Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014535904 
 
Cornell University Library 
 JV 6455.P3 
 
 Old world trails transplanted, 
 
 3 1924 014 535 904 
 
AMERICANIZATION STUDIES 
 ALLEN T. BURNS. DIRECTOR 
 
 OLD WORLD TRAITS 
 TRANSPLANTED 
 
 BY JO^ 
 
 ROBERT E. PARK 
 
 PBOFBSeOBIAL LECTUBBB, 
 DNITEBBmr OF CHICAGO 
 
 AND 
 
 HERBERT A. MILLER 
 
 ntOFESSOB OF BOOIOLOaT, OBBBLZH COLUIOB 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 
 
 NEW YORK AND LONDON 
 1921 
 
Old World Tkaits T8A»SFLMnn> 
 
 Copyilght. loais by Harper & Brothen 
 Printed In the United States of America 
 
PUBLISHER'S NOTE 
 
 The material in this volume was gathered by 
 the Division of Treatment of Immigrant Herit- 
 ages of Studies in Methods of Americanization. 
 
 Americanization in these studies has been con- 
 sidered as the union of native and foreign bom 
 in all the most fimdamental relationships and 
 activities of our national life. For Americaniza- 
 tion is the uniting of new with native-bom Ameri- 
 cans in fuller common understanding and ap- 
 preciation to secure by means of individual and 
 collective self-direction the highest welfare of all. 
 Such Americanization should perpetuate no un- 
 changeable political, domestic, and economic 
 regime delivered once for all to the fathers, but 
 a growing and broadening national life, inclu- 
 sive of the best wherever found. With all 
 our rich heritages, Americanism will develop 
 best through a mutual giving and taking of 
 contributions from both newer and older Ameri- 
 cans in the interest of the commonweal. These 
 studies have followed such an understanding of 
 Americanization. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 This volume is the result of studies in methods 
 of Americanization prepared throi^h funds fur- 
 nished by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. 
 It arose out of the fact that constant applications 
 were being made to the Corporation for contribu- 
 tions to the work of nmnerous agencies engaged 
 in various forms of social activity intended to 
 extend among the people of the United States 
 the knowledge of their government and their 
 obligations to it. The trustees felt that a study 
 which should set forth, not theories of social 
 betterment, but a description of the methods of 
 the various agencies engaged in such work, would 
 be of distinct value to the cause itself and to the 
 public. 
 
 The outcome of the study is contained in eleven 
 volumes on the following subjects: Schooling of 
 the Immigrant; The Press; Adjustment of 
 Homes and Family Life; Legal Protection and 
 Correction; Health Standards and Care; Natu- 
 ralization and Political Life; Industrial and Eco- 
 nomic Amalgamation; Treatment of Immigrant 
 Heritages; Neighborhood Agencies and Oi^ani- 
 zation; Rural Developments; and Summary. 
 The entire study has been carried out under the 
 general direction of Mr. Allen T. Burns. Each 
 
FOKEWORD 
 
 volume appears in the name of the author who 
 had immediate charge of the particular field it 
 is intended to cover. 
 
 Upon the invitation of the Carnegie Corpora- 
 tion a committee consisting of the late Theodore 
 Roosevelt, Prof. John Graham Brooks, Dr. John 
 M. Glenn, and Mr. John A. VoU has acted in 
 an advisory capacity to the director. An edi- 
 torial committee consisting of Dr. TaJcott Will- 
 iams, Dr. Raymond B. Fosdick, and Dr. Edwin 
 F. Gay has read and criticized the manu- 
 scripts. To both of these committees the 
 trustees of the Carnegie Corporation are much 
 indebted. 
 
 The purpose of the report is to give as clear 
 a notion as possible of the methods of the agen- 
 cies actually at work in this field and not to 
 propose theories for dealing with the complicated 
 questions involved. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 FACE 
 
 Publisher's Note v 
 
 Foreword vii 
 
 List of Maps xi 
 
 Diagram xii 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. Immigbakt Heritages 1 
 
 Heritages Defined 2 
 
 Illustrative Documents 4 
 
 Resulting Antagonisms 16 
 
 n. Hehitages and Human Wishes 25 
 
 Four Fundamental Wishes 27 
 
 Primitive Regulation of Wishes 29 
 
 Adjustment to Individualistic Society 40 
 
 m. Immigrant Experiences 43 
 
 Change in Attitudes 43 
 
 Loss of Status 47 
 
 IV, Immigrant Demoralization 60 
 
 Early Stages 62 
 
 Extreme Cases 66 
 
 V. Immigrant Types 81 
 
 The Settler 83 
 
 The Colonist 92 
 
 The Political Idealist 96 
 
 The AUrightnick 101 
 
 The CafFone 103 
 
 The Intellectual 104 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER ''*0« 
 
 VI. Immigeant Institutions lid 
 
 First-Aid Institutions 121 
 
 Mutual Aid and Benefit Societies 124 
 
 Nationalistic Organizations 132 
 
 ■ Cultural Institutions 144 
 
 Vn. The Immiobant Community 145 
 
 The Italians 146 
 
 The Chinese 159 
 
 The Japanese 167 
 
 The Mexicans 180 
 
 The Jews 195 
 
 The Poles 211 
 
 The Bohemians 219 
 
 The Scandinavians 221 
 
 VUl. Types op Community Influence 225 
 
 The Polish Community 225 
 
 The Jewish Community 234 
 
 The Italian Community 238 
 
 IX. Reconciliation of the HEBrrAGBS 259 
 
 Required in a Democracy 260 
 
 Similarity of Heritages 265 
 
 Psychology of Assimilation 270 
 
 Tolerance versus Suppression 280 
 
 Immigrant Organization Valuable 287 
 
 Perpetuation of Groups Impossible 296 
 
LIST OF MAPS 
 
 lUP 
 
 The Peace Treaty is an attempt to make racial 
 and political boundaries more nearly coincide 
 
 1. The Polish National Alliance has 1,658 branches 
 
 distributed in 33 states 134 
 
 2. French-Canadian parishes of New England and 
 
 New York 141 
 
 3. Bowery colony of Italians showing settlements ac- 
 
 cording to native provinces and towns Facing 146 
 
 4. CaUfornia branches of the Japanese Association 168 
 
 5. Location of Japanese business in San Francisco 172 
 
 6. Organizations in the Japanese community in San 
 
 Francisco 174 
 
 7. Birthplace of the founders of the Jewish syna- 
 
 gogues in a congested New York district 201 
 
 8. Density of Jewish population in the neighborhoods 
 
 of certain Xehillah districts of Manhattan 208 
 
 9. Norwegian Lutheran churches in Minnesota 223 
 
 10. Location of Italian colonists in New York City 
 
 with sources of emigration in Italy 242 
 
DIAGRAM 
 
 DIAGRAM tJ^S 
 
 1. Comparison of the Jewish population of New York 
 
 City with that of other countries 196 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS 
 TRANSPLANTED 
 
 IMMIGEANT HERITAGES 
 
 During the past seventy years the various 
 tribes, races, and nationalities of mankind 
 have been examined in detail by the students 
 of ethnology, and a comparison of the results 
 shows that the fundamental patterns of life 
 and behavior are everywhere the same,' 
 whether among the ancient Greeks, the 
 modem Italians, the Asiatic Mongols, the 
 Australian blacks, or the African Hotten- 
 tots. AU have a form of family life, moral 
 and legal regulations, a religious system, a 
 form of government, artistic practices, and 
 so forth. An examination of the moral code 
 of any given group, say the African Kaffirs, 
 will disclose many identities with that of 
 any other given group, say the Hebrews. 
 
 All groups have such "commandments" as 
 
 1 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 "Honor thy father and mother," "Thou 
 shalt not kill," "Thou shalt not steal." 
 Formerly it was assumed that this similarity 
 was the result of borrowing between groups. 
 When Bastian recorded a Hawaiian myth 
 resembling the one of Orpheus and Eiuy- 
 dice, there was speculation as to how this 
 story had been carried so far from Greece. 
 But it is now recognized that similarities of 
 culture are due, in the main, not to imita- 
 tion, but to parallel development. The 
 nature of man is everywhere essentially the 
 same and tends to express itself everywhere 
 in similar sentiments and institutions. 
 
 EEBITA6KS DEFINED 
 
 On the other hand, the different races and 
 nationalities differ widely in the details of 
 their conception and practice of life, and 
 even their behavior in connection with gen- 
 eral ideals which they hold in common is 
 often curiously and startlingly different. 
 Thus, "Honor thy father and mother" 
 implies among certain African tribes that 
 children shall kill their parents when the 
 latter reach a certain age. Among these 
 people life after death is conceived as a 
 continuation of this life, under somewhat 
 improved conditions, and the parents wish 
 
IMMIGRANT HERITAGES 
 
 to reach the next world while still young 
 enough to enjoy it. Similarly, among many 
 peoples "faithful unto death" does not 
 exhaust the possibilities of marital fidelity; 
 the widow is expected to follow the husband 
 to the next world. When, in 1836, the 
 English governor of India forbade the suttee 
 (the practice of burning widows) a petition 
 was presented, signed by 18,000 persons, 
 many of them representing the best families 
 of Calcutta, requesting the revocation of 
 the edict. 
 
 These examples illustrate the well-known 
 fact that (different races and nationalities 
 attach values to different things, and dif- 
 ferent values to the same thing. This is 
 the chief factor in the problem of "Ameri- 
 canization," of harmonizing the life of the 
 immigrants with our own. \ Every human 
 group has developed in the course of its 
 experience a certain fund of values particular 
 to itself and a set of attitudes toward these 
 values. Thus, a poem, a folk dance, a 
 church, a school, a coin, is a value, and the 
 appreciation of any one of these objects is 
 an attitude. The object, the practice, the 
 institution, is the value; the feeling toward 
 it is the attitude. For the purpose of the 
 present study we call the fund of attitudes 
 and values which an immigrant group brings 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 to America — ^the totality of its sentiments 
 and practices — ^its "heritage.'* 
 
 ILLUSTEATIVE DOCUMENTS 
 
 We add below some documents illustrat- 
 ing further the variety of attitudes and 
 values which exist in the world and which 
 may be brought to America as immigrant 
 heritages. These are used at this point 
 simply as a concrete means of defining 
 heritages. They are not an attempt to 
 characterize the groups in question, though 
 they necessarily do this to some extent. It 
 would be possible to cite in connection with 
 each group examples of both good and bad 
 heritages, as we have done in the case of the 
 Chinese. 
 
 1. When I was five years old I began to go to 
 cheder [school] . . . Such -was my diligence that I 
 went through the sidur [prayer book] and the Pen- 
 tateuch in one winter, and I also began to study 
 "Gemorah." At six and a half, my father brought 
 me into the famous yeshiba of Vilna. . . . 
 
 The sole source of maintenance for almost all the 
 yeshiha-bahurim [pupils] was the system of "day 
 eating," at the homes of some well-to-do or poorer 
 members of the community — at a different home 
 each day. As a rule, the hahurim are not residents 
 of the city where the yeshiba is situated. To main- 
 tain them, each is assigned to eat one day in the 
 
 . 4 
 
IMMIGRANT HERITAGES 
 
 <veek in certain houses; he thus rotates through 
 seven houses a week. . . . 
 
 Reb Simon "Long Robe" was the most remarkable 
 man among the Jews of Vilna. He dedicated his 
 life work to providing the poor bahurim who were 
 left without day board with food and other neces- 
 sities. From early dawn to almost midnight he 
 would stand in the "Jewish street" with a big col- 
 lection box in his hand, and collect donations for 
 "his children," as he called the yeshiba-bahurim. 
 He drew his living from working during the night 
 hours as a grinder of snuff tobacco for a tobacco 
 dealer of Vilna. None knew his birthplace, nor 
 whence he came. . . . He spoke to no one, and to 
 all inquiries made no answer. Even the Christians 
 regarded him with the deepest respect, and deemed 
 him a holy man. ... So well was Reb Simon known 
 in Vilna that each household that found aught left 
 of the best dinner courses had these remains carried 
 off at once to the synagogue courtyard — ^to Reb 
 Simon Kaftan, who immediately distributed them 
 among the himgry yeshiba youths.^ 
 
 2. When I was seven years of age my father moved 
 his family to Bielostok. At that time I left school 
 and engaged in the reading of Russian novels, books 
 of travel, and of adventure, I remember to have 
 been Uterally swallowing these books, reading them 
 late into nights and mornings. . . . The gospel of 
 the class struggle, of the wronged proletariat of the 
 world, of the poverty-stricken peasants of Russia, 
 had already at the age of thirteen absorbed my atten- 
 tion. The members of the secret Central Commit- 
 tee of the Bielostok branch of the Bund at this time 
 began to use me as a means of carrying on their 
 
 ' Eliakiun Zunser, A Jewish Bard, p. 11 (an autobiography). 
 2 5 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 propaganda. One of the members of the Committee 
 arranged with me to have his secret organization 
 code mail sent to my address. I used to pay the 
 letter carrier twenty-five kopecks a month to hand 
 all my mail to me personally, not to leave it with 
 the folks at home. . . . 
 
 [At about fourteen] I was introduced to many of the 
 workers in the revolutionary movement, and began 
 to take an active part in it. I attended illegal revo- 
 lutionary meetings and later assisted in organizing 
 them. I was reading and distributing illegal litera- 
 ture. I soon became a leader among the workers. 
 My activities consisted in talking before circles of 
 workers on the significance of the class struggle and 
 the necessity of overthrowing the then Russian gov- 
 ernment. I remember distinctly having given a 
 number of talks on the inefBcacy of the "terror" 
 as advocated by the social revolutionists. As a 
 member of the Bund I did not approve of the ter- 
 roristic tactics of the social revolutionists.* 
 
 3. I am a widow. My husband died three years 
 ago. Since then I am struggling to make a hving for 
 my family, which consists of five children, the oldest 
 son being fifteen years old, and the baby three and 
 a half. 
 
 I have a store and barely get along, for the expenses 
 are great. As I am unable to manage the house and 
 store alone, I am obhged to employ a salesman, who 
 receives as much salary as is necessary for our own 
 livelihood. 
 
 If I were to withdraw my son irom high school I 
 could dispense with the salesman, but my motherly 
 love and the duty toward the child do not permit me 
 to take that step, for he is a very good scholar. 
 
 I Louis Bloch, Autobtography (manuscript). 
 6 
 
IMMIGRANT HERITAGES 
 
 So, what shall I do when the struggle for existence 
 is so acute? I must have his assistance in order to'' 
 keep my business going and take care of the other* 
 children; but at the same time I cannot definiteljt. 
 decide to take him out of school, for I know that J. 
 would make him imhappy, for he has inclinations toT 
 study and goes to school dancing. I lay great hopes" 
 on my cluld.^ 
 
 4. ... I am a son of a [Polish] peasant farmer. 
 Until ten years of age I did not know the alphabet, 
 or, exactly speaking, I knew only the letter B. Father 
 did not send me to school. He was always repeating: 
 "We have grown old, and we can't read nor write, 
 and we live; so you, my children, will also live with- 
 out knowledge." . . . Once my mother took me 
 to church. I looked to the right, a boy, smaller 
 than myself, was praying from a book; I looked to 
 the left, another one held a book just like the first. 
 And I stood between them like a ninny. I went 
 home and said to my father that I wanted to learn 
 from a book. And father scolded me, "And who 
 wiU peel potatoes in the winter, and pasture the 
 geese in summer?" Here I cried. . . . Once, while 
 peeling potatoes, I escaped from my father and 
 went to an old man who knew not only how to 
 read, but how to write well. I asked him to 
 show me [letters] in the primer, and he did not 
 refuse. I went home and thought: "It is bad! 
 Father will probably give me a licking." And so 
 it was. Father showered a few strokes on me and 
 said: "Snotty fellow! Don't you know that, as 
 old people say, he who knows written stuff casts 
 himself into hell?" But I used to steal out to learn 
 more and more frequently. . . . 
 
 1 Forward (New York Yiddish newspaper). May 6, 1906. 
 
 7 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 Once I found on the road an old almanac. I 
 looked at it, and I read on the last page that there 
 was in Warsaw a Gazeta Swigteczna which people 
 order and receive it by mail every Sunday. After 
 that I said to one of the neighbors, not a yoimg man, 
 "Do you know, in Warsaw there is a Gazeta which 
 every one, even if not educated, can read?" And 
 that man said to me: "Look at him, at the snotty 
 fellow! He wants a newspaper!" "Do you know, 
 Kum," said he to my father, "your son will become 
 a real lord, for he says that he will order a news- 
 paper." "Ho, ho!" said father, "but where will he 
 get the money?" . . . 
 5. Mt Illustbious Feiend and Jot of my Liveh : 
 The thing which you ask of me is both difficult 
 and useless. Although I have passed all my days 
 in this place, I have neither counted the houses nor 
 inquired into the number of the inhabitants; and 
 as to what one person loads on his mules and the 
 other stows away in the bottom of his ship, that is no 
 business of mine. But above all, as to the previous 
 history of this city, God only knows the amount of 
 dirt and confusion that the infidels may have eaten 
 before the coming of the sword of Islam. It were 
 unprofitable for us to inquire into it. . . . Listen, 
 O my son! There is no wisdom equal to the belief 
 in God! He created the world, and shall we liken 
 ourselves unto him in seeking to penetrate into the 
 mysteries of his creation? Shall we say. Behold this 
 star spinneth around that star, and tliis other star 
 with a tail goeth and cometh in so many years? Let 
 it go. He from whose hand it came will guide and 
 direct it. . . . Thou art learned in the things I care 
 not fo r, and as for that which thou hast seen, I spit 
 
 ' Oaxeta Striftecma (Warsaw newspaper), vol. 18, no. 31. 
 S 
 
IMMIGRANT HERITAGES 
 
 upon it. Will much knowledge create thee a double 
 belly, or wilt thou seek paradise with thine eyes? 
 The meek in spirit, 
 
 Imattm Ali Zadi.* 
 
 6. ... Arson is for the peasant something quite 
 natural, is a self-redress, and does not even bring him 
 dishonor in the eyes of his peasant neighbors. Re- 
 ciprocal incendiarism is such a frequent manifesta- 
 tion of self-redress that it merits particular studies. 
 ... It is civil war. The peasant considers break- 
 ing Lent a greater sin. To stop or at least to dimin- 
 ish the number of arsons the bishops in Poland have 
 reserved the sin of putting fire to houses, barns, and 
 stables for themselves — that is, an ordinary priest 
 cannot remit the sin of the incendiary, but must 
 appeal to the bishop or send the man to the bishop 
 to confession, in the same way as with murder. But 
 this does not help much. I would define it as a. feud, 
 a way of leading civil war. A peasant whom my 
 father reproached for having set fire to his neighbor's 
 buildings said, "I have set fire to his barn, but he 
 could have and still can set fire to mine." ... I 
 have listened to the confession of many even respecta- 
 ble farmers who tried to set fire to their enemies' 
 farm buildings, only they did not always succeed. 
 The variety of the technique of arson is itself worth 
 studying. The motive is frequently the loss of a 
 lawsuit, the seduction of a woman, etc.* 
 
 7. Our Respected Catholics and Assistants 
 TO THE Emigkants: I beg you kindly to advise me 
 
 'Letter from a Mohammedan official to an Englishman. Sir 
 Austen Henry Layard, Fresh Discoveries of Nineveh and Researches 
 at Babylon: Supplement. 
 
 2 Report of a Polish priest. Thomas and Znaniecki, The Polish 
 Peasant in Europe and America, vol. iv, p. 119. , 
 
 9 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 in what way I could emigrate to America with my 
 family, for instance, with my wife and four boys 
 from two to fourteen years. One boy, sixteen years 
 old, went to Argentine on May 14th. I intend also 
 to go and to buy land there, because here in Wolyn 
 it is very dear; a desiatina [two acres] reaches 500 
 rubles. What can I buy if I have five boys and 
 only two thousand of money? I could buy per- 
 haps in Russia, but what is the use of it since 
 there are no [Catholic] churches, so my faith will 
 get lost. I have heard meanwhile that in America 
 there are churches enough and our faith will not 
 get lost.' 
 
 8. One of the [Sicilian] characteristics is the 
 recognition of the principle of omertd. What do we 
 understand by omertd? Omertd is a moral code which 
 has never been written, but which is more or less 
 instinctively present in all Sicilians, in the peasant 
 as well as in the highly cultivated rity dweller. 
 Indeed it is more emphasized in the former. . . . 
 The moral code of omertd demands firmness, energy, 
 and seriousness, a self-reliant and self-consdous mind 
 whose activities are as far as possible independent 
 of the civil authorities. It seeks help through one- 
 self and not through the courts or police. It has that 
 quality of knightliness which characterizes duelists, 
 who settle their differences between themselves, far 
 from the police courts. Revenge is accomplished 
 quietly, imaided, or with the help of trusted friends.* 
 
 9. Every year, for the last twelve years, there 
 have been from twelve to twenty murders committed 
 
 ' Letter of a Polish peasant to the Emigrants' Protective Assod- 
 ation of Warsaw. Thomas and Znaniecki, The Polith Pecuant m 
 Europe and America, vol. t (in press). 
 
 ' G. Wermert, SieUien, p. 4S6. 
 
 10 
 
IMMIGRANT HERITAGES 
 
 in the square lialf mile of the North Side Sicilian 
 Settlement of Chicago.^ 
 
 The circumstances are nearly always the same. 
 The victim is shot from ambush, his body riddled 
 with slugs and nails from a sawed-off shotgun or with 
 the entire charge from a revolver; the weapon is found 
 near the body; there are no witnesses and the mur- 
 derer is never foimd. A squad of police are sent 
 into the district, premises in the vicinity are searched, 
 the wife or relatives of the murdered man are taken 
 to the station and sweated, an occasional arrest is 
 made, bat not more than three or four persons have 
 ever been convicted and sentenced for these crimes. 
 Sometimes the victim is murdered in his own home 
 and not infrequently two and even three men are 
 killed at the same time.^ 
 
 10. In Italy I live in small town — six, seven 
 thousand. It take not much money to live. We 
 pay the rent once a year, only little money. We 
 have fine garden, we live healthy, happy. I obey 
 my mother's word, which is like the God. The people 
 in my town they are serious, human, good heart. We 
 give everything to the poor. When stranger comes to 
 us, he got always the first chair, we make all we could 
 for him. We love the foreigner, especially from North 
 America. The people used to go to him and give him 
 the welcome. We say, "Oh he is Americano, he is 
 from the land of Columbus," The stranger can stay 
 a year, he don't need no money to pay for anything, 
 wherever he go he got everything for nothing.' 
 
 * The Chicago Tribune, March 17, 1911, enumerates, with some 
 details, thirty-four murders of Italians in Chicago in a period of 
 fourteen months (January 6, 1910, to March 14, 1911), all of them 
 "unsolved." 
 
 2 Marie Leavitt, Report on the Sicilian Colony in Chicago (manu- 
 script). 
 
 II 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 We work little bit, then we take the leisure. We 
 love very much the music, art, poetry. We love the 
 poetical life — ^poetry to-day, and to-morrow we take 
 what's coming with the good patience. The way I 
 mean is not only to read the books of the great poets, 
 of Dante that we love more than a father, or Petrarca, 
 Ariosoto, Tasso, Alfieri, and so many others down to 
 Manzoni, Carducci, Giusti, D'Annimzio, but the 
 poetry of the beautiful scenery in the coimtry, the 
 poetry of the music, the poetry of the friendship. 
 Even in the small town we have band and philhar- 
 monica. Not to know the musical works of Rossini, 
 like "Barbiere di Seviglia" and "Gugliehno Tell," is 
 not to know anything. We like the music of the 
 great Donizetti and Bellini because they are dramatici, 
 emotionanti. We are crazy for "Norma," for "Lucia 
 di Lanmiermoor." They have red blood, what the 
 ItaUan like, for the Itahan warm heart. We like 
 Puccini, Mascagni. Verdi, we adore him. He was 
 welcome all over for his wonderful heart. He spealt 
 the voice of the people, in the big romantic utterance, 
 he speak fearless like a man, he express our own 
 emotions by the great genius. . . .* 
 
 11. Lindsborg is the center of a Swedish colony 
 of about forty square miles in extent. Its only boast 
 above the neighboring towns is the presence of Beth- 
 any College and the annual musical event at Easter 
 time. 
 
 Each Easter week its people perform Handel's 
 " Messiah " with a chorus of five hundred voices and 
 an orchestra of forty pieces. With the exception of 
 the soloists, who now are stars of the first magnitude 
 
 1 Life history of Alessandro Daluca, a tailor on the East Side of 
 New York. Emily F. Robbins, " If One Speak Bad of Your Mother. 
 How You Feel?" in the Red Cross Magaxine, September. 1919. 
 
 12 
 
IMMIGRANT HERITAGES 
 
 on the artistic firmament, it is entirely a home affair. 
 The membership of the organization is made up of 
 the merchants, artisans, farmers, and housewives of 
 the town and surrounding countryside, together with 
 the students of the college. The chorus is more than 
 thirty years old and has given Handel's "Messiah" 
 eighty-seven times. 
 
 Among its members there are those who participated 
 in the first performance, and it is no uncommon thing 
 for three generations of the same family to be repre- 
 sented. From the bass section more than one grand- 
 father hears the voices of his daughter and grand- 
 daughter singing among the sopranos and altos. 
 One of the unique features is a children's chorus of 
 three hundred, and the exercises of the Messiah 
 Week, as the festival is popularly called, would be 
 quite incomplete without the concert by this organ- 
 ization. Membership in it is a distinction to which 
 every boy and girl in the community aspires, and it 
 is a red-letter day in the life of the youthful musician 
 when for the first time he is permitted to appear as 
 a member of the orchestra in a pubUc performance 
 of the oratorio.^ 
 
 12. The Finns have much faith in co-operative 
 establishments for the conduct of their affairs, as is 
 evidenced by the numerous co-operative creameries, 
 co-operative general merchandise and grocery stores, 
 co-operative savings banks, and other co-operative 
 institutions. In 1913 there were 2,167 co-operative 
 societies in Finland, with a total membership of 
 196,000. Into northeastern Minnesota co-operative 
 institutions are rapidly finding their way. While 
 all varieties are not yet represented there, they may 
 
 1 E. P. PhUblad, "A Swedish Bayreuth in Kansas," in AmerieaO' 
 Scandinavian Review, May, 1913. 
 
 13 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 be found in the Lake Superior region as a whole. In 
 addition, the co-operative hotel has grown to be a 
 significant institution.^ 
 
 13. I, Ah Kam, being poor and not having any 
 one on whom to depend, make this agreement, by 
 which to obtain $460 with my person. The middle 
 party in this transaction, Loui Fung, having intro- 
 duced me to Lang Kai, and having the promise of the 
 latter to pay this debt for me, besides passage money 
 and other expenses, we three are agreed, and to-day 
 the transaction has taken place. Not a cent now is 
 owing to Loui Fung, the money having actually 
 changed hands, first into the hands of myself. Ah 
 JSJaxa', and I am this day handed over to Lang Kai, 
 to be taken to California for immoral purposes. The 
 time of service is agreed to be four and one half years, 
 with no pay for the service on the one hand and no 
 interest for the money on the other. Fourteen days 
 of sickness will not be taken notice of, but fifteen 
 days of sickness will have to be made up by serving 
 another month. In case of pregnancy an additional 
 year has to be served. As to any expected calamities 
 happening that may happen to anyone, that will be 
 left to the decree of heaven. Should I upon arrival 
 at California attempt to escape, or refuse to be a 
 prostitute, I agree irrevocably that Lang Kai should 
 sell me to another at pleasure. 
 
 Lest word of mouth should not be proof, tlus instru< 
 ment is drawn up to be such. 
 
 Ah Kam (her mark). 
 
 Octobe r 1, 1899? 
 
 'Eugene van Cleef, "The Finn in America." in Oeotrajitieal 
 Review, vol. vi, p. 199. 
 
 ' IVansIation of a bill of sale of a Chinese girl, drawn up in the 
 form of a promissory note. Report qf the U.S. Induttrial Comtnu- 
 aion (1901), vol. xv, p. 771. 
 
 14 
 
IMMIGRANT HERITAGES 
 
 14. [Sister] died last Thursday morning at eight. 
 We did not expect it nor in the least could have 
 dreamed it. About three weeks ago she took a bad 
 cold when she went to Fresno. . . . [Description 
 of sickness]. She was conscious to the end and very 
 cheerful, as she always was. I won't try to tell you 
 how we miss her or how we have lived since. You 
 and she never got on together, but you must have 
 known that she was better in every way than us girls 
 [herself and her sister]. Her music teacher said she 
 had the finger relaxation which the greatest artists 
 succeed in teaching only after years of work. She 
 was the only Chinese girl who could sing well. She 
 had mamma's entertaining ways and she would have 
 become a beauty. She was so popular because of 
 her wit, and then she had to die. I must not let any 
 complaining note come into me, because she woidd not 
 have liked it. We try to think how beautifully she 
 died and how troublesome a world she escaped. It 
 should comfort us, but it doesn't. We buried her 
 beside my older brother on Friday. The flowers 
 were far more beautiful than anyone had ever seen. 
 It was all as beautiful as such things are possible. 
 The whole thing is almost breaking mamma's and 
 papa's heart. She was their baby. My head is 
 topsy-turvy so I can't remember what I have said 
 and what I have not. Will you give the details to 
 those [her cousins] in China? We can't.^ 
 
 15. Osman Assen . . . said to the judge who 
 questioned him: "Recently I was at the border 
 buying giraffe skins to make shields. About a month 
 ago I returned and my wife informed me that our 
 daughter Fatma, still a young girl, was pregnant. I 
 
 ' Letter from a Chinese girl, partly Americanized. Written in 
 English (manuscript). 
 
 15 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 was greatly displeased and had no peace during a 
 whole night and a whole day. In the evening I told 
 my daughter to come and help me fetch some fodder 
 and wood, and had her mount upon the ass. . . . 
 [In a retired spot] I made her dismount from the ass. 
 I threw her on the ground first and tried to strangle 
 her, then seeing that this did not succeed, with a 
 quick pressure against her head I broke her neck. 
 Before throwing her on the ground I said: 'Think 
 on what you have done. I have brought you here to 
 kill you.' She answered: 'I know I have done 
 wrong. I am in your hands and God's.' 
 
 "After I had killed my daughter I set about dig^g 
 the grave, and two of my cousins joined me, whom 
 I had asked to follow and assist with the burial. . . . 
 Before killing her I asked my daughter who had 
 seduced her, but she would not say. When I returned 
 I informed my wife that I had done what I had said 
 I would do, and what is prescribed in our customs 
 to do. Now I am sorry for what I did." 
 
 [Questioned, the mother said:] "My daughter 
 was kiUed by my husband because, marriageable, 
 she became pregnant. When my husband returned 
 I informed him of what had happened. He assured 
 himself of the girl's condition and then decided to 
 kill her according to our custom." ^ 
 
 EESULTING ANTAGONISMS 
 
 Some of the attitudes represented by the 
 above examples of immigrant heritages are 
 those which we ourselves have cr under- 
 
 '"Documenti criminalogici," Archivio di antninlogia eriminaU 
 patchiairia e medicina legale, vol. xxxvii, p. 71. 
 
 16 
 
IMMIGRANT HERITAGES 
 
 stand. The Jewish devotion to learning 
 (document 1) is among these. At the same 
 time this case may be used to illustrate a 
 general principle. The role which a given 
 attitude is able to play in an immigrant 
 group in America is never the same as the 
 one it played at home. Jewish learning 
 as it was pursued in Russia — that is, as a 
 distinction, an artistic, religious occupation 
 — ^may lead to maladjustment in America. 
 On the contrary, the same attitude applied 
 to a different kind of learning may lead to 
 a superior intellectual status for the whole 
 group in America; or, the attitude may 
 continue to be an organizing force, but in 
 a different field of application. The three 
 documents following illustrate this point. 
 
