lux of
non-English immigrants who come hither to enjoy without hardship the
liberties which our British ancestors carved out in toil and bloodshed.
It is also true that such of them as belong to the Teutonic and Celtic
races are capable of assimilation to our English type and of becoming
valuable acquisitions to the population. But, from this it does not
follow that a mixture of really alien blood or ideas has accomplished or
can accomplish anything but harm. Observation of Europe shows us the
relative status and capability of the several races, and we see that the
melting together of English gold and alien brass is not very likely to
produce any alloy superior or even equal to the original gold.
Immigration cannot, perhaps, be cut off altogether, but it should be
understood that aliens who choose America as their residence must accept
the prevailing language and culture as their own; and neither try to
modify our institutions, nor to keep alive their own in our midst. We
must not, as the greatest man of our age declared, suffer this nation to
become a "polyglot boarding house."

The greatest foe to rational Americanism is that dislike for our parent
nation which holds sway amongst the ignorant and bigoted, and which is
kept alive largely by certain elements of the population who seem to
consider the sentiments of Southern and Western Ireland more important
than those of the United States. In spite of the plain fact that a
separate Ireland would weaken civilisation and menace the world's peace
by introducing a hostile and undependable wedge betwixt the two major
parts of Saxondom, these irresponsible elements continue to encourage
rebellion in the Green Isle; and in so doing tend to place this nation
in a distressingly anomalous position as an abettor of crime and
sedition against the Mother Land. Disgusting beyond words are the public
honours paid to political criminals like Edward, alias Eamonn, de
Valera, whose very presence at large among us is an affront to our
dignity and heritage. Never may we appreciate or even fully comprehend
our own place and mission in the world, till we can banish those clouds
of misunderstanding which float between us and the source of our
culture.

But the features of Americanism peculiar to this continent must not be
belittled. In the abolition of fixed and rigid class lines a distinct
sociological advance is made, permitting a steady and progressive
recruiting of the upper levels from