6O THE FOOD CRISIS AND AMERICANISM 



war laws should be enacted accordingly. Why after 

 the war? Should not the five years' previous resi- 

 dence, as well as the intellectual qualifications, apply 

 to all foreign born those now here, as well as those 

 to come in the future ? 



It takes vastly less time to master our language than 

 to comprehend, absorb and become embued with the 

 true spirit of American institutions. Why wait until 

 after the war for such legal enactments ? 



The inherent weakness of all democracies has been 

 mental inertia a tendency to act on collective im- 

 pulse, whose origin is suggestion instead of from 

 individual investigation and reason. If these sug- 

 gestions be sinister, the results are pernicious. Hyp- 

 notism of the crowd is the most prolific source of mal- 

 legislation. 



Immediately after victory, our nation will be con- 

 fronted with the most complex, difficult and far- 

 reaching economic and social questions ever submitted 

 to a people. It will be unfortunate, beyond words to 

 express, if at that time the balance of voting power 

 rests with citizens of foreign birth and parentage 

 ignorant of our history, traditions and the fundamen- 

 tal principles of our Government. Had a vote been 

 taken sixty days before, or even sixty days after, we 

 entered the war, these foreigners, following the few 

 noisy pacifists, would have placed our nation in the 

 list of neutrals ; not because the immigrants were pro- 

 German or pro-Ally, but simply because they were 

 anti-war, utterly unable to comprehend the difference 

 between a war of aggression and conquest, and a war 

 for defense and liberty. 



