money-makers have been steady. Performances of all kinds are permitted,
theaters run either openly or with thinly veiled programs, saloons are
open to those who know where the proper entrances are, and many forms of
business and labor are carried on seven days in the week. The Jews
claimed that it was a hardship to have to close on Sunday, when their
religious observances came on Saturday, with result that a good many
manage to keep shops and factories open all the year around. Pleas of
necessity have been put forward where contractors desired to push jobs
and profits. Sunday excursions are universal, and in order to gain their
Sunday pleasure-outings several millions of people of all races keep
several other millions hard at work on the day of rest. All places are
crowded on Sunday except the churches. Go among the foreign elements in
the city and you would never know it was Sunday. Holiday has supplanted
holy-day. Observe the trolley-cars or subway or elevated trains on
Sunday and you will see nine foreigners out of every ten persons. Go
into the suburbs and you will find springing up in out-of-the-way
places, where land can be secured cheap, little recreation parks, with
games and dancing platforms; and here there will be throngs of Italians
and other foreigners all day.
[Sidenote: Loss of the American Sunday]
Let us be just in this matter. The loss of the American Sunday is
undoubtedly due in great measure to immigration; due in part to the
weakness and dereliction of American professing Christians who have
surrendered to the foreign elements and fallen in with their ideas
instead of maintaining public worship and insisting upon respect for law
at least. Let the blame fall where it belongs, and let the Church
members recreant to duty take their share. When the sea threatened
Holland her resolute people built the dykes and maintained them;
American Christians have failed to stop the leaks in the church dykes,
and we have had a Sunday submergence in consequence. The effect of it
upon our national development is already evident and is most disastrous
to our highest interests. Sabbath-breaking and progress-making never go
together. Sunday work and pleasure combined form the peril alike of the
American workingman and of Christian civilization.
[Sidenote: General Deterioration]
Along with this inflow of alien ideas in religion goes a lowered
morality and a lower tone generally. Not that the sins of those in high
places are to be charged upon the poor immigrant, for he rarely if ever
belongs to that class. The statement may be true that the great rascals
are of native stock. But that only increases the peril. The masses that
come to us from southern Europe certainly will not raise the moral or
commercial, any more than they will the political or intellectual,
level. If we do not raise them they will tend to lower us; and much of
what they see and hear can have nothing less than a demoralizing effect.
[Sidenote: The Only Safeguard of Liberty]
Where shall we find the zealous and consistent Christians who by
sympathetic contact will represent the true spirit of Christianity, and
make the elevation of the aliens possible? The supreme truth to be
realized is that nothing but Christianity, as incarnated in American
Protestantism, can preserve America's free institutions.
[Sidenote: Spread of Socialism]
Ex-President Seelye, of Amherst, said that socialism is the question of
the time, and this is more apparent with every passing year. Socialism
has its source in the foreign element. It is not native to America. Its
swelling hosts are composed almost entirely of immigrants of recent
coming. It is found not only in the great cities but is spreading
through the farming sections. Now, there is a truth in socialism that
must be intelligently dealt with; and there is a Christian socialism
that should become dominant. And this is the only force that can check
and counteract the foreign socialism that would sweep away foundations
instead of ameliorating conditions and remedying evils.
[Sidenote: Migration a Severe Test]
In the same way, Protestant Christianity is the only agency that can
save us from the moral degeneracy involved in migration, even if the
immigrants were of our moral grade before coming. As Dr. Strong says,
the very act of migration is demoralizing. All the strength that comes
from associations, surroundings, relations, the emigrant leaves behind
him, and becomes isolated in a strange land. Is it strange, then, that
those who come from other lands, whose old associations are all broken
and whose reputations are left behind, should sink to a lower moral
level? Across the sea they suffered restraints which are here removed.
Better wages afford larger means of self-indulgence; often the back is
not strong enough to bear prosperity, and liberty too often lapses into
license.[85]
[Sidenote: Why Foreign Colonies are Perpetuated]
This result of migration is at once an evil and an opportunity. Breaking
away from the old associations leaves room and necessity for new ones.
