The New Immigration
This new immigration has been commonly regarded as either decidedly undesirable or at least distinctly less desirable than the Teutonic and Celtic, which for so many years practically had the field of America to itself. It has not been uncommon to group the Italians and Slavs, and denominate them as the "offscouring and refuse of Europe," now dumped into America, which is described as a sort of world "garbage bin." Extremists have drawn in gloomy colors the effects of this inrush of the worst and most illiterate and unassimilable elements of the Old World. A distinct prejudice has undoubtedly been created against these later comers.
This chart shows what a mass of illiteracy is coming in from Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. Only those above the age of fourteen are counted as illiterates. The change in the source of immigration from northern and western Europe to southern and eastern Europe is responsible for this radical change in the number of those who cannot read or write. Of the southern Italians who came in 1905, 56 per cent. were illiterate; and of the Ruthenians, 63 per cent. Most of these illiterates will never learn to read, as they are beyond the school age.]
Reasons for Adverse Opinion
There is unquestionably some ground for the feeling that the new immigration is in many respects less desirable than the older type. These peoples come out of conditions of oppression and depression, illiteracy and poverty. Far more important than this, they have had no contact with Anglo-Saxon ideas or government. They are consequently almost wholly ignorant of American ideals and standards. There is a vast difference between the common ideas of these immigrants and those from the more enlightened and progressive northern nations. So there is in the type of character and the customs and manners.
The Older Type of Immigration
We are sufficiently familiar with the older type, and do not need here to dwell upon it. We know how large a part has been played in the development of our national material enterprises by the Germans, the English and Irish, the Scotch and Welsh, the Swedes and Norwegians. Millions of them are among the loyal Americans of to-day. The Irish originally came to perform the unskilled labor of America. Their women made the domestics, and many of them still rule the American kitchen. But the Irish men have moved up, into bosses and contractors, into the stores and trades and professions, and especially into politics, until they practically run the cities and have a lion's share of the governmental positions. The Germans have always been among the best of our immigrant population in intelligence, thrift, and other qualities that make the German nation strong and stable. They have Germanized us more than we have Americanized them. The Scandinavians have with excellent judgment distributed themselves and gone largely into agriculture. All these north of Europe peoples belong to a common inheritance of principles and ideas, and all have found it natural to assimilate into American life. America owes a large debt to them, as they do to the land that has become their own by adoption.
Necessity of Discrimination