of Liberty's torch be
fore they have a right to land. Chi
cago Tribune.
Who l he AgitHtnr Art.
One strike just settled, involving the
coal mining Industry, and up rUes an
other proposition for a strike in Chi
cago involving the street car sys
tem! When that is disposed of. another
eruption at some other point will fol
low, and, to auote Robert M. La Fol
lette in his Fair speeches, "every
thinking man must have been Im
pressed with the unsettled, restless
condition of the public mind so mark
ed for the last few years. The cry: of
discontent has sounded In the land
again and again now almost dying
away, now swelling In volume until
men who consider beyond self and the
hour of asking: "Is there not some
serious cause for it all?"
Of course there Is "some serious
cause for it all." To the close, candid
and truthful observer, that "serious
cause" is not far away, or so hidden
that we may not discover It, if we
only will.
Who Is It that is about to lead the
Chicago eruption but our old acquaint
ance Mahone, the chief walking dele
gate, distinguished in the Milwaukee
strike of a year ago?
Who was it that practically lead the
strike just disposed of but the re
nowned Debs, the grand steerer of the
Micks, the Huns, the Slavs and the
Dagos in their mission of misrule, an
archy and revolution?
Who are the men that are the trust
ed co-workers of Debs, Mahone, Powd
erly and the like, but the FlUgerald
Hogans, the O'Keefs, the O'Rourks,
the Archbalds, the O'HIckeys and the
O'Malleys?
Who Is it that is at work inciting
and creating this unrest, creating dis
turbances and collecting the mobs and
rioters to march as armies in the land,
but the same class of agitators?
Who Is responsible for the vast in
flux of the scum of Europe into the
mining and industrial centers of this
nation, to the detriment and, in many
cases, the driving out of American la
bor? Who is it that controls these hordes
of the most ignorant, superstitious and
vicious?
Who is it that is inciting, ferment
ing and stirring up strife and rebellion
In our country?
Who is it that has its trained bands
and cohorts of armed, drilled and
equipped "auxiliaries," counting up to
hundreds of thousands, scattered
through our cities, towns and villages
and ready at a moment's notice to
march out under the banner of the
hierarchy?
It Is easy enough to see who it is,
but why is it that so many of our
Protestant orators, leaders and teach
ers ignore the "serious cause of it
all" and seek to account for it all upon
another and different basis?
No one doubts but that combinations
and trusts are an evil in the body pol
itic! that corporations, by their agents
and lobbyists, corrupt legislators, na
tional, state and municipal in many
Instances; that the concentration of
the wealth of the country in the hands
and control of the bunkers and money
lenders, and that the possession of all
political power in the hands of
a few men, is contrary to the spirit of
our institutions, but to say that these
evils are sr,3e1y responsible for the con
ditions existing at this time, and have
caused the swinging of states first one
way and then another, is clearly tin
true. If the American people were let
alone to pursue the even tenor of their j
way, all these questions would be met i
and solved without Btrikes, riots,
mobB, lynchings or rebellion.
Again, who Is the most responsible
for the corruption and boodle In our
legislatures, national, state and muni
cipal, If it is not this same crowd and
class? Look where you will and you
will find them at the bottom of all
such mischief, whether It Is in New
York, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis or
Milwaukee.
Why should we not come out and
talk plain and locate in the public
mind this "serious cause" for all the
rottenness and corruption in our body
politic?
. Why should we not lay bare this
cancer that is responsible for this
dangerous, festering and disturbing
condition In our land?
Are our public men afraid to cat'
a spade a spade? Wisconsin Patriot
Washington' Idea.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 16. The oft
agitated question of establishing in the
city of Washington a great national
university on the lines' suggested by
President Washington has taken more
definite form than in the past, and a
number of representative American
women have taken hold of the project
with a determination to push it to a
successful conclusion if possible. They
have started out in a practical manner
by seeking to raise the first of the $25,
000 necessary for the erection of an
administration building to form the
nucleus for the university, and hope to
be able to lay the cornerstone on Feb
uary 22, 1899. Their purpose in the
interim is to urge the matter contin
uously on the attention of women all
over the world. They will assemble in
convention in Washington on Decem
ber 14 to devise ways and means for
arousing public sentiment. Among
those who have Initiated the move
ment to fulfill Washington's wish are:
Mrs. H. H. Hearst of this city. Mrs.
Ellen A. Richardson of Boston. Mrs.
Clara R. Anthony, Miss Rachel How
land, Miss Louise Tincker. and Mrs.
Edmund Anthony, jr., of Massachusetts,
Mrs. I. S. Boyd of Georgia, Mrs. W. A.
Roebling of New Jersey, Mrs. John K.