Upon the character of these the future of the immigrant will largely
depend. Here is the Christian opportunity. See to it that the new
associations make for righteousness and patriotism. If the immigrant is
evangelized, assimilation is easy and sure. It is recognition of this
fact that leads the Roman Catholic Church to keep foreign colonies in
America as isolated and permanent as possible. The ecclesiastics realize
that children must be held in the parochial schools, so as to avoid the
Americanization that comes through the public schools, with the
probable loss of loyalty to the Church. The parents equally must be
kept away from the influences that would broaden and enlighten them. Dr.
Strong tells of large colonies in the West, settled by foreigners of one
nationality and religion; "thus building up states within a state,
having different languages, different antecedents, different religions,
different ideas and habits, preparing mutual jealousies, and
perpetuating race antipathies. In New England conventions are held to
which only French-Canadian Roman Catholics are admitted. At such a
convention in Nashua, New Hampshire, attended by eighty priests, the
following mottoes were displayed: 'Our tongue, our nationality, our
religion,' 'Before everything else, let us remain French!'" And it is
well said: "If our noble domain were tenfold larger than it is, it would
still be too small to embrace with safety to our national future, little
Germanies here, little Scandinavias there, and little Irelands yonder."
To-day there are also little Italies and little Hungaries, and a long
list of other races.
_V. The Hopeful Side_
[Sidenote: A Brighter Picture]
Turning to the pleasanter and brighter side of this great question, we
give the encouraging view of one who has spent years among the immigrant
population, studying their environment, conditions, and character, with
view to improving their chances. She says:
"The writer will risk just one generalization which, it is hoped, the
ultimate facts will bear out, that in the case of the new immigration we
shall see a repetition of the story of the old immigrant we are so
familiar with. First comes the ignorant and poor but industrious
peasant, the young man, alone, without wife or family. For a few years
he works and saves, living according to a 'standard of life' which
shocks his older established neighbors, and we may guess would often
shock his people at home. At first he makes plans for going back, sends
his savings home, and perhaps goes back himself. But he usually returns
to this country, with a wife. America has now become his home, savings
are invested here, land is bought, and a little house built. The growing
children are educated in American schools, learn American ways, and
forcibly elevate the 'standard of life' of the family. The second
generation, in the fervor of its enthusiasm for change and progress
becomes turbulent, unruly, and is despaired of.
[Sidenote: The Open Door]
"But out of the chaos emerges a third generation, of creditable
character, from whom much may be expected. Our Austrian, Hungarian, and
Russian newcomers are still in the first and second stages, and there
seems no good reason why they should not pull through successfully to
the third. But in that endeavor we can either help or materially hinder
them, according to our treatment of them, as employees, as producers,
as fellow citizens. America, for her own sake, owes to the immigrant not
only the opportunities for 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'
that she promises to every man, but a sympathetic appreciation of his
humanity, and an intelligent assistance in developing it."[86]
[Sidenote: How the Children Lead]
This is a picture of progress in assimilation to be remembered, and the
conclusion is admirably expressed. Assimilation is made easy when the
wheels of contact are oiled by kindness and sympathy. The children lead
the way to Americanization. Mr. Brandenburg gives this report of a
conversation overheard in an Italian tenement in New York, the parties
being a mother, father, and the oldest of three daughters: "Said the
mother in very forcible Tuscan: 'You shall speak Italian and nothing
else, if I must kill you; for what will your grandmother say when you go
back to the old country, if you talk this pig's English?' 'Aw, g'wan!
