Americanization; Civics; Immigrants -- United States; Naturalization -- United States; Noncitizens -- United States
From the moment of his arrival in this country, every hardship that
the immigrant of any race suffers, every injustice practiced upon
him by his own countrymen or other foreign-born persons who preceded
him hither, by the police and other local officials (to him the
embodiment of government), by landlord or employer or others in more
prosperous circumstances, every hour of unemployment and privation,
every enforced separation from his family, every disillusioning
experience, contributes just so much to his readiness of mind
to accept the “Red” teachings and promises. Revolution finds no
hospitality in contented minds. Injustice, real or fancied, is, in
the last analysis, the only agitator we have to combat.
Every particle of information coming to the Americanization Study
on the subject of the mental attitude of the immigrant of any race
in America confirms the fact which ought to be obvious as a matter
of ordinary common sense: that the opportunity to work, at fair
wages, under anything like decent conditions of home and social
surroundings, and from that work to gain a place to live, the means
of maintaining and supporting a family and making a reasonably
comfortable and happy home, establishing a real stake in the
community, assures the making of a good citizen and a well-meaning
voter, a valuable active member in our body politic.
XIII
SOME GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
The one thing that emerges most clearly in the results of this or any
other candid study of the naturalization and political activity of
the foreign-born citizen of the United States is that admission to
active membership in our political society should be based upon _the
personal qualifications of the individual_.
No sound basis is disclosed for discrimination on the ground of race
or color, religious beliefs or political predilection. Even the
statutory bar against belief in anarchism or polygamy is obviously
ineffectual, because the anarchist theory _per se_ involves, if not
virtual atheism, at least repudiation of government and a disbelief
in the sanctity of an oath. And a declaration of disbelief in
polygamy, so far as it may be assumed to imply anything concerning
personal morality, conveys no assurance of chastity in any sense of
the word. Furthermore, what is the practical use of inquiring into
a person’s beliefs to-day, when there can be no guaranty as to what
they will be to-morrow?
The educational test assures no safety as to character. The ability
to speak, read, and write English or any other language, intelligence
and general or even exact information as to our form of government
and the “high spots” of American history, are little in the way of
assurance of loyalty or usefulness as a citizen. The most noxious
propagandist that we could import or admit to citizenship could
pass the most rigid intellectual test. During the debate on
the naturalization law in the House of Representatives in June,
1906,[177] Representative Steenerson of Minnesota said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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