 16. I am forty-five years old, born in a little town 
 in Russia, where my parents brought me up in a 
 respectable way. I studied the Talmud and the 
 Jewish laws until I was thirteen years old, and, being 
 industrious, I drew the attention of a wealthy man 
 who had only one daughter and I became a bride- 
 groom . . . and a "board-child" in my father-in- 
 law's home, where I continued to study the Talmud 
 for my mother-in-law's sake and general science for 
 my own sake, to be prejpared for the examinations. 
 
 [Became a merchant. The pogroms followed. 
 Came to America. Began teaching in a Hebrew 
 Free School.] But my teaching is very tiresome 
 because the children do not want to know the things 
 
 17 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 they are taught in the Hebrew school, which is a hovel 
 • — btoken benches and cobwebs on the ceiling — and 
 they have no respect for the school when they come 
 from the beautiful, modem pubhc school, and they 
 also do not respect the Jewish teachings, that are 
 really not for them — like the fine books of Moses 
 and translations from the prayers. . . . 
 
 So, again I thought : " What can I do to give up my 
 position as Hebrew teacher?" I took a course on 
 how to make eyeglasses and secured a diploma from 
 a college as Doctor of Optics. Unfortunately it is a 
 business that requires peddling with eyeglasses from 
 house to house, and I cannot do that under any cir- 
 cumstances. So a druggist advised me to go to work 
 in a drug store, where after two years I can get an 
 assistant's license and earn fifteen dollars a week, and 
 remain in the drug store for three more years and 
 become a registered druggist and open a store for 
 myself. I went to work in a drug store and then 
 the orthodox officials found it out and I was dis- 
 charged from my position in the Hebrew Free 
 School.' 
 
 17. It has been ascertained that the Russian 
 Jews, in spite of their comparative poverty, send 
 more of their children to the high schools of this city, 
 and permit them to stay there longer, than any other 
 ethnic group. It is common knowledge that more 
 than three-fourths of the pupils in the College of the 
 City of New York are children of eastern European 
 Jews." 
 
 18. In meiny cases the rise [of the Jew] to social 
 position through wealth is merely a recuperation of 
 
 ' Forward, March 26, 1915. 
 
 » Alexander M, Dushkin. Jewiah Education in New York City, 
 p. 37. 
 
 18 
 
IMMIGRANT HERITAGES 
 
 status previously enjoyed [in Europe] by dint of 
 reputation for learning.^ 
 
 But many of the cases just cited impress 
 us as strange and disturbing, as having no 
 place at all in our scheme of life. We must 
 remember, however, that strangeness itself 
 may be a source of displeasure and prejudice. 
 The un-American shoes and un-American 
 beard of the immigrant arouse these emotions 
 in us. (See documents 35, p. 48, and 38, 
 p. 49.) In general, any practice which is 
 not customary, which is not in our code, is 
 shockiug. Thus we customarily carry food 
 to the mouth with the fork and the use of 
 the knife for this purpose affects us unpleas- 
 antly, although the fork seems to have no 
 natural superiority for this purpose. ^ Smack- 
 ing with the lips when eating produces 
 disgust in us, but the Indian, logically 
 enough, smacks as a compliment to his host. 
 
 In addition to strangeness, the shock of 
 these examples is often due to the fact that 
 they excite our moral disapproval. But 
 even so, the worst of these practices are not 
 entirely foreign to oiu: experience. A "code 
 of honor," which had the same spirit as the 
 Italian vendetta (documents 8, p. 10, and 
 9, p. 10), was some generations ago held in 
 
 ' I. B. Berkson, Aasimilation: A Critical Study, with Particular 
 Reference to the Jevdsh Group (in press). 
 
 19 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 the greatest esteem by all "gentlemen" of 
 the Western World and did not become 
 entirely strange to us until the past century: 
 
 In the eight years between 1601 and 1609 two 
 thousand men of noble birth fell in duels in France; 
 and, according to Lord Herbert of Cherbury, who 
 was ambassador at this court of Louis XIII, there 
 was scarce a Frenchman worth looking on who had 
 not killed his man in a duel.' 
 
 The cases of Hamilton and Burr, Jackson 
 and Dickinson, represent this spirit in 
 American history. 
 
 Document 13 illustrates the Oriental form 
 of "white slavery." The situation is thus 
 not entirely unfamiliar to us, but it is 
 peculiarly shocking because the naive and 
 explicit procedure creates the impression 
 that the girl is from the beginning a voluntary 
 participant, and that the practice is normal 
 for this group. It is, in fact, normal in 
 China, under certain conditions and in a 
 certain class. It may even be regarded as 
 meritorious, if undertaken by the girl for 
 the benefit of her family. Our moral supe- 
 riority in this case lies in the fact that we 
 expect and usually find in the white slave 
 a consciousness of guilt which is here lacking. 
 
 ' E. Westemarck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, vol. 
 i, p. 508. 
 
 20 
 
IMMIGRANT HERITAGES 
 
 (Society wishes to forgive and restore an 
 erring member, but it is not able to do this 
 in the absence of that shame which leads to 
 repentance.) 
 
 Document 15 shows another Oriental 
 (Mohammedan) attitude, one which we 
 have had and have, but never so completely. 
 It is only a thoroughgoing repudiation of 
 the girl who goes wrong. 
 
 On the other hand, the immigrant finds 
 here strange, unexpected, and inconsistent 
 situations. We are usually not well ac- 
 quainted with our slmns — Chousing condi- 
 tions, where three, five, seven, nine families 
 share the same toilet room,^ the sweatshop, 
 and the general industrial system — or we 
 do not think of them often, but they are 
 totally different from the rural life of Europe, 
 and impress the immigrant in cities pain- 
 fully. Some of the foreign-language news- 
 papers in America, especially the Italian 
 (as a retort to our condemnation of the 
 Black Hand), constantly seek to find in 
 America phases of life as bad as any we can 
 attribute to the immigrant groups they 
 represent: 
 
 19. Now and then the Black Hand of the Amer- 
 icans appears. . . . The payments of tribute to the 
 
 ' Reports cf the U. S. ImmigTotien Commission, vol. xxvi, p. 466. 
 3 21 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 police . . . the protection by the police of individuals 
 in the mala vita [criminals and prostitutes], . . . the 
 sale of liquor and cocaine clandestinely and kno^m 
 to the police — all this graft stinks of the Camorra, the 
 Mafia— i.e., the Black Hand. . . . The American 
 Black Hand is as well organized as the Italian.^ 
 
 Frequently the displeasure excited by 
 American conditions (often not really Amer- 
 ican conditions, but immigrant conditions in 
 America) is very violent: 
 
 20. ... In theu" feelings toward the Americans 
 the Russians, judging by the collected data, may be 
 divided into three groups — ^those who have learned 
 to love and esteem the Americans; those who are 
 indifferent toward them; and the incensed haters 
 of Americans. 
 
 Those who esteem the Americans all write that at 
 first they "did not like them." A visiting teacher 
 opened one's eyes to "the real meaning of Yankee"; 
 another learned to love Americans for their great will 
 power, "the thing that we Slavs lack so much"; the 
 third one became attached to the Americans for their 
 great tolerance and respect toward an opponent in 
 politics and religion, etc. 
 
 Those who are "indifferent," write that the Amer- 
 icans simply do not interest them. The Americans 
 whom they meet are a harsh and not always a just 
 people. They are like machine men and "do not 
 appreciate" good craftsmen. Sometimes it is a 
 factory foreman, sometimes it is a house owner, who 
 does not mind molesting his tenants, and, "when 
 
 » BoUettino delta Sera (New York), December 31, 1910. 
 
 22 
 
IMMIGRANT HEEITAGES 
 
 the Russian soul goes a-merry," it is a policeman 
 with a none too soft club, and then the judge, who, 
 "expressionless," pronounces between his teeth, 
 "Three, five, ten dollars fine." 
 
 The "haters" of Americans are incensed by their 
 compulsory loneliness; they are men whose souls 
 are hidden from Americans, as the Americans' souls 
 are unknown to them. They are the great numbers 
 of immigrants who live in America their old Russian 
 life, only without the soothing effect of the Russian 
 rivers, steppes, and the great Russian forests. It 
 is a soulless, a stifling "American Russia," and they 
 soon feel themselves in a new "prison." They work 
 in shops that belong to foreigners like themselves, 
 reside in immigrant neighborhoods, and are separated 
 as if by a mountain from American thought, American 
 social life, and American struggles. The "America" 
 they live in is suppressing their spirits, and they 
 cannot see behind the walls of their free prison the 
 genuine America. 
 
 And sometimes tragical, sometimes comical are 
 their complaints: "America is the most mean and 
 vile country," writes a laborer by the name of 
 Terenty, " and I will try to light the fire of hate toward 
 Americans in every corner of Russia." He lived in 
 America for six years, but during that time the 
 "Americans" he came in contact with were immi- 
 grants like himself, who sometimes exploited and 
 mistreated him. A laborer from Ohio, without any 
 evident attempt to be gay, writes: "We have here 
 too many Americans. I worked in other places, and 
 have seen only a few of them. But here \v4ierever 
 you go you see Americans, and they look upon you 
 as if you were a low thing and they were great men. 
 I hate them!" 
 
 23 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 Only one of those "haters" dispkyed some humor, 
 saying: "The Americans are a bad people. You 
 speak to them the plainest Russian language, and 
 you even add a word or two of Enghsh for their 
 benefit, and still they do not understand a thing!" 
 
 The main diflSculty in the relations between Russian 
 immigrants and Americans is that there are almost 
 no such relations. . . ^ 
 
 /The first contacts between Americans and 
 immigrants produce, therefore, a degree of 
 antagonism, owing to the element of strange- 
 ness and to the diflferent degree of moral 
 worth attached to given values, as viewed 
 by Americans, on the one hand, and by 
 immigrants, on the other. The antagonism 
 produced by mere strangeness is of course 
 in the region of pure prejudice, and has no 
 more moral significance than the displeasure 
 produced by a fashion of dress or a code of 
 etiquette differing from the one to which 
 we are habituated, but this mutual prejudice 
 is, nevertheless, as we shall see, one of the 
 most serious hindrances to the assimilation 
 of the immigrant. 
 
 ' Mark Villchur, "The Russian Immigrants and the Americans" 
 Ruiikoye Shvo (New York newspaper), June 10. 1919. The article 
 was based on replies received to a questionnaire printed in this 
 paper at our request. 
 
II 
 
 HEEITAGES AND HUMAN WISHES 
 
 The attitudes examined in the last chapter 
 were typical for the given groups — that is, 
 they were found to be prevalent in a large 
 number of cases. About 5,000 documents 
 were examined for the Jewish group, about 
 15,000 for the Polish, and fewer for the 
 other groups. But while they were useful 
 as a means of defining heritages and the 
 problem of assimilation, neither an indi- 
 vidual nor a group can be characterized by 
 an enumeration of attitudes taken at random. 
 What distinguishes societies and individuals 
 is the predominance of certain attitudes over 
 others, and this predominance depends, as we 
 shall see below, on the type of organization 
 which the group has developed to regulate the 
 expression of the wishes of its member^*'-^ 
 
 The individual has wishes which can be 
 realized only in association with other 
 human beings, but when human beings 
 come together there is a conflict of wishes. 
 Consequently every man cannot have ab- 
 
 25 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 solutely what he wants, but must modify, 
 qualify, and regulate the expression of his 
 wishes. The organization of society has 
 always a double character: it makes possible 
 the gratification of the individual's wishes, 
 and even the multiplication of them, but at 
 the same time it requires that his wishes shall 
 be gratified only in tisual ways, that their ex- 
 pression shall be so regulated as not to inter- 
 fere unfairly with the expression of the wishes 
 of otherSy/ All standards of behavior, all 
 moral and legal codes, all penalties for dis- 
 order and crime, all appreciations and re- 
 wards which a society bestows on a deserving 
 member, are expressions of this effort to live 
 together. 
 
 The factor of individual temperament 
 prevents men from behaving identically — 
 certain wishes predominate in given indi- 
 viduals — but it is the social organization 
 under which men live that mainly deter- 
 mines the behavior inspired in tiem by 
 their wishes. We can, therefore, gain a 
 better understanding of the heritages of the 
 immigrant groups — ^why they behave in 
 given ways, why they bring the heritages 
 which they do bring — ^by examining briefly 
 the nature of the human wishes and the 
 form of social organization which controls 
 the wishes of oiu" immigrants at home. 
 
 26 
 
HERITAGES AND HUMAN WISHES 
 
 While the concrete wishes are very numer- 
 ous, they all fall under one or more of four 
 types or patterns: (1) the desire for new 
 experience; (2) the desire for security; (3) 
 the desire for response; and (4) the desire 
 for recognition.^ 
 
 FOtTB FUNDAMENTAL WISHES 
 
 Under the desire for new experience we 
 class the tendency to gratify the physical 
 appetites, to secure stimulations and sensa- 
 tions, and to seek their repetition. In its 
 pure form the desire for new experience 
 results in motion, change, danger, instability, 
 social irresponsibility. It is seen in simple 
 forms in the prowling and meddling activities 
 of the child, and the love of adventure and 
 travel m the boy and man.^ It ranges in 
 moral quality from the pursuit of game and 
 the pursuit of pleasure to the pursuit of 
 knowledge and the piu:suit of ideals. It is 
 found equally in the vagabond and the 
 scientific explorer. Gambling is a form of 
 it, and it enters into business enterprise. 
 Novels, theaters, motion pictm-es, etc., are 
 means of satisfying this desire vicariously, 
 and their popularity is a sign of its elemental 
 
 ' See Thomas and Znaniecki, The Polish Peasant, methodological 
 note to vol. i and introduction to vol. iii. 
 
 27 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 force. The individual who is dominated 
 by this desire shows a tendency to disregard 
 prevailing standards and group interests. 
 He may be a complete failure, on account 
 of his instability; or he may be a conspicuous 
 success, if he converts his experiences into 
 social values, puts them, for instance, in 
 the form of a poem, makes from them a 
 contribution to science. 
 
 The desire for security is opposed to the 
 desire for new experience. It implies avoid- 
 ance of danger and death — caution, conserv- 
 atism. Incorporation in an organization 
 (family, community, state) provides the 
 greatest security. We shall notice later 
 that this desire shapes the organization of 
 the peasants of Eiu-ope, which our immigrant 
 groups represent. In the peasant group 
 behavior is predetermined for the individual 
 by tradition. He is secure as long as the 
 group organization is secure, without the 
 exercise of personal originality or creative- 
 ness; and security means not only physical 
 security, but a secure economic and social 
 position, without apprehension of disturbing 
 change. 
 
 The desire for response is a craving for 
 the more intimate and preferential appre- 
 ciation of others. It is exemplified in mother 
 love, romantic love, family affection, and 
 
 88 
 
HERITAGES AND HUMAN WISHES 
 
 other personal attachments. Homesickness 
 and loneliness are expressions of it. 
 
 The desire for recognition expresses itself 
 in devices for securing distinction in the 
 eyes of the public. A list of these devices 
 would be very long. It would include 
 courageous behavior, ostentatious ornament 
 and dress, displays of opinions and knowl- 
 edge, the cultivation of special attainments, 
 in the arts, for example. This wish is 
 expressed alike in arrogance and in humility, 
 even in martyrdom. The "will to power" 
 is one phase of it. Certain modes of seeking 
 recognition we define as "vanity," others 
 as "ambition." Many of the devices used 
 for securing recognition are also used for 
 securing response. 
 
 There is, of course, a kaleidoscopic mingling 
 of wishes throughout life, and a single given 
 act may contain several of them. Thus, when 
 a peasant emigrates to America he may expect 
 to have a good time and learn many things 
 (new experience), to make a fortune (greater 
 security), to have a higher social standing 
 on his return (recognition), and to induce a 
 certain person to marry him (response). 
 
 PRIMITIVE REGULATION OF WISHES 
 
 Now the simplest attempts to regulate the 
 wishes have always and everywhere — in 
 
 39 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 savage as well as civilized societies — taken 
 the form of what is called a "primary- 
 group" organization, and our immigrants, 
 except for the few professionals and intel- 
 lectuals among them, lived at home under 
 this general system.* 
 
 "By primary groups I mean those characterized 
 by intimate face-to-face association and co-operation. 
 They are primary in several senses, but chiefly in that 
 they are fundamental in forming the social nature 
 and ideals of the individual. The result of intimate 
 association, psychologically, is a certain fusion of 
 individualities in a common whole, so that one's very 
 self, for many purposes at least, is the common life 
 and purpose of the group. Perhaps the simplest way 
 of describing this wholeness is by saying that it is a 
 'we'; it involves the sort of sympathy and mutual 
 identification for which 'we' is the natural expression. 
 Otie lives in the feeling of the whole and finds the 
 chief aims of his will in that feeling." ^ 
 
 The obvious value of this type of organi- 
 zation is that it gives solidarity and secur- 
 ity to the group; that through group- wise 
 action the interests of all are best secured in 
 the struggle against hunger, cold, enemies, 
 pestilence, and death. It is not a rational 
 
 ' The Jew differs indeed from the members of the agricultural 
 communities which furnish the bulk of the remaining immigration, 
 but the Jew lives in fact under a double system. He has a primary 
 group organization connected with his family and the synagogue 
 and at the same time maintains individualized trade relations. 
 
 ' C. H. Cooley, Sooid Organization, p. 28. 
 80 
 
HERITAGES AND HTJMAN WISHES 
 
 form of association; it is customary, and it 
 is capable of assuming the fixity of animal 
 behavior represented in the herd. Every 
 value, every standard of behavior that is 
 fixed by tradition, becomes absolute and 
 assumes a sacred character. Every member 
 is expected to conform and failure to con- 
 form produces violent emotions in both the 
 group and the stubborn member. In his 
 voliune on the South Slavs, Krauss has 
 given some striking examples of the struggles 
 of the group with the nonconformist. 
 
 21. ... Unanimity prevails as a rule, but it also 
 happens that when the question is put by the domacin, 
 all except one may agree to a motion, but the motion 
 is never carried if that one refuses to agree to it. In 
 such cases all endeavor to talk over and persuade 
 the stiff-necked one. Often they even call to their 
 aid his wife, his children, his relatives, his father-in- 
 law, and his mother, that they may prevail upon 
 him to say "yes." Then all assail him, and say to 
 him from time to time, "Come now, God help you, 
 agree with us too, that this may take place as we 
 wish it, that the house may not be cast into disorder, 
 that we may not be talked about by the people, that 
 the neighbors may not hear of it, that the world may 
 not make sport of us!" It seldom occurs in sudb 
 cases that imanimity is not attained! ^ 
 
 In another case a member who has been 
 for a time away from the commune and 
 
 ^ Friedrich S. Krauss, Sitte und Branch der SUdalaven, p. 103. 
 31 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 wishes to take advantage of the state law 
 regarding inheritance of property, which 
 differs from the communal practice, is with- 
 ered by the indignation of the villagers. 
 They tell him he has lost his reason, and 
 eventually he claims this also and asks 
 forgiveness: 
 
 S2. [The village.] Some strange sin is leading 
 you into an abyss, and has brought you into conflict 
 with the villagers, your brothers, . . . Woe to the 
 brother without a brother! . . . The village is 
 always stronger than the bear. . . . Shake off those 
 strange thoughts and strange clothes. 
 
 [Nikola:] Truly, brothers, how shall I answer you? 
 I see myself that I have lost my reason and have 
 sinned against God and against you. And I have 
 mainly injured myself by my wanderings about the 
 world.^ 
 
 23. In the discussion of some question by the 
 mir [organization of neighbors] there are no speeches, 
 no debates, no votes. They shout, they abuse one 
 another — they seem on the point of coming to blows; 
 apparently they riot in the most senseless manner. 
 Some one preserves silence, and then suddenly puts 
 in a word, one word, or an ejaculation, and by this 
 word, this ejaculation, he turns the whole thing 
 upside down. In the end, you look into it and find 
 that an admirable decision has been formed and, 
 what is most important, a unanimous decision. . . . 
 [In the division of land] the cries, the noise the 
 
 > Friedrich S. Krauss, Sitle und Braueh der SUddatien, pp. 887-201, 
 paiaim, 
 
 S2 
 
HERITAGES AND HUMAN WISHES 
 
 hubbub do not subside until everyone is satisfied 
 and no doubter is left.^ 
 
 The example cited above from a Moham- 
 medan family in North Africa (document 
 15), where a father kills his daughter as a 
 matter of course, and the mother and rela- 
 tives participate as a matter of course, and 
 the girl acquiesces as a matter of course, 
 represents the primary group when the 
 organization is working smoothly.^ The fol- 
 lowing documents describe various "primary 
 organizjitions." 
 ■I 
 
 24. The PoKsh peasant family, in the primary 
 and larger sense of the word, is a social group includ- 
 ing all the blood — and law — relatives up to a certain 
 variable limit — usually the fourth degree^ The 
 family in the narrower sense, including only the 
 married pair with their children, may be termed the 
 
 * A. N. Engelgardt, Iz Derevni: 12 Piaem (From the Country: 
 12 letters), p. 315. 
 
 'We must mention, however, that the community does not 
 determine the character of its members as completely as these 
 instances would indicate. It gives the member those attitudes 
 which are necessary to the conmion life, but outside of these he 
 may be individualistic, even obstinate and incalculable: 
 
 "I have many times pointed to the strong development of indi- 
 vidualism in the peasants, to their separateness in action, their 
 inability, or rather, their imwillingness to combine economically 
 for a common cause. . . . Some investigators even suppose that 
 it is contrary to the sphrit of the peasantry to act together in any 
 matter. . . . Indeed, to do a thing together, in a lump, as the 
 peasants say, to do it so that each part cannot be reckoned up, is 
 repugnant to the peasants." ' 
 
 ' Engelgardt, ibid., p. 371. 
 
 33 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 "marriage-group." . . . The fundamental . . . con- 
 nection . . , may be termed "familial solidarity," 
 and manifests itself both in assistance rendered to, 
 and in control exerted over, any members of the 
 group by any other member representing the group 
 as a whole. . . . The familial relation between two 
 members admits no gradation, as does love or friend- 
 ship. . . . Husband and wife are not individuals 
 more or less closely connected according to their 
 personal sentiments, but group members , . . con- 
 trolled by both the united famihes. Therefore the 
 marriage norm is not love, but "respect," as the rela- 
 tion which can be controlled and reinforced by the 
 family, and which corresponds also exactly to the 
 situation of the other party as member of a group 
 and representing the dignity of that group. . . . 
 
 In all the relations between parents and children 
 the familial organization leaves no place for merely 
 personal affection. Certainly this affection exists, 
 but it cannot express itself in socially sanctioned 
 acts. . . . The behavior of the parents toward the 
 children . . . must be determined exclusively by 
 their situations as family members, not by individual 
 merits or preference. . . . Thus, the parents, usually 
 prefer one child to the others, but this preference 
 should be based upon a familial superiority. The 
 preferred child is usually the one who for some reason 
 is to take the parental farm (the oldest son in central 
 Poland; the youngest son in the moimtainous dis- 
 tricts of the south; any son who stays at home while 
 others emigrate), or it is the child who is most likely 
 to raise by his personal qualities the social standing 
 of the family. . . . 
 
 The reality of the familial ties once admitted, every 
 member of the family evidently feels responsible for» 
 
 34 
 
HERITAGES AND HUMAN WISHES 
 
 and is held responsible for, the behavior and welfare 
 of every other member, because, in peasant thinking, 
 judgments upon the group as a whole are constantly 
 made on the basis of the behavior of members of the 
 family, and vice versa. On this account also between 
 any two relatives, wherever found, an immediate 
 nearness is assumed which normally leads to friend- 
 ship. In this connection it is noticeable that in 
 primitive peasant life all the attitudes of social pride 
 are primarily familial and only secondarily individual. 
 When a family has Uved from time immemorial in 
 the same locaUty, when all its members for three gen- 
 erations are known or remembered, every individual 
 is classified first of all as belonging to the family, and 
 appreciated according to the appreciation which the 
 family enjoys, while, on the other hand, the social 
 standing of the family is influenced by the social 
 standing of its members, and no individual can rise 
 or fall without drawing to some extent the group 
 with him. At the same time no individual can so 
 rise or fall as to remove himself from the familial 
 background upon which social opinion always puts 
 him.* 
 
 25. When I first came into this world the Rihbany 
 clan experienced the usual rejoicing which comes to 
 a Syrian clan when a man child is born to one of its 
 famiUes. My kindred rejoiced at my advent, not 
 merely because I was a son instead of a daughter, 
 important as that was, but because I was an asset 
 of the clan, a possible reinforcement to their fighting 
 
 ' Thomas and Znaniecki, The Polish Peasant, vol. i, pp. 87-97, 
 passim. The peasant is everywhere changmg rapidly in Europe 
 so that the organization here sketched is hardly anywhere found 
 in its pure form. It is, nevertheless, still the dominant fact in 
 peasant life. 
 
 35 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 strength, which they had to use often against another 
 powerful clan in the town, called Jirdak. In the 
 Jirdak camp, however, a correspondingly great sor- 
 row was felt. On the same night on which I was 
 born they lost by death one of their most valiant 
 fighters. ... As clans, we lived in accordance with 
 the precept, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, burning 
 for burning, woimd for wound," and no favor. . , . 
 
 Clannish life has its decidedly romantic side. 
 Provided one is able and willing to forget the larger 
 interests of civilization and the nobler visions of 
 nationalism and himian brotherhood, and make the 
 rule of his social life the faulty maxim, "My dan, 
 right or wrong," I know of no more delightful social 
 state than that which clannish life affords. As I 
 write, the past rises before me like a bewitching 
 dream. I am carried back to the time when the 
 hearts of all my kinsmen throbbed, beat for beat, 
 with my heart; when everyone of their homes was 
 as much mine as my own fireside, when we lived in 
 life's shifting lights and shadows, "all for each and 
 each for all." The fact that we dwelt among antag- 
 onistic clans served only to heighten our heroism, 
 strengthen our clannish cohesion, and intensify the 
 delightfulness of our kinship.* 
 
 26. There are about four hundred and fifty dans 
 in the [Chinese] Empire. Branches of the most im- 
 portant of them are found in nearly every province. 
 A town, however, never consists of people of one 
 clan alone, as a man is not allowed to marry a woman 
 of the same name. The organization of them is so 
 complete that, while it sometimes secures justice to 
 the innocent, it may besides thwart the designs of 
 
 ' A. M. Rihbany, A Far Journey (autobiography of a Syrian 
 immigrant, now a Unitarian minister in Boston), p. S. 
 
 S6 
 
HERITAGES AND HUMAN WISHES 
 
 the government, and even of Justice. In some parts 
 of the country they keep up bitter and even bloody 
 quarrels from generation to generation; and the chiefs 
 of the clan at Peking are able to prevent the punish- 
 ment of murder and violence committed by members 
 of it elsewhere. ... I know of none in California. 
 
 The second class of powerful organizations in China 
 is the trade associations, or guilds. These resemble 
 those for similar objects in Europe and America, and 
 therefore need no special description here. They are 
 there, as here, often beneficent in their operations, 
 and yet often oppressive. In a monarchical or 
 despotic government they are useful as a check 
 against its tyranny; but it is still doubtful whether 
 they are not more of an injury than a benefit, since 
 they interfere with healthful competition, remove 
 incitements to industry, and provide opportunities 
 for the arts of intriguing and worthless men, or resorts 
 for the depraved. It is stated that there are a hun- 
 dred and fifty of their halls in Canton. . . . 
 
 The third class is that of town and district councils. 
 This forms the highest advance toward a regular 
 representative government. They exercise the local 
 powers of government to such an extent that the 
 imperial officers rarely dare to rouse them to general 
 resistance. The local administration of justice is 
 left almost wholly in their hands. Police arrange- 
 ments, and taxation for local purposes, are within 
 their jurisdiction. The elders elected generally are 
 continued as long as they perform their duties with 
 satisfaction to the people. They are allowed a salary 
 of from two to four hundred dollars a year. The 
 elders of a district, which may embrace fifty to a 
 hundred towns and villages, meet in a district council, 
 which has its central hall, and a president and other 
 
 4 37 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 necessary officers, who receive sufficient salaries. . . . 
 During the stormy times succeeding the Opium 
 War, foreigners seeking to enlarge their former 
 restrictions often came into conflict with these coun- 
 cils, and proved the extent of the popular power. 
 We were eflPectually prevented from renting houses, 
 after agreeing to pay the most outrageous, exorbitant 
 rents, by a simple notification from the councO of 
 the ward of the city in which they were situated, that 
 if the owner admitted us to the building it would be 
 destroyed, and himself put to death. Nor was the 
 governor-general, with the power of the Emperor to 
 back him, able to sustain us against such a decree.' 
 
 In America we think of the "feeling of 
 personality" as associated with individually 
 determined acts and policies. The indi- 
 vidual acts "on his own," takes great risks, 
 and takes the consequences. But in the 
 case of our immigrants the whole struggle 
 for self-expression has been made as a mem- 
 ber of an organization, and the individual 
 has felt himself a person to the degree that 
 he was incorporated in an organization. 
 The primary group maintains the security 
 of the whole community at the sacrifice of 
 the wishes of its individual members. There 
 is little place for new experience, individual 
 recognition, and individual response, because 
 there is little place for individual initiative 
 
 > R. E. Speer, "The Democracy^ of the Chmeae^" in Earpa't 
 Magcusine, vol. sxzvii, p. 843. 
 
 3S 
 
HERITAGES AND HXJMAN WISHES 
 
 and responsibility. But the group, as a 
 whole, has an astonishing interest in its own 
 status among the surrounding groups, that 
 it shall be respected and shall prosper and 
 advance, for status means a general, pub- 
 lic, and permanent recognition and gives a 
 sense of permanent security. The individual* 
 also seeks status, but he must get this as 
 the member of a group. Even the response 
 he seeks in marriage is the response appro- 
 priate to him as member of a group. It is 
 on this basis that we can understand com- 
 pletely the letters written by immigrant 
 boys to their parents asking them to send 
 them wives. The parents can be trusted 
 to select girls whose status will not lower the 
 status of the family. This is what the 
 parents mean when they write that they will 
 send a "suitable" wife. They may name 
 the family of the girl, but not state which 
 daughter is to be sent, and the boy may or 
 may not inquire whether they are sending 
 this or that girl: 
 
 27. [November 11, 1902.] Dearest Parents: 
 Please do not be angry with me for what I shall write. 
 I write you that it is hard to live alone, so please find 
 some girl for me, but an orderly [honest] one, for in 
 America there is not even one single orderly [Polish] 
 girl. . . . [December 21, 1902.] I thank you kindly 
 for your letter, for it was happy. As to the girl. 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 although I don't know her, my companion, who 
 knows her, says that she is stately and pretty, and I 
 believe him, as wel" as you, my parents. . . . Please 
 inform ine which one [of the sisters] is to come, the 
 older or the younger one, whether Aleksaudra or 
 Stanislawa.' 
 
