I suggested work in the Settlements; but he regarded them with

suspicion, declaring that they are irreligious and a breeding place for

Socialism. He listened with indifference to my defense of these

institutions which I regard as among the most valuable agencies we have

for the common good. I suggested some public service for the community

or the state.

"Politics?" he asked quizzically; "it's a dirty game. I want my boys to

help me take care of the interests I have."

I did not know what those interests were, nor did I care to inquire, and

luncheon being over, I rose to take leave.

"Where are you going?" asked my host, rather abruptly.

"To the East Side," I replied.

He wondered whether I was not afraid to go there, and when I told him

that I felt safer in the Ghetto at night than I should feel two blocks

west of his palace, he asked whether he might accompany me.

Knowing the free and easy ways of the Ghetto I assured him a hearty

welcome; so we left his home together and took the car for Houston

Street and Avenue B to attend the _Gulyas_ banquet to be given by the

"Bolsover Sick and Benefit Association," in its hall on Houston Street.

Sunday afternoon is the day on which the East Side looks its best. Its

squalor is temporarily hid beneath the festal garb of the rest day; the

children are still clean after their weekly scrubbing, and the mothers

sit on the stoops, gossiping and watching with the Old World timidity

their agile flocks playing in the middle of the street, also fairly

clean in comparison with its condition on the busier work days, when the

refuse of push-carts and ash cans covers it.

My millionaire host evidently found pleasure in this human mass. He saw

children who seemed happier than his own; for although they had fewer

pleasures, they had no governess to dog their footsteps, no maid to keep

them from exertion and no fear of microbes or bacteria.

Here in the Ghetto all the unrestrained child nature asserted itself,

and being children they had no thought for the morrow and having been

born in America, they were boisterously happy.

My host decided that after all humanity on Houston Street is not so

different from that on Fifth Avenue. The women, especially the younger

ones, were gowned as fashionably although less extravagantly; pony coats

being the style on Fifth Avenue were also found on Houston Street, and

most of the women who paraded both streets looked very much as if they

belonged to the same herd.

Hats were as expansive if not as expensive in this hemisphere of the

social world as in his own; while pride and social prejudice were common

properties of both.

Our entrance into the lodge room, on the fourth floor, over a _Kosher_

restaurant, was announced by the outer guard, after which a committee

came out to meet us. Then pledging us to secrecy we were escorted to

places of honour at the right and left of the Grand Master of the lodge.

The small room was completely filled by over one hundred members, and

after the business under discussion was finished, we were duly

introduced and addresses of welcome were made by officers and prominent

members.

I doubt that my fellow guest ever listened to addresses which he enjoyed

more than those he then heard, spoken in broken yet picturesque

language; and I am sure he never before realized that such lofty

sentiments lodged in such humble hearts and amid such forbidding

surroundings.

These hundred and more men, we were told, were bound together in

fellowship to help one another when unemployed, to support and nurse one

another when sick, to pay the last honours to the dead and to protect

the widows and the orphans.

And that was not all. It is the object of this lodge to work for mutual

intellectual improvement, and although politics are tabooed, the lodge

strives to develop noble, patriotic ideals among its members.

Of the men who spoke, I have known some from their childhood, and all of

them since their arrival in the United States.

It will not break the pledge of secrecy to say a word about these men,

typical immigrants from Hungary.

The Grand Master was born in a Jewish home in which the best traditions

of the Hebrew faith were adhered to. I have been there many a time

carrying messages from son to parent, and it was always a delight to

meet the saintly old father and mother who have never ceased being

homesick for their boy. He has gone through a hard school in America,

from sweat shop to laundry; and now he is a letter carrier.

The Past Grand Master is a wood-worker who tried business, but failed

and is now back at his bench.

Another is a metal worker, and his calloused hands prove that he obeys

the Divine injunction, and earns his bread by the sweat of his brow.

The man who proposed our being made honorary members of the lodge had

entered the University of Vienna, suffered moral bankruptcy and ran away

to America. He is a cloak presser.

The man who seconded his motion is a waiter, the prodigal son of a rich

father, brought low by his iniquities; but kept from utter ruin by the

fellowship of these men.

I know the record of them all; good and bad records, like those of other

groups of men; but every one of them is now earning his daily bread and

is contributing something to the wealth and the weal of the great city.

My millionaire friend frankly confessed that he had never seen a "bunch"

of men which impressed him more favourably than these--and well they

might impress him; for they all looked like toilers. Labour had bent

their forms, parched their skin and shadowed their eyes.

It was a long meeting, until far into the night. Several times the outer

guard had announced that the _Gulyas_ was ready; but not even the odour

of its rich sauce which pervaded the building could stop the flow of

eloquence, once set in motion, or curb the eagerness with which rival

candidates battled for office.

At last the Grand Master smote his desk with his gavel for the last

time and the "meetunk" was adjourned.

In proper order and ceremoniously, we were conducted to the basement of

the _Kosher_ restaurant. The steaming _Gulyas_ was on the tables, beer

and wine awaited the thirsty guests and the banquet began even before

all the members of the Bolsover Association were fairly seated.

My companion looked askance at the bowls of _Gulyas_ with its red gravy;

but it wooed his appetite through his nostrils and he gained sufficient

courage to take a piece of the well cooked meat with its dripping sauce.

Then I saw him eat as I had not eaten of his French snails and terrapin.

The members of the Society drank their modest measures of beer and

Hungarian wine as toast followed toast.

It had been my privilege not long before to have a conference with

President Roosevelt, and as I rose to toast the chief magistrate of the

United States, I repeated a few of his trenchant sentences. "Elyen!

Elyen!" the men shouted when I mentioned his name; and when I said that

the President had expressed to me the hope that we strangers should so

live that the country which gave us "sanctuary," a place to work in and

to live in, might be proud of us--the enthusiastic "Elyens!" seemed

unending. After the banquet, the man who had successfully run for the

secretaryship invited us to come into his home, not far away. My host,

having had a taste of the East Side and wanting more, readily accepted

the invitation.

We found this home in the second story of a tenement house on East Ninth

Street. We entered through the kitchen, and in the one other room,

living room, sleeping room and nursery combined, was the man's wife with

their three daughters. The youngest was in bed, the older one was

reading, while the oldest was entertaining friends--two or three girls

and a young man, her "steady company." The room was crowded, but clean,

and my Fifth Avenue friend sat down and looked at the novel picture

before him.

The young people chatted about the recent ball of the Bolsover Sick and

Benefit Association, of clothes and beaux; very much as they talk of

balls and clothes and beaux on Fifth Avenue.

Refreshments were offered us, and then the father told of his good

fortune in having been elected secretary of his lodge. Every one was

delighted; but the younger daughter, this little Jewish child, said:

"Papa, why don't you run for president, once?"

He replied: "My child, don't you knows that I gets paid for being

secretary, and gets nothing for being president?"

Upon which, this child of the Ghetto faced her father half angrily,

crying: "Why, papa, don't you know that honour is more than money?"

We left the tenement house together and walked across to Broadway, all

along that gaily lighted thoroughfare, illy named the White Way.

Theatres and concert halls were being emptied, and we were jostled by

the crowds. My friend spoke never a word until we reached the marble

steps of his home. Then, pressing my hand, he said, with almost a

tenderness in his voice: "Honour is more than money."

XXI

FROM LAKE SKUTARI TO LAKE CHAUTAUQUA

When I told a group of friends that I was to speak to the Albanians of

Jamestown, N.Y., one of them, who knew both her history and her

geography uncommonly well, said, questioningly: "Albanians? Are those

the people with white hair and pink eyes?" Then, realizing that Albinos

and Albanians are not identical, and being genuine enough not to conceal

her ignorance, she asked: "Do you mean the people from Albany, N.Y.?"

She may be pardoned for not knowing who the Albanians are, although they

are one of the oldest European peoples, who have kept a corner of that

continent turbulent, in the attempt to wrest from their master, the

Turk, the right of political existence.

One cannot say that the Balkan would have been a peaceful nook had it

not been for these Ghegs and Tosks, as the two main divisions of the

Albanians are called; but certainly, the history of Turk, Greek and

Southern Slav would have been different had it not been for the

Albanians' clinging tenaciously to ancient rights, and their many

struggles against continuous oppression.

[Illustration: ALBANIANS

ON LAKE SKUTARI

The most savage of the Balkan people.

ON LAKE CHAUTAUQUA

The newest of the Pilgrims, attending the Congregational

church, Jamestown, N. Y.]

The new régime in Turkey feels this Albanian iron in its veins, for one

of the leaders in the new parliament is of this race, as are many of the

most virile editors of Turkish newspapers. Both officers and privates in

the army which wrought the overthrow of the Sultan are of these same

people, who regard themselves as superior to the Turks and to whom no

greater insult can be given than to call them by the name of their

oppressors.

In my travels through the Balkan, I have often passed through some

portion of Albania, which is a narrow strip of land along the Adriatic,

between Montenegro and Greece, with much of its interior inaccessible.

Its savage state was encouraged by Turkey, which maintained there a

borderland against the power and ideals of the West.

Every village was an armed camp, every house a fortress. Tribal warfare

never ceased; neither the holy seasons of the Church nor harvest time

knew the blessings of peace. Every Albanian was a soldier or brigand and

sometimes both, loyal to those to whom he had sworn loyalty; but the

musket was law between him and the stranger, and the bullet its

executor.

Trained for slaughter, the Albanians spurned common theft, but did not

shrink from murder, for pillage or for revenge. The last time I saw them

at home, was on the shores of Lake Skutari, retreating to their native

mountains in the Albanian Alps, after having pillaged a Montenegrin

village, one of the few prosperous enough to make a raid worth while.

They were resting on a rocky hillside, and as I attempted to take a

snapshot, they resisted religiously, good Mohammedans that they were, by

emptying their rifles after me, doing no more damage than frightening my

worn-out team into a gallop.

To say that the next time I saw them, was in the prayer-meeting room of

a Congregational church, describes graphically the difference between

then and now; for it was a docile, conventional looking company of men

that I met; their fierce mustachios shaved or cropped, their muscular

bodies clothed in the commonplace garments of our civilization. Their

eager, black eyes alone spoke of the hot, Albanian blood in their veins

not yet chilled in our cool, workaday atmosphere.

Neither Gheg nor Tosk ever had a chief like the one who led them that

night in singing the "Shcipetari" song, the battle hymn of Albania; for

he who wore the red skullcap of the chief and beat time as they sang,

whose placid face was lighted by a deeper passion than their own, was an

American,--Arthur Baldwin, Patent Attorney and lover of common folks.

One by one he had gathered them as they drifted into the city by the

lake. "Dagos" they were called; homeless, neglected and treated with

scorn. One after another they swore fealty to their new chief, until now

every one of them acknowledges the sovereignty of his passion over them.

Half savage as the Albanian is, he has a fine feeling for womanhood.

Woman is man's fortress; for he is safe from the enemy's bullets when in

her company, and she may kill the man who has broken his troth with her.

While the men are loyal to Mr. Baldwin, they feel for Mrs. Baldwin a

sacred awe, and well she deserves their reverence; for she has been

mother and sister to these homeless youths and has taught them the

English language by a method of her own.