Youse tink I'm goin' to talk dago 'n' be called a guinea! Not on your
life. I'm 'n American, I am, 'n you go 'way back an' sit down,' The
mother evidently understood the reply well enough, for she poured forth
a torrent of Italian, and then the father ended matters by saying in
mixed Italian and English: 'Shut up, both of you. I wish I spoke English
like the children do,' Many parents have learned good English in order
to escape being laughed at or despised by their children."[87]
[Sidenote: The Young American]
The language is not classic, but it is that of real life such as these
children have to endure. The rapidity with which foreigners become
Americanized is illustrated, said Dr. Charles B. Spahr, by the
experience of a gentleman in Boston. In his philanthropic work he had
gotten quite a hold on the Italian population. A small boy once asked
him: "Are you a Protestant?" He said "Yes," and the boy seemed
disappointed. But presently he brightened up and said, "You are an
American, aren't you?" "Yes." "So am I!" with satisfaction. Children
become American to the extent that they do not like to have it known
that they have foreign parents. One little girl of German parentage said
of her teacher: "She's a lady--she can't speak German at all." Where
assimilation is slow, it is quite as likely to be the fault of the
natives as of the immigrants, much more likely, indeed. How can he learn
American ways who is carefully and rudely excluded from them? We build a
Chinese wall of exclusiveness around ourselves, our churches, and
communities, and then blame the foreigner for not forcing his way
within.
In a thoughtful treatment of this whole subject, Mr. Sidney Sampson
says:[88]
[Sidenote: The Real Question]
"It has become a pressing and anxious question whether American
institutions, with all their flexibility and their facility of
application to new social conditions, will continue to endure the strain
put upon them by the rapid and ceaseless introduction of foreign
elements, unused, and wholly unused in great measure, to a system of
government radically differing from that under which they have been
educated. Can these diverse elements be brought to work in harmony with
the American Idea? The centuries of subjection to absolutism, or even
despotism, to which the ancestors of many of the immigrant classes have
been accustomed, has formed a type of political character which cannot,
except after long training, be brought into an understanding of, and
sympathy with, republican principles. This is by far the most important
aspect of the question, much more so than questions of industrial
competition."
If the republic will not ultimately endure harm, he believes industrial
questions will slowly but surely right themselves; if otherwise, none
even of the wisest can foresee the result. We give his conclusion:
[Sidenote: Optimism the True View]
"What is to be the outcome of this movement of the nations upon American
political and industrial life is a question which confronts us with a
problem never before presented in the world's history. Upon a review of
the entire situation I think we may be optimists. Notwithstanding all
unfavorable features, there are antagonizing elements constantly at
work, not the less potent because they work silently. We may attach
undue importance to statistics merely.
[Sidenote: Assimilating Agencies]
"Students of the immigration problem do not sufficiently observe the
influences--in fact, the immigrant may not himself be conscious of
them--which year after year tend to adjust his habits of thought and his
political views and actions to his new environment. Freedom of suffrage,
educational advantages, improved industrial conditions, the dignity of
citizenship, equal laws, protection of property--all these nourish in
him an increasing respect for the American system; and we have reason to
believe that, under proper legislation, the combined influence of all
these will in the long run fully neutralize the distinctly unfavorable
results of future immigration."
[Sidenote: Solution by Combined Forces]
With this we are in accord, provided the Christian people of America can
be brought to see and do their whole duty by the aliens. The solution of
the problem demands the combined forces of our educational, social,
political, and evangelical life. In that solution is involved the
destiny of ultimate America.
QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER VII
AIM: TO REALIZE THE EFFECT OF IMMIGRATION UPON THE NATIONAL
CHARACTER AND OUR INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR IMPROVING
CONDITIONS
I. _Reasons for Concern._
I. * Do you think that immigration makes a very serious problem for
the United States? Why? Mention others who think differently. Why
do you not agree with them?
2. * Are there any foreigners in your neighborhood? What are they
and what can you do for them?
3. Do these immigrants long retain their foreign aspect and ways?
In what respects do they change most quickly?
4. What does Professor Mayo-Smith say about keeping American ideals
intact? Must Protestant Christianity be guarded?
II. _Threatening Changes._
5. In what respects has immigration since 1820 introduced
un-American standards?