 ADJUSTMENT TO INDrVlDUAUSTIC SOCIETT 
 
 The form of organization which we have here 
 sketched is common to all the elementary- 
 stages of society. In the formation of the 
 state the sentiment for the community was 
 partly converted into allegiance to an indi- 
 vidual and through him to the whole terri- 
 torial group, the state. Russia, before 1918, 
 was in the stage where subordination to the 
 will of the sovereign was as absolute as 
 subordination to the will of the commime, 
 and Japan still represents this stage, formally 
 if not actually: 
 
 28. The people believe that it is the Tsar's business 
 to govern them and that for this the Tsar has no need 
 of the people. The Tsar thinks about them, either 
 with his advisers or alone, not sleeping at night for 
 the welfare of the people, but ... in the under- 
 standing of the people the Tsar should govern alone. 
 That is not his right, but his heavy burden. That 
 is how the people look on it. In the history of Russia 
 the Tsar has frequently taken counsel with the people, 
 but there is only that historical form, understood 
 by the people and near it — a zemsky aobor. These 
 
 > Thomas and Znaniedd, The PoKah Peaacmt, vol. ii, p. i59. 
 40 
 
HERITAGES AND HUMAN WISHES 
 
 assemblies said, "This is what we think, but it is 
 your will." ' 
 
 29. Mr. H. Kato, ex-president of the Imperial 
 University, in a recent work entitled The Evolution 
 of Morality and Law, says ... in so many words: 
 "Patriotism in this coimtry means loyalty to the 
 throne. To the Japanese the Emperor and the 
 country are the same. The Emperor of Japan, with- 
 out the slightest exaggeration, can say, 'L'Mat, c'est 
 moi.' The Japanese believe that all their happiness 
 is bound up with the Imperial line and have no respect 
 for any system of morality or law that fails to take 
 cognizance of this fact." * 
 
 On the contrary, the individualism which 
 is characteristic of Western cultural societies, 
 and which is largely the result of increased 
 communication, means the tendency to con- 
 struct a scheme of life and relationships based 
 on the intelligent use of all values that can be 
 found anywhere in the world, disregarding to 
 some extent allegiance to persons and localities . 
 
 Nevertheless, the primary-group organi- 
 zation persists as an element in all present 
 societies. It is not, as is usually assumed, 
 a survival of the past, but a spontaneous 
 expression arising in all societies, in all 
 classes, never absorbing completely the in- 
 terests of its members, but still constituting 
 
 ' N. M. Pavlov, Stenographic Report of the Peterkof Conference 
 (1905), held under the chau^mnship of the Tsar, to determine the 
 form of the Duma, p. 127. 
 
 ' S. L. Gulick, Evolution of the Japanese, p. 373. 
 41 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 the most important form of social life for 
 the immense majority of mankind. It is 
 only in a few large cities that the primary 
 group has lost its importance, and even 
 there its loss begins to be felt as a dangerous 
 trend of social evolution, as is shown by the 
 recent attempts to reconstruct the conmiunity 
 in American cities. 
 
 The need of intimate, face-to-face rela- 
 tions, the desire to be a member of society, 
 is very powerful. Its strength appears in 
 the mental distress of those in solitary con- 
 finement and in the tendency to insanity 
 among those completely isolated — ^the sheep- 
 herders of New Mexico, for example. It 
 is seen, stripped of all inhibitions, naked 
 and mandatory, in cases of mental disorder, 
 which sometimes give the opportimity for 
 deeper insight into the nervous system than 
 is possible in normal life: 
 
 I must join some organization as soon as possible, 
 for I cannot fight all hell by myself indefinitdy.^ 
 
 Working upon this need, society at home 
 controlled the behavior of the immigrant 
 completely, or attempted to do so, and gave 
 him a complete and rigid scheme of life. 
 We shall next examine the effect of the great 
 American society on this scheme. 
 
 I 
 
 ' Letter from a subject of the delusion of persecution. Haines. 
 Journal of Abnonrud Piyohology, vol. ii, p. S79. 
 
 42 
 
Ill 
 
 IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCES 
 
 From his peasant community, a primary 
 organization such as we have just described, 
 the immigrant comes to a society in a 
 secondary stage of organization in America, 
 based on business enterprise and represented 
 by the state. Actually, the individual, or 
 the family, almost invariably comes to 
 friends and finds some sort of primary group 
 awaiting him here. If he is a Pole, he 
 settles among Poles, and so with the other 
 races. But this new community is only a 
 loose aggregation of acquaintances, not a 
 complete organization, and, moreover, its 
 members have themselves changed in Amer- 
 ica. They usually take charge of the new- 
 comer, perhaps board him, and instruct 
 him in American customs until "the green 
 has worn off" — "ausgegriint" as the Jews 
 express it. 
 
 .' CHANGE IN ATTITUDES 
 
 The first changes in the immigrant are 
 more or less superficial, relating to dress, 
 
 43 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 manners, and the other signs which will 
 betray him as a "greenhorn." But deeper 
 changes come rapidly, more rapidly than 
 we appreciate. Document 30 shows their 
 nature. Usually parents complain of the 
 rapid changes in children, but in this case 
 it is the reverse: 
 
 30. I have just taken my wife and child ofiE Ellis 
 Island. The child is five years old. Three years 
 ago I left him at home, where he was reared by my 
 wife's pious parents. Now the Uttle fellow is the 
 defender of God and rebukes me. 
 
 He continually questions his mother as to why I 
 eat imcovered, why I do not wash before eating, why 
 I do not make a brochoh [short prayer]. He says to 
 her, "Father is a Gentile." 
 
 Upon my question as to why it is prohibited to do 
 the above things he replies that God will punish. He 
 will make me ill and I will be tortured in hell. Grand- 
 father, he says, told him so. I attempted to convince 
 him that his grandfather was joking, but he refuses 
 to believe it. He says that God is listening to our 
 conversation through an angel. Once I asked him 
 to remove his cap, but he only did it because he 
 feared me, and began to cry bitterly and became 
 agitated. In short, he is very far from me. He is 
 afraid of me. He cries and tells his mother that 
 father is a Gentile. He wants no Gentile for a 
 father! . . . 
 
 How may the poisoned root' of fanaticism be torn 
 out of the child's heart.' 
 
 1 Forward (New York Yiddish newspaper), April 21, 1906. 
 44 
 
IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCES 
 
 On the other hand, these changes may be 
 very limited and slow, owing to the fact 
 that the immigrant continues to live among 
 his own people and has very few contacts 
 with Americans. 
 
 31. Although almost five years have passed since 
 I started for America, it was only now that I caught 
 a glimpse of it. For though I was in America I had 
 lived in practically the same environment which we 
 brought from home. Of course, there was a differ- 
 ence in our joys, in our sorrows, in oiur hardships, 
 for after all this was a different country; but on the 
 whole we were still in our village in Russia. A child 
 that came to this country and began to go to school 
 had taken the first step into the New World. But 
 the child that was put into the shop remained in the 
 old environment with the old people, held back by 
 the old traditions, held back by illiteracy. Often it 
 was years before he could stir away from it; some- 
 times it would take a lifetime. Sometimes, too, it 
 happened as in fairy tales, that a hand was held out 
 to you and you were helped out. In my own case 
 it was through the iUness which had seemed such a 
 misfortune that I had stirred out of Cherry Street.* 
 
 32. To the small minority of eager, aggressive 
 idealists, whose restless spirits soon break through 
 the barriers of inherited customs and respond with 
 avidity to the challenges of a higher civilization . . . 
 the word "America" soon takes the form of "oppor- 
 timity," and is understood in terms of incentive and 
 room for soul expansion. The loose Tcomposition of 
 a population of many and mutually exclusive nation- 
 
 * Rose Cohen, Out of the Shadow, p. 246. 
 45 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 alitles, the grotesque manners, and the multitude 
 of saloons and other haunts of vice and crime in the 
 "lower regions" of American cities, where the foreign 
 colonies are generally located, soon tend to awaken 
 in the mind of that foreigner who finds himself yearn- 
 ing for a better order of things, the significant question, 
 "Where is America?" ^ 
 
 33. Finally father, choosing his words carefully 
 with difficulty, said to Doctor McFarland: "Sir, do 
 you know you are the first American gentlemen who 
 has spoken to me in America?" It was true. In all 
 the years of his life in America, father, the scholar, 
 the dreamer, had never really met a real American. 
 He had met people who spoke English, the language of 
 America. They were the bimis iu our narrow streets, 
 the crooked politicians in our ward. There was not 
 one man whom father knew as an American who was 
 a gentleman.^ 
 
 Nearly all immigrants have idealized Amer- 
 ica. They have usually had glowing pictures 
 of it, and are disillusioned by the conditions 
 they find here. 
 
 34. All the time I hear about the grand city of 
 New York. They say it is something to surprise 
 everyone. I learn New York is twice, three, four, 
 ten times bigger than Italian city. Maybe it is 
 better than Milano. Maybe it is better than Naples. 
 
 "The land of the free and the home of the brave" 
 — I am young and I think that is beautiful land. I 
 hear such fine words like "liberty," "democracy," 
 "equality," "fraternity," and I like this high prin- 
 
 * A. M. Bihbany, A Far Journey, p. 46. 
 > E. C. Stern, Mother and I, p. 113. 
 40 
 
IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCES 
 
 ciples. The people say it is the country where you 
 are your own boss, where you may receive money 
 on your word, where there is trust and confidence, 
 so that America look like a blessed country, and I 
 think I am going to great city, to grand country, to 
 better world, and my heart develop big admiration 
 and a great, noble sentiment for America and the 
 Americano. 
 
 I arrive in New York. You think I find here my 
 idea? . . .^ 
 
 LOSS OF STATUS ^^ 
 
 But the most serious condition results 
 from the loss of status and the consequent 
 diminished sense of personality when the 
 immigrant encounters American conditions. 
 He brings with him certain habits, customs, 
 and traditions, including language, dress, 
 social ritual, sentimental ideals and interests, 
 and a sense of moral worth, and it was in 
 connection with these that he had status at 
 home (the recognition of his group) and a 
 sense of personality (recognition of his role 
 in the group). He brings with him, in fact, 
 (1) a self-consciousness, which is conscious- 
 ness of his status in his group; (2) a group 
 consciousness, which is consciousness of the 
 status of his group among other groups; 
 and (3) a national consciousness which is 
 
 ^ Alessandro Daluca, £ife History. See document 10 and note, 
 p. 11. 
 
 47 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 consciousness of the status of his national 
 group among other nations. His feeling 
 of personality is dependent on this whole 
 cpmplex of ideas. 
 
 / When the immigrant comes to America, 
 not only must he leave behind the com- 
 munity which was the basis of his person- 
 ality and self-respect, but here the very 
 signs of his personality (dress, language, and 
 so forth), which in his own coimtry were the 
 signs of his self-respect, are regarded with 
 contempt and made the occasions of his 
 himiiliation./ In Europe, the question of 
 personality was not the subject of much 
 reflection, because everything was habitual, 
 but here the realization of incongruities 
 between himself and American life makes 
 the question of personality acute: 
 
 35. [He had long wondered why he was always re- 
 jfused work.] — ^At last a butcher in the upper eighties 
 gave me the answer with pungent frankness. . . . 
 He looked me over from head to foot, and then, with 
 a contemptuous glance at my shabby foreign shoes 
 (the alien's shoes are his Judas), he asked me whether 
 I supposed he wanted a greenhorn in his store. I 
 pondered that query for a long time.* 
 
 36. [At the University of Missouri] In the jGrst two 
 months I had and lost a half-dozen roommates. Do 
 what I might, I could not make them stay with me. 
 There were never any hard words; we always parted 
 
 ' M. E. Ravage, An American in tke Making, p. 9$. 
 48 
 
IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCES 
 
 as "good friends." But almost from the first day 
 they would hardly talk to me, and before the week 
 was out they would find some excuse for moving or 
 asking me to move. I spent many sleepless nights 
 in trying to figure out the thing. [At this time no 
 one knew that he was a Jew.] * 
 
 37. When I was twenty-five years old I sailed 
 [from Austrian Poland] for America, with nine suits 
 of clothes and about $200. My first job in this 
 country was in a factory where they painted ribbons 
 for typewriters. The factory was not far from the 
 South Station in Boston. I worked ten hours a day 
 for $4 a week. My ten suits were soon spoiled, for 
 I was ashamed to wear overalls, and one after another 
 my suits were ruined at work. Finally the only suit 
 I had left was a Prince Albert affair. I went to work 
 in that. I remember passing a line of fellow workers 
 leaning against the building, smoking their pipes. 
 When they saw me coming in my Prince Albert, they 
 took their pipes out of their mouths and bowed low 
 to me, saying, "Me lord," as I passed.* 
 
 88, I found that father was already at home. As 
 I came into the room I saw him resting against the 
 wall, clipping his beard. I was so surprised and 
 shocked to see him actually do this thing that I could 
 neither speak nor move for some minutes. And I 
 knew that he, too, felt embarrassed. After the first 
 glance I kept my eyes steadily on the floor in front 
 of me, and began to talk to him quietly, but with 
 great earnestness: "You had been so pious at home, 
 father," I said, "more pious than anyone else in our 
 whole neighborhood. And now you are cutting 
 your beard. Grandmother would never have believed 
 
 ' M. E. Ravage, An American in the Making, p. iM)7. 
 ' Frank Wiech, Lawrence American, June 4, 1919. 
 49 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 it. How she would weep!" The snipping of the 
 scissors still went on. But I knew by the sound 
 that now he was only making a pretense at cutting. 
 At last he laid it down and said in a tone that was 
 bitter yet quiet: "They do not like Jews on Cherry 
 Street. And one with a long beard has to take his 
 life into his own hands." * 
 
 39. In the shop . . . the only inequality I had 
 ever felt was that of age . . . while as a servant my 
 home was a few hard chairs and two soiled quilts. 
 My every hour was sold day and night. I had to 
 be constantly in the presence of people who looked 
 down upon me as an inferior. I felt, thou^ in a 
 child's way, that being constantly with people who 
 looked upon me as inferior, I was, or soon would be 
 an inferior.* 
 
 40. One day a well-dressed strange young man 
 came in. He made sure of our name at the door and 
 then came and sat down at the window, opened a 
 little book and began to question me about my 
 family, my father's name, his trade, how long he had 
 been out of work, how much he had earned, how long 
 mother had been ill, and so on. . . . "Do you need 
 anything?" he asked. . . . "Do we need anything?" 
 It seemed such a strange question and I did not 
 answer, and he repeated the question in Yiddish. I 
 finally did understand and I heard myself say, "No." 
 Still thinking that I did not imderstand, he asked: 
 "Do you need any clothes?" I shook my head. 
 "Do you need any shoes?" He looked at mine. 
 "No." "Have you everything?" "Everything," 
 I repeated, but I could not look at him. ... In 
 the evening when father was home our neighbor 
 
 > Rose Cohen. Out of the Shadoto, p. 106. 
 » /6rd., p. 180. 
 
 50 
 
IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCES 
 
 brought in four dollars. "A strange young man left 
 it," she said, and the next day there was a half ton 
 of coal,i 
 
 41. The first family where I worked knew per- 
 fectly well that I spoke French and German. I 
 heard them mention the fact to a guest at the table — 
 but to them I was not any more interesting an object 
 than any peasant girl who could neither read nor 
 write. They might have known that I must have 
 had some sort of education, for the average immi- 
 grant girl does not speak many languages. Our 
 relations were entirely impersonal. I found out how 
 foreigners are regarded by the old-line Americans, 
 and I cannot say that it made me feel any more 
 friendly toward America. I was still of the Old 
 World, and who can blame me? * 
 
 42. There is much Italian talent which Americans 
 do not recognize as yet. The best workers at Tiffany's 
 are Italians. The best designers among garment 
 workers are Italians. I do not understand why 
 Italians have been treated in this country as they 
 have been. I go to a store, and they say to me, 
 "Are you French?" I say, "No." They say, 
 "Spanish?" "No, I am ItaUan." And then there 
 is immediate coldness and contempt.' 
 
 43. More than to any other of their heritages, the 
 Italian immigrants hold to their music. When they 
 are in their homes or the homes of their friends they 
 sing their folk songs, but they are ashamed to sing 
 this music when they are in gatherings of Americans. 
 . . . The reason the young people buy ragtime 
 
 ' Rose Cohen, OiU of the Shadow, p. 166. 
 
 ' Autobiography of a Finnish girl of Swedish descent (manuscript). 
 ' Signora de Blasio, Italian Industrial School, New York (inter- 
 view). 
 
 SI 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 music is that they do not want to be different from 
 their American friends. When they visit their 
 friends in American homes they find that ragtime 
 music is the music that is played, and they don't 
 want to be humiliated by being different from their 
 American friends. Therefore they buy the same 
 records that theu: class of Americans do.^ 
 
 In document 44, below, we have a different 
 case of anxiety about status. The family 
 belongs to the type called by the Jews "aU- 
 rightnick" (mentioned in Chapter V); it has 
 penetrated the American environment prob- 
 ably as far as the Bronx, and the writer's 
 anxiety concerns her status in the new 
 situation: 
 
 44. I have a nice home, fine clothes, a good hus- 
 band, and yet all this cannot satisfy me. The reason 
 is that I am uneducated; also my husband, who is 
 even more ignorant than myself. He cannot even 
 write Jewish nor speak properly to anybody. You 
 may, then, picture my anguish! 
 
 We live in a very rich neighborhood, among wealthy, 
 intelligent people. I can keep up with their styles, 
 clothes, and furniture, but not with the English 
 language. My misfortime is still greater because I 
 am a good judge of myself. When my husband or 
 I say something that is not expressed properly, I 
 immediately recognize the error and I imagine every- 
 body smiling. And my pain is still more acute over 
 the fact that we came here as children. My husband 
 was nine years old and I eleven. But very unfoitu- 
 
 ' R. N. O'Neil, Report on Syraeuae, New York (manuscript). 
 £2 
 
IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCES 
 
 nately there was no law against child labor at that 
 time. Just imagine a nine or eleven year old child 
 working to-day ! 
 
 I received a little education in Europe up to my 
 tenth year. I know a httle of German, Polish, 
 Russian, and — as you see — Jewish. I can also read 
 an English book and write also — though I am spelling 
 defectively. But what troubles me most is speaking. 
 Am somewhat familiar with the street English, but 
 unable to converse with an intelligent person. My 
 husband does not even know that much. He is a 
 very able business man and no more. Owing to his 
 ignorance I have neglected what I did know, for I 
 did not wish to be superior to him. My desire had 
 always been to marry an educated man and learn 
 from him. 
 
 Perhaps you can show us a way to educate our- 
 selves. Some may regard this as folly and remark 
 that I am too comfortable and do not know what I 
 want. My husband is unconcerned, but I am 
 dejected and feel inferior even to the one I am superior 
 to. I must add that we have been married twelve 
 years, have three children. But I am so young — 
 only twenty-nine! ' 
 
 The subject of document 45 had a superior 
 standing at home; he was a learned man, 
 and the first experience here is bitter. 
 Obhged to live scantily in New York, he 
 went to a five-cent lodging house kept by 
 one of his countrymen in the Syrian colony. 
 Later, advised by his friends, he takes up 
 peddling. 
 
 ' Forward, July 20, 1917. 
 5 53 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 46. As I lay awake under Moses's roof that night 
 I thought of all the good things I had ever enjoyed 
 in my life, of all the poetry I had learned, of the pride 
 with which my breast had heaved as a "learned 
 man" among my kindred. Now I was in the New 
 World, which did not seem to take immediate notice 
 of my worth, tucked in a dingy comer, nay, crucified 
 between two thieves [fellow lodgers]! . . - Call it 
 pride, vanity, or whatever you please, whenever I 
 thought of peddling "jewelry and notions," death 
 lost its terror for me. The mere sight of those crude, 
 greasy peddlers nauseated me. Come what might, 
 I would not carry the keshah [a colloquial Arabic 
 name for the pedcQer's pack].^ 
 
 Rihbany (document 45) was a man of 
 action and adapted himself rapidly and 
 completely to American conditions. But 
 certainly the most difficult and painful situ- 
 ation is that of the superior person who is 
 inclined by temperament and training to 
 analyze his emotions and rationalize his 
 situation in America. Document 46 indi- 
 cates the degree of nervous shock possible 
 in such cases: 
 
 46. The first period was characterized by a loss 
 in emotional life. There was: (1) a fading of emo- 
 tional tones \G^iMshetonung\ and a gradual reappear- 
 ance, I forgot for some years that birds sing, flowers 
 have odor, stars shine. I lost interest in theater, 
 concert, fiction; (2) a replacement of emotional 
 
 > A. M. RUibany, A Far Joumt]/, p. 194. 
 
IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCES 
 
 standards by opportunistic notions. I did not think 
 of what I liked or disliked, but of what was advan- 
 tageous or disadvantageous. There was a decided 
 shifting from emotional to rational motives. I found 
 it very difficult to adopt a new code of conduct 
 because of an entirely foreign emotional basis. . . . 
 
 After some years of life in America a reconstruc- 
 tion of my emotional life took place. I was building 
 up another emotional basis. Some of the means to 
 it were: (1) a groping for new interest (literature, 
 bibliography, history, world politics, science) ; (2) par- 
 ticipation in public interests and activities {Vereini- 
 gung alter Deutscher Studenten in Amerika, BibHo- 
 graphical Society, Rifle Club, Military Work); (3) 
 new social contacts (clubs, society); (4) my family 
 interests. 
 
 The transition period caused by my emigration 
 lasted nearly twenty years and was retarded by the 
 Great War. A return to normal emotional life 
 showed itself by the absence of dreams in which I 
 saw myself back at home again. Such dreams were 
 extremely frequent at first. Now all my plans and 
 hopes centered in America and the desire for a per- 
 manent return to Europe ceased. Also the fear of 
 isolation in America ceased and a sentiment of 
 coherence with the new country and identification 
 developed and has probably completely established 
 itself. . . . 
 
 A very serious handicap in my new life in America 
 was the loss of confidence in my judgment which the 
 shifting from one emotional standard to another one 
 caused. Whenever we must decide quickly we judge 
 subconsciously. The subconscious life was destroyed 
 and badly disorganized. I never knew if my reac- 
 tions would be in line with the new code of conduct 
 
 55 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 and had to think and reflect. Whenever I decided 
 on the spur of the moment I foimd myself out of 
 sympathy with my environment. I did not feel as 
 they felt and therefore I felt wrongly according to 
 their standards. To act instinctively in an American 
 fashion and manner was impossible, and I appeared 
 slow and clumsy. The proverbial slowness of for- 
 eigners is largely due to this cause.* 
 
 Document 47 is typical of the experience 
 of the unsophisticated immigrant who loses 
 in America that security assured to him at 
 home as a member of an organization. Taken 
 in connection with the foregoing experience, 
 it indicates the motive for the spontaneous 
 formation of the immigrant organizations — 
 mutual aid, nationalistic, and so forth — ^in 
 America, which we shall notice later. 
 
 47. I have been five years in America. For four 
 years I lived in Cleveland and now I am in Chicago. 
 When I came to Chicago I did not have anybody. I 
 got off the train, took my wife and three children, and 
 we walked about the city until we came to the Jewish 
 neighborhood. We stopped on a comer and were 
 talking it over. We decided to look for rooms in 
 order to have a home where we could lay our heads 
 down. We found three rooms for $7 a month. 
 Then I left my wife and children in the vacant rooms 
 and I went to buy some furniture, and I was told to 
 go to a certain store. I went in there and I was 
 treated cordially. I told them I want some furniture 
 
 ' Autobiography of an Austrian-German imiversity man (manu- 
 script). 
 
 56 
 
IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCES 
 
 only of the cheap kind, because I am still green here 
 and they should not overcharge me. So they said: 
 "We have only one price, and cheaper than any- 
 where." So I believed them and I took, like a poor 
 man, not what was necessary, only what we had to 
 have. The prices they quoted were really not very 
 dear and they told me to come back on Saturday for 
 my bill. In the meantime they took a deposit from 
 me, $50, and I was to pay $2 a week. Then I came 
 home and ate and I went to look for a job and I found 
 one at $9 a week. I was very pleased with Chicago. 
 The next morning I went to work. I had left $4.75. 
 When I came home after my first day's work I 
 found my home fixed up with the furniture that they 
 had sent up. We had our supper with great happi- 
 ness. Sabbath (Saturday) came and I went up for 
 my bill and handed them $2, the first payment. 
 They entered it in their books and they gave me a 
 bpok. When I looked in the book, my eyes became 
 dark! The bill amounted to $235.98! For half an 
 hour I could not speak and when I came to myself 
 and I asked them, "What is that?" they said, "We 
 told you the prices before." The prices were entered 
 correctly but with a "slight" difiference. For in- 
 stance: The bed does cost $15, and they entered 
 $15 but they had added springs, $10, and a mat- 
 tress, $10. A stove is $28, as in my book, but a 
 mantel for the stove $15 more. And so on for 
 everything. But I saw that it was over and I went 
 home. To my wife I did not disclose the real bill. 
 She would not shout at me, but I did not want her 
 to be vexed over it. I used to pay $2 every week 
 and was considered a fine man in the store. And 
 so I paid a whole year and never missed a week. 
 Fifteen weeks ago I lost my job and I could not get 
 
 67 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 another one so quickly. And I disliked the work, 
 too, so I wanted to leam a good trade, and I saw an 
 advertisement in the newspaper that they are teach- 
 ing a good trade, and they are furnishing a steady 
 place, and it takes two weeks. I went up there and 
 they told me that they give a place and it takes two 
 weeks, only it costs $50 for the course and the pay- 
 ment is in advance. If I had seen that I was dealing 
 with Schnorrers I would have gone away. But here 
 I saw an office with twenty bookkeepers, with a whole 
 business, so I went home and talked it over with my 
 wife and we decided that I should go and leam the 
 trade. But I did not have no $50, so, as we still had 
 some pieces of jewelry that we had brought from 
 Cleveland, we pawned them and gave them $50, and 
 the next day I went to work there. 
 
 When I went into the shop everybody began to 
 laugh at me. But I did not pay any attention to 
 them. When I spoke to the foreman, the instructors, 
 I saw that it does not take two weeks, but two years, 
 and that they do not give any place, and that one 
 must know good English. I realized that I fell in 
 with $50! I came home half dead and half alive, 
 and I could not eat any supper that night. The 
 next morning I went up there and I told them that 
 this work is not for me, that I am green yet for this 
 kind of work, and I wanted them to deduct $10 for 
 the day and to refimd me $40. So they began to 
 send me from one to the other. The one to whom 
 I gave the money wasn't there any more. In his 
 place there was already another. I stood there, 
 talked and cried it did not help me and I went home. 
 
 The next day I went up there again and they told 
 me the same as yesterday. I began to go there every 
 day and I began to shout, so they called a policeman 
 
 58 
 
IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCES 
 
 and wanted to arrest me. I went to a lawyer and he 
 wanted $15 beforehand, win or lose. I did not have 
 even fifteen cents. I went to the Jewish Protective 
 Association and told them my story. They told me 
 that they can do nothing for me because I am not 
 entitled to get my money back. So it means that I 
 have lost $50! If I had lost it I would not have 
 been so sorry; maybe another poor man would have 
 found it. But here I see how they are rimning out 
 in their automobiles, going to the best hotels, to the 
 largest theaters for my hard-earned $50. 
 
 But that is not all. Listen fiu-ther. Now it is 
 already fifteen weeks that I am not working. In oiu" 
 city there is a big crisis. Sometimes I strike a job 
 and I make $4 or $5 a week. From these earnings I 
 cannot take $2 a week to pay for the furniture. So 
 I went to them and I asked them to wait. They 
 promised me. But when I went away to-day to 
 look for a job and when I returned I fotmd something 
 that shocked me so that I nearly lost my mind. The 
 house was vacant; they had taken away everything 
 from my house; my wife was lying on the floor, her 
 hair disheveled; two men were holding her and two 
 men were taking everything out. Now it is vnnter 
 and we are without a stove and without anything. 
 
 Again I went to the Jewish Protective Association 
 and they say that the furniture dealer is lawfully right. 
 
 To find work in Chicago now is impossible. I 
 haven't even a penny. Naked and shoeless, of what 
 good is my life in this world? So I decided to end 
 my life, but before I do that I want to avenge myself 
 on the two murderers. But I am asking you, pubUsh 
 this letter, let the people know the life of the poor, 
 what the rich do with their hard-earned money! ' 
 
 ' Forward, January 26, 1911. 
 
 59 
 
IV 
 
 IMMIGRANT DEMORALIZATION 
 
 Human nature is such that society has an 
 extremely difficult task to make its indi- 
 vidual member "good" — that is, to regulate 
 and organize his wishes and make In'm 
 efficient. Even when the popidation is 
 homogeneous, the traditions unbroken, the 
 institutions of family, commimity, state, 
 church, school, etc., complete, it is a task 
 which society never accomplishes perfectly; 
 we always have some disorder and crime. 
 
 "Good" behavior, conformity to accepted 
 standards, is secured in any population by 
 what we may call a common definition of the 
 situation. The "shalt nots" of the Ten 
 Commandments are definitions of the situa- 
 tion. The "don'ts" of the mother, the 
 gossip of the community, epithets ("har," 
 "thief"), shrugs, sneers, and "bawlings 
 out," the press, the pulpit, legal decisions, 
 etc., are common methods of defining the 
 situation. 
 
 60 
 
IMMIGRANT DEMORALIZATION 
 
 At home the immigrant was almost com- 
 pletely controlled by the commmiity; in 
 America this lifelong control is relaxed. 
 Here the community of his people is at best 
 far from complete, and, moreover, it is 
 located within the American community, 
 which lives by different and more individ- 
 ualistic standards, and shows, as we have 
 seen, a contempt for all the characteristics 
 of the newcomers. All the old habits of 
 the immigrant consequently tend to break 
 down. The new situation has the nature 
 of a crisis, and in a crisis the individual tends 
 either to reorganize his life positively, adopt 
 new habits and standards to meet the new 
 situation, or to repudiate the old habits and 
 their restraints without reorganizing his life — 
 which is demoralization. 
 
 There is, of course, violation of the tradi- 
 tional code, "breaking of the law," in all 
 societies, and there is at present a general 
 problem of demoralization in the regions 
 from which our immigrants come, partic- 
 ularly where the peasant population has 
 come into contact with the industrial centers 
 or practices seasonal emigration (as from 
 Poland to Germany); but the demoraliza- 
 tion, maladjustment, pauperization, juve- 
 nile delinquency, and crime are incomparably 
 greater among the immigrants in America 
 
 61 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 than in the corresponding European com- 
 munities. 
 
 EABLY STAGES 
 
 In document 48 below, the girl is not yet 
 demoralized. Her habits are disorganized 
 and it is a painful situation, but she is 
 evidently trying to make the transition to 
 a new group — ^to become Americanized. She 
 may marry and become an aUrightnick (see 
 document 81, p. 102), or she may abandon 
 the family and become wayward. A too 
 rapid Americanization is usually disastrous. 
 Document 49 presents another painful and 
 abnormal situation, as result of the same 
 process of rapid change in children. The 
 humoristic fiction extract (document 50) 
 illustrates the condition of the individual 
 whose life is no longer regulated by the 
 community norms and who is not yet able 
 to stabilize his life on any other basis: 
 
 48. [Her husband, a business man in Russia, con- 
 tracted for standing grain and was ruined. Her 
 sister in America offered to take her daughter until 
 she had "worked herself up" and could send for her 
 parents.] 
 
 So we sent our sixteen years old daughter to America 
 and we remained at home. I cannot describe to you 
 the way I felt when my daughter left us. Many 
 nights I did not sleep and shed many tears before I 
 received a letter from her that she had arrived safely. 
 
IMMIGRANT DEMORALIZATION 
 
 We thought that we should be able to follow her 
 within a short time, but it was not so. My daughter 
 came to America, but she did not meet with luck 
 and it happened that our condition improved, so we 
 wrote to our child to come home. 
 
 This was three years after she left us. We wrote 
 one letter after the other and we begged her to return, 
 but she did not want to. She wrote that she liked 
 America and did not even think of returning home. 
 I am a mother, and a faithful mother at that, and I 
 was longing for her, and when I saw that she did not 
 want to return, I began to persuade my husband to 
 go to America. He did not care to go, but I talked 
 so much and argued and pleaded with him that he 
 consented and we emigrated to America. It was 
 not so soon; a few years had passed, and when we 
 arrived we did not recognize our daughter. She was 
 grown up, taU, pretty-^a pleasure to look at her. 
 
 My husband began to earn little by little. We 
 fixed up a nice home and I was happy because I 
 could see my daughter. But soon I realized that my 
 big pretty daughter is not the girl I knew; she has 
 changed entirely. During the few years that she 
 was here without us she became a regular Yankee 
 and forgot how to talk Yiddish, I talk to her in 
 Yiddish and she replies in English. With much 
 diflBculty I induce her to speak a word in Yiddish 
 and I succeed only when there are no strangers in the 
 house. When strange people come to us, my daughter 
 will not say a single Yiddish word. 
 
