Page:The web (1919).djvu/475

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dumped down upon our shores and who swarm all over this land in the eager pursuit of the mere physical necessities of life. This is the object, the sole ambition of nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand. Such an invasion is actually as disastrous to a country as the invasion of Germany by the Huns who were impelled solely by hunger (the very same motive that brings the vast majority of immigrants to this country) and whose ravages devastated the whole of Germany and scattered its inhabitants beyond the Alps to the Rhine and to the borders of the Mediterranean. . . . Such masses of crude humanity as pour in upon us cannot possibly be taken up into healthy circulation, but must lie undigested in the stomach of the nation, seriously affecting its health and happiness. . . . The curse these immigrants bring upon themselves is plainly to be seen, for it is immediate. They form a body incompatible with the healthy growth of this country. The greater curse of this country is that they do the work that should not be done by them at all, the work that should be done by natives. They take the work and the bread out of the hands and mouths of native Americans, and the question of their means of living must soon become one of the most pressing economic and social problems of the day.


Such extended quotations are made from one writer (Mr. Monroe Royce; "The Passing of the American") only because these truths of ten years ago are equally true to-day and more true. In the past ten years our census map has changed yet more. And now into this crude population of ours we have inducted all the seeds of discord of this war. We have learned a sudden distrust of a large number of our citizenry. Our returning soldiers will bring us yet more problems. The spirit of unrest in this hour of anarchy will add to all these problems.

It is time for another oath, sworn indeed for the protection of America.