6. * Have the average character and the plane of living of the
immigrants been raised or lowered by their coming here? Same as to
wages? As to intelligence?
7. * How are our public schools affected? Is there any menace to
our school system? Can we provide compulsory education for all the
children?
III. _Other Effects._
8. Do these new Americans learn to use the ballot rightly? Can they
learn?
9. Does their coming make genuine Christianity more or less
prominent in the national life? What effect does it have on Sunday
observance? Does it lessen or increase lawbreaking?
IV. _National Bulwarks._
10. What are the safeguards pointed out by Professor Boyesen? By
ex-President Seelye?
11. How can Socialism be met?
12. * Will anything but Christianity effectively guard our
institutions?
13. How far will material improvements help to uplift and
assimilate the newcomers?
14. Do the children learn patriotism from their new country? Do
they keep it when grown up?
15. * Is there good reason for being optimistic? Upon what
condition may we be hopeful?
REFERENCES FOR ADVANCED STUDY.--CHAPTER VII
I. Study further some of the specific effects of the immigrants'
presence.
Warne: The Slav Invasion, V, VI.
Wood: Americans in Process, VII, VIII.
Riis: How the Other Half Lives, XVIII, XXI.
II. What can you learn about the present status of the parochial school
movement, especially in your own vicinity?
Refer to local periodicals and daily papers.
III. Is assimilation of foreigners taking place everywhere, or only in
certain places?
McLanahan: Our People of Foreign Speech, I.
Hall: Immigration, 172, 182.
Wood: Americans in Process, XII.
Strong: The Twentieth Century City, IV.
IV. Are our school facilities, actual or prospective, likely to prove
sufficient for the demands made upon them?
Riis: How the Other Half Lives, XV, XVI.
Wood: Americans in Process, X.
Hunter: Poverty, V.
_The Christian Churches in America stand face to face with a
tremendous task. It is a challenge to their faith, their devotion,
their zeal. The accomplishment of it will mean not only the
ascendancy of Christianity in the homeland, but also the gaining of
a position of vantage for world-wide evangelization._--E. E.
Chivers, D.D.
VIII
THE HOME MISSION OPPORTUNITY
The question of supreme interest to us is the religious question. What
share shall the Church have in making Christian Americans of these
immigrants? How may Church and State work together for the solution of
the problem, on the solution of which very largely the future prosperity
of the State and the Church depends.--_Charles L. Thompson, D.D._
The future success of missions will be largely affected by the success
of the Church in dealing with problems that lie at her very door. The
connection between home and foreign missionary work is living. The
conversion of the world is bound up with the national character of
professedly Christian lands. --_Rev. Herbert Anderson, English
Missionary in India._
"The blood of the people! changeless tide through century, creed, and
race, Still one, as the sweet salt sea is one, though tempered by sun
and place, The same in ocean currents and the same in sheltered seas:
Forever the fountain of common hopes and kindly sympathies.
Indian and Negro, Saxon and Celt, Teuton and Latin and Gaul,
Mere surface shadow and sunshine, while the sounding unifies all!
One love, one hope, one duty theirs! no matter the time or kin,
There never was a separate heart-beat in all the races of men."
VIII
THE HOME MISSION OPPORTUNITY
_I. Alien Accessibility_
[Sidenote: A Unique Mission Field]
"Save America and you save the world." Through immigration the United
States is in a unique sense the most foreign country and the greatest
mission field on the globe. "All peoples that on earth do dwell" have
here their representatives, gathered by a divine ordering within easy
reach of the gospel. Through them the world may be reached in turn.
Every foreigner converted in America becomes directly or indirectly a
missionary agent abroad, spreading knowledge of the truth among his
kindred and tribe.[89] The greatness of the opportunity is the measure
of obligation. God's message to this nation has been thus interpreted:
"Here are all these people; I have taken them from the overcrowded
countries where they were living and sent them to you, that you may mass
your forces and lend a hand to save them." No such opportunity ever came
to a nation before. The Christian church must seize it or sink into
deserved decadence and decay. Only a missionary church can save the
world or justify its own existence. The manner in which American
Christianity deals with the religious problems of immigration will
decide what part America is to play in the evangelization of the nations
abroad.