 So I ask her: "Daughter of mine, talk Yiddish to 
 me and I will understand you." She says that it is 
 not nice to talk Yiddish and that I am a greenhorn. 
 And that is not all. She does worse things. She 
 wants to make a Christian woman out of me. She 
 
 63 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 does not like to have me light the Sabbath candles, 
 to observe the Sabbath. When I Ught the candles 
 she blows them out. She does all the things that I 
 do not want, that cause me the greatest heartache. 
 And she argues with me. She says that because I 
 and my husband are pious and have a Jewish home, 
 she can never invite a boy acquaintance to her house; 
 she is ashamed. She makes fun of me and her father. 
 She calls us greenhorns and is ashamed of us. Once 
 I saw her standing on the stoop with a boy, so I went 
 up to her and asked her when she would come up and 
 eat something. She did not even reply, and later 
 when she came up she screamed at me because I had 
 called her by her Jewish name. But I cannot call 
 her differently. I cannot call her by her new name. 
 
 Dear Editor, it is impossible to describe the troubles 
 that she causes us, and as much as I ask her to be a 
 good daughter, it does not help. Please write a few 
 words for my daughter.^ 
 
 49. I, an old seventy-year old Jew, am asking you 
 for a Uttle space to tell you my troubles. I have 
 hardly begun to write and my tears are coming down 
 already. 
 
 Just hsten what children are. At home I was a 
 business man. Li Russia I have played a big part, 
 employed many people, contributed much to charity, 
 and had a good name. My house was always open 
 for the needy and hungry. The best people of our 
 city came to my house. In short, I had everything 
 that one could wish for. . . . 
 
 [Business failed, but saved money and on it his 
 sons and sons-in-law have become prosperous in 
 America.] My daughters go to the coimtry every 
 year. Naturally it costs them a large sum of money. 
 
 > Forward, July 9, 1917. 
 
 64 
 
IMMIGRANT DEMORALIZATION 
 
 First, they go with their children, my grandchildren; 
 second, they buy extra dresses and they go to a swell 
 place where they pay high prices. And my sons-in- 
 law go to them every Saturday and return Monday 
 morning. Until now I would remain at home with 
 the servant girl. She would wash and cook for me. 
 But this summer they took the girl along with them 
 and on account of her I went too. 
 V' Now I am cursing every day my old years. I am 
 worse oflf than a beggar, because a beggar when he 
 does get a piece of bread he can eat it wherever he 
 wishes, but I cannot. They, my children and my 
 grandchildren, told me that I should not sit and eat 
 with them at the same table because I do not know 
 EngUsh and I have a long gray beard, and to sit with 
 such a father 6r with such a grandfather is a shame,, 
 ... So they told the hotelkeeper to make a separate 
 place for me in a hut not far from the springs. And 
 so I am getting my meals just like a dog. They do 
 not talk to me, they do not take me along whenever 
 they go out for a walk; they do not want to introduce 
 me to anybody and so on. . . . 
 
 So I decided to ask my children for a few himdred 
 dollars and I will return to Russia. And there I 
 should close my eyes far, far from my children and 
 die among strange people on a strange bed.^ 
 
 50. Because he was too lazy to go to preparatory 
 school to gather "coimts" Uke his older brother, and 
 his mother made his life miserable, he read Yiddish 
 papers and was an anarchist. And because he was 
 an anarchist he wanted to Uke music, and he let his 
 hair grow until it was big enough for both an anarchist 
 and a violin virtuoso. Bertha felt he was the right 
 man for her, so she no longer looked with disfavor 
 
 1 Forward, July 15, 1914. 
 
 65 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 upon Yiddish papers, ceased buying the Times every 
 morning, and donned an anarchist blouse with a 
 black tie. When his mother saw their intimate 
 relations she discharged the girl from the shop. If 
 they had no serious intentions until then, this action 
 served to bring them closer together and they went 
 to live in a free union. . . .* 
 
 KXTRCME CASES 
 
 In document 51 we have a definite demoral- 
 ization, but in its first stages; while in doc- 
 ument 52 the demoralization is complete. 
 In this case there had been no organizing 
 influence of family and community, no 
 definition of the situation in social terms, 
 and the boy shows the predatory disposition 
 natiu-al to boys, one which in tribal times, 
 on the frontier, and in war makes the hero: 
 
 51. Deab Sisteb: I write as to a sister and I 
 complain as to a sister about my children from the 
 old country — ^those three boys. I did not have 
 them with me, and I grieved continuously about them; 
 and to-day again, on the other hand, my heart is 
 bleeding. They will not hsten to their mother. If 
 they would listen, they would do well with me. But 
 no, they wish only to rim everywhere about the 
 world, and I am ashamed before people that they 
 are so bad. They arrived, I sent them to school, 
 because it is obligatory to send them; if you don't 
 
 ' F. Stock, The Day (New York Yiddish newspaper). January 
 14, 1917. 
 
IMMIGRANT DEMORALIZATION 
 
 do it the teacher comes and takes them by the collar. 
 So they have been going, but the oldest was annoyed 
 with iJie school. "No, mamma, I will go to work." 
 I say, "Go on to school." But "No!" and "No!" 
 Without certificates from the school they won't let 
 them work. I got certificates for the two oldest ones: 
 "Go, if you wish." They worked for some time, but 
 they got tired of work. One went with a Jew to 
 ramble about corners (trading or amusing himself?), 
 and for some days was not to be seen; I had to go 
 and search for him. The worst one of them is Stach; 
 the two others are a little better. They were good 
 in the beginning, but now they know how to speak 
 English and their goodness is lost. I have no com- 
 fort at all. I complain [to you] as to a sister. Per- 
 haps you will relieve me at least with a letter, if you 
 write me some words, dear sister. . . . 
 
 Stach has been bad, is bad, and will be bad. So 
 long as he was smaller he remained more at home. 
 I begged him, "Stach, remain at home with your 
 mother." No, he runs away and loafs about. Well, 
 let him run. I had his eyes wiped [had him in- 
 structed] as well as I could; he can read, write, and 
 speak English, quite like a gentleman. You say, 
 "Beat." In America you are not allowed to beat; 
 they can put you into a prison. Give them to eat, 
 and don't beat — ^such is the law in America. Noth- 
 ing can be done, and you advise to beat! Nothing 
 can be done; if he is not good of himself, he is 
 lost. . . . 
 
 I regret that I took the children from our country 
 so soon. In our coimtry perhaps they would have 
 had some misery, and in America they have none, 
 and because of this many become dissolute. In 
 America children have a good life; they don't go to 
 
 67 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 any pastures, but to school, and that is their whole 
 work, , . .' 
 
 52, When eleven years old [father still living] 
 Walter Dyganski was brought to court in company 
 with three other boys, accused of breaking a padlodc 
 on a grocery store and attempting to enter the store 
 at 4 A.M., March, 1909, and also of breaking a pad- 
 lock on the door of a meat market and stealing thirty- 
 six cents from the cash till. Put on probation. 
 
 August 19, 1910. — ^Brought to court for entering 
 with two other boys a store and stealing a pocket- 
 book containing $3. "He admitted to the officers 
 he and his company were going to pick pockets 
 downtown. He is the leader of the gang." The 
 officer beUeves he is encoiu'aged in his acts by his 
 mother. . . . 
 
 Sent to St. Charles. — ^Ran away March 17, 1913. 
 By breaking a window got into a drug store with two 
 other boys and stole a quantity of cigars and $1.61. 
 Having taken the money, he gave one boy 10 cents 
 and another 5 cents. He gave away the cigars — 
 eight or nine boxes — ^to "a lot of men and some boys." 
 Spent the money "on candy and stuff." Committed 
 to John Worthy School. . . . 
 
 October 27ih. — ^His conduct has improved greatly; 
 released on probation. Work was slack; boy changed 
 three positions within a month. 
 
 December 23, 1913. — ^Accused of having broken, 
 with an adult boy nineteen, into a clothing store and 
 filled a suit case they found in the store with clothing 
 and jeweby. Caught in shop. The officer said: "He 
 would like to imitate Webb. He would hke to kill 
 somebody." According to his own confession: "It 
 
 ' Thomas and Znaniecki. The Polish Peasant in Europe and Amer- 
 ica, vol. ii, pp. 219-823. 
 
 68 
 
IMMIGRANT DEMORALIZATION 
 
 ■was six o'clock at night. I was going to confession. 
 I met a boy and he said, 'Come out with me.' About 
 nine o'clock we came to a clothing store, and we 
 walked to the back, and seen a little hole. We pulled 
 a couple of the laths off and as soon as we got in we 
 got caught." But the officer said that previous to 
 this they had burglarized a butcher's store and took 
 from there a butcher's steel, and bored a hole in the 
 wall with it. Committed to John Worthy School. 
 Released June 26, 1914. . . . 
 
 Jvly 19th. — Shot in a back alley twice at a little 
 boy and once hit him. Broke with two other boys 
 at night into Salvation Army office, broke everything 
 he could and " used the office as a toilet room." Next 
 day broke into a saloon, broke the piano, took cigars. 
 Before this, July 14th, broke a side window of a 
 saloon, stole $4 and a revolver. At the hearing 
 Walter said about shooting the boy: "That boy was 
 passing and I asked him for a match, and I heard the 
 boy holler. I took a revolver off him [his companion] 
 and fired a shot and hit the boy." His mother testi- 
 fied that he had spent only three nights at home since 
 the time of his release from John Worthy School. 
 He was arrested after the first offense, but escaped 
 from the detention home. Committed to John 
 Worthy School. . . . 
 
 pLetter of Mr. MiUkan, John Worthy School, Jan- 
 uary 4, 1915:] "... I wish to recommend for re- 
 lease . . . Walter D. He has been at the Worthy 
 School 568 days. ... I am putting him on the list, 
 not because I feel that he will make good on the out- 
 side, but because by keeping him here we are removing 
 all possibility of his making good, and I feel that for 
 his sake he should be given a chance. If he returns 
 to the court he should be sent to Pontiac, where he 
 6 69 
 
OLD WOfeLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 can be kept from society entirely. He is bright 
 enough, but a sullen, surly character." . . . 
 
 Released after March 26th. — Committed a burglary 
 in a grocery store, April 17th. Shot a man with a 
 revolver in the left arm April 4th; held up, with three 
 other boys, a man on April 11th, and robbed him of 
 $12. Caught later, while the other boys caught at 
 once. Held to the Grand Jury, found "not guilty," 
 and released June 16, 1915.* 
 
 Our documents show that the disorderly 
 behavior of the immigrant is often connected 
 with some misapprehension of what he sees 
 and hears here. In seeking to imitate the 
 new environment he naturally selects the 
 more pleasurable aspects — ^those giving ex- 
 pression to his suppressed wishes, perhaps 
 gratifying the natural tendency to vaga- 
 bondage. 
 
 53. Mary Ceglarck vs. Joseph Ceglarek. Married 
 twelve years. During this period he deserted her 
 more than a dozen times, but always returned after a 
 month or so.^ 
 
 But frequently he really misunderstands 
 our institutions, seeing an identity in situa- 
 tions which have only a superficial or nominal 
 resemblance. So much is heard of divorce 
 in America that the immigrants have devel- 
 oped a tradition that we have no marriage 
 
 ' Records o{ the Juvenile Court of Cook County, Illinois. 
 ' Records of the Chicago Legal Aid Society. 
 70 
 
IMMIGRANT DEMORALISATION 
 
 — only temporary relations. A boy writes 
 to his parents in Poland: 
 
 54. You •write me whether I am married. Well, 
 no. America is not the old country where it is 
 necessary to marry for your whole life. Here it is 
 not so.' 
 
 An analysis of the puzzling cases of immi- 
 grant crime shows that the perpetrators 
 often introduce features which they think 
 are a part of the proper procedure in the 
 case, but which show a misapprehension of 
 the motives of the American models which 
 they think they are imitating: 
 
 55. On October 20, 1911, Walter Shiblawski, 
 Frank Shiblawski, Philip Suchomski, Thomas Schultz, 
 PhiUp Sommerling, and Frank Keta (all boys) held 
 up and killed Fred Guelzow, a farmer, who was bring- 
 ing a load of vegetables to Chicago. They had two 
 revolvers, a bread knife, a pocketknife, and a large 
 club. They had been reading novels and planned a 
 hold-up. When Guelzow was ordered to hold up 
 his hands he promptly did so. They took his silver 
 watch and chain, then killed him, mutilated him 
 horribly with bullets and knives, and cut off a piece 
 of his leg and put it in his mouth.^ 
 
 It appears from the complete record that 
 the boys were not satisfied with the mere 
 
 1 Thomas and Znaniecki, The Polish Peasant, vol. ii, p. 287. 
 ' The details are in the lecords of the Coroner's office, Chicago. 
 71 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 hold-up. They were nonplused to find 
 that it was all over and there had been no 
 killing. It was not complete and 4jd not 
 correspond to a hold-up as they had come 
 to understand it. So they added the details 
 which were lacking. The immigrant child 
 is more likely than an American child to 
 follow the suggestion gotten from picture 
 shows. 
 
 The person who has been completely con- 
 trolled by a group, whose behavior in a 
 limited number of possible situations has 
 been predetermined by his community, tends 
 to behave in wild and incalculable ways, to 
 act on any vagrant impulse that invades his 
 mind, when withdrawn from the situations 
 he knows and removed from the background 
 of a permanent community. The result is 
 behavior that is incomprehensible because 
 it follows no known pattern: 
 
 56. On August 29th at S p.h., I was in the house, 
 the following people being present: Joseph Stanczak, 
 his wife, Josephine Okrasina, and myself. We drank 
 some beer and got pretty well intoxicated. I did 
 not drink anything. The two Stanczak brothers 
 were arguing over $100. About nine o'clock I went 
 to bed, but I could not sleep. I stayed in bed until 
 eleven o'clock. I got up, put on my trousers, and 
 sat on the side of the bed until 1 a.m. And Con- 
 stantine Binkowski came into the house through the 
 kitchen door. I seen him through the bedtoom door 
 
 78 
 
IMMIGRANT DEMORALIZATION 
 
 which was open. I went into the kitchen and took 
 hold of Feliks Stanczak and put him outside through 
 the kitchen door which I locked about ten minutes 
 later. Joseph Stanczak took a bottle, a pail, and 
 went out. When Joseph Stanczak went out Con- 
 stantine Binkowski came into the bedroom where I 
 was and told me I had better get out of the house or 
 the two brothers would Uck me. So I took my hat 
 and coat and shoes and went out alone leaving Mrs. 
 Stanczak asleep in the kitchen bedroom. Josephine 
 Okrasina was sitting at the kitchen table and Con- 
 stantine Binkowski was standing in the kitchen. I 
 went over to Peter Altman's house . . . first floor; 
 and old lady Binkowski let me in. There I put my 
 shoes, coat, and hat on, and went back to Stanczak's 
 and entered by the rear door. Finding the two 
 Stanczak brothers, Joe and Feliks, I said: "If you 
 are so strong, why, commence now." f Joseph ran 
 toward me, struck me with his fist right by my right 
 ear. I had a file which I carried inside with me, and 
 pulled it out of my pocket and struck Joseph on the 
 head with it. He fell down on his side and then 
 Feliks ran toward me and I struck him twice on the 
 head with the file./ And he staggered against the 
 stove and called out, "Women, help." Feliks ran 
 into the bedroom and Joe was about to get up. 
 When I seen him getting up, the file slipped out of 
 my hand and I grabbed the chair and beat him with 
 it on the head. The chair broke in pieces and he 
 fell down again. I don't know how or when the 
 women got out, but they were gone at that time. I 
 went into the front bedroom and got my revolver 
 which I had bought from a pawn man a few months 
 before. ... I bought it with the intention of killing 
 Joseph Stanczak after a fight I had three months ago. ; 
 
 73 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 I then went to Joseph Polowski's. ... I got there 
 about four o'clock . . . and I slept until about noon. 
 Got up and ate breakfast, and left there and rode to 
 Stephen Malecki's, Twenty-sixth Street. I got there 
 about 2 P.M., I changed into my Sunday clothes and 
 left there about 4 p.m. I went downtown to see a show 
 on State Street. I left the theater at 9 P.M., and 
 then I came home to Peter Altman's . . . and slept 
 in the kitchen until eight o'clock in the morning — 
 August Slst. Then I got my revolver and went to 
 Joseph Stanczak's. I entered by the kitchen door 
 and went into the bedroom where Joseph Stanczak 
 was sleeping and fired three shots at him. He was 
 asleep. There was nobody else in the house at the 
 time and nobody knew my intention that I know of. 
 I then went to (Altman's) house, where I sat on the 
 porch while I emptied and cleaned the revolver and 
 then went to the attic and hid the revolver. . . . 
 After hiding the revolver I went down to Altman's 
 and went in and sat there until 5.30 a.m. Then I 
 went upstairs to Stephen Vickes, where he made up 
 a lunch for me, and I went to work at the car . . . 
 shop. This was September 1st. I worked all day 
 and went home and slept in Altman's house and 
 went away. I ate my supper at Stephen Weybeck's, 
 Twenty-sirth Street. They mentioned that Joseph 
 Stanczak was dead, but I didn't answer when they 
 told me. I went down to Stanczak's place and Jo- 
 sephine Stanczak and Josephine Okrasina and Bin- 
 kowski was there. And Binkowski told me that Joseph 
 Stanczak was dead, and I answered that his time was 
 come. The women were in bed asleep and I went 
 to bed and slept with little John Stanczak [his victim's 
 son]. And no more said about the death. The 
 morning of September 2d I got up at 9.30 and went 
 
 74 
 
IMMIGRANT DEMORALIZATION 
 
 to work. I worked until 1.30 p.m. At the time I 
 was arrested. . . . 
 
 Qiiestion. — ^Did the wife of this man ever make 
 you an ofiPer of $25 to kill him? 
 
 Answer. — ^No, she did not. 
 
 Question. — ^Weren't you living with her just the 
 same as if you were married to her? 
 
 Answer. — ^No, never. 
 
 Question. — ^Why did you do this? 
 
 Answer. — ^I done this just because I knew that 
 this man lived long enough. He killed one in the 
 old country. He cut a man out there with a razor. 
 
 Question. — ^Was this man in the old country that 
 was killed by Joseph Stanczak a relative of yours? 
 
 Answer. — I don't know this man at all.' 
 
 We learn from other sources that Opalski 
 was disturbed by the fact that he was not 
 immediately recognized as the murderer, 
 and, so to speak, claimed the crime. We 
 have other documents showing that immi- 
 grants have been pronounced insane by our 
 courts, because their behavior showed no sort'' 
 of consistency, who at home would probably 
 have remained normal, though perhaps diflS- 
 cult, members of their communities. 
 
 Another type of demoralization occurs 
 where a socially produced inhibition yields 
 to the prompting of an instinctive appetite: , 
 
 57. Defendant, Lithuanian, naturalized, fifteen 
 years in America. Testimony of Mrs. White: "I 
 
 ' Confession of Joseph Opalski, records of the Chicago Criminal 
 Court. 
 
 75 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 live down stairs from where these people lived up- 
 stairs. . . . She [defendant's daughter, twelve years 
 old] came on Sunday morning, 28th of February, 
 and looked as though she had been crying. I says: 
 'Anna, what is the matter?' She says: 'Well, if I 
 would tell you, my papa would be put in jail.' I 
 says: 'What did he do?' *0h, he did something 
 bad to me, he did really wrong.' And I questioned 
 her. ... I said, 'Could that be so?' ... I thought 
 that was pretty dangerous, and as I have a ten-year 
 old girl myself, I thought it best to go to the 
 station."^ 
 
 Communal habits of life and the diq)osi- 
 tion to regard any coimtiyman as a friend, 
 make it easy for the immigrants to exploit 
 one another in various ways, and some of 
 them make a business of doing this: 
 
 58. Defendant Kasimerz Marzec was engaged 
 to be married to Katie Dupak, who went with him 
 three years. On his promise of marriage he got 
 from her $200 in cash. She bought him a suit of 
 clothes valued at $25; he took her watch, $20; she 
 bought a couple of rings valued $10, which he took 
 along with him. The baby was bom and the mid- 
 wife bill was $10, and the baby died later and she 
 paid $50 for the funeral. Then there was the meats 
 and everything ordered, $77, for the wedding feast. 
 She paid all this for him. They were to be married 
 September 10, 1915. He left on September 8, 1916, 
 for parts unknown. He got back September 18, 
 1916, and was arrested in Chicago. He said he 
 
 ' Records of the Chicago Criminal Court. 
 76 
 
IMMIGRANT DEMORALIZATION 
 
 caught her talking to some other fellow. . . . The 
 child was born in December, 1915. . . . [Before 
 leaving he married another girl and went with her 
 to Philadelphia.] ^ 
 
 59. I am a married man and live contented with 
 my wife and two children and could be happy for a 
 long time were it not for the trouble that corrupts 
 my life, and that is my conscience, which burns with 
 a heUish fire in my heart, which gives me no minute's 
 rest and which will soon make me give up my happy 
 Ufe. 
 
 For the past few years I was in business for myself 
 . . . and always worried about a livelihood imtil 
 this summer. I am now an agent for lots and sell 
 them to the poor workers of New York. I make a 
 lot of money in my present business. I make more 
 than I ever could make and this is the cause of my 
 trouble; for I do not consider myself as agent, but 
 an accompUce of a band of robbers who are robbing 
 people right and left in the name of business. 
 
 The lots that I have sold are very far away, but 
 it is so trickily done that the trip with our victims 
 shall not take over thirty to forty minutes, and when 
 we arrive at the station the victims are packed into 
 autos or large wagons and when they are dragged 
 out of the vehicles — tired and full of illusions about 
 fortunes that they will now secure (we, the agents, 
 are filling their heads with it during the trip), they 
 are relieved of their money so easily that it is really 
 a shame. You can imagine what it means when 
 the chief of the gang himself exclaims — after raking 
 in all the money — ^in English, and with a villainous 
 smile: "It's really a shame to take the money, by 
 Jesus." They are stripped of all the money they 
 
 ' Records of the Chicago Criminal Court. 
 
 77 
 
OLD WORLD TBAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 possess, from $1 up. Even If the lots were sold 
 by a reliable company they are being charged $200 
 for every $5 worth. 
 
 How, then, can one witness such robberies? And 
 you ought to see the agents! It is a rather mixed 
 gang. Some are apparently bom for that; they are 
 stout-faced and of large physical proportions so that 
 one can at once tell that they had never earned an 
 honest cent; and then there are Jews with -peyoa 
 [side locks] and whiskers, dressed in half-silk coats, 
 with pious faces, who always speak with God's help. 
 
 I laid my eyes upon an Essex Street Jew and his 
 son. They are quite green in the country, but not 
 in the business. I do not want to bother you or I 
 could fill a volume on this little Jew. 
 
 Among the gang there is also a Brooklyn woman 
 who knows how to lure innocent victims and extract 
 the last hard-earned pennies from the poor workers. 
 
 Well, I think you know enough to comprehend my 
 situation. I know how dirty is this sort of business. 
 You can imagine how bad I feel that when a friend 
 of mine asks my advice as to purchasing some lots 
 in Brooklyn ... I asked him to purchase from me. 
 
 I have acquired gold out of dirt and dirt out of 
 goldi I am satisfied to give up my dirty fortune if 
 I could only get some good advice as to what to 
 do. . . .1 
 
 60. I am a girl from Galicia. I am neither old 
 nor yoimg. I am working in a shop like other ^Is. 
 I have saved up several hundred dollars. 
 
 Naturally, a young man began to court me, and 
 it is indeed this that we girls are seeking. I became 
 acquainted with him through a Russian [Jewish] 
 matchmaker who for a short while boarded with a 
 
 > Forward, July 85, 1906. 
 
 78 
 
IMMIGRANT DEMORALIZATION 
 
 countryman of mine. He is really handsome and, 
 as the girls call it, "appetizing." But he is poor, 
 and this is no disgrace. He became dearer to me 
 every day. 
 
 One day he told me he was in want, owing to a 
 strike, so I helped him out. I was never stingy with 
 him, and besides money also bought him a suit of 
 clothes and an overcoat. . . . Who else did I work 
 for if not for him? In short, we became happily 
 engaged. . . . 
 
 Some time after, we hired a hall in Clinton Street 
 and we were on our way to the bank to draw some 
 money for the wedding expenses and also to enter 
 the savings in both our names. On the way we 
 passed some of his countrymen who were musicians, 
 and we needed musib, so we stopped in. He intro- 
 duced me as his bride. I offered to have them play 
 at our wedding. 
 
 Incidentally, I inquired about my fiance, and they 
 gave good opinions of him. Only a musician's boy 
 pitifully gazed at me and remarked, when my fiance 
 was not near us: "Are there not enough people from 
 the old country to ask for their opinion?" I under- 
 stood the hint and asked him for an address, which 
 he gave me. 
 
 Meanwhile, we were late for the bank, and for- 
 tunately, too! I could hardly wait for evening 
 when I rushed over to his coimtryman and inquired 
 about him. They were surprised at my questions 
 
 and told me he had a wife and three children in 
 
 Street. As I later found out, she was the same woman 
 whom he introduced to me as his boarding mis- 
 tress. . . . 
 
 I cannot describe my feelings at that time. I 
 became a mere toy in the mouths of my countrymen. 
 
 79 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 But what more could I do than arrest him. But his 
 wife and children came to court and had him released. 
 
 I found out of the existence of a gang of wild 
 beasts, robbers, who prey upon our lives and money. 
 I then advertised in a Jewish newspaper, warning my 
 sisters against such a "fortime" as befell me. I was 
 not ashamed and told my misfortime wherever I 
 came and gave warnings. The East Side has become 
 full of such "grooms," "matchmakers," "mistresses," 
 "sisters," and "brothers." Inquire of their countiy- 
 men. There are plenty of their kind. 
 
 A girl from my country also married one of the 
 band, the one who was my former matchmaker. 
 To the warnings that he had a wife and child in 
 Europe she replied, "Well, if she comes she will be 
 welcome." And good countrymen did indeed send 
 for her and she came with a four-year-old boy. Her 
 predicament is horrible to describe. She is poor and 
 lonely and my countrywoman did not welcome her 
 as she boasted, and her husband said, "Whoever 
 sent for you may support you." 
 
 So she was forced to adopt the American method; 
 she had him arrested . . . and he was sentenced to 
 five years in the workhouse, where there are no slack 
 seasons nor strikes. Who is to blame? ' 
 
 ' Forward, June 7, 1906. 
 
IMMIGRANT TTPES 
 
 Each immigrant brings to America an indi- 
 vidual correlation of the wishes which rule 
 human conduct (see Chapter II). In one 
 the desire for recognition predominates; in 
 another the desire for, security; and so on 
 in many variations, y "this individual organi- 
 zation of wishes is what we call character. 
 Likewise each immigrant group as a whole 
 brings a more or less marked character. 
 And while we do not ignore the fact that 
 character is partly due to temperamental 
 qualities — the characteristics of the Swedes, 
 the Jews, the Italians, may be connected 
 with their original, inborn, temperamental 
 dispositions — it is nevertheless certain that 
 character in both individuals and groups 
 is mainly built up by the process which we 
 have referred to above as "the definition of 
 the situation" — ^by gossip, conversation, dis- 
 putes, doctrines, by the whole of the experi- 
 ences and social influences which modify, 
 qualify, and organize the wishes. Thus, the 
 
 81 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 Sicilian omertcL, the Catholic church and 
 confessional, the Lutheran faith, the doctrine 
 of anarchy, the principle of democracy, 
 are more or less dominant in defining the 
 situation in certain groups and tend to 
 characterize partially these groups and their 
 members. We are able, therefore, to dis- 
 tinguish roughly various immigrant types, 
 representing different heritages. It is not 
 true, however, that we can treat any given 
 immigrant group strictly en bloc from the 
 standpoint of heritages. We find a great 
 homogeneity in this respect in certain groups 
 (and we are inclined to assmne more than 
 exists), but in all groups certain individuals 
 resemble indiviuuals in other groups more 
 than they resemble the average member of 
 their own group. Thif& a Jewish intellectual 
 probably has more in common with an intel- 
 lectual of any other group than wim a 
 ritualistic Jew. Certainly the difference be- 
 tween an intellectual Pole and a Polish 
 peasant is as profound as possible. In gen- 
 eral, where the process of defining the situa- 
 tion rationally instead of customarily has been 
 introduced, a wide divergence will be found 
 between individual members in a group. 
 
 In this study we do not attempt to char- 
 acterize immigi-ant groups in their totality. 
 We are able to study only the types of 
 
 82 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 attitudes brought to America by immigra- 
 tion, and the following indication of types 
 is made from this standpoint, though it will 
 become evident, here and later, that certain 
 attitudes are more or less peculiar to certain 
 groups. The terms used below are more or 
 less arbitrary and the types are usually not 
 pure. 
 
 THE SETTLKR 
 
 AH emigration represents some crisis in the 
 life of the emigrants. The decision to leave 
 home is usually precipitated by some inci- 
 dent of immediate significance, probably 
 one destroying the economic basis of life — 
 as where the hereditary land fails to support 
 a growing family, or the pjpperty of a Jew 
 is destroyed by a pogrom.^ Whai the peas- 
 ant immigrants call "securing an existence" 
 is practically always a motive. And the 
 whole attitude of the immigrailt ia America 
 is frequently determined by the type of 
 experience at home which has led him to 
 come here. The settler either sets out with 
 a resolve to break with the past perma- 
 nently, to seek a home in the new country, 
 and transfer his interests to it, or this may 
 become his attitude, perhaps, after a series 
 of hardships here. Extremely and perma- 
 nently hard economic conditions, such as 
 
 83 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 exist in Sweden and Norway, are favorable 
 to this decision. In general, when the organ- 
 ization of life at home, the traditional attitudes 
 and values resemble our own, the decision to 
 make a home in America is more natural. 
 
 61. In Hungary I had a wife, two children, 
 house, six acres of land, two horses, a cow, two pigs, 
 and a few poultry. That was my fortune. This 
 same land that afforded an existence to my father 
 and grandfather could not support us any longer. 
 Taxes and the cost of Uving in the last few years have 
 advanced so greatly that the expenses cannot be 
 covered from as much as a small farm can yield. 
 
 [Things became worse, an early spring storm killed 
 his crop, he had to buy his bread for money.] My 
 horses were killed from disease. I had to sell my 
 cow to buy winter clothes for the family. There 
 was no money to work the land and without horses 
 and work the land will not produce. I had to mort- 
 gage my home. . . . 
 
 As a farm laborer in Hungary can earn only enough 
 for bread and water, how is he to pay the taxes, 
 living expenses, and clothing? There was but one 
 hope, America, the golden land of liberty, where the 
 rivers and mountains are full of gold. . . . 
 
 We will never go back to Hungary. It only 
 deprived us of our home and land, while in America 
 the soil covers our chUd. We have a home, money, 
 and business, everything acquired in America. We 
 lost everything in Hungary. We love Hungary as 
 our native land, but never wish to live in it again.' 
 
 62. My first recollection is that we lived in a 
 
 • Janos Kovacs of New York City (interview). 
 84 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 very small hut in the most abject poverty. When I 
 was about seven years of age I had to go out and look 
 after infants — ^that was my first occupation — ^and 
 then I had to tend geese, pigs, and sheep. Then I 
 worked on the estate until I was fourteen years of 
 age, when I was confirmed. I also had a Uttle school- 
 ing, nine months altogether, two days in one week and 
 three days in the next. The school children were too 
 many, so the boys and girls had to attend school every 
 other day. After I had been confirmed I hired out 
 to a dependent farmer, who leased a large farm. My 
 wages were fixed at twenty-five riksdaler ($7), one pair 
 of boots, two shirts, and one pair of mittens a year. 
 