Most of the Albanians in Jamestown, and many of those who have scattered

east and west from there, carry with them Mrs. Baldwin's letters, which

are the English lessons for the week, combined with cordial greetings, a

word of good cheer, and advice.

In the prayer-meeting room of that church of the pilgrims, these newest

of the pilgrims sang that night their national hymn.

Ce me gne te Kollozhégut,

Ch'u fillua Shocerija,

Ce me gne te Kollozhégut

Ch'u fillua Shocerija

Ch'u fillua, brénda m'u ne Sofijé

Per skoli nde, Shciperi.

Ch'u fillua, brénda m'u ne Sofijé,

Per skoli nde Shciperi.

Burra, burra djéma, burra djém,

Burra djém perpicuni.

Burra, burra djéma, mbuhuni,

Mbushuni mé dashuri.

S'jémi Gréker as Bulgare,

Jémi trima Shcipetare

S'jémi Gréker as Bulgare,

Jémi trima Shcipetare

Dhente Zoti la me la,

Afer ghér nde Pérendi,

Dhente Zoti la me la,

Afer ghér nde Pérendi.

Burra, burra djéma, burra djém,

Burra djém perpicuni.

Burra, burra djéma, mbushuni,

Mbushuni mé dashuri.

The music is savagely martial, although the words are commonplace; for

the Albanian, like the rest of us, is thanking God that he is not as

other people, especially the detested Greeks and Bulgarians.

After the singing, the men danced. Shades of the Puritan ancestors!

Dancing in a prayer-meeting room! But inasmuch as these were

semi-civilized people, the dance was decent and full of religious

symbolism. The men swayed their agile bodies to the wild notes, bent the

knee, then two by two joined hands, forming a cross; thus making their

dance an act of worship.

Then I spoke to them of their mountain home and of this one; of their

old tribulations and their new opportunities; of their old feuds and

their new friendships. When I finished, they crowded around me and

pressed my hand, because they had found one who knew them, their fierce

nature and their unsurpassed devotion to their native land. I could not

help thinking of their brothers who, ten years before, chased me along

the shore of Lake Skutari with guns.

While I am sure that Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin would not desire praise for

the work they are doing among these people, the methods they have used

and the spirit which has animated them are so remarkable as to deserve

emulation. Their basis of approach to the Albanians was undisguised and

unadulterated friendship. They liked common folks. As other people on

the shores of Lake Chautauqua liked automobiles or steam yachts of

particular makes, so among folks, the Baldwins liked Albanians. Being

their friends, they wanted to do them good, and what they most needed

was ability to understand English; so they taught them English and with

the new language they have given them the atmosphere of home and

impressed upon them the need of character to save them from the new

temptations.

Wiser than some others who have attempted to do good to strangers, they

restrained their religious ardour and left Greek Orthodox and

Mohammedan undisturbed in their faith, except as by their example they

taught them that love is more effective than its symbols and deeds more

vital than creeds. Neither have they tried to deaden the old patriotism;

and the one great, starry virtue of the Albanian which is almost

unparalleled, is his devotion to his country.

After I had spoken that night, I was escorted to a restaurant kept by

one of them, and there over the steaming coffee we talked of Albania's

griefs and hopes.

Mr. Baldwin knew every nook and corner of the country and its history.

He spoke of Albania as if he had been cradled among those far-away

mountains, instead of on the placid plains of the Middle West. He

deplored the fact that they had no schools in which their own speech was

taught, that religion held them apart, through factions of Greek

Orthodox, Roman Catholics and Mohammedans; and he talked of Scanderberg,

their national hero, as if he were speaking of Washington or Lincoln.

Mr. Baldwin had invited me to Jamestown, to counsel with his men, who

are doing the most menial tasks to earn money for Albania. At that time

all was dark in Turkey, and a visionary alone could have held out hope

for an autonomous Albania.

Practical American that I have become, I told them to save their money,

start bank accounts and become prosperous Americans. They knew better;

at least they had more faith. They were then training a man in an

American college, for political and social leadership; a young Albanian

noble, who spoke eight languages, had faith in God and man and, above

all, in Albania.

Until long past midnight I talked of peace while they talked of war; I

spoke of submission, while they talked of resistance; I thought I knew

Turkey and the Turk, while they had faith in Albania and the Albanians.

The recent developments prove that their faith was better than my

knowledge.

When the Jamestown Albanians scattered as far east as Natick, Mass., and

as far west as St. Louis, Mo., their old friends aroused interest in

them everywhere. In Natick, Mass., a devoted pastor, Rev. Morris H.

Turk, has matched the Jamestown work for these "twentieth century

pilgrims" as he calls them. He has learned enough Albanian to lead in

devotions, and has fitted out a chapel with chancel, altar and pictures.

"We began," he says, "where the Greek Orthodox church left off. We

secured some Albanian hymn-books from Monastir, and thus we were enabled

to conduct a somewhat formal religious service, largely in the Albanian

language. Socials, entertainments, receptions, picnics and other

diversions supplement the religious and educational work done at Natick.

"The results have been remarkable. Two of the men are fitting for

college, a dozen or more have blended completely into the parish life,

and best of all, a hundred or more have had the uplift of friendliness

and acquaintance with our American ideals."

Mr. Turk is making a tour of Albania this summer for the express purpose

of rendering his service to these people more effective; to see life

from their view-point and to acquire a better knowledge of their

difficult language.

Mr. Guy J. Fansher writes from Boston, where he has become interested in

them: "Their love of country is very strong and, like the old Hebrew

prophets in Israel and Judah, we find it necessary to carry on whatever

religious work we may wish to do side by side with their love of

country. This same love of country has been evidenced in their

translating of the Orthodox Church ritual into the Albanian and using

that in their church service monthly in a rented hall.

"I found the men apt to stay indoors too closely, so during the winter

gave them work in gymnastics, using dumb-bells, basket-ball, etc. We had

some flash-light pictures taken of these classes, which the boys were

eager to buy and send home.

"The men are close readers of the daily papers, soon get interested in

politics (were strong for Taft), get out naturalization papers as soon

as possible, and are proud to be in America. They soon learn to dress in

neat suits of brown which is very becoming to them with their dark skin

and hair.

"The men seem to have good control of their habits, seldom drinking to

excess; the cigarette is always with them, however; the social vice is

not theirs to any great degree; they are neat about their rooms and do

not crowd together as the Italians or Jews. These things have rather

assisted our work among them; their exceeding shyness has been hard to

overcome; they must be led, not driven."

"They must be led, not driven," and Mr. Baldwin adds: "They must be

trusted, not suspected; loved, and not merely tolerated."

The events in Turkey have surprised every one who has an interest in the

Balkan question. The young Albanian noble, already referred to, is back

in Albania, somewhere near Lake Skutari, helping shape the future of his

country; for he is a leading member of the Albanian Committee.

On Lake Chautauqua his countrymen still work and pray and hope for an

autonomous Albania, with schools and churches in which they shall be

free to use their language and in which they shall have privileges

commensurate with their sacrifices and with the burdens they have borne

for Turkey.

Then they will sing in Kortia the song they sang in Jamestown, when we

parted before the early dawn of a winter's morning. It was a national

hymn, which the Albanians have a right to sing, although they sing it

under the crescent banner of Turkey; for it is a translation of

our--"America."

O Zot Ti fucimath,

Ndihna si ghér tashi

Te lutémi;

Lardi tet'apeme

Mé ghithe zémere:

Per dashurimne T'ent

Ce shoheme.

XXII

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH AND THE IMMIGRANT

The one institution in America most gravely concerned with the coming

and staying of the immigrant is the Protestant church. Each ship-load of

people from Southern and Southeastern Europe increases the already

crowded Roman Catholic parishes, lays foundations for the perpetuation

of the Greek Orthodox church in the United States and enlarges the tents

of Israel whose camps encircle the dying churches.

The Protestant church, in our great cities, pointing to the decrease in

her membership, as evidence of her peril, and bravely singing "Onward

Christian soldiers, Marching as to war," moves into the suburbs, away

from the congested masses and among the attenuated few.

That the Protestant church has endured thus far, that its ideals are

still dominant, that its preachers' voices are still heard in the

tumults of our Babels, is direct evidence that somewhere her foundations

rest upon bed-rock and that the Christian faith and practice, as she

understands them, are essential in the solution of the problems of our

civilization. Because I believe this, I am not frightened by figures but

am concerned with forces. It is not a question of the ability of the

church to increase, but of her willingness to decrease, if necessary, in

the attempt to communicate to these masses, from all races and

religions, her passion for humanity and her devotion to the Divine.

I am not at all concerned regarding the inability of the Protestant

church to adjust other men to her creeds or to adjust herself to theirs;

but I am deeply concerned with her inability or unwillingness to make

good her professions of democracy, and to relate herself in some vital

way to these new citizens who are satiated by creeds, but are hungry for

brotherhood; upon whom, like a curse, rest the damp and mould of tombs

and chapels, but who have been untouched by the power of the living,

redeeming Christ, as He has incarnated Himself in His followers.

So long as these people are within the sphere of Foreign Missions, in

"Greenland's Icy Mountains," or some other remote and romantic place,

they are the subjects of prayer and the recipients of gifts of men and

money; but when drawn into the radius of one's immediate neighbourhood,

they become a peril which threatens everything, from the price of real

estate to the foundation upon which the church rests. There is no

question that in many cases the Protestant church is facing this

problem in an admirable spirit; although very often expressing it in a

way calculated to alienate rather than to attract. On the whole there is

a growing desire to serve this new host of men, to help them adjust

themselves more easily to their new environment and to make of them

conscious human beings, consecrated Christians and efficient citizens.

There are to-day increasing numbers of Protestant Christians who have

broken away from the old prejudice against the Roman Catholic church. It

is not their desire to alienate faithful communicants from the church in

which their individual and national life has root and being; but they

recognize certain facts.

First, that in this new influx of immigrants there is an appreciably

large number of men who have fallen heir to Protestant traditions,

without fully realizing their spiritual inheritance and their moral

obligations. To these, the American Protestant churches owe the duty of

interpreting their common faith in its practical terms.

Second, the church realizes that numbers of men, more than are commonly

supposed, among Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Jews, are lost to

their respective churches. Many of them revert to infidelity and

Paganism, and the Protestant church is under obligations to interpret

its faith in rational terms to these, who have been touched by the

rationalism of our times.

One cannot believe that it is good for such men to be left under the

influences of these reactions which may become dangerous to the

well-being of the individual and of the State.

Third, the church finds itself surrounded by large masses of men,

ignorant of our language, of the laws of health and of the land. They

come from countries in which neither Church nor State has attempted to

lift them out of ignorance and its attendant superstition; and whenever

the churches in whose bosoms these people have starved in the Old World

do not make amends here in the New, the Protestant church is called upon

to lift them into a better knowledge of the nature of religion and into

a better conception of human relations, both for her own sake and for

the sake of the communities which she wishes to serve.

This she must do, even if it brings her under suspicion of proselyting;

although with my knowledge of nearly all the agencies engaged in this

task in the United States, I am convinced that the spirit in which this

work is undertaken is not the spirit of the proselyter. Indeed, one of

the growing weaknesses of the Protestant church in America is the loss

of those deep convictions which make proselyting easy; while the number

of those who have the courage zealously to pronounce their shibboleths

is growing smaller every day.