[Sidenote: The Gospel the Chief Factor]
We have now reached the vital part of our subject. We have learned to
discriminate between peoples and find the good in all of them. We have
seen that assimilation is essential to national soundness and strength.
But we have yet to realize that the most potential factor in
assimilation is not legislation or education but evangelization. There
is no power like the gospel to destroy race antipathies, break down the
bars of prejudice, and draw all peoples into unity, brotherhood, and
liberty--that spiritual freedom wherewith Christ makes free. When
American Protestantism sees in immigration a divine mission none will
discover in it thenceforth a human menace.
[Sidenote: Shall America be kept Christian]
Marvelous mission, involving the destiny of free America. A writer asks,
"Will New England be kept Christian?" and answers, "That depends.
Population is greatly changing. Immigrants from all parts of the world
are here. They will continue to come. Unless they are molded according
to the principles of our religion, they will greatly increase the
irreligious elements of New England, already too large. There is a
religious basis in those who come, but it will require an application of
religious agencies to make them truly Christian citizens."[90] Put
America in place of New England, and the question and answer will be as
pertinent. Shall America be kept Christian? That depends. It depends
upon what American Christians do.
[Sidenote: Immigrants not Evangelical]
Few of the immigrants are evangelical in religion. They know nothing of
our gospel, and little or nothing of the Bible. The religious principles
they have been taught are totally opposed to the spirit of our free
institutions of religion. They know priestly sovereignty but not soul
liberty. They are the creatures of a system, and the system is
thoroughly un-American and inimical to freedom of conscience and
worship. But thousands and tens of thousands of them are out of sorts
with the system and are ready for something better.[91] They have lost
faith in their Church and will lose it in religion unless we teach them
the gospel. To accomplish this result two persons must be changed--the
immigrant and the American. Alien assimilation depends largely upon
American attitude.
[Sidenote: Two Timely Questions]
Two questions confront us squarely as we approach this subject. First,
the common one, What do we think of the immigrant? And second, the less
common but not less important one, What does the immigrant think of us?
It will do us good, as Americans and as Christians, to consider both of
these frankly. Honestly, what is your attitude toward the ordinary
immigrant? Do you want him and his family, if he has one, in your
church? Do you not prefer to have him in a mission by himself? Would you
not rather work for him by proxy than with him in person? Do you not
pull away from him as far as possible if he takes a seat next to you in
the car? Actual contact is apt to mean contamination, germs, physical
ills. He is ignorant and uncultured. You desire his conversion--in the
mission. You wish him well--at a convenient distance. You would much
more quickly help send a missionary to the Chinese in China than be a
missionary to a Chinaman in America, would you not? Think it over,
Christian, and determine your personal relation to the immigrant. Is he
a brother man, or a necessary evil? Will you establish a friendly
relation with him, or hold aloof from him? Does your attitude need to be
changed?
[Sidenote: The Alien Point of View]
What, now, do you suppose this "undesirable" immigrant thinks of America
and Protestant Christianity? What has he reason to think, in the light
of his previous dreams and present realizations? What does Protestant
Christianity do for him from the time he reaches America? What will he
learn of our free institutions--in the tenement slums or labor camps or
from the "bosses" who treat him as cattle--that will teach him to prize
American citizenship, desire religious liberty, or lead a sober,
respectable life? If we are in earnest about the evangelization of the
immigrant we must put ourselves in his place occasionally and get his
point of view. When we think fairly and rightly of the immigrant, and
treat him in real Christian wise, he will soon come to think of us that
our religion is real, and this will be a long step toward the change we
desire him to undergo. We shall never accomplish anything until we
realize that the coming of these alien millions is not accidental but
providential.
_II. Missionary Beginnings_
[Sidenote: Alien Accessibility is Home Mission Possibility]