 Then I went to another dependent farmer, where 
 I got herring five times a day, must be at the estate 
 at four o'clock in the morniag, and work to half past 
 eight at night, when I had to walk one and a half 
 (EngUsh) miles, get a Uttle porridge and milk and 
 four hours' rest. 
 
 I left my parents* home the 4th of April, 1871, 
 and landed in New York the 4th of May the same 
 year. Now at last I was in land of promises, without 
 relatives, without friends, and almost without money. 
 I wandered about like a deaf and dumb man. My 
 ticket was to Chicago and I started for that city, but 
 by some mistake by the railroad people I was sent 
 astray. [At last reached Chicago, dug graves in 
 Rosehill Cemetery, contracted malaria there.] Now 
 I was in the worst situation I ever have been in my 
 life — sick, and without money and friends, with a 
 two-handred-rilcsdaler mortgage on my muscles for 
 my ticket to this country. As in a dream I went up 
 and down the streets in Chicago. Was this the so 
 highly praised America? 
 
 At last I left Chicago and went to Pennsylvania, 
 
 7 85 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 where I worked on the raiboads for about four years. 
 Then I married a girl from my own home country. 
 She had a little money and I had saved some, so we 
 bought a small place of 20^ acres, which we started 
 to work up, bought three cows, one horse, and some 
 farm implements. We kept this place for two years, 
 when we sold it and bought another of 120 acres for 
 $1,000. I sold 50 acres of this and that made us 
 free from debt. Now we worked on this farm for a 
 couple of years, when a sawmill in our neighborhood 
 was offered for sale and we bought it for $2,000. 
 Now I sawed timber both for myself and others, so 
 within two years I had paid for the mill, but then 
 it burned down and I had no insurance. I built up 
 the mill immediately and started to saw again. Now 
 I started to buy larger and smaller pieces of wood- 
 land and all went well. I sold my old place, bought 
 a bigger and better one, started a country store, 
 bought building lots in the cities, and started to 
 build houses in Youngsville and Jamestown, New 
 York. To-day I have 300 acres of land, a good farm, 
 a good sawmill with planing machinery; two stores, 
 eight city houses, and ten lessees, who pay me $900 
 a year. Li the meantime I have brought up eight 
 children, some of whom are married now. I am 
 taxed about as follows: my farm, $3,000; wood- 
 lands, $2,500; sawmill, with accessories, $3,000; 
 horses, other cattle, and farm implements, $1,500; 
 timber on land, $3,000; city property in Youngs- 
 ville, $10,000; in Jamestown, $2,500. K I had 
 remained in Sweden I should probably be a hired 
 man, or at most a dependent farmer.* 
 
 ' Communication to the Swedish Emigration Commission. Sfalw- 
 tiaka Central Byran: Emigrationaiiiredningm {Brtf frdm Sverukas 
 i Ameriha), part 7, p. 186. 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 63. [Born on a small farm in Saxony, worked from 
 fourteen to eighteen hours a day. Had a small 
 inheritance. Started a small business and lost 
 everything.] I longed all the time for my first pro- 
 fession, farming; but there was no prospect at all to 
 become independent, because one acre of good land 
 costed from $400 to $500. It happened occasionally 
 at that time I saw some papers and pamphlets, 
 printed in America, the contents of which were quite 
 inviting for emigrants. The prospects were painted 
 in the brightest colors. . . . Finally we decided if 
 three quarters of the reports we read in those papers 
 and pamphlets were exaggerated and only one quarter 
 the truth, stiU the prospect would be inviting. So 
 we resolved to emigrate. We thought it advisable 
 I should go alone first and look around somewhat. . . . 
 [Bought farm at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, returned to 
 Germany and brought back wife and foiu: children.] 
 
 By and by I found out my place was a so-called 
 
 "run-out farm." The former owner worked in the 
 
 winter time in the logging camps where he earned 
 
 cash wages and took to farming only as a side line. 
 
 On the 120 acres available land, only about 50 
 
 were under cultivation. He raised everything, but 
 
 preferred crops with the least work — ^wheat, oats, 
 
 and timothy hay; that meant stuff he could sell 
 
 any time. The worst of it was he did not care to 
 
 give the land anything back and so finaly the land 
 
 refused to give continually good crops. In fact, at 
 
 the time I started on that farm, some crops did not 
 
 yield the seed back. My harvests were the poorest 
 
 among the poor in the whole neighborhood. In 
 
 those circumstances I got aware not even that 
 
 quarter of the fine reports I had read in Germany 
 
 was true. 
 
 87 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS ^Transplanted 
 
 But what could be done?/ I was here and could 
 not go back. I was not discouraged, but I had to 
 change the method of farming here to that I had 
 followed in Germanyj/ where I had worked land 
 valued up to $500, paid the interest, and laid some- 
 thing by for "rainy days." Of course it took years 
 before I was acquainted with the different kinds of 
 soils I had on my farm, but fiiialy I had the best 
 success. After years of intensive farming, no other 
 farmer was able to beat me in the yield of any crop 
 per acre. I tried my best to inform my neighbors 
 how they could improve their crops, but when I 
 found out my advice was not wanted I had to let 
 them alone; but I had the satisfaction, when they 
 could not help to see my success, to see one after the 
 other to accept some of my methods. I got acquaint 
 with smart (!) business men in the cities who told me 
 the same thing as those reports in the papers and 
 pamphlets I mentioned above, that it would be entirely 
 superfluous to bother oneself with the learning of 
 the English language, because I could sell everything 
 I had for sale to them, and also everything I needed 
 to buy, I could have from them. For years I was 
 foolisch enough to believe that, but meanwhile I took 
 the chance to join my children in their studies in their 
 Englisch schoolbooks and from that time I had better 
 success in selling my stuff. I acquired private cus- 
 tomers, received cash, and was able to buy only 
 what I needed, and was not compelled to take goods 
 which I did not need, but had to take in order to 
 balance my bill of trade in the store. 
 
 By and by I noted the condition of my pocketbook 
 and my bank account constantly improved in spite 
 of the very low prices I received for my goods. For 
 instance, I had to sell for years most of my eggs three 
 
 83 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 dozen for a quarter, and a pound of butter from ten 
 to fifteen cents. All other products in same propor- 
 tion. I got aware there was no chance to getting 
 rich on tiie farm, but working hard with my good 
 wife and obedient children — was able to meet my 
 obligations and knew I was on the road of progress. 
 Of course our personal living was fine, and when I 
 corresponded with relations and friends in Germany 
 I truthfully stated I live in a country "where milk 
 and honey flows." 
 
 Bight here I make the statement that I am con- 
 vinced the main reason for my success consisted in 
 the fact that I kept correct accounts about all my 
 affairs. This enabled me to decide the best crops 
 adapted to my soil, the best for the market, the best 
 live stock, etc. In short, it gave me the most reliable 
 information of everything pertaining to the manage- 
 ment of my farm. I have started with those records 
 already in the year 1866 and keep it up until to-day. 
 There is no guesswork in all my affairs. I am able 
 to give the minutely accounts of everything pertain- 
 ing my farming and also about my household. 
 
 After I had been here over five years, one day two 
 of my neighbors came to me (both Frenchmen) and 
 asked if I intended to stay. "Why! sure," I said. 
 "Would it not be foolish otherwise to spend my 
 time and money on this farm?" "Very weU, then, 
 it is time to do your duty and make application for 
 citizenship and take part in the public and political 
 life of this country." I was quite perplex, it never 
 occurred to me to have any duties besides to run my 
 farm and pay my taxes. Knowing my neighbors 
 to be very honest and explicit men, I followed them 
 to the clerk of the court where they acted as my 
 spokesmen. I received my first paper and took now 
 
 89 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 active part in the several elections and other kind 
 of public affairs. After a few years more I received 
 my paper as a ful-fledged citizen. In short succes- 
 sion my neighbors elected me as road commissioner, 
 as a member of the school board, and a member of 
 the town board. Finaly th^ elected me to the 
 office of town clerk. That was now quite hard for 
 me. My English was hardly sufficient to converse 
 with my neighbors about the most common things, 
 much less sufficient to fill that office. As I had no 
 spare time, I had to spend many nights in studying 
 the English language, and I tell you it was hard work, 
 because I was already an old boy of fifty-five. I 
 was re-elected to that office for five years and mostly 
 unanimously, so I have good reason to believe I did 
 my duty. ... I am now seventy-one. 
 
 It is now thirty-one years I live in this country 
 and have never repented to come here. I corre- 
 spondet much with parties of Germany, and in my 
 answers I never failed to emphasize the importance 
 for every newcomer to learn the English language as 
 soon as possible. Other correspondents might be 
 correct by saying it is not absolute necessary, but I 
 say it is very beneficial and therefore highly important 
 to imderstand the official language. 
 
 This is a short biography of my existence, and I 
 am astonished to note what a long story it is. I 
 am afraid you will feel very tiresome by reading it, 
 therefore I repeat if it is not what you want, drop 
 it in the waste basket and no harm done. At the 
 other hand if it proves to be what you expect from 
 your correspondence, then I inform you I could be 
 much more in detail if you will have the kindness to 
 name the particulars you want me to answer. 
 
 Please excuse my still very faulty English and the 
 
 90 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 many errors in the foregoing. It is not long since I 
 learned to use the typewriter in order to avoid the 
 cramps in my hand by the use of the pen.' 
 
 The settlers described above are of the 
 pioneer type. In addition, the political 
 refugee and the fugitive from justice may 
 have the psychology of the settler, or, as we 
 shall note presently, they may belong to 
 other categories: 
 
 64. [Father] had scarcely ever known what it 
 meant to be free from anxiety. First, from early 
 childhood it was the fear of the army where he would 
 be compelled to violate the laws against God, "Thou 
 shalt not kill," and the fear for the blind and helpless 
 mother he would have to leave behind. In this fear 
 he grew up to manhood. And then with blood 
 money, borrowed and saved on bread and his mother's 
 tears, he bought a false name. Then his life was in 
 constant fear of human beings, often in fear of his 
 own shadow. Then being foimd out, and all seeming 
 lost, his escape to America, then the struggle of a 
 stranger in a strange land, which led to only a hand- 
 to-mouth existence, without any change, without 
 hope of change.^ 
 
 65. I have been already ten years in this blessed 
 cojjntry, where there are no passports. 
 
 '^I am doing honest labor as a machinist's assistant. 
 In Russia I was a plain criminal. Yes, a criminal. 
 I am openly saying so, for that was in my far-away 
 past. And it seems to me that I am speaking not 
 of myself, but of another unfortunate man, whom 
 
 * Beinhold Liebau, Autobiographical Sketch (manuscript). 
 ' Rose Cohen, Out of the Shadow, p. 211. 
 91 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 circumstances made a thief and a forger. ... I 
 knew well what the criminal prison means . . . 
 America accepted me as I was. America gave me 
 a chance to stand on my own feet. I was taken in 
 with my shameful past, as if I were equal to the best. 
 And I have repaid America with respect that only 
 death itself can take away from my heart. 
 
 Excuse me for not signing my name. My Russian 
 name I have, indeed, thrown out together with my 
 Russian past, and as to my American name it is a 
 clean one, and is not guilty for the past of the one 
 who carries it. A Son of the Don.^ 
 
 THE COLONIST 
 
 We may distinguish two general types of 
 success, according to the standard in the 
 mind of the individual. The one is asso- 
 ciated with an extraordinary gratification 
 of the wishes, or of some of them — ^for 
 example, the "will to power" — ^the other 
 with their limitation. Tlie small shopkeeper 
 may be as successful in his way as a Napoleon, 
 because his wishes are limited. The typical 
 settler has been accustomed to a severe 
 limitation of the wishes in the home coimtiy 
 and relative hardship here is considered 
 success. But in the first generation of 
 immigrants this success is never felt as 
 complete. The economic success may be 
 compl ete, from any standpoint, but there 
 
 ' Letter to the newspaper Russkoye Slovo (New York). 
 92 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 are sentimental losses. In the Swedish vol- 
 ume containing document 62 above, there 
 are 128 short life histories of immigrants, 
 and the most general attitude in them is: 
 "I have been successful. I have property. 
 My children have superior advantages. But 
 / have lost my life." This means, of course, 
 not only that the writer has had a hard time 
 here, suffered sentimental losses, but that he 
 has regretful memories of home conditions, of 
 occasional leisure and festivities, of joys and 
 sorrows shared by an intimate group. 
 
 We define the colonist as one in whom 
 these memories of home are, from our stand- 
 point, "over determined" (to use the psycho- 
 analytic phrase): one who never forgets 
 nor wishes to forget, whose allegiance is to 
 the home country, whose superior values 
 are the home values. The English are his- 
 torically great colonizers, and they furnish 
 good representatives of this type in America. 
 The German is also likely to show the col- 
 onist's attitude, and the same is true of the 
 French, and of any people who have an 
 eminent position among the nationalities. 
 Their representative feels something akin 
 to the pride in family. These are often 
 very fine types, but the old loyalty yields 
 stubbornly to the new, and the subject is 
 usually careful to let you know that he is 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 contributing more to America than America 
 is contributing to him: 
 
 66. Major Ian Hay Beith, in his delightful little 
 essay entitled "Getting Together," gives some 
 advice to an Englishman as to what he should remem- 
 ber in conversing with an American, and to an Amer- 
 ican as to what he must bear in mind in talking with 
 an Englishman. To the Englishman, he says: 
 "Remember you are talking to a man who regards 
 his nation as the greatest nation in the world. He 
 will probably tell you this." To the American, he 
 says: "Remember you are talking to a man who 
 regards his nation as the greatest in the world. He 
 will not tell you this, because he takes it for grsmted 
 that you know abeady." . . . 
 
 [One contribution which an Englishman is able to 
 make to America] is the historic memory which 
 British birth and education give to a man. He 
 inevitably escapes the shallowness of a retrospect 
 that is bounded by 1776 or 1619, or even by 1492. . . . 
 [Another] contribution which every immigrant can 
 bring to America consists in the positive good which 
 he has derived from the civilization of his native 
 country. It is at this point that one may seem to be 
 setting oneself up, in a ludicrously pharisalc fashion, 
 as an example. I must therefore beg the reader to 
 imderstand that ... I am thinking not of what I am, 
 but of what any Englishman ought to be.* 
 
 67. We did not enter the American nation as a 
 banished or persecuted race, seeking aid and pro- 
 tection, but as part of this nation, with equal rights, 
 and as part of a noble people which for more than 
 two hundred years has found a second home here 
 
 ' Horace E. Bridges, On Btcoming an American, pp. 39 and 43. 
 94 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 and, in common with the kindred Anglo-Saxon race, 
 had foimded and developed this state. . . .We 
 protest most energetically [against the ideal of the 
 "melting-pot"] not only because we regard this 
 uniformity as equivalent to the destruction of all 
 that we regard as the hoHest part of our people and 
 its culture, but because the undertaking itself appears 
 to the German spirit as repulsive as a desecration.^ 
 
 68. Emerging from the colony is one pole of the 
 dreams [of the Hungarian-American leaders]. The 
 other is recognition in and by the old country; the 
 desire to attain status, to show that they have made 
 good. In pre-war times this desire, always very 
 vague, crystallized mainly around the hope of a 
 governmental recognition of some sort or other, 
 perhaps a knighthood of the Order of Francis Joseph, 
 or some similar decoration ^ 
 
 69. The Sixty-ninth Street group is the central 
 group of the SiciUans who come from the village of 
 Cinisi, and those who remain in this group intend to 
 return to Cinisi; in fact, most of those who are in 
 New York intend to return. Those in the interior 
 cities do not have this intention. My cousin from 
 New Orleans remarked about this fact — namely, that 
 those in New Orleans are settled and never talk of 
 Cinisi, while here he was surprised to hear them 
 constantly talking of the home town. 
 
 The reason for this is evident. Here they are 
 nearest to Cinisi. Here they receive letters and 
 talk to the new arrivals. All those who return from 
 Detroit, Chicago, or anywhere else, pass New York 
 and this reminds them. 
 
 ' J. Goebel, Der Kamjif um deutsche KuUur in Amerika, p. 11. 
 * Eugene S. Bagger, Hungarian Intellectuals and Leaders (man- 
 uscript). 
 
 95 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 In this way the town of Cinisi is always in their 
 
 mine 
 
 .1 
 
 70. The intellectual atmosphere prevailing in 
 Polish-American circles is pm-ely and exclusively 
 Polish. In every home the conversation runs on 
 Polish topics, the hbrary is full of Polish books, 
 pictures reproduce Polish paintings, Pohsh music is 
 played, Polish dishes served. I heard a lady of this 
 circle pride herself on the fact that when a prominent 
 Pole from Cracow, who had just come to this country, 
 visited her (she lived then in California with her 
 husband, in a purely American town), she could talk 
 with him about the latest literary and artistic events 
 in Cracow, and he felt in their home as if he had never 
 left Poland. At this moment, I have not met a 
 single person belonging to this circle who did not 
 talk about returning home in the near future; some 
 have been here for fifteen years. At the same time, 
 every one hastens to prepare some American values 
 which he thinks may be useful in Poland. One 
 studies American economics, another American legis- 
 lation, a third some special line of industry, a fourth 
 the American newspaper technic. There is one 
 who is organizing an entire factory, on the oo-op«rative 
 basis, and expects to transfer it to Poland — ^machinery, 
 capital, workmen, and all.^ 
 
 THE POLITICAL IDEALIST 
 
 Members of the "oppressed and depend- 
 ent" n ationalities of Europe bring to Amer- 
 
 1 Gflspare Cusumano, Study of the Cinisi Colony m New York. 
 (manuscript). 
 
 ■ Florian Znaniecki, Study <4 Poliih Organigaiiona tn America, 
 (manuscript). 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 ica forms of the Freudian "baffled wish" 
 and of the "inferiority complex." They are 
 obsessed by the idea of the inferior status of 
 their group at home, and wish to be a nation- 
 aUty among other nationahties. Their or- 
 ganizations here seek to make America a 
 recruiting ground for the battle in Europe. 
 Consequently they wish first of all to save 
 their members from Americanization, to 
 send them home with unspoiled loyalty, or 
 to keep them a permanent patriotic asset 
 working here for the cause at home. They 
 regard America as merely the instrument 
 of their nationalistic wishes. Their leaders 
 wish also to get recognition at home for 
 their patriotic activities here, and superior 
 status on their return. They speak of the 
 penetration of America by their own cidture. 
 Thus the Poles, the most ambitious of them, 
 eaU the Polish-American community the 
 "fourth division of Poland," and refer to 
 the whole body of Poles in America as 
 "Polonia Americana." At the same time 
 the material position of the leaders of these 
 ^oups — the editors, bankers, priests — de- 
 pends on keeping the group un-American. 
 We find that the aims of these nationalists 
 are often more explicitly and naively stated 
 in communications sent to Europe than in 
 their American publications. 
 
 97 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 71. This great current of [Lithuanian] emigra- 
 tion would have been lost for the Lithuanian national 
 cause, would have been submerged in the ocean of 
 a great foreign nationality," if some great patriots 
 had not succeeded in organizing it and rendering it 
 refractory to assimilation by forming it into groups 
 and associations, by teaching it the maternal lan- 
 guage, by creating parishes, schools, and Lithuanian 
 newspapers, by the development of pride of race, 
 respect for the traditions and customs of its ancestors, 
 and above all the love of native land.' 
 
 72. The most powerful bond which unites emi- 
 grants of the same nationality in a strange country 
 is constituted by religion and the church. Pious 
 people hke the Poles, the Slovaks, the Lithuanians, 
 etc., carry with them their profound religious senti- 
 ments. In their churches they feel at home; the 
 church is for them a corner of their distant country. 
 Thus in America religion is the most powerful source 
 of resistance to Americanization, to assimilation.* 
 
 73. The task of the intellectual Ruthenians will 
 be the easier since many Ruthenians live in America 
 and after having amassed a certain sum return to 
 their country. What is not permitted in the coimtry 
 of the crown of Saint-Etrienne is permitted in the free 
 land of Washington. If the Ruthenian national 
 idea is firmly planted in America it will extend to 
 Hungary.^ 
 
 74. The ultimate meaning of all activities [of the 
 Alliance of Polish Socialists] is connected with the 
 
 ' Jean Pelissier, Renaissance nationale Ltiuanienne, p. 107. 
 
 '' A. Kaupas, "L'Eglise et les Lituaniens aux Ctats-Unist" in 
 Annates des NationalitSs, vol. ii, p. 233. The writer is the editor 
 of two Lithuanian papers in America. 
 
 ' Y. Fedortchouk, "La question des natIonalit£s en Austriche- 
 Hongrie," in Annalea des NationalUSs, vol. iii, p. 56. 
 
 98 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 future of Poland, not of America, and the political 
 and social interests of its members are concentrated 
 mostly around the question of returning to Poland 
 and helping to organize Poland. . . . They have 
 resigned all hope of playing a political role in this 
 country, as a party, and consider their organization 
 as a training school and a center of future influence. 
 
 . . . Any characterization of Polish life in this 
 country which can be 'written at this moment is in 
 a large measure "mere history," as a prominent 
 Chicago Pole (Zaleski) expressed it. The war and 
 the consequent liberation of Poland is bound to bring 
 a radical change of the entire direction of evolution 
 of the Polish-American society. The patriotic exal- 
 tation produced by Poland's oppression, by all the 
 preparations for national struggle, by the expecta- 
 tion of Poland's freedom, will decrease very soon 
 among those who decide to stay in this country; 
 there will no longer be the feeling of duty to preserve 
 Polish ideals intact, no feeling of guilt will be con- 
 nected with Americanization.* 
 
 Another group of political idealists, em- 
 bittered against the social order represented 
 by the state and by private property, perhaps 
 disgusted with humanity, are the propa- 
 gandists of some revolutionary scheme — 
 bolshevism, anarchy, communism-^for the 
 redistribution of values. They continue in 
 this country a struggle against organized 
 society which they had been carrying on at 
 
 'Florian Znaniecki, Study of Polish Orgamzationi in America 
 (manuscript). 
 
OLD WOKLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 home. They brmg here and exploit griev- 
 ances and psychoses acquired under totally 
 different conditions. We are sufficiently 
 familiar with the type: 
 
 75. I hated the rich because they are murderers, 
 and the poor because they would become such if 
 they had the opportunity.' 
 
 76. ... We must mercilessly destroy all the 
 remains of governmental authority and class domi- 
 nation ... all legal papers pertaining to private 
 ownership of property, all field fences and boimdaries, 
 and burn all certificates of indebtedness — ^in a word, 
 we must take care that everything is wiped from the 
 earth that is a reminder of the right to private owner- 
 ship of property. . . ? 
 
 76a. The bourgeois is useless and the govern- 
 ment is unnecessary for the development of the 
 commercial and industrial life of the people. ... It 
 is better to die, and if we are going to die . . . why 
 don't we seek those who are responsible for suci 
 disorders and iniquities and execute them? * 
 
 77. ... We have nothing against the blindness 
 of the bourgeoisie and expect nothing else from them. 
 Because the boiu-geoisie, which includes lawyers, 
 priests, physicians, writers, merchants, etc., have 
 the same habit as a prostitute; she sells herself to 
 the one who pays more money. . . .* 
 
 78. We will strive for a revolution and we will 
 
 ' Letter to Fanoari, February 4, 1918. 
 
 ' Novomiraky: Manifesto of Ananhitb — Commtmufo. Reprinted 
 in the New York Times, November 10, 1919. 
 
 ' Cvltara Obrera (Spanish newspaper. New York), November 
 17, 1017. 
 
 * Robotnik (Ukrainian newspaper. New York), April 17, 1919. 
 100 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 carry it through to the end, until every remembrance 
 of you shall be obliterated.^ 
 
 79. ... The real cause [of the war] was the 
 same damned trinity — ^rights [law], ownership, and 
 state [rule], . . , Down with rights! Down with 
 ownership! Down with the state! Let this be the 
 death of this three-headed monster. Long Kve 
 anarchism! In anarchy humanity will find happi- 
 ness and eternal well-being.^ 
 
 80. ... Will you be meek and slavish? Will 
 you wallow under the iron heel of your masters? Or 
 will you tear your way by the revolution to a better 
 and happier life? . . .^ 
 
 THE AliUaiGHTNICK 
 
 This term is one which the Jews of the New 
 York East Side apply to successful members 
 of their race who have found a comfortable 
 berth outside of the Jewish commimity and 
 within the cosmopolitan group of the "Amer- 
 icanized" Americans. There are, however, 
 other and deeper implications in the term. 
 Here it is used to characterize an oppor- 
 tunistic type which is not peculiar to the 
 Jewish race — ^namely, the individual who 
 realizes a very natural ambition to gain 
 access to and some sort of recognition, or 
 
 1 Der Industrialer ArbeUer (Jewish newspaper, Chicago), March 
 81, 1919. 
 
 ' KMieb i Volya [Bread and Freedom] (Russian newspaper. New 
 York), April 8, 1919. 
 
 ' II Diritto (Italian newspaper. New York), March 8, 1919. 
 8 101 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 at least toleration, in the native American 
 community, or what passes for it, but who 
 does so at the sacrifice of the ideals of his 
 own national and family group. In the 
 case of the Jew, the allrightnick may simply 
 be a man who has been a socialist, who has 
 gone into business and become a bourgeois. 
 The mental type is a familiar one, found 
 wherever the transition is made from one 
 cultural group to another, as in the case of 
 the missionary convert. 
 
 81. ... The poor Jew whom I now scrutinized 
 more closely wore an old shabby coat, an old cap, 
 his hands were black from dust and cold. And his 
 face — ^what a face! Pale, bony, wrinkled. In each 
 wrinkle there was compassion. And this Jew who 
 sells cookies on the street has three sons and a daughter 
 — all fairly prosperous! 
 
 "How is it possible?" slipped off my tongue. 
 
 "You mean, of course, why I am not living with 
 them? ... I did not want to live with them. You 
 understand, I cannot live among machines. I am 
 a live man and have a soid, despite my age. They 
 are machines. They work all day and come home at 
 night. What do they do? Nothing. Wait for 
 supper. During supper they talk about everything 
 in the world — ^friends, clothes, money, wages, and 
 all sorts of gossip. After supper they dress up and 
 go out. Where to? Either the theater, banquet, 
 or movie. Or else their friends call and they drink, 
 eat, and play cards; or they start the machine and it, 
 plays and they dance. The next day agun to work 
 and so on for the rest of their life. . . . They have 
 
 102 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 all been to school — educated people; but just try» 
 for the fun of it, and ask them if they ever read a 
 book. Not on your life. Books have nothing in 
 common with them; Judaism has nothing in common 
 with them; Jewish troubles have nothing in common 
 with them; the whole world has nothing in common 
 with them. They only know one thing — ^work, eat, 
 and away to the theater. How can they do this? 
 I am asking you; how can one lead a life like that?" 
 And in his voice there was a deep anger. . . . 
 
 His voice grew louder and became very angry. 
 "And I — ^I cannot Uve Uke that. I am no machine. 
 I like to think, I Uke to be in good mood, I want to 
 talk to people, I want to get an answer to my ques- 
 tions. When I live among shoemakers I know that 
 the shoemaker is a blind man; but when I live among 
 educated people, then I expect them to be Menschen. 
 
 " When I first came here I used to speak and argue 
 with them. But they did not understand me. They 
 would ask: 'Why this and that? This country is 
 not Russia. Here everybody does as he likes.' 
 
 "Gradually I realized that they were machines. 
 They make money and live for that purpose. When 
 I grasped this situation a terror possessed me and I 
 did not believe these were my children. I could 
 not stand it to be there; I was being choked; I could 
 not tolerate their behavior and I went away. . . ."' 
 
 THE CAFFONE 
 
 The Italians ia America apply the term 
 caff one (literary, "simpleton") to a man of 
 their nationality who has the least possible 
 
 1 Olgin, Forward, February 4, 1917. 
 103 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 association with any group, has no regard 
 for opinion, wears, for example, the same 
 clothes during his whole stay in America, 
 avoids all conversation, ignores his surroimd- 
 ings, and accumulates the sum of money he 
 has in mind as rapidly as possible. We use 
 the term here to designate the pure oppor- 
 tunist, who is unwilling to participate either 
 in the American life or in that of his national 
 group: 
 
 82. The caffoni, who were in Sicily mostly mUani 
 [serfs], are looked down upon by their own people 
 and especially by that class of Itahans who want to 
 stay here and who feel injured whenever the Italian 
 name is hurt. To this superior class a good name 
 for the ItaUans is a requisite of their progress. The 
 caffoni don't care. All they want is to make money 
 and go back. So we often see the superior class 
 preaching and speaking to the caffoni in meetings, 
 in groups and individually, persuading them to uphold 
 the Italian name. The caffoni listen, but then they 
 shrug their shoulders and it is all over. "It does not 
 give me any bread whether Italians have a good 
 name in America or not. I am going back soon." ^ 
 
 THE INTELLECTUAL 
 
 Our documents show that the "educated" 
 immigrant is usually more misadapted to 
 American society than the workman. He 
 
 1 Gaspare Cusumano, Study of the Ciniai Colony in NeiD York City 
 (maniucript). 
 
 104 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 does not, unless he is a technician (chemist, 
 engineer), bring a commodity which we 
 want to buy (as does the laborer), and he 
 must usually make such a place as he can 
 among his fellow immigrants/ Document 
 83 shows the situation of th^ intelligentsia 
 of one group: 
 
 83, The characteristic note of the corporate life 
 of Hungarian-America intellectuals is one of utter 
 hopelessness, born of the consciousness of isolation, 
 both from the main currents of American and of old- 
 country life, and of the realization of the doom hang- 
 ing over the American-Hungarian community. This 
 is the paradox of the immigrant colony — ^that it is 
 constantly losing its best element, which manifests 
 its superiority just by being able to detach itself and 
 to merge into the larger American life. . . . There 
 are new "movements" every now and then to "organ- 
 ize" American Himgariandom ["amerikai magyarsag," 
 a collective term like Deutschtum], The conscious 
 or avowed purposes of these movements vary; their 
 common unconscious element is to make a showing 
 of some sort, to prove [for themselves] that there is 
 such a thing as a Hungarian-American cultiu^e and 
 a Hungarian- American future; but these movements 
 invariably collapse or die of sheer inertia. The 
 Hungarian-American socialist press is wont to attack 
 these movements as mere attempts at organized 
 graft, and undoubtedly there is an element among 
 the "leaders" which is trying to exploit these cam- 
 paigns for personal gain. Nevertheless, it is plain 
 that there is some moral purpose behind them — 
 factors ranging from personal vanity and craving 
 
 105 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 for prestige to a genuine, though vague, yearning 
 for spiritual achievement, Hungarian-American in- 
 tellectuals are obsessed by a peculiar megalomania 
 centering about the "mission" and greatness of 
 "Hungarian-Americandom." Nobody ever tried to 
 define what this mission is, but it is constantly 
 spoken of. This megalomania seems to be the con- 
 verted expression of a manifold inferiority complex — 
 the resultant, perhaps, of the following complexes: 
 (1) The "oppressed race" complex. Magyar chau- 
 vinism is just the result of a feeling of inferiority 
 as compared to Austria, of playing the second fiddle 
 within the monarchy, of the fear of being classed by 
 Europeans as a Balkan race. (2) The inferiority 
 complex of the immigrant, the "hunky." (3) The 
 individual inferiority complexes of men who have 
 proved failures at home. 
 