The spirit of the following letter justifies its quotation, for it is an

admirable example of the way in which one Protestant church is trying to

meet the immigrant problem.

---- AVENUE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH,

HARTFORD, CONN.,

_Pastor's Study, December 17, 1907_.

I am writing this letter to you as an office-bearer in the church

and one who is influential in forming church sentiment and

policies. It concerns the relation of our church to the Jews who

are crowding into the streets about the church in ever-increasing

numbers. The Standing Committee has earnestly and sympathetically

considered the subject, as befits a matter of the first importance

to our church.

The settling of these Jews close about us is easily the event of

greatest importance in recent years in the field of this church. It

would be folly, and in the end impossible, for us to look upon

their presence with indifference. We must not drift in this matter.

We must have, as a church, an intelligent and positive policy

towards them. What shall it be?

Some of us have probably looked upon the coming of the Jew as a

misfortune. Is he not also an opportunity? May we trace the

providence of God in settling him about our very doors? I believe

that we may. This faith grows in me, as one who believes that

Christ is to be Saviour of all the nations.

A rabbi in Boston said recently, "The liberty and friendliness of

America will put the severest strain upon Jewish exclusiveness that

it has ever met. The persecutions of Europe have failed to

dissolve our nationality: the kindness of America may succeed."

In the light of this sentiment, which I share, and with a great

confidence in the Gospel, I propose that we undertake definitely a

Christian ministry to these Jews. I recognize that an attempt at

immediate propagandism would probably be as ineffective as it would

be unwise. I appreciate that probably few if any open conversions

will reward our labours for many years.

What then shall we attempt? To impress upon them the spirit of the

Gospel by living alongside them as Christians should: this first

and chiefly. Let us do this in the hope that as their old-world

superstitions and narrowness yield to the light of America, they

will thus choose the Gospel instead of infidelity. Many of them are

already choosing the latter.

How shall we begin? By treating the Jew as we want to be treated.

In other words, by treating him not as a Jew, but _as a man_, each

on his own merits. Recognize always that there are both good Jews

and bad Jews, as well as good Yankees and bad Yankees. Make the

acquaintance of both men and women: and of their children too. Give

them a fair chance to show their quality. They are neighbours. They

are interested in our schools. They are fellow citizens. These

common interests give opportunity to know them and, if we will,

their homes also.

Our government by its franchise and its schools welcomes them to an

equal opportunity to show and to develop their character. The

churches have not shown a like spirit. Shall the state be more

Christian than the church?

This proposal of course includes our attitude towards the Italians

and all other foreigners among us. I speak especially of the Jews

because they are far the most numerous and most difficult to reach.

If a score or even a dozen of us should undertake to show them the

spirit of brotherhood that is our Christian boast, and should seek

to get our other church-members to do the same, it would not be a

month before they would be feeling and speaking of our good will

towards them. Meanwhile we can be watchful for opportunity for some

special ministry to them or their children, a ministry which shall

be welcome both to them and us. The habit of Christian

neighbourliness outlined above will lay the foundation of mutual

confidence and knowledge necessary for such a special ministry.

Have you faith and patience for such a long campaign? Will you

quietly enlist for it and try to persuade others to do the same? If

so, will you kindly tell me of it? We will undertake to keep one

another informed of any news of progress.

You will understand why this letter and your talks with others

about this subject should be confidential.

In the name of Him who was a Jew,

YOUR PASTOR.

The Presbyterian church has given proof of the spirit of its intent by

putting the department of Immigration in charge of Rev. Charles Stelzle,

a splendid champion of the rights of labouring men, a man with the

broadest social and religious outlook and a stranger to Pharisaic cant.

The Rev. Howard N. Grose, D.D., the home mission secretary of the

Baptist church, and the men associated with him in the Home Mission

Council of the Evangelical churches, seem to me to possess that broad

outlook upon life, that appreciation of true values which render

impossible their attempting any narrow, sectarian propaganda.

The action of the International Committee of the Y.M. C. A. in placing

its work for "Young Men and Boys of Foreign Parentage" in charge of so

competent an authority as Dr. Peter Roberts, the author of "Anthracite

Communities,"--and the equipment by the State Committee of Pennsylvania

of "The Expedition for the Study of Immigration" with its plans for a

group of well trained college men as secretaries for immigrants, are

additional evidences of the spirit which animates Protestantism in its

relation to the immigrant.

There are, however, two fundamental mistakes which the Protestant church

has made in her attempt to solve the problem she faces.

First, in the kind of results she tries to obtain.

Second, in the kind of men she has sent to represent her among the

immigrants.

The American Protestant of the Evangelical type has carried his business

into the church, but not always the church into his business. He expects

in the church, results which can be tabulated under the head of profit

and loss, just as he expects them in his counting-room.

[Illustration: FACULTY AND AMERICAN STUDENTS AT THE MISSIONS-HAUS,

KATTOWITZ

The young men are members of the Pennsylvania Y. M. C. A. Expedition for

the Study of Immigration. The school is strategically situated where

three empires meet. It is non-sectarian and interdenominational;

permeating the East with Christian ideas.]

"Immediate results!" is the cry of the constituents of missionary

enterprises, and the result is, that where they cannot be legitimately

produced, conversions are simulated for loaves and fishes.

I do not mean to say that missionaries have not so preached and

practiced the Christian faith, as to produce in their hearers a desire

to adjust their own lives to these new standards; for I know of

innumerable cases of this kind among all races and nationalities.

However, the stress laid upon "immediate results," the praise and money

lavished upon those who can produce them, the "showing off" of this or

that kind of converted foreigner, the neglect of those who face real

difficulties honestly, and cannot humbug those who support them, put

severe temptation in the way of missionaries and often unconsciously

taint their whole endeavour.

If the Christian religion expresses itself in unselfish devotion to the

noblest cause,--the service which the immigrant needs must be performed

without an eye constantly upon church records.

The Social Settlement is under no such strain, and its work is like

"casting bread upon the water" without expecting it back, "buttered"

after a few days.

For a long time and even for all time with some individuals and groups,

the church must be willing to follow this Biblical example set by an

institution which some ill informed people suspect of being irreligious.

The error which the church has committed in sending poorly prepared men

to minister to these immigrants is in many cases as irreparable as it is

inexcusable.

An ignorant priesthood is more bearable than an ignorant ministry, and

when ignorance is coupled with insincerity, as it is in many cases, the

wrong done to both parties is incalculable.

In their haste to "do something," and in their eagerness to get quick

results, nearly all Protestant churches have pushed into the ministry

"converted foreigners," many of whom misrepresent the church which sends

them and become a stumbling-block to honest seekers after truth and an

insult to the people to whom they are sent.

An example of this lack of wisdom is shown in one of the most

interesting missions of a really valuable type, developed in West

Pittston, Pa., by a devoted young American woman who, in a remarkable

degree, won the confidence of the Lithuanians there. She lived and

laboured among them and created a centre of influence which gave great

promise of being permanent in its effect. Her work, however, was much

too indefinite and slow for the "hustling" church which supported her;

so a converted Lithuanian was employed, who in his eagerness to save

souls told the people whom he gathered to hear him preach, that they

would all be damned if they continued going to the Roman Catholic

church. The result was what one might expect. The Lithuanians

immediately forsook the mission and went to the prohibited church.

As a rule, the work to be done demands American born men and women who

are imbued by the spirit of service, who have some linguistic talent and

much consecrated common sense.

The converted foreigner, even if well trained, will be met with

suspicion by many groups; for to them he is a traitor to their religion

and to their national life, the two being inseparable to them.

No such objection can be made to the American worker, who, if he brings

patience to the tedious task of winning confidence, if he has an honest

desire to live unselfishly for the people of a neighbourhood, if he

gives everything and expects nothing as a reward, may be assured that

such service will be accepted and will work out its results in God's own

time.

If converted immigrants are sent among these people, they should have a

long testing time; a tutelage and training which, while giving them a

thorough equipment for their task, will not spoil them for the humble

work it will involve.

There are but few theological seminaries properly equipped to train men

for this great work, and still fewer in which there is sufficient spirit

of democracy among teachers and students to receive "immigrants" and

treat them like brothers.

In many small, industrial communities where the "immigrants" are a

problem, its solution is merely a question of the attitude of the

churches towards them.

Nothing can be more repellent than the attitude of the average

Protestant Christian towards the immigrant of to-day. As a rule he is

prejudiced, is grossly ignorant of the historic and religious background

of the strangers and meets every one of them with suspicion.

At a recent Summer School of the Y. M. C. A. it was my privilege to

teach a class of young college men numbering about 150. They were

studying this problem, and the questions asked, a few of which I quote,

prove the assertion just made.

"Do not three martyred presidents prove that the immigrant is an

Anarchist and ought to be excluded?"

"Is it not true that ninety per cent. of the criminals in the United

States are foreign born?"

"Do not foreign governments dump their rubbish of criminals and paupers

upon our shores?"

"Is the Constitution of the United States safe in the hands of people

who crucified Jesus?"

"Did not our forefathers come to fight for liberty, and do not these

people come to despoil us?"

The questions asked displayed such animosity and such ignorance, that to

print them all would seem like slandering our Western colleges and the

churches in which these young men were reared.

The churches and the Y. M. C. A.'s have no small task in converting

their membership to some Christian view-point of these, their

neighbours; even if they cannot be converted to a spirit of

brotherliness.

The following instance, while not typical, shows the attitude of Y. M.

C. A. memberships in many industrial communities, towards the immigrant.

An Association in Pennsylvania wished to enlarge its building and

solicited funds in the shops of its own community. Slav and Hungarian

day labourers subscribed $2,000, every cent of which was paid; which

cannot be said of all the money subscribed by Americans.

Some of these foreigners were anxious to learn English, and one of the

rooms in the building--not the best--was opened to them and a teacher

procured. When one of these boys used some of the public conveniences

in the building, the American membership notified the secretary that the

"Hunkies" must not be admitted to the building; and they were not, in

spite of the fact that they had helped pay for its erection.

While no other such gross injustice has come to my knowledge, I know of

many Y. M. C. A.'s in which an Armenian or Greek would be excluded from

such a thoroughly religious privilege as taking a bath.

Wherever a church or Y. M. C. A. has shown itself hospitable to the

strangers it has had as many of their souls to keep as it has cared to

have; but most of them prefer to save the foreigner by "absent

treatment."

The feeling of the strangers regarding the efforts which the churches

are making on their behalf in so-called missions, which are often

repellently unclean and devoid of any saving grace, is explained in the

following letter, written by a graduate of Oberlin Seminary, a young

Pole, whose spirit and intelligence the letter itself reveals.

BRECKSVILLE, OHIO, OCTOBER 14, 1907.

_Prof. E. A, Steiner, Grinnell, Iowa._

MY DEAR DR. STEINER:--Your plan for the solution of our foreign

problem, as you indicated it in your articles in _The

Congregationalist_ of last year and as you outlined it to me in our

conversation in Cleveland last week, is excellent; and I wish to

tell you that I am in thorough sympathy with it. My own personal

experience in the foreign work convinces me that the easiest, most

economical, and most effective way of solving the foreign problem

is through the American church and the American worker directly.

