IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES 91 



the occupation which they know and have practiced from ^ 

 childhood and set at tasks which ruin their health and 

 physique; and while herding together in cheap tenements 

 amid the temptations of the streets, the saloon and moving 1 

 picture shows, they lose their habits of sobriety and thrift, to 

 say nothing of the ruin of their morals and health. Were 1 

 they placed in an agricultural environment they could give 

 better account of themselves and sooner become active, pros- > 

 pering American citizens, retaining their faith, their healthj 

 and their morals. 



The attitude of the immigrant to the Church as an institu- 

 tion, even where they are Catholics, is most evident. The 

 growth of the Church in the United States has been marvel- 

 lous through the faithful support of the Irish immigrant or 

 American-born, while the German Catholic has been a noble 

 rival. Aside from the providence and grace of God, the 

 human element may be seen in the fact that for the past few 

 centuries the Irishman in his own green isle has had to fight 

 for the very existence of his faith in every material form. 

 The fight for the welfare of the Church has become ingrained ' 

 as it were. The same is true of the German in the face of 

 a hostile and aggressive Protestant majority in his fatherland 

 and successive hostile enactments against the Church by a 

 dominant majority. It has created a will to assist in the ma- 

 terial and spiritual progress of the Church, because the gov- 

 erning powers have been for the most part indifferent or 

 hostile. 



On the other hand, where the Church was established by 

 law, and politicians, particularly of an ecclesiastical turn of 

 mind, seized the best things from a worldly point of view, 

 and administered churches more from a political than a spirit- 

 ual outlook, the interests of the common layman waned. When 

 ifi addition to this he contributed to church revenues through 

 the medium of taxes and imposts, and not through the medium 

 of direct charity and interest in the Church itself, he rather 

 looked upon the Church as one of the wheels of government. 

 That has produced its effect even in America. The Italian, 

 for instance — and there are other nationalities — has looked' 

 upon the Church as something the State provided for him. 

 much as it provided streets, roads, public Jjuildings and the 

 like, and he continues in this frame of mind even when he 1 