 These movements — ^I am almost tempted to say 
 revivals — ^are boimd to fail chiefly for three reasons: 
 (1) The absence of a clearly defined program, of 
 a nonfictitious moral purpose; (2) the fatal Magyar 
 tendency to dissent, similar to the Polish national 
 disease [in Hungary they call it the "Turanian 
 curse"], tmwillingness to self-renunciation and co- 
 ordinated effort; (3) the sameness of the personnel. 
 This last-named is the peculiarly Hungarian-American 
 factor. In the old country there are always reserves 
 to draw upon, there is "fresh blood"; here, especially 
 since the war, it is always the same few dozens of 
 people, in different groupings and alignments, but 
 the same individuals. I aroused against myself the 
 Hungarian intellectuals of Cleveland by saying that 
 Hungarian-American society reminds me of a bimch 
 of gamblers marooned on a desert island and engaged 
 in a desperate, endless game — each trying to live on 
 
 106 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 his winnings from the rest, but nobody producing 
 new values.^ 
 
 There is a type of intellectual, the product 
 of a superior and systematic training, who 
 comes rarely but who can contribute par- 
 ticular values to the culture of any nation- 
 ality. /Now, modern progress evidently 
 depends in part on communication in space, 
 on the ability to assemble from all parts of 
 the world values which happen to exist 
 there. Economic efficiency, for example, 
 does not reject any value because it is for- 
 eign. /But it appears that of all the immi- 
 grants who come we are least prepared to 
 receive the foreign intellectual, who is at 
 the same time the type of immigrant best 
 fitted to make a cultural contribution. 
 
 Very often the intellectual who comes 
 here has been a failm-e at home or is a pre- 
 destined failure anywhere, but will never- 
 theless attribute his failure here to America's 
 inability to appreciate him. But document 
 84 is from a really superior man. In addition 
 to the criticism of America, it reveals the 
 psychology of the Polish intellectual: 
 
 84. [Was positively influenced in America by the 
 democratic idea, revised my former contempt for 
 
 ' Eugene S. Bagger, Hungarian Intellectuals and Leaders (man- 
 uscript). 
 
 107 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 economic considerations, learned to appreciate the 
 social idealism, the active interest in other people's 
 welfare, the willingness to make a sacrifice for a 
 humanitarian cause — oftener met here than in any 
 European society except the Polish — ^and the free, 
 direct, and sincere attitude toward phenomena which 
 characterizes the good American worker.] Li other 
 lines, however, I have hardly come any nearer to 
 American life. Two reasons prevented my "Amer- 
 icanization" in the deeper sense of the term; the 
 divergencies which I began to discover after a longer 
 stay in this country between most of the aspirations 
 actually predominant in American society and cer- 
 tain ideals which, in my cosmopolitan training, I 
 have learned to revere as the best part of the general 
 human civiHzation, independent of national difEer- 
 ences; and — more particularly — ^the attitude of 
 American society toward foreigners and foreign 
 values. . . . 
 
 [Among other things] there is the lack of social 
 freedom, the oppression of the individual by all kinds 
 of traditional or recently created social norms. I 
 have not seen in Europe anything comparable to it 
 except, perhaps, in small and very isolated provincial 
 towns. Since I am not political^ active, this social 
 tyranny affects me much more than any amoimt of 
 poUtical despotism could do, particularly as it extends 
 to the intellectual domain. I fed more bound in 
 the expression of my opinions here than I felt under 
 Russian censorship in Warsaw, in spite of the fact 
 that I am not in the slightest measure inclined toward 
 political, social, moral, or religious revolutionism of 
 any kind, and was considered in Europe, even by the 
 most radical conservatists, a perfectly "inoffensive," 
 mildly progressive intellectualist. . . . 
 
 108 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 And yet, I am sincerely interested in America — 
 but in the future rather than in the present America. 
 I could work with real enthusiasm for the progress 
 of American culture in the intellectual line, in which 
 I can be most eflScient and in which progress seems 
 most needed; I am sure that I could be really usefxd 
 to this country, produce some really important 
 cultural values. But my incipient enthusiasm for 
 American cultural development never has any chance 
 to mature, because I realize at every moment that 
 American society does not feel any need of my or 
 any other "foreigner's" co-operation, is in general 
 perfectly satisfied with itself, and perfectly able to 
 manage, its own future in accordance with its own 
 desires, to create all the values it wants without 
 having any "imported" values "thrust upon it." 
 In analyzing the evolution of my attitudes toward 
 this country, it seems to me that much of my growing 
 criticism and dissatisfaction with American condi- 
 tions has been due to the gradual realization of 
 this self-complacency of American society. ... In 
 France, in Germany, in Italy, in Poland, this attitude 
 manifests itself toward other national groups, but not 
 toward individual foreigners when they come to live 
 and work in the country. On the contrary, I have 
 experienced myself, during my travels abroad, and 
 I have seen manifested toward incomers in Poland 
 (unless they were members of the oppressing nation) 
 an attitude which I may call "intellectual hospi- 
 tality," a tendency to learn, to appreciate, and to 
 utilize whatever values the foreigner may bring with 
 him, unless, of course, he brings nothing but unskilled 
 labor. No Eiu-opean society I know acts as if it 
 possessed and knew everything worth while and had 
 nothing to learn, whereas this is precisely the way 
 
 109 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 American society acts toward a foreigner as soon as 
 he ceases to play the role of a passing "curiosity" 
 and wants to take an active part in American life. I 
 do not think most Americans realize how revolting 
 to a more or less educated inunigrant is their naive 
 attitude of superiority, their astonishing self-satis- 
 faction, their inabiUty and unwillingness to look on 
 anything foreign as worth being understood and 
 assimilated. This may work with the peasant who 
 is used in the old coimtry to attitudes of superiority 
 on the part of the higher class, is desirous of imitating 
 them, and finds in this coimtry exactly the same 
 atmosphere, only connected with an unknown lan- 
 guage and unknown institution which make real 
 imitation more difficult. But I believe, judging even 
 less by my own experience than by the confidences 
 of others, that the unanimously critical standpoint 
 taken toward this count-y by all, even if only half 
 educated and socially dependent, inmiigrants and 
 their universal attachment to and idealization of 
 the "old country" values, are provoked by this 
 "lording it over" the immigrant, his traditions, his 
 ideals, by this implicit or explicit assumption that 
 Americanization necessarily means progress, that 
 the immigrant should simply leave all he brought 
 with him as worthless stuflF — ^worthless, at least, for 
 this country — and instead of trjring to introduce the 
 most valuable elements of his culture into American 
 life and select the most valuable elements of Amer- 
 icanism for himself, should merely accept everything 
 American just as it is. 
 
 In the same line, and perhaps even more revolting 
 for the reflecting foreigner who comes with the idea 
 of working and settUng in this country, is the current 
 tendency of American society to interpret the rela- 
 
 110 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 tion between the immigrant and America as that of 
 one-sided benefit and one-sided obligation./ This is 
 again an attitude which I have never met in Europe, 
 though European countries are incomparably more 
 crowded than America. . . . 
 
 I may have overlooked some important elements 
 of American civilization, but this does not seem to 
 be the main point. No individual can assimilate all 
 the values of a modern civilized society, and I know 
 many Americans for whom American civilization 
 contains and means much less than it does for me. 
 And there is no such thing as an unbiased view of 
 life; the only question is whether a certain bias is 
 due to an uncritical acceptance of locally and tem- 
 porarily limited social traditions which have no 
 positive significance for general human progress, or 
 to a critical, even if, perhaps, too exclusive, appre- 
 ciation of certain values reflectively selected from 
 the whole stock of human culture and constituting 
 an important, even if not necessarily the most impor-i 
 tant, component of every civiUzation, in all epochs 
 and all societies. Now, my personal bias is certainly 
 no longer a class bias. If there are any specific class 
 attitudes persisting subconsciously in my personality 
 — and I do not think there are — ^they have nothing 
 to do with the actual problem of my adaptation to 
 American conditions. Nor is my bias in any par- 
 ticular way national. However great may have 
 been the role which Polish national ideals have played 
 in my Ufe, my psychology seems to me less specifically 
 national, contains less particularly racial elements, 
 than that of any individual, Pole, Frenchman, 
 ItaUan, German, Russian, American, I have ever 
 met. ... I have, at various times, actively partici- 
 pated in the intellectual life of three diflEerent societies 
 
 111 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 besides my own — French, Swiss, and American — 
 using in each case a different language, needing each 
 time only a few months of preparation, and mixing 
 intimately with the respective groups. This fact 
 seems to me a suflBcient proof of the lack, on my side, 
 of any racial obstacles to my adaptation. My bias, 
 is, if anything, a professional bias. I certainly have 
 an exalted conception of the fimction which the 
 scientific profession can and should fulfill in hiunan 
 society — one which entitles it to demand that min- 
 imum of favorable social conditions which is abso- 
 lutely indispensable for intellectual productivity. 
 I also believe that all scientists have an obligation 
 to maintain certain professional ideals, the most 
 important of which are continual perfecting of the 
 standards of theoretic validity in so far as compatible 
 with intellectual efficiency on the given stage of 
 hiunan development; disinterestedness of theoretic 
 pursuit, the only personal reward which the scientist 
 has the right to exi)ect being recognition based 
 exclusively on the objective importance and intrinsic 
 perfection of his work and therefore necessarily slow 
 to come and limited to the most intellectual part of 
 society; freedom of mind and sincerity of expression; 
 enthusiasm for scientific work and for the develop- 
 ment of human knowledge in general; and, finally, 
 "true brotherhood" of all scientific workers in the 
 domain of science, manifested in reciprocal interest, 
 serious and thorough criticism, deserved apprecia- 
 tion, encouragement and help in intellectual pursuits. 
 And all this is independent of differences of class, 
 race, religion, etc., which may divide scientists as 
 social individuals, as members of concrete groups, 
 in other fields of cultural life.* 
 
 ' Autohiography (manuscript). 
 
 112 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 85. ... I was naturally deeply interested in 
 the Polish writer's analysis [document 84 above] of 
 phenomena with which I, too, find myself confronted, 
 and on the whole I was inclined to accept his con- 
 clusions. ... I felt, however, that he would have 
 strengthened his case — the case of the European 
 intellectual against intellectual America — ^by pre- 
 senting, simultaneously, the case against himself. 
 It is true that European intellectuals are invariably 
 dissatisfied with American life; much of the bitter- 
 ness with which they criticize American conditions is 
 doubtless justified. But in the interest of fair play 
 the question, "What's the matter with intellectual 
 America?" ought to be supplemented with this other 
 one, "What's the matter with the European intel- 
 lectual in America.''" This implies what the Polish 
 writer has neglected — an analysis of the analyzer. 
 
 First among the sources of discontent with which 
 the European intellectual confronts American life 
 is the lowering of his status. . . , An attempt to 
 fix his own place on the social ladder will lead him 
 to the realization that he was better off in aristocratic 
 Europe than in democratic America. For in Europe 
 he belonged — if he achieved any recognition at all — 
 to the upper middle class. Even a moderate degree 
 of literary or artistic eminence secured him admission 
 to the most interesting quarter of a society where 
 money, however important, was never the sole cri- 
 terion of gentility. In all European capitals there 
 are certain centres of social intercourse where members 
 of the three aristocracies of birth, riches, and intellect 
 meet in a congenial atmosphere and on a basis of 
 full equality. . . . 
 
 The European intellectual will then turn to an 
 analysis of his economic status and will find it worse 
 
 113 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 than it was in pre-war Europe. Probably he made 
 much less money in dollars and cents, even at the 
 old rate of exchange; but his smaller income insured 
 to him a higher place in the social hierarchy and a 
 much greater amount of comfort. . . . The Sunday 
 afternoon spectacle of thousands upon thousands of 
 automobiles, filled with festive families bound nowhere 
 in particular and beaming with the happiness of 
 dreams come true, serves chiefly to impress him with 
 the meaning of the American slang phrase, "all 
 dressed up and no place to go." 
 
 Europe was different. The things he craves for, 
 books, engravings, theatre and concert tickets, good 
 clothes, good home-furnishings, were comparatively 
 much cheaper there. Above all, travel was mudi 
 cheaper. The fare from Vienna to London, from 
 Budapest to Stockholm, was less than from New 
 York to Cleveland; and why go to Cleveland, anyhow? 
 A Vienna journalist, a Cracow college professor, a 
 Budapest art critic, not the leaders of their profession, 
 just good average, could go for a month's vacation 
 to Switzerland or Belgium or a Baltic resort or Flor- 
 ence, live well, and spend less than at home. For 
 the same class of person in America that sort of thing 
 is about as feasible as sp>ending the week end in the 
 moon. In a word, in America, where he has to work 
 much harder and makes more money, the European 
 intellectual will find that this income leaves him 
 socially an outcast and qualifies him for less sub- 
 stantial material comfort than is enjoyed by his 
 grocer. 
 
 One has to be a thoroughbred continental to appre- 
 ciate another factor which, to an untraveledAmerican, 
 may seem utterly trivial. I mean the absence of 
 the continental type of caf6. . . . The literary cafe 
 
 114 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 of the continental capital is a place where men of 
 similar tastes and interests may drop in, without 
 any formality, at teatime and after supper, and be 
 sure of finding congenial company, brilliant repartee, 
 interesting gossip, or substantial shop talk, according 
 to what he seeks. . . . The brilliancy of surround- 
 ings, the presence of beautiful and well-dressed 
 women, the possibility of meeting new people, often 
 important foreigners — ^these elements all converge 
 to create an atmosphere of an extraordinarily stim- 
 ulating character. There is nothing in American 
 life that even remotely corresponds to this stimulus, 
 and the life of literary cafes is missed by the conti- 
 nental intellectual as a drug is missed by its habitue. 
 
 But the absence of these easily accessible, stand- 
 ardized meeting places of intellectuals, open to all 
 who have the price of a demitasse, has another, still 
 subtler effect. For the intellectual, constant inter- 
 course with his equals acts not only as a stimulus, 
 but also as a check. It is written that it is not good 
 for a man to be alone. Rubbing up against his 
 compeers is as necessary for the intellectual as 
 gnawing at hard substances is necessary for a squirrel's 
 teeth. Isolation for him results in a sickly over- 
 estimation of his importance, a hypertrophied sensi- 
 tiveness and that notion of omnipotence which comes 
 from the absence of tests. A constant reiteration 
 of "Hie Rkodus, hie salta" is a good cure against 
 intellectual megalomania; but for the European 
 litterateur American is not Rhodes. Just as the 
 lack of academic standards favors an individualism 
 that frequently is mere crankiness, the lack of intel- 
 lectual give-and-take may result in an elephantiasis 
 of self-consciousness. . . . 
 
 Here, then, we have the elements of a state'of mind 
 lis 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 which inevitably expresses itself in overestimation 
 of self and underestimation of surroundings. The 
 conditions analyzed do not necessarily imply tiiat 
 American cultiure is inferior to European; but they 
 do determine a feeling in the European intellectual 
 that American life is less exciting, less stimulating, 
 less interesting, less worth while. . . . Out of this 
 maze of factors — ^the lowering of economic and social 
 status, lack of habitual and easy contact with one's 
 peers, absence of the stimuli of metropolitan life, 
 difficulties of everyday technique, struggle for self- 
 expression through an unyielding idiom, etc. — rises 
 a state of miad for which American conditions are 
 responsible without necessarily being at fault. The 
 characteristic tendency of this mentality is to make 
 "America" a symbol of one's own failures and 
 unfulfilled desires. 
 
 The pivot around which this psychology turns is 
 the Canaan-complex — ^that perennial yearning for the 
 land where everything will be what it is not; the 
 longing for the tabula rasa, for the new start. The 
 fuller, the more differentiated the life the European 
 intellectual leaves behind when he comes to Am«ica 
 the more probably will he discern the mistakes of 
 that life, and the more certainly will he wish to 
 arrange matters differently in the "new world." 
 The intellectuals of the generation that attained 
 maturity on the eve of the war were afflicted with 
 the disease of aesthetic inertia — Stimmungsanarchie, 
 a clever German critic called it. For many who 
 diagnosed the trouble America stood as the symbol 
 of success and energy. What a man of this type 
 expected from America was not political democracy, 
 not even equal economic opportunity — ^he knew 
 enough of America to discount these catchwords; 
 
 116 
 
IMMIGRANT TYPES 
 
 but he hoped for a new milieu, free from the sophisti- 
 cations, the noblesse oblige, the hothouse atmosphere 
 of the old world. What he expected, in brief, was 
 the rebirth of personality in and by America. Now 
 the one thing the European intellectual is certain to 
 discover in America is that crossing the ocean does 
 not change a man; that a personality may develop, 
 expand, differentiate by the experience of America, 
 but it will not be reborn. Disappointment in America 
 is determined by the act of embarking for it; arrival 
 reveals the Promised Land as a delusion; the symbol 
 of new life turns into the symbol of discrepancy 
 between dream and reality. 
 
 But this disappointment is merely the negative 
 side of a rising new hope; the image of Canaan fades 
 out before the vision of the Golden Age. To the 
 disenchanted, intellectual Europe emerges in a roseate 
 mist of dreams and expectation. That Europe, 
 however, is not the actual Europe, not even pre-war 
 Europe; it is merely a reversed America. Whatever 
 one fails to find here is idealized into what was left 
 behind. For the central fact of the European intel- 
 lectual's discontent in America is the disparity of 
 his bases of comparison. He contrasts, not America 
 with Europe, but a nightmare of American reality 
 with a non-existent Eldorado which he calls Europe 
 — ^the Cosmopolis built with the brick of memory 
 and the mortar of hope. 
 
 By insisting that criticism of American cultural 
 conditions by European intellectuals be discounted 
 along the suggested lines, I do not mean to belittle 
 the value of such criticism. On the contrary, I 
 believe that its very real and distinctive merit is 
 brought into relief when due allowance has been 
 made for the subjective element in it, the inevitable 
 
 9 117 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 tendency of the critic unconsciously to paraphrase 
 his experience from the category pleasant-unpleasant 
 into the category superior-inferior, to rationalize 
 personal likes and dislikes into absolute standards 
 of value. I believe that the European intellectual 
 not only exercises a right, but discharges a very sub- 
 stantial duty by applying his native standards to a 
 fearless examination of American cultiu*. He may 
 be prone to exaggerate the value of his contribution, 
 and to expect special regard and compensation from 
 a public none too appreciative of intellectual achieve- 
 ment at the best; he may even develop — as did the 
 anonymous Polish author — a redeemer-complex and 
 establish a fixed relation between the recognition 
 meted out to him by Americans and tiie salvation 
 of the American soul. But this tendency is merely 
 the counterpart of the no less unreasonable assump- 
 tion of native Americans that foreigners owe a special 
 debt of gratitude to this coimtry for opportimities 
 accorded, as if Americans admitted foreigners and 
 provided them with jobs because they love them, 
 and not because they need them. By helping to 
 pierce the aes triplex of American self-complacency 
 and to battle that intolerance of dissent and that 
 glorification of buncombe which are the greatest 
 intellectual dangers of America the educated European 
 may perform a very real service, but he must not 
 forget that his contribution to the growth of American 
 culture is measured by the growth of his own per- 
 sonality.^ 
 
 ■ -> Statement of Eugene S. Bagger (Magyar intellectual) made at 
 our request (manuscript). 
 
VI 
 
 IMMIGEANT INSTITUTIONS 
 
 There is an obvious resemblance between 
 the behavior of a Russian fnir or a South 
 Slav zadruga (see documents 21, 22, 23, 
 p. 31) and Ihat of a pack, flock, or herd of 
 animals. In each case(there is some mech- 
 anism for securing unanimity^the thing 
 that makes all the sheep follow the leader 
 over the wall. In the animal it is instinctive, 
 predetermined in the nervous system. (In 
 the simple community there is, plus the 
 gregarious instinct, a process of defining 
 the situation by discussion (and the latter 
 element is of j^QurseTKe basis of the demo- 
 cratic^^ .^^^^ization of society^. Our dis- 
 cussion of the primary group organization 
 (Chapter II) and of the types of demorali- 
 zation in America: — ^some of the latter even 
 reaching insanity (see document 56, p. 72) — 
 show that the immigrant does not know 
 how to live except as member of a group. 
 
 The situation of the new immigrant would 
 be singularly helpless here if he did not find 
 some points of identity with his previous 
 
 119 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 life, and these he does in fact find among 
 those of his own group or nationality who 
 have preceded him. He almost always 
 comes to friends; frequently they have sent 
 him his ship ticket, and he boards with them 
 until he has found employment and "worked 
 back" the ship ticket. And the different 
 immigrant groups have formed spontane- 
 ously in America, organizations that repro- 
 duce to some extent the home society or 
 replace it with forms more adapted to the 
 needs of the immigrant here. These organ- 
 izations are not, in fact, pure heritages, but 
 the products of the immigrants' efforts to 
 adapt their heritages to American conditions. 
 The immigrant, therefore, comes to a society 
 of his own people, and this society, not 
 native American society, is the matrix which 
 gives him his first impression. The char- 
 acter of this society, as we shall see in more 
 detail later, is the primary influence in 
 determining the desire and capacity of the 
 immigrant to participate in American life, 
 ^he immigrant institutions are not to be 
 commended indiscriminately as means of 
 Americanization.' They are primarily de- 
 vices to make life go on with some success 
 and efficiency, and when they are more 
 than this they often represent the determi- 
 nation to be loyal to the old country rather 
 
 120 
 
IMMIGEANT INSTITUTIONS 
 
 than to America, but they are none the less 
 the point of first importance in any study 
 of the individual's transition from one cul- 
 tural world to another J 
 
 FIRST-AID INSTITtJTIONS 
 
 (There are, first of all, certain organizations 
 developed simply as business enterprise, 
 mainly by more instructed and sophisticated 
 members of the various immigrant groups, 
 to meet the practical needs of their country- 
 men. Among these are boarding houses, 
 banks, steamship agencies, labor and real- 
 estate agencies, the padrone system, etcj 
 The character of these organizations and 
 the abuses connected with them have often 
 been described,* and we have given examples 
 of the abuses in documents 47 (p. 56) and 
 59 (p. 77). The more important point, 
 however, is not the abuses, but the fact that 
 the immigrant must have this aid. These 
 organizations are a practical solution which 
 he must accept; they are the only organi- 
 zation of forces within his reach. The 
 great American banks and steamship agencies 
 are not adapted to his needs. The Jewish 
 woman in New York buys a steamship ticket 
 
 'Grace Abbott, The Immigrant and the Community, and 
 Reports qftheU.S. Immigration Commission, vol. zxxvii. 
 
 121 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 for her sister in Russia from a ticket peddler, 
 who collects fifty cents a week; the Polish 
 laborer deposits his money with the saloon 
 keeper; and this peddler or saloon keeper 
 will eventually become a , joint steamship 
 agent, banker, employment agent, real-estate 
 agent, etc., and may perhaps start a news- 
 paper, or form a coalition with one, to pro- 
 mote his schemes. 
 
 86. Strange as it may seem, its very equipment 
 prevents the American bank from entering into a 
 fair competition with the immigrant banker. A 
 Slovak immigrant banker, in apologizing somewhat 
 for the appearance of his banking room, stated that 
 it was necessarily ill kept because the men would 
 come in in their working clothes, often covered with 
 mud, frequently intoxicated, which, together with 
 smoking and spitting, kept the room in a constant 
 state of disorder. Such a condition would not be 
 tolerated by an American bank. Moreover, the 
 average immigrant feels a certain hesitancy in 
 entering in his working clothes a building of the 
 character of some city banks. This informant, who 
 had been a banker for nearly twenty years, stated 
 that he had often befen urged to move into more 
 pretentious quarters, but had refrained because he 
 knew he could not keep them clean except at the 
 cost of prestige and business. 
 
 These conditions, together with the inconvenient 
 hours maintained by local banks, prevent any wide- 
 spread patronage of them on the part of the 
 immigrant. . . . .' 
 
 ' Reports ofihe U. S. Immigration CommUaion, vol. xzzvii, p. 216. 
 122 
 
IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS 
 
 87. The proprietor's ability to perform the 
 services required comes primarily from his intimate 
 knowledge of foreign conditions, places, languages, 
 and names. His banking hours are made convenient, 
 and in the ignorance and dependence cif the immigrant 
 he is looked upon as the safest depository and quickest 
 means of transmission. Moreover, his position is 
 greatly enhanced by racial and sectional prejudices, 
 which are not infrequently encouraged and fostered 
 by the banker to that very end. His business is 
 usually confined to his countrymen or members of 
 aUied races. The Sicihan Italians, for example, are 
 divided into five or six groups based upon provincial 
 boundary lines, and a system of mutual patronage 
 has sprung up among the members of each group.^ 
 
 88. Those proprietors, who confine their operations 
 to bank and steamship agencies, as distinguished 
 from those who conduct such in connection with 
 some otheif business, are usually the most intelligent 
 men of the immigration population of any colony or 
 locaUty. They are always possessed of considerable 
 influence, and may be political leaders in the older 
 and more estabhshed immigrant communities. . . . 
 
 Hundreds of saloon keepers and grocers act as 
 bankers without the least fitness or equipment. 
 It is true that they become bankers only as individuals 
 through the fortunate chance of their position as 
 merchants. . . ,* 
 
 89. The most serious charge that is brought 
 against such a coaUtion of bankers and newspapers 
 is that by constant appeal to the prejudice and 
 patriotism of the immigrant his Americanization is 
 not only retarded, but deliberately combated, in 
 
 ' Reports of U. S. Immigration Commission, vol. xxxvii, p. 218. 
 »i6ui., 213. 
 
 123 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 order that he may be held as a source of income to 
 those whom he trusts. An instance in point is the 
 case of a certain Slovak banker, an ex-student of 
 theology, who operates a large, handsomely furnished 
 establishment, with two branch houses. This banker 
 is a national and reUgious leader among his people, 
 having organized and headed a national Slovak society 
 in this country. He issues a daily, a weekly, a 
 humanistic monthly, a yearly almanac, and from 
 time to time other publications. Although he has 
 renounced allegiance to Hungary, severed all political 
 ties with that coimtry, and become an American 
 citizen, he does not advise his Slovak countrymen 
 to do the same, but instead preaches in all his publi- 
 cations a militant and enthusiastic "Pan-Slovakism." 
 So long as the Slovaks remain Slovaks and can be 
 filled with Slovak patriotism and enthusiasm by 
 such agitation, just so long will they remain a source 
 of profit to the banker. Prior to the recent industrial 
 depression this man was accustomed to transmit 
 abroad, on behalf of his patrons, from $2,000,000 to 
 $2,500,000 annually and to sell 6,000 steamship 
 tickets per year.^ 
 
 MUTUAL AID AND BENEFIT SOCIETIES 
 
 '(There is evidence * showing that back of the 
 lamilial and communal solidarity of the 
 European peasant is the fear of death and 
 of its attendants and prelimiiiaries — hunger, 
 cold, darkness, sickness, solitude, and "mis- 
 
 ' Reports o/ U. 8. ImmigrcOion Commission, vol. xxxvii, p. 289. 
 'Thomas and Znaniecki, The Polisk PtaaanU Introduction to 
 vol. i. 
 
 124 
 
IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS 
 
 ery.y The peasant is strangely indifferent 
 to death, but he fears any irregular features — 
 suddenness, inappropriateness. He wants 
 to die decently, ceremonially, and socially. 
 Since a man's death is usually the most 
 conspicuous incident in his life, attracting 
 the universal attention and interest of the 
 group, since it is the occasion of judgments 
 and speculations on the status of the family — 
 whether they are thereby impoverished, 
 whether they are rich — death and burial are 
 not only the occasion of the natural idealiza- 
 tion of the dead, but a means of securing 
 recognition. /Immigrant families are noto- 
 rious for lavish expenditure on funeralsA 
 
 90. . . . Now I inform you, dearest parents, and 
 you, my brothers, that Konstanty, your son, dearest 
 parents, and your brother and mine, my brothers, 
 is no longer aUve. It killed him in the foimdry, it 
 tore him in eight parts, it tore his head away and 
 crushed his chest to a mass and broke his arms. But 
 I beg you, dear parents, don't weep and don't grieve, 
 God willed it so and did it so. It killed him on 
 April 20th, in the morning, and he was buried on 
 April 22d. He was buried beautifully. His fimeral 
 cost $225, the casket $60. Now when we "win some 
 Imoney] by law from the Company we will buy a 
 place and transfer him, that he may lie quietly. We 
 will surroxmd him with a fence and put a cross, 
 stone, or iron upon his grave. For his work let him 
 at least lie quietly in his own place.' 
 
 * Thomas and Znaniecki, The Polish Peasant, vol. ii, p. 263. 
 125 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 Out of this sentiment grows the mutual- 
 aid society,. with death, burial, and sickness 
 benefits. /The business institutions are 
 formed for the immigrant, but the mutuaJ- 
 aid society is organized by the immigrants. 
 It is the basic institution, out of which grow 
 the numerous lodges, orders, and fraternal 
 organizations^ 
 
 ' The Jew was an immigTant in Europe before coming to America, 
 and consequently brings the tendency to mutual-aid organization 
 developed there: 
 
 "Very little is known outside of the pale of a peculiarly Jewish 
 organization among the artisans and their employees . . - the so- 
 called khevra, a word of Hebrew origin, meaning a company, an 
 association. To a certain extent the khevra as it exists to-day is 
 analogous to the artisans' guilds and journeymen's guilds of the 
 middle ages in western Europe. Its origin, however, must be 
 sought in the rites of the Jewish religion. Various Hebrew religious 
 functions must be observed in common. In fact, the prayers on 
 certain occasions must be held in the presence of at least ten 
 adults of the Jewish faith. Again, the main accessory of the 
 Hebrew devotional exercises — ^the torak (the Old Testament, 
 written in Hebrew on a long roll of parchment) — is too expensive 
 to be in the possession of any but the richest citizens of the com- 
 mtmity. Thus, organizations for the express purpose of praying 
 and of owning a torah sprang up; and it was easy for these organi- 
 zations to develop along trade lines, because of the natural leaning 
 of people of the same occupations toward one another. Gradually 
 charitable functions were added to the reUgious ones; but in the 
 beginning even the charitable acts had a religious basis, such as 
 the execution of the various ceremonies connected with the burying 
 of the dead members of the khevra. The members of the khevra 
 must not only accompany the body of the dead to its last resting 
 places but must also assemble daily during the entire month to 
 say the customary prayers. More important from the social- 
 economic point of view is the obligation to stay, in regular turn, 
 with the sick brother throughout the night if necessary. 
 
 "The transition from this service to a sick-benefit fimd is 
 natural. To make such financial assistance possible, a small 
 
 126 
 
IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS 
 
 ;' In addition, the more prosperous and 
 responsible members of the immigrant groups 
 who have the burden of providing for the 
 sick and burying the dead of the penniless 
 (for however loose the community ties, these 
 are occasions on which neighborly aid can- 
 not be denied) have evidently had an interest 
 in forming these provident organizations as 
 a matter of selZ-protection. The obligation 
 is not repudiated, but regulated. ^ 
 
 91. Father belonged to a society in which he 
 was an active member. The men often came to our 
 house to talk things over with him and he felt im- 
 portant and often offered our front room for com- 
 mittee meetings. Before they opened the meeting 
 they always assured mother that they would not 
 keep us up any later than ten o'clock. But when the 
 
 entrance fee and still smaller dues are provided, the first being 
 often as small as one ruble and tbe latter only four or five kopeck 
 or less per week. If this moderate income still leaves a surplus it 
 may be used in granting the members small loans without any in- 
 terest. This tendency toward mutual assistance leads to a 
 strong bond among the members of the khevra and teaches them 
 the advantages of co-operative activity along broader lines. . . . 
 
 "These social tendencies manifest themselves eloquently among 
 the mass of the Jewish workingmen even in this coimtry. The 
 large number of Jewish khevras, lodges, clubs, fraternities, brother- 
 hoods, and other organizations — ^frequently under American 
 names and with the introduction of various rites — that are pursuing 
 religious and partly charitable purposes, and often possessing 
 national organizations, are in reality only an outgrowth of the 
 primitive khevra. It was this habit of organization that the labor- 
 union propaganda found such fertile soil among the mass of the 
 Jewish workingmen in New York City." — I. M. Rubinow, 
 "Economic Condition of the Jews iu Russia," U. S, Bureau of 
 Labor, Bulletin 72, p. S30. 
 