This for the following reasons: First, mission work established for

the foreigner strictly in his own tongue is not particularly

acceptable to him, and to some it is even offensive. The foreigner

regards himself to be a Christian, and, consequently, resents the

idea of mission work done distinctly for his particular benefit in

order to make a Christian of him. Second, a worker of his own

nationality is looked upon by him with suspicion. As you expressed

it, he is regarded a traitor, and is not to be trusted too much.

When I was in the work, I had that experience over and over again;

I felt that my countrymen, that is, a good many of them, when they

found out that I was a Pole and not a Roman Catholic, had grave

doubts as to whether it was safe for them to trust me. Third, by

coming to the mission, the foreigner feels that he is committing

himself too much all at once--something which he is very unwilling

to do. Then, too, in the mission he is too conspicuous, and thus

too much exposed to persecution from his countrymen. Fourth, our

greatest hope is, not in the grown-up generation, but in the

growing generation--the children and the young people; and these

can be reached more easily through the American church than through

a mission of their mother tongue, because they want to be regarded,

not as foreigners, but as Americans. These difficulties would, to a

large extent, be obviated if we tried to reach the foreigner

directly through our American churches and other religious

organizations and through American workers acquainted with the

history of the different peoples, their characteristics, habits,

and ways of thinking and looking at things, and to a certain extent

with their language also, and in perfect sympathy with them. Of

course, the work done at present by the mission ought not to be

discontinued; it has its place and its value; but it ought to be

supplemented by this better and, as I believe, more effective

method which you have in mind and which you propose to our churches

for adoption.

Sincerely yours,

PAUL FOX.

I do not quote this letter because it approves my plan; for I do not

hold dogmatically to any one method. The work of saving men is

desperately hard and there are a thousand ways of doing it.

More important than any plan is a right attitude; for in all human

contact it is the spirit within the man or institution which counts, and

not the precise method of approach.

Wherever an approach has been made in the right spirit towards the

foreigners, they have responded in kind, and many Protestant churches

have been enriched by their presence, by the ardour of their faith and

their willingness to sacrifice for their convictions.

There is, as I have said before, no institution in the United States

which will be so profoundly affected by the immigrant as the Protestant

church. Without him she will languish and die and with him alone she has

a future.

Already the Roman Catholic proclaims the conquest of America, and while

that conquest is not complete, it soon will be, unless Protestantism

wakens to the wealth of its heritage and its great opportunity; unless

with a real sympathy and passion it teaches, preaches and practices the

religion of Jesus.

The Protestant church need not rival the Roman Catholic church in

building stately places of worship, or clothe herself in gorgeous

vestments, or read ancient liturgies.

The immigrant comes from just such environment, and nothing that the

Protestant church can do in this direction will be as beautiful and as

impressive as that which he has left behind.

The one way and the only way in which she can enter into a successful

rivalry with the ancient, Apostolic church, is in reviving the ancient,

Apostolic passion for humanity.

Having quoted so many letters, I may perhaps be pardoned for quoting a

small part of one written long ago, at a time when the church faced a

crisis not unlike the one which she faces to-day.

"If there is therefore any comfort in Christ, if any consolation of

love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and

compassions, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be of the same mind, having the

same love, being of one accord, of one mind; doing nothing through

factions, through vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting

other better than himself; not looking each of you to his own things,

but each of you also to the things of others. Have this mind in you

which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, counted

it not a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself,

taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and

being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient

even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly

exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which is above every name; that

in the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of things in heaven and

things on earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue

should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the

Father."

XXIII

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS WITH THE NEW IMMIGRANT

It is now twenty-five years since I landed in the United States with a

group of Slovaks from the district of Scharosh in Hungary.

I followed them across the sea and watched this historic movement of the

Slavs, who until then had remained practically dormant where they had

been left by the glacier-like movement of their race, the pressure of

the invader or the fate which governed Eastern European politics.

It was a fascinating experience to see these forgotten children of an

unresponsive soil coming in touch with a civilization of which they had

never dreamed; to see the struggle of emotions in their usually

impassive faces, as they saw the evidences of European culture and

wealth in the Northern cities through which we passed.

What fear crept into their hearts and drove the healthy blood from their

cheeks when for the first time they saw the turbulent sea.

The ocean was vaster and the fear of it most real to us who sailed out

of Bremerhaven in the steerage of the steamer _Fulda_; for we were the

forerunners of a vast army of men which had scarcely begun to think of

leaving its age-long bivouac. The Slav has never taken kindly to the

sea, and the "_More_" held unconquered terrors.

It is difficult now to describe the incidents of that first landing in

New York, for in rapid succession the experience has been so often

repeated; and all the joys, fears and hopes which repeatedly I have

shared with hundreds and thousands of men are so blended in my memory

into one great wonder, that either analysis or description seems vain.

It is strange and yet natural, no doubt, that I remember the trivial

incidents of that first landing. The attempt on the part of some of my

Slovaks to eat bananas without removing the skins; their first

acquaintance with mince pie, which they declared a barbarous dish; our

first meal on American soil, in a third rate boarding-house for

immigrants, and the injunction of one of the earlier comers: "Don't wait

for anybody, but grab all you can. In this country the motto is: 'Happy

is the man who can help himself!'"

I remember the lonely feeling that crept over us as we found ourselves

like driftwood in the great current of humanity in the city of New York,

and the fear we had of every one who was at all friendly; for we had

been warned against sharpers. I remember our pleasure in the picturesque

ferry-boat which carried us to New Jersey, its walking-beam seeming

like the limbs of some great monster crossing the water.

Then crowding fast upon one another come memories of hard tasks in

gruesome mines and ghostly breakers; the sight of licking flames like

fiery tongues darting out at us, from furnaces full of bubbling, boiling

metal; the circling camps of the coke burners who kept their night's

vigil by the altars of the Fire God.

There are memories of dark ravines and mud banks, choked by refuse of

mill and mine; the miners' huts, close together, as if space were as

scarce on the earth as compassion for the stranger.

I remember the kindness of the poor, the hospitality of the crowded, the

hostility of the richer and stronger, who feared that we would drive

them from their diggings; and the unbelief of those to whom I early

began preaching the humanity of the Slav--rough and uncouth, but human

still, although he has scarcely ever had a fair chance to prove it.

Of the names of the various towns through which I passed, in which I

worked and watched, I particularly remember four: Connelsville,

Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and Streator, Ill., all of them typical

coal towns. In none of them were my people received with open arms,

although they rarely met with organized hostility.

In Scranton and in Streator, they still remember our coming and our

staying. Since then, I have repeatedly visited all these four places

upon errands of investigation and interpretation.

I always dreaded going back to them; not only because it would revive

painful memories of a very hard apprenticeship, but because I could not

avoid asking myself if the optimism with which I have treated the

problem of immigration, by voice and pen, would be justified.

What if the Americans in these cities should say: "We have lived with

these Slavs for twenty-five years and more; we have been with them day

after day, while you have flitted about the country. We know better than

you do. We told you the 'Hunkey' was a menace when he came, and he is a

menace still."

I well know that my readers and my auditors have often criticised my

optimism, and especially the sympathetic note with which I approach this

problem, regarding which they are always more skeptical the more remote

they are from it.

I have tried to modify my view of the problem by facing it in all its

bearings; I have not shrunk from seeing the worst of it. In fact I know

American cities best from that dark and clouded side. I know the Little

Italies, the Ghettos, the Patches around the mines, the East Side of New

York and the West Side of Chicago; although I have never been the full

length of Fifth Avenue and have never seen the famous North Shore

drive.

I am familiar with penitentiaries, jails, police courts and even worse

places; for I wanted to know to what depths these leaden souls can sink,

and I fear that I have more anxiety as to their nativity than their

destiny. Yet, having seen the worst of the bad, I never lost my faith in

these lesser folk and my optimism remained unclouded. One fear alone

assailed me; that what my critics said _to_ me and _of_ me was true. "He

is an immigrant himself, and of course it is natural that he should see

the brighter side of the problem." To me, that was the severest and most

cutting criticism, just because I feared it might be true; yet I have

honestly tried to see the darkest side of this question, both as it

affected the immigrant and the country that received him.

I have listened patiently to jeremiads of home mission secretaries about

these "Godless foreigners." I have read the reports of Immigrant

Commissions, and all the literature written the last few years upon this

subject, and I am still optimistic, and disagree with much that I have

heard and read. Many authors who have written regarding this question

had no first-hand information about it. They knew neither the speech nor

the genius of these new people; they had a fixed belief that all

civilization, culture and virtue, belong to the north of Europe and

that the east and southeast of that continent are its limbo; and they

relied upon statistics, which at best are misleading, when used to

estimate human conduct and human influences.

Typical of this class of literature is a recent pamphlet upon the

subject, which, judging from the excellent biography appended, must be

based upon extensive reading; yet the author comes to this conclusion:

"Assimilation in the twentieth century is a very different matter from

assimilation in the nineteenth. In many respects, the new immigration is

as bad as the old was good."[3]

There are several facts which this author has forgotten, as have those

from whom he draws. First, the older immigrant is not yet assimilated.

In the agricultural counties of Mr. Edwards' own state, there are

townships in which the English language is a foreign tongue, although

the second generation of Germans already plows the fertile fields of

Wisconsin; and there are cities where the Germans have thoroughly

assimilated the Americans.

There are places of no mean size in Pennsylvania, which are as German as

they were 200 years ago, and as far as the Irish everywhere are

concerned, it is still a question what we shall be when they have done

with us.

I venture to predict that the twentieth century immigrant will

assimilate much more quickly and completely than the immigrants of the

eighteenth and the early half of the nineteenth centuries assimilated.

Beside the fact that the process is going on much more rapidly than ever

before, as I asserted, my theories are corroborated by Professor Ross,

of the University of Wisconsin, whose book is suggestive if not

conclusive. Speaking of the assimilation of the immigrant, he says:

"On the whole, those who come now Americanize much more readily than did

the non-English immigrants of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Not only do they come from lesser peoples and from humbler social

strata, but, thanks to the great rôle the United States plays in the

world, the American culture meets with far more prestige than it had

then. Although we have ever greater masses to assimilate, let us comfort

ourselves with the fact that the vortical suction of our civilization is

stronger now than ever before."[4]

Neither is any one prepared to _prove_ that the "new immigrant is as bad

as the old was good."

It is very interesting that when authors and speakers quote statistics,

as they usually do, to prove the criminal nature of the new immigrant,

they do not differentiate between the older and the newer groups. If

they did, and would let statistics determine the issue, they would find

that the new immigrant is good and the old bad; yes, very bad.

The following tables, quoted from the Report of the Commission of

Immigration of the State of New York, are worthy the close study of Mr.

Edwards and the authors upon whom he has relied.[5]

STATISTICS REFERRING TO FOREIGN-BORN OFFENDERS COMMITTED TO NEW

YORK STATE PRISONS AND PENITENTIARIES DURING 1904.

_Total Number of Prisoners Committed_

Major Minor

Offenses. Offenses. Total.

