44 True Americanism 



The mighty tide of immigration to our shores has 

 brought in its train much of good and much of evil ; 

 and whether the good or the evil shall predominate 

 depends mainly on whether these new-comers do or 

 do not throw themselves heartily into our national 

 life, cease to be European, and become Americans 

 like the rest of us. More than a third of the people 

 of the Northern States are of foreign birth or par- 

 entage. An immense number of them have become 

 completely Americanized, and these stand on ex- 

 actly the same plane as the descendants of any Puri- 

 tan, Cavalier, or Knickerbocker among us, and do 

 their full and honorable share of the nation's work. 

 But where immigrants or the sons of immigrants 

 do not heartily and in good faith throw in their lot 

 with us, but cling to the speech, the customs, the 

 ways of life, and the habits of thought of the Old 

 World which they have left, they thereby harm both 

 themselves and us. If they remain alien elements, 

 unassimilated, and with interests separate from ours, 

 they are mere obstructions to the current of our na- 

 tional life, and, moreover, can get no good from it 

 themselves. In fact, though we ourselves also suffer 

 from their perversity, it is they who really suffer 

 most. It is an immense benefit to the European im- 

 migrant to change him into an American citizen. 

 To bear the name of American is to bear the most 

 honorable of titles; and whoever does not so be- 

 lieve has no business to bear the name at all, and, if 

 he comes from Europe, the sooner he goes back there 

 the better. Besides, the man who does not become 