 127 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 time came they were so deep in discussion that thejr 
 never even heard the clock strike the hour. I used to 
 sit down in the doorway of the kitchen and front room 
 from where I could see all their faces and Usten to their 
 heated arguments. Always it was a piece of burial 
 groimd that was the subject of discussion, and when 
 a member, or anyone belon^ng to his family, died, 
 whether the rest of the members should contribute an 
 extra dollar to cover burial expenses, and whether as 
 a society they should or should not employ a doctor 
 and pay him out of the society fund. At twelve 
 o'clock or even later they would at last break up 
 with the question of the burial ground and the extra 
 ddllar and the doctor still unsettled". . . .* 
 
 92. The Slovenians have many fraternal organi- 
 zations. The most important are: the Camiolian 
 Slovenian Catholic Union, organized in Joliet, 
 Ilhnois, April 2, 1894. It has 17,000 members, 
 capital to the amount of $650,000, and has paid 
 out $1,376,135.32 in benefits. The Slovenian Na- 
 tional Benefit Society was organized in 1904, and 
 has its headquarters at Chicago. Its capital is 
 $525,000; it has over 18,000 members and has paid 
 out in benefits $1,029,081. j It has 341 branches, 
 distributed in 27 states, and one in Canada. The 
 Slovenian Workingmen's Benefit Assodation was 
 founded August 16, 1908, in Johnstown, Pennsyl- 
 vania. Its assets on Jime 30, 1918, were $158,096.93, 
 of which $45,000 was invested in Liberty Bonds. It 
 has 146 branches, which include 7,299 adult members 
 and 4,500 junior members. It has paid out in bene- 
 fits $1,000,000. In Cleveland there are 6 branches 
 with a total of 605 members.' 
 
 I Rose Cohen. OtU of Ihe Shadow, p. 196. 
 ' E. E, Ledbetter, Study of the Jugo-Slav* (manuscript). 
 128 
 
IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS 
 
 93. The Italians of Chicago have 110 mutual- 
 aid societies, representing a population of about 
 150,000. As the names suggest, the membership is 
 generally from the same Italian province and fre- 
 quently from the same village. . , . The most popu- 
 lar .. . the Unione Siciliana, has 28 lodges. Sick 
 benefits in this order range from $8 to $12 per week, 
 and a death benefit of $1,000 is paid. The monthly 
 fees of these societies run from 30 to 60 cents. There 
 is also, in all societies, a death assessment, making 
 the average cost of membership from $12 to $15 per 
 year. . . . Funeral expenses ranging from $50 to $90 
 are paid, and every member makes a contribution of 
 $2 to the family of the dead member. During the 
 sickness of a member all other members are obliged 
 to visit and assist him if he lacks a family. . . . 
 All members are obliged to attend the funeral, under 
 penalty for absence. A band of musicians is always 
 OTOvided.' 
 
 94. ... The Jewish [fraternal] orders constitute 
 a valuable and important factor in our conununal 
 life. The interests of about a million Jews are in- 
 volved in their existence and welfare. . . . An 
 important phase is that the recipient of benefits 
 from the lodge or order does not lose his self-respect, 
 nor his standing in the organization, as is often the 
 case of recipients of public charity. . . . 
 
 The lodges of the various orders have been and 
 still are the most valuable schools through which 
 our immigrated Jews pass. Many have learned their 
 English at their lodge meetings. Others have ac- 
 quired there their knowledge of parliamentary 
 procedure and decorum at public meetings. Many 
 
 » P. O. Beck "The Italian in Chicago," in BuUetin of the Depart- 
 ment of Pvhlic Welfare, Chicago, p. 23. 
 
 129 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 of our best-known public men and speakers have 
 begun their careers modestly, in filling an o£Sce 
 in their lodge or joining the debates at the meetings. 
 Li fact most of our people gain their connection 
 with and knowledge of American Jewish acti\dties, 
 and take an interest in the same, through their 
 affiliation with the Jewish fraternal orders. . . . 
 For organizing, molding and interesting large masses 
 of Jews in the large Jewish problems, they have been 
 fomad the best means.^ 
 
 /^5. The prefectural societies [composed of those 
 from the same province in Japan] are very numerous. 
 Of 344 men from whom personal data were obtained 99 
 had membership in these organizations, the societies of 
 27 different prefectures being represented among them. 
 The societies indicate the strength of the localities 
 among the Japanese. They serve as centers of social 
 life and give assistance to those who are in need. 
 
 The Japanese Benevolent Society was organized 
 in 1901. Its object was to make more complete 
 provisions for the care of the sick, injured, and 
 unfortunate than had been made by the several 
 missions, the Japanese Association, the ptefectund 
 societies, and trade associations. . . . This does not 
 indicate the importance of its work, however. . . . 
 One of the more important branches of its work 
 lies in securing reduced rates from the steamship 
 companies for those who are sick or in need, in order 
 that they may return to Japan. As a result of the 
 efforts of this society and of the other institutions to 
 which reference has been made, no Japanese become 
 public charges in Sap Francisco.^ 
 
 ' Leo Wolfson, Jewish Communal Register of New York CHn 
 (1917-18), p. 8fi9. 
 • Reports of U. S. Immigration Commission, vol. xxiii, p. 220. 
 130 
 
\ IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS 
 
 \96. The six [Chinese] companies . . . are com- 
 mercial guilds. The people from different sections 
 belong to their several companies, analogous to the 
 Hibernian, Saint Andrew's, Slavonian, Italian, Ger- 
 mai^, or New England societies. These societies 
 have their by-laws, their presidents, secretaries, 
 treasjurers, interpreters, etc. These officers are 
 chos6n by ballot every year and receive their salaries. 
 They are for mutual aid. For certain benefits which 
 are extended to the members they are willing to pay 
 the dues and taxes imposed. The officers of these 
 companies, together with prominent men among the 
 merchants and others connected with the companies, 
 are called together to deliberate and advise on 
 occasions of important events, such as a murder, 
 a riot in the mines or anywhere, a quarrel between 
 members of different companies, the failure of some 
 Chinese firm, or threatened persecutions, or any 
 impending danger, or to make arrangements to 
 receive and do honor to any dignitary. These 
 meetings are simply advisory. They act often as 
 arbitrators in difficulties, so as to prevent their 
 people, if possible, from going to law; or when their 
 coimtrymen have been robbed or murdered in the 
 mines they take steps to procure through the govern- 
 ment officers the apprehension and prosecution of 
 the offenders. 
 
 Some of the companies in early Californian times 
 built and supported hospitals for their countrymen. 
 An old building down on what was called Washer- 
 woman's Bay was built and supported by the Chinese 
 for a hospital in early times. These companies do 
 not import coolies; they are not immigrant as- 
 sociations; they are not civil or criminal courts to 
 try and execute offenders; nor are they secret 
 
 131 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPL^TED / 
 
 iteruer> 
 
 combinations for the purpose of subverting orpnt 
 ing with the course of justice in the countries' to 
 which their people go to sojourn. ... f 
 
 One advantage in remaining connected with /the 
 six companies, which has weight with most o£ the 
 Chinese here, is that their bones, wherever buried, 
 will be gathered up and returned to China, ^d a 
 portion of the dues to each company is foif this 
 purpose. . . . Another of the benefits of these com- 
 panies (in the minds of Chinamen who are in busi- 
 ness) is that they help in the collection of debts, 
 or rather oppose barriers to the absconding of debtors. 
 These companies have an arrangement with the 
 different shipping houses by which no Chinamen 
 can get his ticket for his passage unless he brings a 
 stamped permit from his company. If a Chinaman 
 is known to be insolvent, or if there are suspicions 
 that he desires to defraud his creditors, or if a telegram 
 comes from aooy part of the country saying, "Stop 
 such a man," he will be hindered from going until 
 the case has been investigated and satisfactory 
 arrangements have been made.* 
 
 NATIONALISTIC ORGANIZATIONS 
 
 All the immigrant groups have societies of 
 the character just shown, and the more 
 formal, nation-wide societies are usually 
 made up of these. / Nationalistic organiza- 
 tions are readily foiWed by combining these 
 local units into a city-wide and, eventually, 
 a country-wide organization. ] Thus the Sons 
 
 ' V. S, Inthulrud Commumon, Report for 1901, vol. zr, p. 446, 
 (testimony of A. W. Loomis). 
 
 132 
 
IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS 
 
 of Italy, the most powerful Italian organiza- 
 tion in the United States, which has a mem- 
 bership of 125,000, and 887 lodges in 24 
 states, is a congeries of benefit and insurance 
 societies, but its object is also: 
 
 97. To unite fraternally all white males and 
 females of Italian descent residing in the several 
 states of the United States of America ... in one 
 family, without regard to religious, philosophic, or 
 political faith or belief. . . . 
 
 To assist with all its vigor and strength the indi- 
 vidual members at all times and to aid any of their 
 relatives in the event of difficulty in obtaining entry 
 into the United States as immigrants, or in case of 
 other distress or difficulty. 
 
 To aid in maintaining alive the patriotic spirit 
 and love for the fatherland, by the observance of 
 such hoUdays as Columbus Day, by providing means 
 for the diffusion of the Italian language, and by 
 adopting the same as the official language at all 
 meetings of this order.^ 
 
 Similarly, the Polish National Alliance is 
 an insiu-ance company and at the same time 
 the largest Polish nationalistic organization, 
 with about 1,700 branches and a member- 
 ship of about 130,000. (See Map 1, on 
 p. 134). It was founded in Philadelphia, 
 in 1880, as a direct response to the following 
 letter, and up to the present has worked in 
 the spirit of this letter: 
 
 'Prom the "Certificate of Incorporation" of the Sons of Italy 
 (1905). 
 
 10 133 
 
i 
 
 Q 
 
 00 
 as 
 
 ! 
 
 & 
 
IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS 
 
 98. Since emigration exists and constitutes a 
 great power — a fact which cannot be denied — ^it 
 should be the task of a well-understood patriotism 
 to make it as useful as possible for the national 
 cause. This can be done only through organization, 
 which will unify the scattered members and control 
 them in such a way that they will not be wasted 
 but will be preserved for the fatherland. . . . 
 
 Every Polish peasant, from whatever Polish 
 province he comes, even from one of those which, 
 like upper Silesia or East Prussia, have been for a 
 long time separated from the national body, when 
 transferred tp a strange soil among foreigners de- 
 velops a Polish sentiment and a consciousness of his 
 national character. This phenomenon is incompre- 
 hensible for those who saw the peasant at home 
 without a consciousness of national duties. And 
 yet it is quite natural. National consciousness 
 originates, in him spontaneously in a foreign coun- 
 try in consequence of the feeling of the striking 
 difference between his speech, his customs, his 
 conceptions, from those of the people who surround 
 him. . . . 
 
 If, after the formation of a conception and senti- 
 ment of nationaUty in him, there is some one capable 
 of explaining to him the meaning of this national 
 character and of making him understand the duties 
 resulting from this character, then this plain man, 
 formerly ignorant and passive for the national cause, 
 will become an individual consciously and actively 
 serving the idea which rests upon nationality. . . . 
 There is, therefore, no doubt that if a national 
 intellectual class is formed in America the numerous 
 masses can and must be changed into an active ' 
 
 135 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 human group useful for the national cause; and in 
 order to give them the possibiUty of becoming useful 
 and at the same time surround them with conditions 
 which will prevent them from losing their nationality, 
 it is indispensable to unite the isolated individuals 
 into more or less numerous associations and com- 
 munities and bind these together in such a way 
 that the resulting organization, while serving the 
 purposes of the Pohsh cause, will be not only useful, 
 but indispensable for the private interests of every 
 one of its members. . . . 
 
 When the mass of Poles in America is morally 
 and nationally raised by the fact of being unified 
 and is economically prosperous — ^which should be 
 also one of the tasks of the organization — ^it will 
 render great services to Poland, even by the mere 
 fact of representing the Polish name well in America. 
 These services can gradually become very consider- 
 able, when the Poles begin to exercise an influence 
 upon the pubUc life of the United States, when they 
 spread among Americans adequate conceptions about 
 the PoUsh cause and information about the history, 
 Uterature, and art of our nation, when finally thqr 
 become intermediaries between Poland and the 
 powerful RepubUc so as to foster sympathy with 
 our efforts for Uberation and develop it into an 
 enthusiasm which will express itself in action. 
 
 Then only can happen that which is most de- 
 sirable — i.e., the emigrants who have acquired 
 training in practical lines and wealth in America 
 will begin to return to their fatherland to be useful 
 citizens. . . . We do not need to put forward those 
 benefits which a large organization of Poles in America 
 could bring at the decisive moment when the future 
 
 136 
 
IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS 
 
 of our fatherland will be at stake, for this is easy 
 to see. ' 
 
 (.Another Polish nationalistic organization 
 composed more exclusively of intellectuals, 
 is the Alliance of Polish Socialists. Like 
 the Polish National Alliance, it has worked, 
 up to the present, mainly to establish a 
 Pohsh nation in America as a substitute 
 and center of influence for a Polish state in 
 Europe. The Polish socialists, however, have 
 had more definitely the program of preparing 
 in America leaders for Poland when her 
 "day" should come^ This principle was 
 formulated, for instance, in a letter of Kozak- 
 iewicz, one of the founders of the Alliance, 
 which was read and indorsed at the general 
 meeting of delegates in 1917: 
 
 99. "In view of our weak direct participation in 
 the political life of this country ... we should 
 direct all our work to the aim of training active, 
 independently thinking socialists, educated men, and 
 conscious citizens, ready to sacrifice themselves for 
 our idea. . . . Let us form men everyone of whom 
 will be able in any locality, without help, spontane- 
 ously to create and — more than this — to lead an 
 organization." The ultimate aim has been up to 
 
 * Extract from a letter from Agaton Giller, former member of 
 the Polish national government of 1863, written in 1879 from 
 Rapperwil, Switzerland, to the Gazeta Polska of Chicago. Re- 
 printed in Stanislaw Osada, History of the Polish National Alliance 
 (in Polish), p. 102. 
 
 137 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 the present, as we have seen above, realization of 
 the socialistic ideal in Poland rather than in America. 
 When the time comes for our companions to return 
 to Poland, may we be able to say with pride, "These 
 are men from the American school, trained by the 
 Polish organizations." ^ 
 
 I While among some of the immigrant 
 groups (the Poles, for example) interest in 
 the nationalistic movement has tended to 
 dominate all other interes^ the Zionism 
 of the Jews is merely one expression of the 
 general organization and growing self-con- 
 sciousness of this group: 
 
 100. The nationalist Jew ... is the product of 
 two historic movements. The HaskaUah (enhghten- 
 ment) movement in Russia during the middle of the 
 last century caused many Jewish students to forsake 
 the Talmudical halls of learning and ... to devote 
 their energies to the creation of a new literature in 
 Hebrew, expressive of the facts of modem life and of 
 the new orientation of the Jews in the modem world. 
 The ideal of this movement, the Haskil (the en- 
 lightened), is one who is acquainted with science, 
 literatiue, and art, and who knows thoroughly the 
 literature of his people, both ancient and modem, 
 even to the extent of being able to contribute to 
 it. With the Haakallah movement another force 
 combined in creating the nationalist Jew. This force 
 was Zionism. Modern Zionism originated in Russia 
 as a "Love of Palestine" movement, and spread 
 
 ' FlorUn Znoniecki, Study cf Polith OrganiMatioiu in America 
 (manuscript). 
 
 138 
 
BOflGRANT INSTITUTIONS 
 
 throughout the world under the leadership of Dr, 
 Theodore Herzl. ... It is simply a modern formu- 
 lation of the age-long yearning of the Jew for Zion. 
 It looks to the establishment of a "publicity secured, 
 legally assured homeland. for the Jews in Palestine," 
 and to the "fost^ing of Jewish consciousness through- 
 out the world." ^ 
 
 /Similar motives — the desire to serve the 
 mother country in and from America — 
 havie inspired the representatives of other 
 "oppressed and dependent" European and 
 Asiatic nationalitiesVsee documents 71, 72, 
 73, p. 98). (The Chinese nationahstic activ- 
 ities, for example, are carried on largely by 
 imiversity students and commercial clubs, 
 and have the sympathy and participation 
 of American friends of China^ 
 
 The Japanese Association of America is 
 nationalistic only in Ihe sense that it regu- 
 lates the life of the Japanese in America and 
 promotes their eflficiency. It is really a 
 bureau of information both for the home 
 government and for the Japanese in America. 
 It advises the Japanese government as to 
 the policy to be pursued, how many and 
 what kind of Japanese shall be permitted to 
 come, whether tie practice of sending "pic- 
 ture brides" leads to disorder, and so forth. 
 (See document 109, p. 169.) 
 
 ' Alescander M. Duskin, Jewish Education in New York CUy, p. 
 36. 
 
 139 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 There is in America a body of about 
 1,100,000 French Canadians, settled mainly 
 in the New England states, who are carrying 
 on a struggle for the perpetuation of their 
 culture along the same lines as the French 
 in Canada. As a consequence our New 
 England mill towns have the French lan- 
 guage, French parishes and parochial schools, 
 French nationalistic societies {St. Jean de 
 Baptiste d'AmSrique, Canado-AmSrican), and 
 a French nationalist press. (See Map 2, 
 on p. 141.) 
 
 101. The French Canadians of Quebec have 
 increased in population from 60,000 in 1763 to 
 3,000,000 scattered through the United States and 
 Canada. Wherever in New England these have 
 settled in numbers, that community is gradually 
 ceasing to be English. Lewiston, Maine, is an 
 example which has not only ceased to be a "Yankee" 
 city and is losing its American characteristics, but is 
 gradually assuming a French aspect. The parish 
 with its organizations has successfully prevented its 
 parishioners from coming under native influences and 
 is driving the English language from the business sec- 
 tions. . . . The French Canadian population of Bidde- 
 ford is nearly 70 per cent. . . . This population is 
 fairly well distributed over the whole city. A Yankee 
 section exists rather than a French section. . . . 
 Three thousand young French Americans are annually 
 sent to the colleges of French Canadian nationalism 
 in the province of Quebec. . . . Probably the most 
 important and most popular newspaper among the 
 New England Franco-Americans is La Presse, of 
 
 140 
 
s 
 ^ 
 
 I 
 
 s 
 
 ■s. 
 
 
 oo 
 
 <f»0 O 
 
 
 yot 
 
 1 ^*a« 
 
 vO_ O. 
 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 Montreal. . . . An exanunatlon of Who's Who in. 
 America fails to reveal the name of any one of the 
 110,000 Frenchmen of the state of Maine. * 
 
 Nevertheless, the Frencli Americans rec- 
 ognize that this is a transitory situation. 
 Some of their organizations — e.g., St. Jean 
 de Baptiste — ^have been obliged to allow 
 proceedings to be conducted in English to 
 prevent young people from joining American 
 sopieties. (See document 163, p. 290.) 
 
 I A number of elements enter into the 
 nationalistic sentiments of the immigrant: 
 (1) the idealization of home conditions, 
 natural in one who is absent; (2) the desire 
 to aid the struggle for self-determination 
 going on at home; (3) the desire to gain 
 recognition at home, preparatory to a retina; 
 (4) the wish to improve his status in the 
 eyes of the American public by improving 
 the status of the national group; (5) the 
 feeling of non-participation in American life 
 which leads to the attempt to create here a 
 situation in which he can participate. \ All 
 these sentiments stimidate participati(m in 
 public life, some of them participation in 
 American life. The form taken by the 
 movement in the different groups depends 
 on the character of their historical expe- 
 
 'H. L. Harper, The Preaek Canadiant of New England 
 (manuscript). 
 
 142 
 
IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS 
 
 riences. When, for example, the superior 
 member of a foreign group compares his 
 community with the larger American com- 
 munity, and particularly when he is humil- 
 iated in the latter/ because of his connection 
 with the former, he may wish to repudiate 
 his native group, try to lose the marks of 
 identification with it, because he is ashamed 
 of it. Thus, the cultured Italian may find 
 it impossible to identify himself with a 
 Sicilian group containing the caffone and 
 black-hand elements, and may avoid the 
 Italian group altogether. Similarly, the Jew 
 may wish to lose his identity as Jew because 
 of the popular prejudice against his race. 
 But this effort usually fails because the 
 individual cannot completely lose the marks 
 of identity with his native group; he is 
 betrayed by some sign — ^his speech or ges- 
 tures, or sentiments. He consequently finds 
 himself out of his old society without being 
 completely in a new one and in a painful 
 position — without recognition from any 
 group whatever. We find, therefore, that"" 
 the men who begin by deserting their groups 
 end by Attempting to improve the status of 
 these groups — seeking to make them some- 
 thing with which a man may be proud to-- 
 identify himself. ^The fact that the indi- 
 vidual will not be respected imless his group 
 
 143 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 is respected becomes thus, perhaps, the most 
 sincere source of the nationalistic movements 
 in America.\ To this extent the nationalistic 
 movements represent an effort to participate 
 in American life. 
 
 cni/ruitAL iNSTrrtrnoNS 
 
 P'here remain certain cultural institutions 
 of the immigrant, the press, the theater, the 
 school, the church,^tc. The press and the 
 school are treated m other volimies of this 
 series, and in Chapters VII ahd VIII we 
 mention these institutions, especially the 
 church and synagogue, in characterizing 
 the immigrant community. 
 
VII 
 
 THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 The community comprised of a number of 
 families is the simplest form which society 
 has assumed in the universal struggle against 
 death. fAU the primary human needs can 
 be satisfied in the community 7)(Polish peas- 
 ant communities, before 1860, . lived as 
 practically self-sufficient groups) They 
 knew by report that there was a great world, 
 and they had some relations with it, through 
 Jews and manor owners; they had a priest 
 and the religioue-magical traditions of 
 Christendom. But practically the extent 
 of their world was the "okolica," "the 
 neighborhood round about," and their defini- 
 tion of this Was, "as far as a man is talked 
 about." {Their life was culturally poor, and 
 they showed no tendency either to progress 
 or to retrograde, but they lived^ The peasant 
 did not know he was a Pole; he even denied 
 it. The lord was a Pole; he was a peasant. 
 We have records showing that members of 
 
 145 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 other immigrant groups realize first in Amer- 
 ica that they are members of a nationality: 
 "I had never realized I was an Albanian imtil 
 my brother came from America in 1909. He 
 belonged to an Albanian society over here." ^ 
 The immigrants here tend to reproduce 
 spontaneously the home community and to 
 live in it. Letters show that they frequently 
 reply to inquiries from home for a descrip- 
 tion of America, "I have not yet been able 
 to see America." There are immigrants 
 on the lower East Side of New York who 
 have been here for twenty years and have 
 never been up town. Even the intellectual 
 immigrants feel painfuUy the f ailiu-e to meet 
 cultivated Americans. (See document 33, 
 p. 46.) 
 
 TH£ ITALIANS 
 
 lAmong the more important immigrant groups 
 Xhe Italians show perhaps the strongest wish 
 to remain in solitary communities.^ They 
 settle here by villages and even by streets, 
 neighbors in Italy tending to become neigh- 
 bors here. Map 3 shows the concentration 
 of immigrants from different Italian provinces 
 and Sicilian towns in a section of lower 
 New York. 
 
 > Menas Laukas, lAfe History, recorded by Winifred Bauschen- 
 busch (manuscript). 
 
 146 
 
^H^N 
 
 ST. 
 
 SPRING 
 
 ITALIAN PROVINCES 
 
 ^M NAPLES 
 ^1 CALABRIA 
 IH BASILICATA 
 taSlABRUZZi 
 
 IHapuglia 
 
 SICILY 
 
 SICILIAN TOWNS 
 
 •PALERMO 
 
 •siacca 
 •girgenti 
 
 • MESSINA 
 
 CANAL 
 
 Map 3. — Bowery Colony of Itauans Showing Settlements 
 According to Native Provinces and Towns 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 The colony, from the village of Cinisi, 
 Sicily, in the vicinity of East Sixty-ninth 
 Street and Avenue A, New York, may be 
 taken as typical. There are more than 200 
 families at this point, aind there are other 
 groups' from Cinisi in Brooklyn, Harlem, 
 and on Bleecker Street. (See Map 10, p. 242.) 
 
 102. v^he colony is held together by the force of 
 iCustom.\ -People do exactly as they did in Cinisi. 
 Iji some' one varies, he or she will be criticized. If 
 many vary — ^then that will become the custon^ It 
 is by the group, collectively, that they progress. 
 They do not wish the members of the colony to 
 improve their economic conditions or to withdraw. 
 If a woman is able to buy a fine dress, they say: 
 "Look at that vUlana [serf]! In the old country she 
 used to carry baskets of tomatoes on her head and 
 now she carries a hat on it." "Gee! look at the 
 daughter of so and so. In Cinisi she worked in the 
 field and sunburnt her black. Here she dares to carry 
 a parasol./' 
 
 So strong is this influence that people hesitate to 
 wear anything except what was customary in Cinisi. 
 Everywhere there is fear of being "sparlata" — 
 talked badly of. A woman bought a pair of silk 
 stockings and the neighbors talked so much about 
 her that her husband ordered her to take them 
 off. ... To dress poorly is criticized and to dress 
 sportily is criticized. In this way one had to conform 
 orjbe ostracized. 
 
 ■^A number of families moved from the central 
 group of Brooklyn. There they have combined 
 and rent a whole two-story house. They are living 
 
 147 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 better than those in the other groups and I often 
 hear the East Sixty-ninth Street people say: "Look 
 at those paesani in Brooklyn. When they were 
 here they were in financial straits. One of them 
 had to flee from the criticism here. He did not have 
 the money to pay his moving van and crowded all 
 his furniture into a small one-horse wagon. He 
 even put his wife on to save car fare. He left a 
 pile of debts and now he dares come around here with 
 a horse and buggy." 
 
 If a wife is spied by another Cinisaro talking to a 
 man who is known as a stranger — ^that is, who is 
 not a relative — ^she is gossiped about: she has the 
 latent willingness to become a prostitute. They say: 
 "So and so's wife was talking with an American. 
 Eh! She has the capacity to do wrong." 
 
 Nothing in the American women surprises them. 
 They have already made an unfavorable judgment. 
 My mother, for instance, was about to say that my 
 wife, who is an American, was an exception to the 
 rule, but when my wife went to Central Park with 
 the baby she said, "They are all alike." 
 
 The colony has no newspapers, except one woman 
 who is known as the "Giornale di SidLia," or the 
 "Journal of Sicily." She carries the news and 
 spreads it as soon as said. She has now gone to 
 Italy and the one who takes her place is a gossiper 
 who is known as a "too-too" — ^referring to the "toot- 
 ing" of a town-crier's horn. She is, moreover, ma- 
 licious, and gives a version of a story calculated to 
 produce ridicule. She not only talks about the 
 breakers of customs, but about tiiose who are finan- 
 cially low. To be financially low is looked down 
 upon, and the Oiomdle di Sidlia warns people to 
 look out for such and such a person, as he may ask 
 
 148 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 for a loan. To be willing to lend means that one 
 has accumulated money and thus the secret of the 
 lender is out. So this is the reason they refuse to 
 lend to one another and if one is down and out he 
 would rather get money from a Jew than from a 
 paesano. So deceptive are they as to their financial 
 standmg (partly through fear of blackmail) that 
 it is customary to figure out a Cinisarian's fortune 
 not by what he says, but by how many sons and 
 daughters are working. 
 
 Now and then some Cinisarian takes his chances 
 in the business world. He writes to his relatives in 
 Cinisi, has oil, wine, and figs, lemons, nuts, etc., 
 sent to him, and then he goes from house to house. 
 He does not enter in a business way, but goes to 
 visit some fanuly, talks about Cinisi, then informs 
 them that he has received some produce from the 
 home town. And sure enough, the people will say, 
 "You will let us get some, eh?" 
 
 "Of coiu*se. Tell your relatives. I can get all you 
 want." 
 
 In this way the business man makes his sales. 
 He progresses until he gets a place opened and then 
 come his worries. He must forever show that he is 
 poor, that he is barely making a living, for fear of 
 some attempt to extort money from him. 
 
 Not many men of the Cinisi group are in business 
 in New York, the reason being that one Cinisarian 
 will not compete with another in the same line of 
 business. 
 
 The central group is closely united and there is 
 Kttle possibility that they will adopt any customs of 
 the neighboring peoples, who are mostly Irish and 
 Bohemians. The Irishwomen are considered wives 
 of drunkards and, as all of the husband's salary 
 11 149 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 goes to the bartender, the wives are believed to earn 
 a living in prostituting themselves. The Bohemians 
 are Ubertines; the girls are free; and, moreover, 
 Bohemians and Hungarians are looked upon as 
 bastard peoples. 
 
 In the Cinisi colony there are no political parties. 
 The group has not been interested in citizenship. 
 Of 250, one or two were citizens before the war and 
 now all those who returned from the war are also 
 citizens. These young men sell their votes for 
 favors. The average Cinisaro, like all foreigners, 
 has the opinion that a vote means $5. The 
 Cinisaro knows of corruption at home. In Cinisi 
 there is very much of it. Money is raised to build 
 a water system for Cinisi year after year, and it gets 
 away without a water system coming in exchange. 
 
 The Cinisi group are more interestcsd in Cinisarian 
 politics than in American. They talk of the parties 
 of the artisans, of the gentlemen, of the vUlani, of the 
 hunters, in Cinisi. 
 
 Most of the Cinisari in the Sixty-ninth Street 
 group intend to return to Sicily. The town of Cinisi 
 is forever in their minds: "I wonder if I can get 
 back in time for the next crop?" — "I hope I can get 
 back in time for the festa " — " I hope I can reach Cinisi 
 in time to get a full stomach of Indian figs," etc. 
 They receive mail keeping them informed as to the 
 most minute details, and about all the gossip that 
 goes on in Cinisi in addition; they keep the home 
 town informed as to what is going on here. They 
 write home of people here who have transgressed 
 some custom: "So-and-so married an American 
 girl. The American girls are libertines. The boy 
 is very disobedient." "So-and-so who failed to 
 succeed at college in Palermo, is here. He has 
 
 IfiO 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 married a stranger" — ^that is, an Italian of another 
 town. In this way they blacken a man's name in 
 Cinisi, so that a bad reputation awaits him on his 
 return. 
 
 The reputation given them in Cinisi by report 
 from here means much to them, because they expect 
 to return. Whole families have the date fixed. 
 Those who express openly their intention of remaining 
 here are the young Americanized men. 
 
 When the festival of Santa Fara, the patron saint 
 of Cinisi, was planned (partly as a reproduction of 
 the home custom, partly as an expression of gratitude 
 to Santa Fara for the miracle of ending the war), 
 there was some opposition on the ground that all 
 funds should be sent to Cinisi for the festival there. 
 The festival was held (April 26 and 27, 1919), but 
 was so disappointing that it is said to have increased 
 the desire to return to Cinisi and see the original.^ 
 
 103. Until 1914 the Sicilian colony in Chicago 
 was an absolutely foreign community. The immi- 
 grants were mostly from villages near Palermo, 
 though nearly all of the Sicilian provinces are repre- 
 sented. The most important of the village groups 
 are those from Alta Villa Milicia, Bagheria Vicari, 
 Cimmina, Termini-Imarezi, Monreali, and the city 
 of Palermo. These groups retained their identity, 
 living together as far as possible, intermarrying and 
 celebrating the traditional feasts. Immigrants who 
 settled in Louisiana came up to join their village 
 colony. Those who had been leaders in Sicily retained 
 their power here and, having greater force and intelli- 
 gence, made contracts with local politicians, police 
 officials, labor agents, and real estate dealers, and 
 
 1 Gaspare Ciisumano, Study of the Colony of Cinisi in New York 
 City (manuscript). 
 
 151 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 became the go-betweens for their colony and the 
 outside-world labor agents. 
 
 Women continued to live as they had in Sicily, 
 never leWing their homes except to make ceremonial 
 visits or to attend mass. The presence of several 
 garment factories in the district made it possible 
 for them to earn by doing finishing at home. In 
 later years hundreds of women went into the garment 
 factories to work, some taking the street cars out 
 of the district; but they went to and from work in 
 groups, their shawls carefully wrapped about them. 
 