Aggregate 3,679 26,136 29,815

Total white 3,345 24,969 28,314

Native white 2,266 16,759 19,025

Native white of native parentage 1,223 10,266 11,489

Native white of foreign parentage 732 4,500 5,232

Native white of mixed parentage 263 1,505 1,768

Native white of unknown parentage 48 488 536

Foreign-born whites 1,075 8,158 9,233

Whites of unknown nativity 4 52 56

Negroes 330 1,139 1,469

Mongolians ... 1 1

Indians 4 27 31

_Foreign-Born White Offenders by Nativity_

Major Per Minor Per

Offenses. cent. Offenses. cent.

Austria 48 4.5 259 3.2

Canada 68 6.3 435 5.3

Denmark 5 0.5 28 0.3

England and Wales 67 6.2 655 8.1

France 19 1.8 119 1.4

Germany 212 19.7 1,136 13.9

Hungary 15 1.4 83 1.0

Ireland 148 13.7 3,569 43.9

Italy 255 23.7 601 7.3

Mexico ... ... 6 0.1

Norway 7 0.7 46 0.5

Poland 30 2.8 232 2.8

Russia 119 11.0 392 4.9

Scotland 17 1.6 220 2.7

Sweden 14 1.3 163 2.0

Switzerland 4 0.4 43 0.5

Other countries 47 4.4 171 2.1

----- ----- ----- -----

Totals 1,075 100.0 8,158 100.0

PAUPERS ADMITTED TO ALMSHOUSES IN NEW YORK STATE DURING YEAR 1904.

BY NATIVITY AND LENGTH OF RESIDENCE IN THE UNITED STATES.

All paupers admitted 10,272

Per cent. of white paupers admitted:

Native 44.0 per cent.

Foreign-born 56.0 per cent.

_Foreign-Born White Paupers Admitted in 1904, by Nativity_

Country of Birth Per cent. Per cent.

Ireland 54.3

Germany 18.7

England and Wales 6.4

Canada (including Newfoundland) 4.3

Scandinavia 2.0

France 0.9

Scotland 2.0

------ =88.6=

Italy 3.5

Hungary and Bohemia 0.6

Russia and Poland 3.3

Unknown 4.0

----- =11.4=

-----

=Grand total= =100.0=

What is more striking still is the following table which seems to prove

that the new immigrant does not increase his percentage in the criminal

column materially, in fact that there is a slight tendency to decrease

it.[6]

_Foreign-Born Offenders According to Years of

Residence in the United States_

Major Per Minor Per

Years Offenses. cent. Offenses. cent.

Under one year 36 3.3 86 1.0

One year 79 7.2 229 2.8

Two years 63 5.8 297 3.6

Three years 52 4.8 285 3.4

Four years 40 3.6 177 2.2

Over four years 824 75.3 7,143 87.0

----- ----- ----- -----

Totals 1,094 100.0 8,217 100.0

I am not trying to prove that the old immigration was worse than the

new; I do not believe that these statistics prove it, in spite of their

appearing to. But they do prove conclusively that statistics of this

kind are absolutely unreliable in furnishing tests of the moral fiber of

this or that group.

Far more reliable is the verdict of various communities after

twenty-five years' experience with the newer immigrant.

Take for example the city of Streator, Ill., which has steadily grown in

size and in the number and variety of its industrial establishments; a

development which could not have taken place without the new immigrant.

There are certain unprofitable seams in the mines which the

English-speaking miners would not have worked; even as there are less

profitable veins which the Slav does not care to touch and which are

being worked by Sicilians, new upon the scene.

It is true that out of the 500 Welsh miners there are only about fifty

left; but the 450 were pushed up and not out and are in no position to

complain. They have moved on to farms and have grown prosperous while

some of the most lucrative business in the city is theirs.

It does seem a great pity that a skilled trade like mining should have

passed into the hands of unskilled labourers; but for this, the

invention of machinery is to blame, and not the foreigner. Had

comparatively cheap labour been unavailable, the genius of the American

would not have stopped until he had all but eliminated the human

element, as he has done in many other trades in which unskilled foreign

labour is not a factor.

Twenty-five years ago I "squatted" near mine No. 3 with my men from

Scharosh. It was as wretched a patch as miners' patches always are. We

bunked twenty in a room and took as good care of our bodies as

conditions permitted; so that when we went down-town we were cleanly if

not stylish.

My men soon learned to drink whiskey like the Irish, swear like the

English and dress like the Americans.

After twenty-five years the patches around the mines in Streator are

practically gone, and the homes there are as good as the Welsh or

English miners ever had. Some of the newer additions in that growing

city are occupied entirely by Slavs and do them credit.

Nor has the Slav been content to remain in the mines; he, too, has begun

to move out and up. He owns saloons and sightly stores in which his sons

and daughters clerk, and it would take a very keen student of race

characteristics to distinguish the Slavs from the native Americans.

"Do you see that young man at the entrance to the Chautauqua?" said Mr.

Williams, its public spirited secretary.

"Racially, his father is as sharply marked a man as I have ever seen,

and the son, a graduate of Harvard, looks as if his forefathers had all

grown up in the salt air of the New England coast."

Here in Streator were the people who have lived with the new immigrant a

quarter of a century and more, and I have spoken to them three times, in

my most optimistic vein; many a man and woman has said:

"You are right, they make splendid citizens."

"They are good neighbours."

"They are as human as we are, and they are proving it."

This, in spite of the fact that in Streator as in Connelsville and in

hundreds of industrial towns, they have been met with suspicion and have

been treated with injustice.

"They are a great strain upon our political institutions," said Mr.

Williams, himself once a Welsh miner, pushed out of the mine by the Slav

and now one of the leading citizens of Streator.

But Mr. Williams knows that the year I lived in Streator, when the Slav

had no vote or influence, politics in that city were already corrupt and

that the corrupters were native Americans, whose ancestors harked back

to the _Mayflower_, and who were rewarded for their corruption by high

political offices. In truth, when the Slav came to this country, there

was nothing left to corrupt, in Scranton or Wilkes-Barre, in

Connelsville or Streator; or, indeed, in all Pennsylvania and Illinois.

The Slav now has some political power; but as yet he has not produced

the "grafter." I do not say that he _will_ not; but when he does, small

blame to him.

In one of the four cities which I have mentioned, I shared with a group

of Poles the vicissitudes of the first few weeks in a boarding-house, a

combination of saloon and hotel, common in Pennsylvania, and usually

offering more bar than board.

One evening an American came among us; a splendid type of agile manhood.

When my men saw him, they said: "This is a prince!" They did not know

that he was a politician. He shook hands with every one of us, and I

said to the men: "This is democracy!" Poor fool! I did not know that it

was the day before election.

Then he marched the men to the bar, and said to the barkeeper: "Fill 'em

up." And as they drank the fiery stuff, no doubt they thought they were

in Heaven, and forgot that they were in Pennsylvania. When the whiskey

took effect, they were marched into a large hall, where other Poles,

drunk as they, were congregated; speeches were made, full of the twaddle

of political jargon which they did not understand, and when morning

came, these Poles, so intoxicated that they did not know whether they

were North Poles or South Poles, were marched to the voting-place and

sworn in.

I have told this story in each of the four places referred to, and in

the place where it occurred, a judge, who was among my audience, said to

me: "Don't tell that story again."

"Why not? It is true," I replied.

"Yes," he said, "it is perfectly true; but you'd better save your

strength. In this city, not only the foreigners, who are not citizens,

vote; but the dead vote, long after they have become citizens of

Kingdom Come."

One of these same Poles recently took me through the Capitol of

Pennsylvania at Harrisburg. With great pride he guided me from

foundation to dome, pointing out those objects of interest which every

stranger must see, as if they were the memorials of noble deeds of

valour.

They consist of wood, painted to imitate marble, chandeliers of base

metal, to be sold by the pound, at fabulous prices, and among many other

spurious things, a safe, supposed to be fire-proof and burglar-proof,

but which was not politician-proof, for an ordinary gimlet bored a hole

into its corrupt heart.

What was distressing to me was not so much that the State paid millions

for this veneered and varnished fraud, but that my Polish guide

pronounced the word _graft_ with evident relish and without fear or

shame.

I do not doubt that the presence of the new immigrant is "a great strain

upon our political institutions"; but not greater than the old immigrant

was, and still is. This certainly is true of Pennsylvania; for there are

counties in that state, into whose wilds the new immigrant has not yet

penetrated, and where those who have been living off its fat acres since

their birth--the sons of immigrants who came 200 years ago--hold their

right of franchise cheap. I am told that in these counties nearly every

vote can be bought for five dollars.

This may be idle rumour; but the fact remains and can be proved by any

one who chooses to investigate, that Scranton, Wilkes-Barre,

Connelsville and a hundred other cities and towns, are better governed

now than they were before Slav, Latin and Jew came to live in their

Patches and Ghettos. This is true in spite of our having tried to

corrupt these new citizens from the very hour when they received their

political rights, and that when they had no rights, we treated them with

neglect and scorn.

The mayor of Greensburg, Pa., a man of the newer and better type of

administrators, whose territory is completely environed by the coke

regions and has an almost totally foreign population--says:

"They make reliable citizens. They can be trusted absolutely. Their

worst enemy is drink; but when a foreigner comes before me and is fined,

if he has no money and I let him go home, he will come the next day to

pay his fine even if he lives ten miles from town. Yet in spite of the

fact that the 'Hunkey' and the 'Dago' have helped build up Greensburg,

and have enriched its citizens, they are still held in contempt by the

majority of its people."

This same official told me that a few years ago when the Italians

celebrated their Independence Day, the _High School boys_ of that city

threw decayed vegetables at them and their national flag.

Without the slightest reserve I can say this: Wherever an enlightened

official, like this mayor, or teachers of the public schools, ministers

of the Gospel and business men, have come in real contact with the new

immigrant, their verdict was entirely different from that of Mr. Edwards

and many of the professional writers upon the problem which the

foreigner represents.

There are some places in the United States where I have found the

immigrant a menace, and one of them is in Pittston, Pa. There the

Italian is really bad; there he is an Anarchist and a murderer. But in

Pittston I discovered the really bad American, an Anarchist and a

murderer; although he may be the owner of some of the mines or a high

official in the town. In that city, every law which governs mining has

been openly violated, and there is at least one mine in the place which

is nothing but a deep hell-hole and is known as such by the men

compelled to work in it. It is a mine in which anything may be had for a

bribe and anything may be done without fear of punishment. In one of the

last communal elections, the candidate for its highest office kept open

house, with beer and "booze" in one of the miners' shacks; young boys,

not out of their teens, were allowed to drink to intoxication, and the

candidate already mentioned was not an Italian or a Slav or a Jew; but

an American, unto the tenth generation and a member of a Protestant

church.

I do not rejoice in writing this or in telling it as I have had to tell

it in the towns affected, and to the very men who have thus offended.

It is painful to me, because, after all, I do not feel myself so closely

identified with the immigrant as with the American. While my sympathies

are with the immigrant, they are much more with this, my country, and

with that circle of the native born, whose ideals, whose hopes and whose

aspirations have become mine.