Goodloe of Kentucky. Mrs. H. H. Ad
ams of Connecticut, Mrf. S. B. Brice of
Ohio, Miss Eucene Hale. Mrs. David
Starr Jordan, Miss Charlotte Blake
Brown, Mrs. F. S. Hubbard and Miss
Caroline Jackson of California.
Mrs. Ella A. Richardson of Boston,
chief organizer of the movement, writ
ing to George H. Harris of this city,
of the plans thus fifr formed, says:
"The patriotic women of America are
to build the administration building,
and. their propose to make the 22d of .
February, 1898, the nation's first of- church remain without shadow of
fering day. For this purpose they are . turning. A single passage will be
asking no large contributions, begging j enough to satisfy the reader's curlos
nothlng. America's 70,000,000 people ly. and the whole, would be unbear
must build this great monument. If ah'- "The holocaust of all those in
the 13,000,000 children in the public nocenta has been willed, Inposed by
schools in America would give an of- God, to ransom the Incredulity and the '
fering of a penny each on Washing- j failings of the age, In 1870 the dl
ton's birthday they would raise a sum vine God imposed upon France, that
sufficient to erect the building and en- I t "-V. the oldest daughter or tne
dow it. . Let us, then, join hands and hurh. an invasion of the Prussian
have an American university, Aniert- Armies. Thnt chastisement not hav-
can sciences and American ideas for InB arrested unbelief, God in his fury,
American citizens." turned toward theso women, who
Mrs. Richardson further stated that ' providence of the poor, and
she had arranged with the proper decided that they should dio in the
authorities that the Bureau of Engrav- atrocious sufferings."
ing and Printing shall produce err- 1,('re 19 lne ol1 ma. of God's
tiflcates which will be given to those dreadful cruelty and vlndictivenesS.
who contribute to the movement. , 11 19 he who incites to war and the
j burning to death of hundreds of de-
Simplv a Hiirhwuv Huhln r. j voted women awakens no reproach In
At a place not a thousand miles from the lethargized mind of the priest.
Portage city, a young girl employed I"on Deins in a masterly lecture re
in a Protestant family was sent a few ported In 1m Puix Universelle. critl
weeks ago to the grocery and was en- elzed this horrible sermon, and was
trusted with the money to make a pur- met with tremendous applause. One
chase. On her return she reported tnat of his most condensed paragraphs is
a reverned father had compelled her as follows: "If God be a punitive
to give the money for the church, deity, and if it Is H e who sends
Her employer not being a coward and scourges upon the earth, then Jesus,
not having the usual cowardly fear of who enjoins us to forgive even our
a boycott, took the girl and hunted enemies, must be better than God
up the "fatherly" dead-beat and hired- himself. "
girl bulldozer and compelled him to Leon Denis represents the advance
return the money which he know was
not the girl's when he took It. Their
gall is wonderful. In this city the
ghostly fathers do not hesitate to take
the last fifty cents from poor washer
women. Wisconsin Patriot.
Whom the (iod Would Iestrov.
"They whom the gods would destroy
they first make mad!" How else can
we explain the abominable doctrine
proclaimed from the altar of the Ca
thedral of Notre Dame, Paris, by the
Holy Father Olllvler?
We have been and are. constantly
told that the Catholic Church has
changed. That the Spirit of the Age
has stirred her clotted blood, and she
no longer Is the same that she was
centuries ago. We are told that it
is unjust to bring up the horrors of
the inquisition and anathamas thund
ered against the reformers of the past,
because the present church has so far
thrown off the old beliefs that it is
ho longer the same. The American has
cried aloud like a faithful sentinel from
the watch-tower that this was mislead
change, for its strength was In its in
ing and false, for the holy church
never changed and admitted of no
fallibility and unchangeableness. The
words of this priest, standing before a
vast audience, refer to the fire at the
charity fair, which left hundreds of the
most self-sacrificing and benevolent
persons, who were giving their labor
to the suffering, white ashes or
chaired cinders, ghostly In the sight
of a horrified world. His discourse
was most lilaHphemous, yet It proves
thut the doctrines of the
Holy".
of the age. The priests, the church's
unchangable doctrines, Identically the
same that they were five centuries
aro. And can It be for a moment
doubted that they who believe In a
God who would harm hundreds of the
noblest women, engaged In the most
elevated labor, would hesitate to fol
low His example, and mercilessly crush
those their bigotry held as His en
emies? What folly, then, to think that be
cause the Mother Church does not
agitate the school question, that she
has relinquished her claims. She has
only retired to cover, and la pushing
forward in another direction. Her
stealthy hand is clutching the throat
of the Republic. She demands freedom
and liberty, that she may destroy every
vestige of these and substitute her ac
customed despotism, which is as
merciless as her God.
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