an race of permanent
and stable government is to be impaired by the enormous and unregulated
inroad of poverty and ignorance, which changed conditions of
transportation have brought upon us, then for the sake of Europe, as
well as for the sake of America, the coming of these people should be
checked and regulated until we can handle the problems that are already
facing us.--_Phillips Brooks._

There are certain fundamentals in every system, to destroy which
destroys the system itself. Our institutions have grown up with us and
are adapted to our national character and needs. To change them at the
demand of agitators knowing nothing of that character and those needs
would be absurd and destructive.--_Professor Mayo-Smith._

VII

IMMIGRATION AND THE NATIONAL CHARACTER

_I. Two Points of View_

[Sidenote: The Larger Race Problem]

Immigration is a radically different problem from that of slavery, but
not less vital to the Republic. It is a marvelous opportunity for a
Christian nation, awake; but an unarmed invasion signifying destruction
to the ideals and institutions of a free and nominally Christian nation,
asleep. "The wise man's eyes are in his head," says Solomon, "but the
fool walketh in darkness." In other words, the difference between the
wise and otherwise is one of sight. While Americans are walking in the
darkness of indifferentism and of an optimism born not of faith but
ignorance, immigration is steadily changing the character of our
civilization. We are face to face with the larger race problem--that of
assimilating sixty nationalities and races. The problem will never be
solved by minimizing or deriding or misunderstanding it.

[Sidenote: The Two Sides]

All through this study we have sought to remember that there are two
sides to every question, and two to every phase of this great
immigration question. Especially is this true when we come to estimating
effects upon character, for here we are in the domain of inference and
of reasoning from necessarily limited knowledge. Here, too, temperament
and bias play their part. One person learns that of every five persons
you meet in New York four are of foreign birth or parentage, notes the
change in personality, customs, and manners, and wonders how long our
free institutions can stand this test of unrestricted immigration.
Another answers that the foreigners are not so bad as they are often
painted, and that the immorality in the most foreign pa