I am not greatly concerned with immigration, per se; that is a subject

for the economist, which I am not. It is for him, if he is skilled

enough, to know whether we can afford to keep our gates open to the

millions who come, or when and to whom to close them.

Narrowly, or perhaps selfishly, I am concerned for those who are here;

that they be treated justly, with due appreciation of their worth, and

that they may see that best in the American which has bound me to him,

to his land and to its history; to its best men living, and to those of

its dead who left a great legacy, too great to be squandered by a

prodigal generation.

Knowing how great this legacy is, and yet may be for the blessing of

mankind, I am pleading for this new immigrant. If we care at all for

that struggling, striving mass of men, unblessed as yet by those gifts

of Heaven which have blessed us, let us prove to these people of all

kindreds and races and nations, that our God is the Lord, that His law

is our law and that all men are our brothers.

XXIV

FROM CHAOS TO COSMOS

While passing through a pleasure park in one of the European capitals I

met, quite by accident, my fellow passenger on the Italian steamer, the

Puritan rebel; she who smoked cigarettes, drank cocktails, was divorced

and had gone to the Old World in search of a more congenial moral

atmosphere and a husband with braid and buttons. Now she was drinking

the cup of unrestrained pleasure, and having nearly drained it, it was

beginning to taste bitter. Officers and attachés, Grand Opera, frivolous

plays and care-free crowds, were beginning to pall upon her and she was

unmistakably homesick; although she did not confess to that last fact.

"I suppose," she said, "you can't get rid of Puritanism, when once it

gets into your blood. It's an hereditary disease."

"And it is contagious," I added.

"I thought," she continued, "that at home we were small and narrow and

that over here I should find a larger freedom; but you can't turn around

here, without finding the bars up--racially, religiously, socially and

politically. The only unobstructed passage is the way to Hell."

Hers were large, black, dreamy eyes and the shadows of disappointment

passed over them. Then, to shake off the gripping seriousness from her

mood, she said, with a forced smile: "I am going to see the Merry Widow

to-night with my Captain. They are both inane. Meeting you has made me

blue, I fear; you remind me of my father."

She said this reproachfully, I thought; although she added: "Let us sit

down and talk things over. My daughter and the maid are listening to the

music and I have nothing to do until my Captain comes to meet me."

"Now please listen to me," I said when we were seated. "I was born over

here, right in this city. My playground was this very park. I have

tasted the best this city can offer a boy, as well as its worst.

"Listen," I said again; for her eyes wandered to the gay crowds. "I also

know your home city, and I wouldn't give one block in Hartford, Conn.,

not speaking from the commercial standpoint, for this whole magnificent

city, with its Cathedral, its Grand Opera, its royal castle, its

officers and its Merry Widow. Do you ask why? Just watch this crowd and

let me interpret it to you. Those boys now passing are Bohemians,

apprentices; and they are talking Czechish to make themselves obnoxious

to the Germans whom they hate and who hate them, more than your

forefathers hated the devil.

"Do you see that Bosnian? Notice his smile as he sells a jack-knife to

the Austrian soldier. His smile would be more genuine if he could knife

this detested 'Schwab,' his enemy and the conquerer of his country.

"Those men with the needle-pointed moustaches are Magyars, and they hate

the Slavs and Germans and every one else who will not speak their

language.

"The officers with the red fez are Turks, as you know; just now they

despise everything Austrian, and not without reason.

"The picturesque nurse maids, wheeling the babies, do not have those

soldiers with them to protect Austria's 'infant industries'; they are

Slovaks, aliens of the aliens, and the unprotected prey of the soldiers.

The Jews here add to the chaos; for all these races hate them and they

reciprocate in kind."

"We have all these people in Hartford! What of it?" My companion

impatiently interrupted my explanations.

"This," I replied. "These people have lived for many hundreds of years,

in chaos and confusion. Each in his little world, hemmed in by the pride

of his race or the hate of other people. Each day the barriers grow

taller and the hate grows stronger.

"I lived in it for a good many years, and it is an awfully little world

one is locked into; yet it is as big and terrible as Hell. That being

branded by the marks of your race, by the speech your ancestors have

bequeathed you, by your blood or your religion, and isolated as if you

were a leper, while your heart yearns for the larger fellowships--all

that I have felt from my youth."

"Haven't you felt it in America, too?"

"Yes; but with a difference, a tremendous difference. There they may

shut one from the social contact, but there remain the public schools,

the libraries, the churches and settlements. And what schools you have

in Hartford! I have been in schoolrooms there, in the first grade, where

90% of the children were of alien birth, and at a glance I knew their

nationality.

"Italians, miniature old men and women, although scarcely seven years of

age.

"Serious, little black-eyed Jews, with the burden of ages upon their

bent backs.

"Polish boys and girls, with small foreheads, as if some tyrant had

trampled upon their heads.

"Armenians, sad-looking, dark-skinned creatures, haunted by the

remembrance of their village street, red from the blood of the slain.

"Syrian children, out of the very village in whose meadows the angels

sang when Christ was born; but who have never known either peace or good

will.

"I went to the second and third grades, and there it seemed as if the

hand of a good angel had already passed over those marked and marred

faces; I could almost hear the voice of the All-Father saying:

"'I will blot out the transgressions which have been transgressed

against you.'

"They looked like children who were beginning to live the real life of

the child in a really human world, and were having a chance to grow into

the human likeness.

"I have been to your High School, and there the marks were all but

obliterated; there was 'neither Jew nor Greek, neither Roman nor

Barbarian'; they were all a new people."

Now, my Puritan rebel was listening attentively enough; so I continued:

"In America, something happens which cannot happen here. Over there, the

fiber, the tissue, that mysterious fluid which we call life or soul, the

very nerve cells change, under the benign influences of the heritage

left by your fathers; that heritage which you despise--you"--I repeated,

and I said it angrily; "you, who expatriate yourself for the sheen of

braid and buttons, for Grand Opera and Viennese waltzes! You expatriate

yourself

[Illustration: SLAVIC WOMEN

THE ONE WHO STAID AT HOME

THE ONE WHO EMIGRATED]

from a country where there is more idealism to the square inch than in

all this country, in spite of its statuary, its music and its

aristocracy.

"I'd rather live in Connecticut, the wife of a humble artisan, than

here, the 'consort' of a Count or Duke."

"You talk exactly like my father," she repeated.

"Do I? I'm glad of it. I told you that Puritanism is contagious. Maybe I

caught it from your father, and if I were sure that I have caught it, I

would be sure of more moral fiber than you will get here, if you stay a

hundred years.

"That Puritanism which you despise will make cosmos out of chaos; for in

spite of its narrowness, there is in it the passion for humanity. It

cries for justice, for freedom, for equality, even if it too often

burdens itself with theological dogmas hard to understand and harder to

believe.

"After all, the best thing in your country is, not that you give the

weaker a chance to grow strong, and the broken the blessing of

healing--the best of it is, that those of us who are just what we are,

have a chance to help in the doing. It's the work that a man or woman

can do over there that counts.

"Yes, go back, crawl back, if necessary, to sober Connecticut; to its

pure women and its undemonstrative men, who do not make meaningless

compliments, after the fashion of your Captain; but who will at least

think no evil of you and who will treat you with real courtesy, when

there is need of courteous action.

"You want art? You fear you will miss it? They are doing something worth

while at home, in bronze and marble; but they are doing more wonderful

things in human flesh and spirit.

"I have seen wretched Italian children who came from where they make

little fairies out of Carrara marble, yet they were crooked without and

within; and I have seen them grow tall and beautiful and pure, by the

grace of God and the passion of some noble woman. That, after all, is

the supreme art.

"Music? You can have Grand Opera in New York composed of all the stars

in the operatic firmament; yet I have heard music, sweeter, better and

truer, sung by children in the Settlements.

"I have seen a Christmas at Hull House, in Chicago, which surpassed any

Grand Opera. I am sure if angels come down to earth and care for our

mundane pleasures, they must have struggled for a front seat there.

"Fifty children of nearly all the races under Heaven sang the songs of

their home-land, all the way from those they used to sing under the dark

pines of Norway's farthest crag, down to those sung by Sicilian

children beneath the palms of their ever sunny land.

"Together they sang those Heaven-born prophecies of 'Peace on earth,

good will to men'; and as I heard the blended voices of Jews, Catholics,

and Protestants, Greeks, Italians and Syrians, I felt that the ancient

prophecies are being fulfilled, at least in spots, on our then unknown

continent.

"Go home. Learn to find pleasure in that classic art of making home.

Learn how to find joy in giving children a chance to live and laugh, to

look towards manhood and womanhood from a mountain top and not from a

cage. Catch the rhythm of that new poetry which is now in the making;

which speaks in its sonnets of justice, in its epics of war against all

human wrong and in its lyrics of a sublimer and a larger love."

"There comes my Captain!" said my victim, with a sigh of relief; "and I

must go."

Yes, there he stood; all braid and buttons, or just braid and buttons, a

waxed moustache, a waxen smile and clicking spurs.

Gracefully he bowed as he offered his arm, in such a charming manner as

could not be easily reproduced by any mere American. Thus they left me

to my solemn musings, while the living tide swept by me, each drop in

the great current antagonistic to the other. Unbidden there arose before

me the ship, laden by human freight, leaving America, carrying

representatives of these same races and nationalities alien and hostile

to each other: Slavs and Magyars, arch foes of centuries' standing;

Northern and Southern Italians, looking with scorn at one another; Jews

and Gentiles, Greeks and Bulgarians, Albanians and Montenegrins.

All of them had come out of the chaos wrought by ages of hate and

centuries of warfare. But in America, many of them had learned to live

together without scorn on the lip or hand on the sword-hilt.

The walls which separated them were weakened, if not broken down, and

like blind men they felt for one another in the dark; sometimes missing

the larger brotherhood, but often finding it.

The Pentecost of which prophets and seers have dreamt, which is to

repair the ruin wrought in the human family by the building of its

towers of Babel, cannot be so far away. The cosmos may yet come out of

the chaos, and there is no spot of earth on which this creative act can

be performed as well as in our America.

The land is vast enough and rich enough; no barrier of language divides

the East from the West; the North and the South are almost one, after an

internecine war; and in spite of our melting of metals and slaughter of

cattle and growing of corn--in spite of souls made hard and unresponsive

to anything but money--like the

[Illustration: GENERAL AND MRS. RICIOTTO GARIBALDI AT THE FOOT OF HIS

FATHER'S MONUMENT IN ROME

"It is just like you Americans--you go to work to make your dreams come

true."]

cash register we have invented; in spite of my Puritan rebel and her

numerous company--in spite of all that, our land is still full of

dreamers of dreams, who yet are awake and practical enough to make their

dreams come true.

"It is just like you Americans," said General Riciotto Garibaldi, to my

"boys," as they stood together at the foot of his father's monument in

Rome; while he listened to the story of their journeyings in the

immigrants' land, living in their huts in Hungary, Poland and Italy,

learning their language and their ways, that they may know how to

minister to their needs over here, and bind us to them and them to us.

"It is just like you Americans. We Italians think about those things and

make poetry; you go to work at a great dream to make it true."

