America is made up of the cultural strains of many countries. The mere knowledge of this matchless wealth is an inspiration to anyone who knows it.—Allen H. Eaton.
Nature has blessed this country with great natural wealth, but immigration has brought us even greater riches in the form of human resources. Andrew Carnegie, himself an immigrant, was well aware of this when he said, “Take away my factories, my railroads, my ships. Take away my money, strip me of all these things, but leave me my men, and in two or three years, I will have everything back again.”
Priceless Gifts
Transforming her immigrants as they have come, the United States has, in turn, been enriched and transformed by them. The immigrant has played an important part in our cultural as well as in our economic life. One immigrant, Franklin K. Lane, who became Secretary of the Interior, wrote feelingly of the contributions which the immigrant has made to American life.
Their music—dirge and dance and wassail song, proud march and religious chant, and their instruments for the making of music.
Their poetry—winged tales of man’s many passions, folk songs and psalm, ballads of heroes and tunes of the sea, lilting scraps caught from the sky and field, or mighty dramas that tell of primal struggles of the profoundest meaning.
Their art—fancies of the mind, woven in wood or wool, silk, stone, or metal, rugs and baskets, gates of fine design and modeled gardens, houses and walls, pillars, roofs, windows, statues and painting—their art and handcraft.
Homelike familiar things—a favorite tree or fruit, an accustomed flower, a style in cookery or in costume.
Hands with which to work.
Minds that could conceive.
Hearts filled with home—stout hearts to drive live minds; live minds to direct willing hands.
Irish song and wit, German thrift and industry, Scottish virility and genius, English love of law and order, Scandinavian honesty and love of home, Negro fervor in song and story, Mexican enjoyment of life, Indian customs and traditions, Slavic dance and folk song, neatness and thoroughness of the Netherlanders, Italian love for art and music, and philosophic tendencies of the Oriental for the beautiful, are but a few of the strands that may be found woven into our national pattern.
The Art of Living Together
Barriers that once existed between racial and national groups in this country are fast disappearing. Cooperative effort and healthy respect are taking their place. We are “learning to understand other peoples to understand ourselves.” The newcomers brought with them an ardent desire to improve their conditions. They quickly availed themselves of the opportunity which the public school offered them.
The school took “the child of the exile of Hungary, of the half-starved emigrant from the Emerald Isle, and of the hardy Norwegian, and placed them on the same bench with the offspring of those whose ancestors’ bones bleached upon the fields of Lexington.” The library, the church, the motion picture, and radio are also powerful educational agencies in molding the pattern of the New American.
Milestones of Progress
The immigrant has always been a firm devotee of the ideals of democracy, for in most cases he has suffered religious, political, military, or other oppression. Even in the United States, democracy did not begin full tilt. But, just as the frontier has been conquered, so too the areas of human rights and freedoms have been extended.
The abolition of slavery, universal suffrage, the grant of full rights of citizenship to women, labor legislation, and property rights have all been milestones in the onward march of democracy.
The immigrant has not been unmindful of the blessings conferred upon him in this country. He has adjusted himself quickly to his new environment. In every crisis, he has faithfully stood by our country and institutions. He has striven to teach his children to love and honor the land which harbors them.
All human history teaches us that the price of human liberty is the continuous enlargement of that liberty. The only safe principle of democracy is justice, equity, and equal respect among all our people. Great unfinished tasks remain for us to solve. Our common loyalty must hold high the torch and pass it on, with fire unquenched, to the citizen of tomorrow.
Transcriber’s Note: Click image for larger version.
IMMIGRATION FIGURES FOR SOME COUNTRIES FROM 1820-1936
