merican attitude.

[Sidenote: Two Timely Questions]

Two questions confront us squarely as we approach this subject. First,
the common one, What do we think of the immigrant? And second, the less
common but not less important one, What does the immigrant think of us?
It will do us good, as Americans and as Christians, to consider both of
these frankly. Honestly, what is your attitude toward the ordinary
immigrant? Do you want him and his family, if he has one, in your
church? Do you not prefer to have him in a mission by himself? Would you
not rather work for him by proxy than with him in person? Do you not
pull away from him as far as possible if he takes a seat next to you in
the car? Actual contact is apt to mean contamination, germs, physical
ills. He is ignorant and uncultured. You desire his conversion--in the
mission. You wish him well--at a convenient distance. You would much
more quickly help send a missionary to the Chinese in China than be a
missionary to a Chinaman in America, would you not? Think it over,
Christian, and determine your personal relation to the immigrant. Is he
a brother man, or a necessary evil? Will you establish a friendly
relation with him, or hold aloof from him? Does your attitude need to be
changed?

[Sidenote: The Alien Point of View]

What, now, do you suppose this "undesirable" immigrant thinks of America
and Protestant Christianity? What has he reason to think, in the light
of his previous dreams and present realizations? What does Protestant
Christianity do for him from the time he reaches America? What will he
learn of our free institutions--in the tenement slums or labor camps or
from the "bosses" who treat him as cattle--that will teach him to prize
American citizenship, desire religious liberty, or lead a sober,
respectable life? If we are in earnest about the evangelization of the
immigrant we must put ourselves in his place occasionally and get his
point of view. When we think fairly and rightly of the immigrant, and
treat him in real Christian wise, he will soon come to think of us that
our religion is real, and this will be a long step toward the change we
desire him to undergo. We shall never accomplish anything until we
realize that the coming of these alien millions is not accidental but
providential.

_II. Missionary Beginnings_

[Sidenote: Alien Accessibility is Home Mission Possibility]

The first human touch put upon the immigrant in the new environment is