My faith in the dreams of the great dreamers has never wavered. I knew

that the prophet's vision was not a _Fata Morgana_, and that the words

of the Son of Man came straight from the fountain of truth. Believing in

them and believing in American manhood and womanhood, in their altruism

and in their faith, and believing in the essential humanity of our

crowding alien host--I believe that cosmos is being created and that

chaos will disappear.

Finally, what we teach the immigrant by precept or by example, he will

become. He will bequeath our virtues or our vices, not only to the next

generation which will spring with virgin strength from his loins; but

through thousands of invisible channels, he will send these blessings or

curses to the ends of the earth.

The issues of the Kingdom of God in this generation are with America.

APPENDIX I

CLASSIFICATION OF THE NEW IMMIGRANT GROUPS

The new Immigrant groups which are more difficult to classify according

to race, nationality and religion:

_The Slavs_

I. Western Slavs

_Nationality_

_Name_ _or political division_ _Religion_

Bohemian The Kingdom of Bohemia Roman Catholic

or Czech a province of Austria Protestant

Moravians Moravia Roman Catholic

a province of Austria Protestant

Poles Poland Roman Catholic

divided by the European

powers into

The Russian province of

Poland

The German province of

Posen

The Austrian province of

Galicia

Slovaks A number of districts in Roman Catholic

Hungary chiefly in and Protestant

near the Carpathians

Wends Settlements in Germany, Roman Catholic

Prussia and Saxony Protestant

2. Eastern Slavs

Russians Russia Greek Orthodox

{Little Russians Southern Russia Greek Orthodox

{Ruthenians Galicia and

{Russniaks Hungary Greek Catholic

3. Southern Slavs

Servians The Kingdom of Servia Greek Orthodox

some districts in

Southern Hungary Greek Orthodox

Croatians Croatia Roman Catholic

a province of Hungary and

Greek Orthodox

Montenegrins Montenegro Greek Orthodox

an independent principality

Bosnians Bosnia and Herzegovina Greek Orthodox

and Provinces of Austria Roman Catholic

Herzogovinians Mohammedan

Dalmatians Dalmatia Greek Orthodox

a province of Austria Roman Catholic

Slovenes Carinthia Roman Catholic

or Griners Carnolia Protestant

Provinces of Austria

Bulgarians Czardom of Bulgaria Greek Orthodox

Districts in Southern

Hungary

_Eastern European Groups_

_Non-Slavic_

Magyars Kingdom of Hungary Roman Catholic

and Protestant

Finns Finland Protestant

a semi-independent

province of Russia

Roumanian Kingdom of Roumania Greek Orthodox

Roman Catholic

Lithuanians District in Russia Roman Catholic

and Protestant

Greeks Kingdom of Greece Greek Orthodox

Albanians Albania Greek Orthodox

a province of Roman Catholic

Turkey and

Mohammedan

_Groups from the Ottoman Empire_

Armenians Asia Minor Armenian Catholic Church

Gregorian Church

Protestant

Syrians Syria {Jacobite

a province of Syrian church {Maronite

Turkey {Ancient Syrian

(Roman Catholic)

APPENDIX II

NET IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES

1899-1908

There is much misapprehension in the popular mind, both as to the number

of immigrants arriving in the United States, and those remaining for

permanent residence.

Until 1907, all aliens arriving were enumerated; but of those departing,

no record was kept.

The Commissioner General of Immigration arrived at the figures of net

immigration given below, by estimating the departures according to

figures obtained during four months in 1907, when the returning tide of

immigration was normal.

The year 1908 shows an abnormally small increase, due to the industrial

depression in that year, when the returning tide of immigration was very

strong. The following tables show that a large number return every year,

and I am inclined to believe that the estimated figures of the net

increase are too high, and that the permanent increase of the

foreign-born population cannot be calculated from this insufficient

data.

The net gain in our foreign born population in the last ten years is

estimated as 5,240,200 which is 68% of the total immigration.

==========================================================================

Ratio

estimated

net

Alien arrivals. immigration

-------------------------------- bears to

Accepted Other Total Total alien Net accepted

Year. immigration alien alien departures immigration immigration

figures. arrivals. arrivals. estimated. estimated. figure.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

1899 311,715 [7]45,000 356,715 172,837 183,878 59 per cent.

1900 448,572 65,635 514,207 206,351 307,856 69 "

1901 487,918 74,950 562,868 209,318 353,550 72 "

1902 648,743 82,055 730,798 220,103 510,695 79 "

1903 857,046 64,269 921,315 247,559 673,756 79 "

1904 812,870 27,844 840,714 332,019 508,695 63 "

1905 1,026,499 33,256 1,059,755 385,111 674,644 66 "

1906 1,100,735 65,618 1,166,353 356,257 810,096 74 "

1907 1,285,349 153,120 1,433,469 431,306 1,007,163 78 "

1908 782,870 141,825 924,695 [8]714,828 [8]209,867 27 "

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total 7,762,317 753,572 8,510,889 3,275,689 5,240,200

==========================================================================

APPENDIX III

INDUSTRIAL DEPRESSION AND IMMIGRATION

The following table, giving the number of immigrant aliens admitted from

June 30, 1907 to June 30, 1908, is of special interest, because it shows

marked decrease during that period of industrial depression.

The figures are from the report of the Commissioner General of

Immigration.

The increase in the number of those from Roumania is probably in Jewish

immigration, following a period of renewed anti-Semitic disorders.

Should a change occur in the political status of the Russian Jews, a

large decrease of that group of immigrants may be expected. While it is

not likely to occur soon, Jewish immigration will also be retarded by

the fact that the economic conditions in the Russian empire are growing

better.

The greatest decrease may be expected from Austria-Hungary, where

drastic emigration laws have been passed, and are rigorously enforced;

especially against the Slavs, whose withdrawal in large numbers has

imperilled agricultural and industrial enterprises in Hungary.

IMMIGRANT ALIENS ADMITTED, FISCAL YEARS ENDED JUNE 30, 1907 AND 1908,

SHOWING INCREASE AND DECREASE FOR EACH COUNTRY.

-------------------------------------+----------+---------+------------

| | |Increase (+)

Country of last permanent residence. | 1907. | 1908. | or

| | |decrease (-)

-------------------------------------+----------+---------+------------

Austria-Hungary | 338,452 | 168,509 | -169,943

Belgium | 6,396 | 4,162 | - 2,234

Bulgaria, Servia, and Montenegro | 11,359 | 10,827 | - 532

Denmark | 7,243 | 4,954 | - 2,289

France, including Corsica | 9,731 | 8,788 | - 943

German Empire | 37,807 | 32,309 | - 5,498

Greece | 36,580 | 21,489 | - 15,091

Italy, including Sicily and Sardinia | 285,731 | 128,503 | -157,228

Netherlands | 6,637 | 5,946 | - 691

Norway | 22,133 | 12,412 | - 9,721

Portugal, including Cape Verde and | | |

Azore islands | 9,608 | 7,307 | - 2,301

Roumania | 4,384 | 5,228 | + 844

Russian Empire and Finland | 258,943 | 156,711 | -102,232

Spain, including Canary and | | |

Balearic islands | 5,784 | 3,899 | - 1,885

Sweden | 20,589 | 12,809 | - 7,780

Switzerland | 3,748 | 3,281 | - 467

Turkey in Europe | 20,767 | 11,290 | - 9,477

United Kingdom: | | |

England | 56,637 | 47,031 | - 9,606

Ireland | 34,530 | 30,556 | - 3,974

Scotland | 19,740 | 13,506 | - 6,234

Wales | 2,660 | 2,287 | - 373

Other Europe | 107 | 97 | - 10

|----------+---------+------------

Total Europe |1,199,566 | 691,901 | -509,353

-------------------------------------+----------+---------+------------

APPENDIX IV

SUGGESTED CHANGES IN IMMIGRATION LAWS

I. The examination of all emigrants at the port of embarkation.

_Objections_

(_a_) The maintenance of an expensive machinery which will be hard to

direct and control.

(_b_) The possible objections of the governments concerned.

(_c_) The prospective emigrant will necessarily have taken the most

serious steps; and rejection at the port of entry will not be a much

greater misfortune than rejection at the port of embarkation.

(_d_) That it will be practically impossible for political offenders to

leave their country.

II. "That in addition to the restriction imposed by the laws at present

in force, the head tax of four dollars now collected, should be

increased to ten."[9]

_Objection_

This would increase the number of immigrants who come here without their

families, and consequently would react upon the United States both

morally and financially.

_Suggestion_

That the ten dollar head tax be collected from adults, and that the

present tax of four dollars remain in force for children and possibly

for mothers.

III. "That each immigrant, unless he be a political refugee, should

bring with him not less than twenty-five dollars, in addition to the

amount required to pay transportation to the point where he expects to

find employment."

There is no valid objection to this demand--and the vast majority of

immigrants are able to meet it.

IV. "That immigrants between the ages of fourteen and fifty years should

be able to read a section of the Constitution of the United States,

either in our language, in their own language, or in the language of the

country from which they come."

_Objection_

The demand for such a test is not unreasonable, and is humane in that it

exempts the young and the aged; but it does not take account of the fact

that in most immigrant groups, the education of the woman has been

neglected--and that the enforcement of such a law would have the same

effect as that which relates to the increase in the head tax.

_Suggestion_

That the literacy test be not applied to the wives of immigrants.

INDEX

Albania, 300, 302, 305-307

Amerikansky Schtore, 108

Anarchist, 291, 322

Anti-Semitism, 286

Armenia, 351

Austria, 287

Bacon, Judge, 283

Baldwin, 302, 305-306, 309

Beisel, Conrad, 232

"Bessie," 170 ff.

Black Hand, 291

Calabria, 174

Campagna, 176

Cattero, Boche de, 248

Chautauqua, 305, 309

Chicago, 86, 87

Chorvat, Jan, 130 ff.

Columbus, 244

Connecticut, 200, 353

Connellsville, 192, 331, 341, 344

Constitution of United States, 323

Cracow, description of, 112;

hatred of Germany in, 113;

Jews in, 113;

political condition in, 114

Criminals, 322

Czechs, 212

Dalmatia, conditions in, 138;

government, 139;

America a blessing to, 147

Dowie, Charles A., 89

Edwards, R. H., 334, 336, 345

Ellis Island, 170

Emigrants, views of Americans, 82 ff.;

effect of return of, 72-75

Fansher, Guy J., 308

Gabriel, 256 ff.

Garibaldi, 357

"Gemeinschaft," 222

Greensburg, Pa., 344

Grose, Howard N., 317

Harrisburg, 343

Hartford, 315, 349, 351

Harvard, 264-266, 340

Hazleton, 353 ff.

Hungary, 260, 287, 295

Huss, 209

Hussite movement, 221

Introduction, letters of, 112

Italy, church of, 177;

dark side of emigration from, 173;

effect of emigration on Italy, 166;

on wages, 174;

on education, 175;

on religion, 176;

on women, 178;

on economic conditions, 179;

on purchase of land in, 174

Italians, bad, 195

Jamestown, 306-307, 310

Japanese question, 194

Jew, the, prevalence of persecution of, 260;

Jewish feeling of superiority, 261;

religious feeling alone does not account for prejudice, 262;

Prof. Shaler's comparison of Jewish and Gentile students, 264;

Jewish incapacities, 267;

the Orthodox, 272;

nowhere indigenous, 275;

characteristics, 279 ff.

