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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and powerfully keep alive such sen- 

 timents in the hearts of the people ? 

 We are not at this moment discuss- 

 ing this question from an economic 

 point of view. It would be quite pos- 

 sible to grant, from the latter stand- 

 point, that what is called commercial 

 protection is a national necessity; 

 and yet to admit and lament the fact 

 that the moral result of such a pol- 

 icy was most unfavorable to the na- 

 tional character, and, above all, un- 

 favorable to those broad, liberal, and 

 humane sentiments which ought to 

 characterize a nation which habitu- 

 ally regards itself as leading the van 

 of civilization. 



An illustration of the pettiness to 

 which what we have called the un- 

 scientific view of the means by which 

 national prosperity is promoted nat- 

 urally leads is found in the recent 

 legislation which imposes an educa- 

 tional test upon foreigners wishing 

 to make this country their home. 

 The immigrant, if over sixteen years 

 of age, must be able to read and after- 

 ward write from twenty to twenty- 

 five words of the Constitution of the 

 United States; otherwise he is sent 

 back to the country whence he came. 

 The individual may be physically 

 sound, and may be a capable and pa- 

 tient worker, prepared, even with the 

 drawback of illiteracy, to take his 

 chiinces in this new land; but he is 

 refused admission. Why ? The main 

 reason, as we believe, is that the 

 throwing of such difficulties in the 

 way of the foreigner is in line with 

 the sentiments which, as a people, we 

 have been carefully nourishing for a 

 long time past. It is a phase of " pro- 

 tection. '' But surely do we need to be 

 protected from foreigners who come 

 here to do the hard work of the coun- 

 try ? Is it not in our power to teach 

 them respect for the law, if they need 

 such teaching ? And migbt it not be 

 expected that tbe ''free air" of this 

 continent and the free play of Amer- 



ican institutions would do something 

 for their intellectual and political 

 development ? In times past, when 

 our own illiteracy showed a larger 

 percentage than it does to-day, and 

 our whole population was much 

 smaller, we admitted illiterate immi- 

 grants by the thousand without ques- 

 tion and gave them a hearty welcome. 

 To-day, when the volume of immi- 

 gration is much less than it used to 

 be, and when our own educational 

 level is alleged to have materially 

 risen, we must turn back the able- 

 bodied foreigner unless he can show 

 that he has been to school. In those 

 days we made no question about our 

 ability to absorb the vast hordes that 

 presented themselves, and we did it. 

 Today, when our population is much 

 larger and the number of strangers 

 arriving much smaller, we impose a 

 scholastic test. 



Looking at the law as a proposed 

 safeguard of national prosperity, We 

 must say it has a most fatuous ap- 

 pearance. The ability to read and 

 write shows that the individual has 

 so far been cared for by others, but 

 affords little evidence as to his own 

 intelligence or character. A great 

 many vicious and socially dangerous 

 persons are to be found among the 

 educated, so called, while among the 

 wholly uneducated are large num- 

 bers of faithful and honest workers. 

 It would be interesting, but perhaps 

 a little disquieting, to know just how 

 many persons in this country who 

 could write out, if necessary, the 

 whole Constitution of the United 

 States are supporting themselves by 

 more or less predatory modes of life; 

 and it would be further interesting 

 to know what propoi'tion of their 

 dupes they find among those who 

 can read and write, and what among 

 the wholly uneducated. The fact is 

 that " education '' throws open to the 

 vicious means of fraud they would 

 not otherwise have possessed, and 



