2 3 o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE AMERICAN'S DISTRUST OF THE IMMIGRANT. 



by dr. a. j. Mclaughlin, 



V. S. PUBLIC HEALTH AND MAEINE HOSPITAL SERVICE. 



OPPOSITION to immigrants is not new. Even in the conven- 

 tion that framed the Constitution a minority looked with dis- 

 trust at the alien. A little later came the Alien Act of John Adams's 

 administration. Again, in 1812, the Hartford Convention proclaimed 

 'The stock population of these states is amply sufficient to render this 

 nation in due time sufficiently great and powerful.' During the 

 discussion of the bill to establish the territorial governments of Kan- 

 sas and Nebraska, Senator John M. Clayton, of Delaware, introduced 

 in the Senate an amendment confining the elective franchise to native 

 Americans; but, although some prominent statesmen warmly favored 

 the measure, sense of justice and a prudent regard for the national 

 welfare triumphed over narrow race prejudice, and the amendment 

 was lost. In the debate on the bill dealing with preemption rights 

 of settlers on public lands, approved May 29, 1830, Senator Merrick, 

 of Maryland, offered an amendment barring aliens from such rights; 

 but again there were enough clear heads and broad minds to prevent 

 the measure from becoming a law. Finally, in the early fifties, opposi- 

 tion to the alien culminated in the Know-Nothing movement, when 

 misguided fanatics, actuated by insane jealousy of foreigners, not only 

 discriminated against all aliens, but attempted actual persecution. 



By 1855, however, the immigrant had proved his usefulness and 

 opposition lessened. He had convinced the intelligent American that 

 he was not a menace, but an indispensable upbuilding force. From 

 this time, therefore, up to a few years ago, he was subject to little 

 or no restriction on entering our ports. It is fortunate for our 

 growth that the immigrant of those early years was of a caliber vastly 

 superior to that of the immigrant of to-day. To-day the immigrants 

 are mostly of other stock than were those who gave us their brawn 

 and muscle and indomitable courage to conquer a wilderness. It 

 was national economy to avail ourselves of their services. They cut 

 down the forests, dug the canals, and built the railroads, thus making 

 our national life possible long before it could have existed without 

 their assistance. These were the days when the immigrants were 

 the German, the Irishman and the Scandinavian. 



Of late there has been a rebirth of distrust of the immigrant. 

 That this feeling exists and is even stronger than ever is attested by 