Kisheneff, 277

Kopaniczari, meaning of word, 93;

savage appearance, 94;

view of fires, 94; of cameras, 95;

of medicine, 96

Kortia, 310

Lewis, H. S., 282

London County Council, 283

Lo Perfido, Luigi, 177

Luther, Martin, 210, 221

Matera, 177

_Mayflower, The_, 341

Medical science in Trenczin, 96, 97

Methodist Church, 176

Molocani, 187

Monastir, 307

Montenegro, Prince of, 153;

minister of exterior of, 152;

festivities of, 154;

emigration from, 155;

neighbours of, 156, 164;

legend of origin, 158;

national dress of, 160

Passover, Feast of, 262

Pennsylvania, 334, 342

Pietor, Ambrosius, 223

Pittston, Pa., 320, 345

Poland, best type of, 116;

in miniature, 117;

federation of, 122

Police, American, 49;

Indianapolis, 251;

Moscow, 250;

St. Petersburg, 250

Polish labourer in America, 65

Polish nobleman, a, 119

Polish peasantry, American influence on, 118

Postal Savings Bank, 193

Ragusa, guslar of, 142, 149 ff.;

returned emigrants in, 143;

and Coney Island, 144;

an evening in, 145

Roberts, Peter, 318

Rohacek, 134

Roosevelt, 297

Ross, Prof., 335

Rousseau, 241

Roy Sisters, the, 132

Ruskin, 241

Ruthenians, 78, 190, 207

Scanderberg, 306

Scharosh, 329, 339

Scranton, 163, 192, 200, 331, 341, 344

Shaler, Prof. N., 262, 266-267

Sicilians, 339

Skutari, 301, 305

Slavs, progress in social scale, 23;

slow to emigrate, 93;

lack of initiative, 118;

future of, 120;

characteristics of, 121, 205 ff.;

numerical supremacy, 203;

condition at home, 204;

dangers in Slavic emigration, 211;

industrial development impossible without them, 191;

late product of civilization, 215;

an Aryan people, 216;

Southern group of, 217;

Western group, Catholic, 218;

priests among, 220;

the reformation among, 221;

speech, 77;

conception of Slovaks, 190;

ideas of drink, 201

Slovak, slowness of, 125-127;

evangelistic effort among, 134;

returned emigrants, 128, 136

Sonnenschein, 275

Spalato, 185, 248

"Stary Kray," 24, 25

Stelzle, Charles, 317

Streator, Ill., 331-332, 338, 391

Syrian children, 352

Taft, President, 309

Taylor, Prof. Graham, 200, 284

Third class travel, 77, 79

Tolstoi, 241

Trenton, N. J., 195

Turk, M. H., 307-308

Vienna, University of, 296

Waag, the River, 124

Wages, 166

Wallachians, 78

Watchorn, R., 277

Welsh miners, 339

Wilkes-Barre, 192, 238, 331, 341, 344

Y. M. C. A., 258, 318, 323-324

_Printed in the United States of America_

* * * * *

HOME MISSIONS

_JOHN T. FARIS_ _Author of "Men Who Made Good"_

The Alaskan Pathfinder

The Story of Sheldon Jackson for Boys. 12mo, cloth, net $1.00.

The story of Sheldon Jackson will appear irresistibly to every boy.

Action from the time he was, as an infant, rescued from a fire to his

years' of strenuous rides through the Rockies and his long years' of

service in Alaska, permeate every page of the book. Mr. Faris, with a

sure hand, tells the story of this apostle of the Western Indians in

clear-cut, incisive chapters which will hold the boy's attention from

first to last.

_JOSEPH B. CLARK, D.D._ _The Story of American Home Missions_

Leavening the Nation:

New and Revised Edition. _International Leaders' Library._ 12mo,

cloth (postage 10c.), net 50c.

This standard history of the Home Mission work of all denominations in

America, has been thoroughly revised and brought up-to-date.

_MARY CLARK BARNES and DR. LEMUEL C. BARNES_

The New America

Home Mission Study Course. Illustrated, 12mo, cloth, net 50c.

(post. 7c.); paper 30c. (post. 5c.).

This, the regular text-book for the coming year is on the subject of

immigration. The author is eminently fitted for writing on this theme as

she has been a worker among immigrants, and has given much time to

studying the problem.

_LAURA GEROULD CRAIG_

America, God's Melting Pot

Home Mission Study Course. Illustrated, 12mo, paper, net 25c.

(postage 4c.).

The subject chosen for study this year, Immigration, covers so wide a

field that it was thought best to prepare a supplemental text book from

an entirely different standpoint. The author has written a "parable

study" which deals more with lessons and agencies than with issues and

processes.

_LEILA ALLEN DIMOCK_

Comrades from Other Lands

Home Mission Junior Text Book. Illustrated, 12mo, paper, net 25c.

(postage 4c.).

This book is complementary to the last volume in this course of study,

Dr. Henry's SOME IMMIGRANT NEIGHBORS which treated of the lives and

occupations of foreigners in our cities. This latter tells what the

immigrants are doing in country industries. Teachers of children of from

twelve to sixteen will find here material to enlist the sympathies and

hold the interest of their scholars.

* * * * *

BIOGRAPHY

_DAVID LIVINGSTONE_

The Personal Life of David Livingstone

By W. Garden Blaikie, D.D. Complete Authorized Edition, with

Portrait and Map. _International Leaders' Library._ Cloth, (postage

10c.), net 50c.

For fifteen years this book has remained the Standard Life of

Livingstone. The book is of especial interest just now when all the

world is observing the Centennary of Livingstone's birth.

"After all the years that have intervened it still remains the most

complete, authentic and inspired of all the biographies of

Livingstone."--_The Bookman._

_FRANCES WILLARD_

Frances Willard: Her Life and Her Work

By Ray Strachey. With an Introduction by Lady Henry Somerset.

Illustrated, 8vo, cloth, net $1.50.

A notable new life of the great temperance advocate written by an

English woman from an entirely new standpoint. Mrs. Strachey, the

granddaughter of the author of "A Christian's Secret of a Happy Life,"

had immediate access to Miss Willard's letters, journals and papers, and

the benefit of her grandmother's advice and knowledge.

Israel Zangwill says of the book, "A masterpiece of condensation, an

adequate biography of perhaps the greatest woman America has produced.

Nobody can read this book without becoming braver, better, wiser."

_MRS. S. MOORE SITES_

Nathan Sites:

With an Introduction by Bishop William F. McDowell. Oriental

Hand-Painted Illustrations. 8vo, cloth, gilt top, net $1.50.

This is one of the notable books of the year. China looms large in

current political and religious interest, so that this life story of one

who for nearly half a century has been closely identified with social

and religious reform in that country must have a large place in current

literature. The book is more than ordinarily notable also because of its

profuse and beautiful illustrations.

_G. L. WHARTON_

Life of G. L. Wharton

By Mrs. Emma Richardson Wharton. Illustrated, 12mo, gilt top,

cloth, net $1.25.

A biography of a pioneer missionary of the F. C. M. S., written by a

devoted wife who shared the experiences of her husband in a long service

in India and Australia. It is a life of unusual interest and an

important addition to the annals of modern missionary effort.

_ROBERT E. SPEER, D. D._

The Foreign Doctor: "The Hakim Sahib"

A Biography of Joseph Plumb Cochran, M.D., of Persia. Illustrated,

12mo, cloth, net $1.50.

Dr. Cochran came to a position of power in Western Persia which made his

life as interesting as a romance. He was one of the central figures in

the Kurdish invasion of Persia, and was the chief means of saving the

city of Uramia. In no other biography is there as full an account of the

actual medical work done by the medical missionary, and of the problem

of the use of the political influence acquired by a man of Dr. Cochran's

gifts and opportunities.

_HENRY D. PORTER, M.D., D.D._

William Scott Ament _Missionary of the American Board to China._

Illustrated, 8vo, cloth, net $1.50.

A biography of one of the most honored missionaries of the

Congregational Church, whose long and effective service in China has

inscribed his name high in the annals of those whose lives have been

given to the uplift of their fellowmen.

_MARY GRIDLEY ELLINWOOD_

Frank Field Ellinwood _Former Secretary Presbyterian F. M. Board_

His Life and Work. Illustrated, cloth, net $1.00.

A charming biography of one of the greatest missionary leaders of the

Nineteenth Century.--_Robert E. Speer._

_ANTONIO ANDREA ARRIGHI_

The Story of Antonio the Galley Slave

With Portrait, 12mo, cloth, net $1.25.

"Reads like a romance, and the wonderful thing about it is that it is

true. A fervid religious experience, a passion for service and good

intellectual equipment were his splendid preparation for a great

missionary work among his countrymen in America."--_Zion's Herald._

_GEORGE MULLER_

George Muller, The Modern Apostle of Faith By FREDERICK G. WARNE.

_New Edition, including the Later Story of the Bristol Orphan Home._

Illustrated, cloth, net 75c.

"What deep attractiveness is found in this life of the great and

simple-hearted apostle."--_Christian Advocate._

_KINGSTON DE GRUCHE_

Dr. Apricot of "Heaven-Below"

Illustrated, 8vo, cloth, net $1.00.

"No one who has read this book will ever afterwards repeat the

threadbare objection, I don't believe in missions."--_Continent._

_A "Vade Mecum" on Immigration_

The Immigrant

An Asset and a Liability

By FREDERIC J. HASKIN

Author of the "American Government"

_Illustrated, 12mo., cloth, net $1.25_

The wide-spread attention focused on this theme makes "THE IMMIGRANT, An

Asset and a Liability" especially timely. No other book of this kind

gathers into itself the consideration of so many phases of the subject

and for this reason it admirably supplements the several text books on

the topic. In brief, lucid replies it answers questions like these:

"Why do the immigrants come?"

"How do they come?"

"How are they treated at ports of entry?"

"What helps and what hindrances meet them?"

"Where do they go?"

"What are the relations of immigration and the white slave traffic?"

"Who is the padrone?"

"What is peonage?"

"How does the new immigrant live?"

"What of the future?"

Mr Haskin has succeeded to a remarkable degree in investing the subject

of Immigration with intense interest. The story of the greatest human

migration of all the ages is told in vivid, incisive and picturesque

style. The three centuries of this great world movement are spread out

before the reader like a panoramic parade of all nations. Accurate

historical statement, philosophic presentation of the underlying

principles and a judicial consideration of the ultimate influence on our

country characterize this latest and in many respects most satisfactory

and complete handbook.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] "The Neighbours," pp. 110-114.

[2] "The Jew in London," Russel-Lewis, pages 171-173.

[3] "Studies on American Social Conditions. Immigration." By Richard

Henry Edwards, p. 9.

[4] "Social Psychology," Ross, p. 140.

[5] Report of Commission of Immigration of the State of New York, pp.

182 and 185.

[6] Report of Commission of Immigration of the State of New York, p.

183.

[7] Estimated.

[8] Actual figures.

[9] Protect the Workman. John Mitchell, _The Outlook_, Sept. 11, 1909.