 In the entire district there was no food for sale 
 that was not distinctly foreign; it was impossible to 
 buy butter, American cheese, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, 
 green corn, etc., but in season artichokes, cactus fruit 
 {fichi d' India), pomegranates, cocozella, and various 
 herbs and greens never sold in other parts of town 
 were plentiful. There were no bookstores. Italian 
 newspapers had a Umited circulation, and the Chicago 
 daily papers were sold at only two transfer points 
 on the edge of the district. There were no evidences 
 of taste in dress or house decoration. This group 
 seemed to have had no folk music, but took great 
 pleasure in band concerts when spirited marches 
 and melodies from Verdi's operas were played. There 
 was no educational standard; the older people were 
 almost all illiterate; they accepted this as natural 
 and explained it by saying, "We are contadini, 
 and our heads are too thick to learn letters." Some 
 of the younger ones had had a little elementary 
 training, but with very few exceptions no one in the 
 colony had gone beyond the "guorto eUmentario." 
 Few had seen military service or learned trades 
 except, of course, the tailors, barbers, and shoemakers. 
 One heard of an occasional cabinet maker, harness 
 
 152 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 maker, solderer, carpenter, or mason, but none 
 followed his trade here, as the training did not fit 
 him to American methods. Many who had worked 
 in the orchards in Sicily found their way to South 
 Water Street and worked as truckers and fruit 
 packers and, becoming famiUar with the way produce 
 was handled, started their friends out as fruit and 
 vegetable peddlers, thus establishing a wholesale 
 business for themselves. Most of the men, however, 
 were sent by their leaders to the railroads and building 
 contractors as laborers. . . . 
 
 Individually, Sicilians seem to vary as much in 
 their manner and ideals as Americans, but as a 
 group they have certain very marked character- 
 istics — ^reserve, suspicion, susceptibility to gossip, 
 timidity, and the desire to "fa figura." Intense 
 family pride, however, is the outstanding character- 
 istic, and as the family unit not only includes those 
 related by blood, but those related by ritual bonds 
 as well (the commare and compare), and as inter- 
 marriage in the village groups is a common practice, 
 this family pride becomes really a clan pride. 
 
 The extent to which family loyalty goes is almost 
 beyond behef; no matter how disgraced or how 
 disgraceful a member may be, he is never cast o£E, 
 the unsuccessful are assisted, the selfish are indulged, 
 the erratic patiently born with. Old age is respected 
 and babies are objects of adoration. The seK-respect 
 of a man can be gauged by the number of his children, 
 and the women seem to accept the yearly bearing 
 of a child as a privilege. Both children and adults 
 seem satisfied with the social opportunities offered 
 Vithin the family itseM. The births, baptisms, 
 chrisms, betrothals, marriages, and deaths furnish 
 the occasion for ceremonial visits and festivities. 
 
 153 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 Traditional religious forms and superstitions are 
 observed on these occasions, but the church and the 
 priest seem adjuncts rather than the center of the 
 various rites. 
 
 The leaders of the village groups organize brother- 
 hoods for the purpose of perpetuating the feast of the 
 patron saint and to arrange the elaborate funerals 
 with which they honor the dead. The societies 
 meet each month, collect dues, have endless and 
 excited discussions over the petty business that is 
 transacted, with, however, most serious regard for 
 rules of order. Some of the fratellama have women's 
 auxiliaries, but they are directed entirely by the 
 men, and the women seem to have no voice in the 
 conduct of affairs; they pay dues and march in the 
 processions. The annual feast is the great event of 
 the year, exceeded in importance by Easter only. 
 The group responsible for a feast put up posters 
 annoimcing the day and the program, and through 
 committees arrange for all of the details of the 
 celebration; electric-light festoons are strung across 
 the streets, concessions for street booths are sold, 
 bands are hired, band stands are erected, and the 
 church is paid for a special mass and for the services 
 of the priest who leads the procession. The whole 
 community participates to some extent, but those 
 from the village whose patron is being honored 
 make the most elaborate preparation in their 
 homes. . . . Those who have been ill or suffered 
 physical injury during the year buy wax figures 
 of the part that was affected — legs, hands, breasts, 
 etc., to carry in procession; others cany long candles 
 with ribbon streamers to which money is affixed 
 by a member of the brotherhood who rides on the 
 shrine and exhorts the crowds to make theif offering. 
 
 154 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 The shrine is lowered to the street every hundred 
 feet or so and little children are undressed, their 
 clothes left as an oflfering, and they are lifted to 
 kiss the lips of the saint. Sometimes a blind or 
 lame child is carried about on the shrine in the hope 
 of a miraculous cure. The climax is the flight of the 
 angels. The shrine is set in the middle of the street 
 in front of the church, and two children, dressed as 
 angels and bearing armfuls of flowers, are lowered 
 by strong ropes so that they are suspended just 
 over the figure of the saint, where they sway while 
 chanting a long prayer. 
 
 The oflferings made during the most important 
 of these feasts amount to from four to six thousand 
 dollars. This money goes into the treasury of the 
 frateUanza and is used for the expense incurred by 
 the festa and for the death benefit. There are those 
 who say that tribute is paid to certain individuals as 
 well. 
 
 These feasts are not approved by the priest, and 
 people say that trouble is started by the jealousy 
 aroused when one village tries to outdo the other. 
 It certainly is true that at these Jestas there is often 
 a shooting. 
 
 The position of women in the Sicilian homes in 
 this district is hard to define. The general impression 
 is that women are slaves to their husbands, but 
 this is far from true except in the cases of very 
 ignorant and primitive types. The head of the 
 family takes the responsibiUty of protecting the 
 women and girls very seriously, and for this reason 
 women have little life outside their homes. It is a 
 mark of good breeding for a man to show "la gelosia" 
 regarding his wife and daughters, and it would 
 be a sign of disrespect to them if he did not guard 
 
 1^5 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 them carefully. Within the home, however, the wife 
 directs the household and it is not unusual for her 
 to take the lead in family affairs, such as the expendi- 
 tiu-e of money, plans for the children, or the choice 
 of friends. 
 
 When a girl reaches the age of twelve her freedom 
 comes to an end; she is considered old enough to 
 put away childish things. Until she is married she 
 is not supposed to have any interest outside her home 
 except school or work, and with these two exceptions 
 she is not supposed to be out of her mother's sight. 
 A family that fails to observe this rule is subject to 
 criticism. 
 
 A marriage is arranged by the parents as soon as a 
 suitable young man of their village presents himself. 
 The girl is not consulted and often does not even 
 know whom she is to marry until the matter is all 
 settled. After a girl is promised her fianc6 must 
 be consulted before she can go out, and she never 
 appears in public without her mother or father in 
 attendance. It has become the custom to have a 
 civil ceremony performed shortly after the betrothal. 
 This does not constitute a marriage and often it is 
 several months or even a year or two before the 
 actual marriage takes place. Meanwhile the engaged 
 couple meet only in the presence of their parents or 
 attend various family ceremonies together, always 
 suitably chaperoned. 
 
 Sometimes a girl is coveted by a man considered 
 undesirable by her parents, or by one who did not 
 know her before she was engaged. In such a case 
 the man may try to force his attentions on her in 
 the hope of attracting her in spite of her parents or 
 her promise. If she does not respond and will not 
 elope voluntarily, it is not imusual for him to try to 
 
 156 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 take her by force, either carrying her off himself or 
 getting his friends to kidnap her and bring her to 
 some secret place. When a girl becomes engaged 
 her family is on the lookout for just such occurrences, 
 and if they have any suspicion that she is being pur- 
 sued she is kept a prisoner until she is safely married. 
 If the man is known he is dealt with in no imcertain 
 way — ^told to stop or take the consequences. 
 
 If a girl permits herself to be kidnaped the affair 
 is usually ended with the blessings of all concerned, 
 though the jilted one sometimes ma,kes it necessary 
 for the couple to move to another part of town, at 
 least until he consoles himself with another wife. 
 If a girl is carried away entirely against her will 
 there may be bloodshed as a result. 
 
 Not all kidnapings occur in this way; often 
 impatient men, tiring of the long and ceremonious 
 period of betrothal and failing to persuade the 
 fiancee to elope, try to carry her away. A well-bred 
 girl will put up a good fight to escape, and if she 
 succeeds the engagement is broken; but if she is 
 forced to submit the family accept the situation and 
 aU is forgiven. There are, of course, many voluntary 
 elopements by young people who are attracted by 
 one another and who, because of family differences, 
 could never get the consent of their parents. 
 
 Seduction is an almost unheard-of thing among 
 the foreign people and in the few instances where a 
 girl has been wronged it has meant certain death to 
 her betrayer. Npt long ago a man seduced a young 
 girl and left town when he discovered that she was 
 pregnant. Her family moved from the district and 
 after a few months the man. Piazza, returned. The 
 girl's brothers met him and seemed friendly, so he 
 agreed to visit their new home. Shots were heard 
 
 157 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 by neighbors, and when the police arrived they 
 found Piazza and the girl's oldest brother dead. 
 The bodies were seated on opposite sides of the 
 table and it is supposed that both drew and fired 
 their revolvers simultaneously. 
 
 During the last four years there has been a great 
 change, the cqlony is slowly disintegrating, old 
 customs are giving way. Contacts with the outside 
 world, through work and school, have given boys and 
 girls a vision of freedom and new opportunity. Th^ 
 are goLug to night schools and making their friends 
 outside the old circle. They are out of patience 
 with the petty interests and quarrels of the older 
 group and refuse to have their lives ordered by their 
 parents, whom they know to be ignorant and in- 
 experienced. Families are not bemg broken up, the 
 deep affections still persist, and though the old 
 folks have misgivings, in their indulgent way they 
 are letting the new generation take the lead and 
 are proud of their progressive sons and daughters. 
 Young married couples are making their homes north 
 of the old district, within easy reach of their parents, 
 but away from the old associations. Evidences of re- 
 finement are seen in their homes and in their manner, 
 and their children are dressed and fed according to 
 most modem standards. ^ 
 
 u 
 
 JX appears from these statements: (1) 
 that the Sicilian heritages are so diflferent 
 from the American that the members of this 
 group feel no original interest in partici- 
 pating in American life; (2) that this dif- 
 
 ■ Marie Leavitt, Report on &t Sicilian Colony in Chicago 
 (manuscript). 
 
 158 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 ference is accepted in America as a natura 
 fact, somewhat as an outlying herd o: 
 animals would be accepted and toleratec 
 or exploited, without thought of its socia 
 incorporation; (3) that this solitary grouj 
 is almost as inaccessible to superior indi- 
 viduals of its own nationality who might b( 
 its leaders as to American influence (set 
 document 82, p. 104) ; and (4) that, never- 
 theless, the mass begins to dissolve anc 
 change, owing to informal contacts wit! 
 American life, made especially by the youngei 
 generation, and certainly largely througl 
 the public school, which is the one point a1 
 which contact is formal and inevitable. ) 
 
 
 THE CHINESE 
 
 The personality of the individual is always 
 "more impenetrable to the student than are 
 the institutions which represent him. J While 
 it is difficult, for example, to understand s 
 Chinese, there is nothing mysterious aboul 
 Chinese iastitutions. The more data we 
 secure on them, the more we are impressed 
 with their resemblance to our own. 
 
 The Chinese are pre-eminently a demo- 
 cratic and a village people. The differeni 
 provinces are only loosely bound to the 
 central government, and the people have 
 
 159 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 made many local alliances. (.There are in 
 China (1) about 450 clans, the general pur- 
 pose of which is defense against the central 
 government, mutual aid in business and 
 other affairs; (2) trade organizations, or 
 guilds, with objects similar to those in 
 Europe; (3) town and district councils, 
 resembling the peasant communes and town 
 councils of Europe and America.^ 
 
 In America the Chinese is even more help- 
 less than the European immigrant. He 
 finds more strangeness and prejudice, and 
 the Chinese do not bring their families, and 
 consequently cannot live in complete colonies. 
 The result is the formation of conununities 
 of men. The Six Companies and the various 
 tongs represent the form taken by the com- 
 munity when not based directly on the 
 family. The following document, if read 
 with reference to its provision and prohibi- 
 tions, illustrates the character which Chinese' 
 community life tends to assmne under these 
 conditions: 
 
 104. . . . People of the three districts of Heang- 
 shan, Tung-yuen, and Tsang-shing are required to 
 report themselves at the company's room; otherwise 
 the company will exercise no care for them in their 
 concerns. 
 
 The entrance fee shall be ten dollars; if not paid 
 within six months, interest will be expected. . . . 
 
 160 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 No fees will be required from those proved to be 
 invalids or from transient persons. . . . Disputes 
 will not be settled between persons who have not 
 paid the entrance fee. Members piuposing to return 
 to China must make the fact known to the agents, 
 when their accounts will be examined, and measures 
 will be taken to prevent it if the entrance fee or other 
 debts remain unpaid. Strangers to the agents of 
 the company must obtain security of persons who 
 will be responsible for their character and debts. 
 Members leaving clandestinely shall be liable to a 
 fine of fifty dollars; and the seciu-ity for a debt, for 
 helping one thus to abscond, shall be fined one 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 In the company's house there must be no conceal- 
 ment of stolen goods; no strangers brought to 
 lodge; no gunpowder or other combustible material; 
 no gambling; no drunkenness; no cooking (except 
 in the proper quarters); no burning of sacrificial 
 papers; no accumulation of baggage; no filth; no 
 bathing; no filching of oil; no heaps of rags and 
 trash; no wrangling and noise; no injury of the 
 property of the company; no goods belonging to 
 thieves; no slops of victuals. For the heavier of 
 these offenses complaint shall be made to the police 
 of the city; for the lighter, persons shall be expelled 
 from the company. Baggage will not be allowed to 
 remain longer than three years, when it must be 
 removed; nor more than one chest to each person. 
 
 Invalids that cannot labor, are poor and without 
 relatives, may be returned to China at the expense 
 of the company for their passage money; but pro- 
 visions and fuel and other expenses must be obtained 
 by subscriptions. Coffins may be furnished for 
 the poor, but of such a careful record shall be kept. 
 
 161 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 Quarrels and troubles about claims in the mines 
 should be referred to the company, where they shall 
 be duly considered. K any should refuse to abide 
 by the decision of the company, it will nevertheless 
 assist the injured and defend them from violence. 
 If, when foreigners do injury, a complaint is made 
 and the company exerts itself to have justice done 
 without avail, it ought to be submitted to. What- 
 ever is referred for settlement to the assembly of the 
 five companies conjointly, cannot be brought before 
 this company alone. 
 
 Where a man is killed a reward shall be offered 
 by the company for apprehension and trial, the 
 money being paid only when he shall have been 
 seized; the members of the company shall subscribe 
 each according to what is just. If more than the 
 anticipated amount is required, the friends of the 
 deceased shall make up the deficiency. Complaint 
 shall be made of offenders to the civil courts, and 
 proclamations for their arrest shall be placarded in 
 the principal towns; but anyone found guilty of 
 concealing them shall pay all the expenses to which 
 the company has been put. Difficulties with members 
 of other companies shall be reported to the agents 
 of this company, and, if justice demand, shall be 
 referred for the judgment of the five companies 
 conjointly. Offenses committed on shipboard, upon 
 the sea, shall be referred to the five companies 
 conjointly. Difficulties brought upon men by their 
 own vices and follies will not receive attention. 
 Thievery and receiving of stolen goods will not be 
 protected; nor will troubles in bawdy houses nor 
 those in gambling houses; nor debts to such; nor 
 extortions of secret associations; nor the quarrels of 
 
 such associations; nor those who are injured in 
 
 162 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 consequence of refusal to pay their licenses; nor 
 smuggling; nor any violation of American laws. 
 The company will not consider complaints from a 
 distance, of a doubtful character, or without suf- 
 ficient proof. No reply will be made to anonymous 
 letters, or those without date and a specification of 
 the true origin and nature of difficulties. Names 
 must be carefully given in aU complaints from the 
 interior. No payments of mOney will be made in the 
 settlement of cases where the rules of the company 
 are not complied with. Where the conduct of an 
 individual is such as to bring disgrace on the company 
 and upon his countrymen, he shall be expelled, and 
 a notice to that effect be placarded in each of the 
 five companies' houses; nor will the company be 
 responsible for any of his subsequent villainies, or 
 even make any investigation should he meet with 
 any violent death. Costs connected with the settle- 
 ment of disputes shall be borne by the party decided 
 to be in the wrong. In difficulties of a pressing and 
 important character in the mines a messenger shall 
 be sent thence, and a judicious person shall at once 
 accompany him to the place. In any quarrel where 
 men are killed or wounded the person who originated 
 it shall be held accountable. Any defensive weapons 
 belonging to the company shall be given to individuals 
 only after joint consultation, and the registry of 
 their names. Those requiring such weapons of 
 defense shall give security for their return. If any 
 shall take them on their own responsibility they shall 
 be held accountable for any consequences.* 
 
 105. The Chinaman only knows the company 
 
 , * Translation of portions of the rules of the Yeung-Wo VirKun 
 (one of the Chinese Six Companies) by E. B. Speer, "Democracy of 
 the Chinese," Harper's Magazine, vol. xxxvii, p. 845. 
 
 163 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 which brings him here. He does not know what 
 he could do. He looks to his company for the food 
 he eats when he lands here; he is taken care of by 
 them; he is sent to the country by them here and 
 there iu the reclamation of swamp and submerged 
 land.^ 
 
 In addition, the Chinese have fonned 
 various more intimate associations or tongs. 
 The word "long" means "a society," but 
 in China the term was restricted to the kin- 
 ship group. Here it has become a term of 
 general application. Thus the Hong Tuck 
 Tong is the cigar makers' union, the Hong 
 Wo Tong, the gold and silver workers' 
 union. vThree facts — (1) the absence of the 
 family as a factor in commimity life; (2) the 
 method of immigration (docmnent 105), 
 which is not arranged, in general, by cor- 
 respondence with relatives and friends 
 already in this country, and so does not 
 result in the formation of settlements here 
 based on kinship and acquaintance, as in 
 the case of the Einopean immigrants; and 
 (3) the lack of aU participation and prospect 
 of participation in American life — ^have con- 
 tributed to the formation of certain notorious 
 and positively antisocial Chinese associations J 
 Thus, the Hip Ye Tong and the Po Sang 
 
 ^ Testimony of Clinton Hastings, U. S. Industrial Commwion, 
 Report for 1901, vol. 3cv, p. 593. 
 
 164 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 Tong have been connected with gambling 
 and traffic in women, and the "highbinders," 
 the Chi Kung Tong, have A general resem- 
 blance to the Italian Black Hand. We see 
 here, as we shall see later in studying the 
 Black Hand activities, that when the atti- 
 tudes of a group are so far different from 
 ours that it is neither willing nor able to par- 
 ticipate in our society, its members tend to 
 become a predatory element. 
 
 106. In general the highbinders . , . exist on 
 blackmail, on pay for protecting gambling houses 
 and disreputable places in general. I know that 
 they take it upon themselves to try cases, to review 
 judgments of our courts with utter disregard for oiu* 
 laws. I know that they nullify oxu- decisions. For 
 instance, if an American court had rendered a de- 
 cision, they would intimidate the witnesses so that 
 when the cases go into a higher cpurt everything 
 woiJd be changed. They defy our courts by ways 
 and means of their own. I know that they impose 
 their own sentences upon offenders from their own 
 standpoint. They levy fines in some cases and 
 death in others. I know that they have in their 
 service paid men to do the killing, and so long have 
 they had this service that the men have a particular 
 name; they are called "hatchet men." I know 
 they control our judicial oaths; that they clan say 
 an oath shall or shall not be taken. I know them 
 as organized societies of crime. . . . They distribute 
 revolvers to their members . . . and I know they 
 use our courts, if necessary, to enforce their de- 
 cisions ... by laying a charge agaiast a certain 
 12 165 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLAJ>ITED 
 
 Chinaman and having our judge pronounce the 
 sentence. I know that these highbinders fiu-nish 
 witnesses for anything wanted at so much a head. 
 I have had cases in which men have come forward 
 to testify, and when the time came th^ were spirited 
 away. I know that the headquarters of these societies 
 are in San Francisco, but they have branches in 
 Canada. Speaking approximately, I would say that 
 there are as many as from 1,500 to S,000 highbinders 
 in San Francisco.' 
 
 107. To Lum Hip, salaried soldier: 
 
 It has been said that to plan schemes and devise 
 methods and to hold the seal is the work of the 
 literary class, while to oppose foes, fight battles, and 
 plant firm government is the work of the military. 
 
 Now, this tong appoints salaried soldiers, to be 
 ready to protect ourselves and assist others. This 
 is our object. 
 
 All, therefore, who undertake the military service 
 of this tong must obey orders and without orders 
 you must not dare to act. If any of our brethren 
 are suddenly molested, it will be necessary for you 
 to act with resolute will. 
 
 You shall always work to the interest of the tong and 
 never make your office a means of private revenge. 
 
 When orders are ^ven you shall advance valiantly 
 to your assigned task. Never shrink or turn your 
 back upon the battlefield. 
 
 When a ship arrives in port with prostitutes on 
 board and the grand master issues an order for you 
 to go down and receive them, you must be punctual 
 and use all your ability for the good of the common- 
 wealth [or state]. 
 
 'Testimony of J. Endicott Gardner, U. S. InduttrUd Com- 
 mUnon, Report for 1901, vol. rv, pp. 769-770. 
 
 106 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 If in the discharge of your duty you are slain, we 
 will undertake to pay $500 sympathy money to 
 your friends. 
 
 If you are wounded, a doctor will be engaged to 
 heal your wounds, and if you are laid up for any 
 length of time you will receive $10 per month. 
 
 If you are maimed for life and incapacitated for 
 work, $250 shall be paid to you and a subscription 
 taken to defray costs of your journey home to China. 
 
 This paper is given as proof, as word of mouth 
 may not be beUeved. 
 
 Furthermore, whenever you exert your strength 
 to kill or wound enemies of this long and in so doing 
 you are arrested and imprisoned, $100 a year shall be 
 paid to your friends during your imprisonment. 
 
 Dated 13th day of 5th month of 14th year of 
 Kwong Sui, Victoria, B. C. 
 
 (Seal of Ches Kong Tong).i 
 
 THE JAPANESE 
 
 The Japanese in America have been treated 
 by their home country as colonists here. 
 The Japanese Empire has the bureaucratic 
 type of efficiency, and the Japanese Associa- 
 tion in America, with its various branches, 
 is practically a department of the Japa* 
 nese government. The accompanying map 
 shows the cities in California having Japa- 
 nese associations. It acts as a bureau of 
 
 ' Letter of instructions to a highbinder, attached to the state- 
 ment of J. Endicott Gardner, U. S. Industrial Coirmission, Rejaort 
 for 1901, vol. XV, p. 771. 
 
 167 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 information for the Japanese immigrants, 
 registers and regulates them, and advises 
 the home government as to problems arising 
 
 o o 
 
 o 
 
 SACRAMENTOqO 
 
 OSTOCKTON. 
 
 OffSSW 
 
 
 Map 4. — Caufobnia Branches of the Japanese Association 
 
 here. (The Japanese are consequently the 
 most efficiently and completely organized 
 among the immigrant groupsA 
 
 168 / 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 108. The Japanese government has evinced an 
 unusual interest in the whereabouts and activities 
 of its subjects. The immigration companies developed 
 out of it; emigrants have been treated, it would 
 appear, almost as colonists. Certain obligations 
 were laid upon the emigration companies to care 
 for those emigrating through them, and under 
 certain circumstances to provide for their return to 
 the native land. Appeals to the government at home 
 have been frequent and the response has been quickly 
 made. The closeness of the relation between the 
 government and its subjects, and the sohcitude of 
 one for the rights and welfare of the other, have 
 been important in explaining the situation which 
 has developed in the West.^ 
 
 109. The Japanese Association was organized in 
 1900, at the time of the threatened outbreak of 
 bubonic plague, when the Japanese and Chinese, 
 being Asiatic races, were dealt with in a different 
 manner from other races. The organization was 
 effected to protect the "rights" of the Japanese. 
 When the crisfs due to the fear of bubonic plague 
 ended, the Japanese organization was continued in 
 existence, becjfiise of the strong anti-Japanese move- 
 ment which had sprung up in San Francisco. Upon 
 the renewal of this agitation in 1905 the association 
 was reorganized and extended its activity to the 
 entire state of California. Local associations were 
 soon organized in no fewer than thirty-three different 
 places. The general nature of the association is 
 indicated by these details relating to its organization 
 and reorganization. Its objects, as set forth in its 
 constitution, are: (1) to elevate the character of the 
 Japanese immigrants; (2) to promote association 
 
 ' H. A. Millis, The Japanese Problem in the United States, p. 249. 
 169 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 between Japanese and Americans; (3) to promote 
 commerce, agriculture, and other industries; and (4) 
 to further Japanese interests. The indefiniteness of 
 this shows the general and elastic character of the 
 association. It interests itself in whatever concerns 
 the Japanese. In addition to this, the association 
 has recently received recognition from the Japanese 
 consulate, and has become an administrative organ 
 of the consulate in issuing certificates of various 
 kinds and in related matters.* 
 
 110. In every community with which we are here 
 concerned the Japanese have been well organized 
 under so-called bosses. At Rialto four camps of 
 Japanese were found, numbering about 100 in alL 
 At Highgrove there were 110 under one boss. At 
 Riverside there were some 700 Japanese under 7 
 bosses, one of them controlling 160, another 174 
 men, at the time of the agent's visit. At Redlands 
 there were 175 Japanese in four camps. They were 
 similarly organized at Colton and various other 
 places. 
 
 The camps of Japanese are assembled by the boss 
 or contractor from Los Angeles's lodging houses, 
 Fresno, and other places where work is slack, and 
 are made available for any kind of work on the most 
 convenient terms. The offices are provided with 
 telephones, by means of which orders are taken. 
 Each day the required niunber of men is sent out 
 to fill such orders as were received the night before. 
 The ranch owner (and sometimes packer) pays the 
 contractor for the work done and is not put to the 
 inconvenience of paying each man employed as the 
 work is completed or his employment ends. In some 
 cases the employer receives at the end of the month 
 
 * Bejfort of the U. 8. Immigration Commisrion, vol. zziii. p. 220. 
 170 
 
THE EMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 a statement not unlike that submitted by a grocer 
 or butcher. 
 
 This organization is very convenient for the 
 small rancher, whose need for men varies greatly 
 from week to week or even from day to day, and in 
 the absence of which he must go to a village or else- 
 where to hire the number of men required. It goes 
 far in explaining the real preference ^ of the small 
 rancher or packer in many communities for Japanese 
 laborers. 
 
 Another advantage in employing Japanese is 
 that the majority of the pickers of that race own 
 bicycles, so that they can easily reach work at a 
 distance from their camps and can be transferred 
 from one grove to another at a distance with little 
 loss of time. The agent of the commission met 
 several gangs of about fifty Japanese, all riding 
 bicycles, in process of transfer from one place to 
 another a mile or more away. Very few white pickers 
 own bicycles, and so must walk to work or be provided 
 with transportation.* 
 
 In the cities of the Pacific Coast the organ- 
 ization of the Japanese communities is much 
 like that of an American conunimity, as is 
 indicated by document 111, showing the 
 organization of business in Seattle, and the 
 map shovidng the location of business and 
 residence quarters in San Francisco. (Map 
 5, on p. 172.) 
 
 111. (1) Forty public and social institutions (e.g., 
 Japanese Commercial Union, Tea Dealers Union, 
 
 ' Report of theU. S. Immigration Commission, vol. xxiv, p. 226. 
 171 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 12 Prefectural Societies); (2) 14 schoob and religious 
 organizations; (3) 13 newspapers and magazines j 
 (4) 5 banks; (5) 5 shipping corporations; (6) 40 
 
 Map S, — Location of Japanese Business in San Fbancibco - 
 
 trading companies; (7) 6 book dealers and printing 
 houses; (8) IS physicians and 1 hospital; (9) 8 
 dentists; (10) 11 midwives; (11) 6 masseurs; (12) 
 10 drug stores; (13) 18 contracting and commission 
 
 172 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 agencies; (14) 9 interpreting insurance and general 
 agencies; (15) 13 provision dealers; (16) 12 dealers 
 in watches and phonographs; (17) 9 photograph, 
 sign, artists' and sculptors' studios; (18) 5 manu- 
 facturers; (19) 22 general merchandise stores; (20) 
 7 ten-cent stores; (21) 31 tailors and dressmakers; 
 (22) 138 hotels; (23) 4 moving picture theaters; 
 (24) 40 grocers; (25) 33 fruit dealers; (26) 52 
 restaurants; (27) 22 shoe stores; (28) 5 furniture 
 stores; (29) 24 express and taxi offices; (30) 74 
 barbers, etc.^ 
 
 The map on page 174 shows the num- 
 ber and location of the Japanese cultural 
 institutions in San Francisco. The latter 
 include 27 provincial societies, 4 Buddhist 
 churches, 2 consulates, 4 branches of the 
 Japanese association, 1 manufacturers' asso- 
 ciation, 4 associations of business propri- 
 etors, 3 associations of agriculturists, 16 
 trade unions, 3 associations of professional 
 men, 18 schools, 8 clubs, 7 newspapers, 
 and the following branches of American 
 organizations: 11 religious organizations, 
 1 boy scouts, 2 women's patriotic societies.^ 
 
 (The thrift, cleanliness, quickness, sobriety, 
 industry, adaptability, eagerness to learn, 
 of the Japanese are everywhere recognized. 
 
 112. In all cities of the West with more than a 
 few hundred Japanese, there are schools the primary 
 
 • From the Japanese Directory of Seattle, Washington. 
 2 Japanese-American Direcbyry of San Francisco. 
 173 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 object of which is to teach adult Japanese the English 
 language. The number of these institutions and the 
 many Japanese who attended them at an earlier 
 
 , tYOW 
 
 f- 
 
 Map 6. — Organizations in the Japanese CoMMrmnT in 
 San Francisco 
 
 time when many immigrants were arriving, are the 
 best evidence of the ambition and eagerness of the 
 members of this race to learn Western civilization. 
 No adult immigrants in the West, unless it is the 
 
 174 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 Hebrews, show as great desire to learn the English 
 language.^ 
 
 113. Mr. came to this country eleven 
 
 years ago. Nine years ago he purchased a farm 
 and was joined by his wife and two small daughters. 
 He now owns a walnut and fig ranch of thirty-six 
 acres, which was bearing when he purchased it, and 
 leases a vineyard besides. He occupies a cottage 
 of five rooms; the house is In good repair, and it and 
 the premises are well kept. The floors are well 
 carpeted and as a part of the furnishings of the 
 living room are four leather-seated oak chairs and a 
 few weU-framed lithographed pictures — all American. 
 In the back parlor is a piano, and among the con- 
 veniences in the kitchen is found a standard washing 
 machine. The two daughters had just begun to take 
 music lessons from an American teacher. One of the 
 girls was in the eighth grade, the other in the sixth. 
 Both are thoroughly American in every respect save 
 that they are more gracious and more polite than 
 the average native child. Their Americanism had 
 extended even to Insisting upon having American 
 dolls with blond hair and blue eyes.* 
 
 (The efficiency of the Japanese is directly 
 connected with the type of organization at 
 home.) We have pointed out that they had 
 developed the principle of allegiance to an 
 extraordinary and even fantastic degree. 
 In the feudal period, for example, men com- 
 mitted suicide when the fortimes of their 
 political leaders fell, and at one time this 
 
 • Report ef U S. Immigration Commission, vol. xxiii, p. 163. 
 ' H. A. Millis, The Japanese Problem in Hie United States, p. 195. 
 175 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 practice became so prevalent that tne govern- 
 ment could counteract it only by decreeing 
 that the wife and children of a man commit- 
 ting harakiri should be crucified. In this con- 
 nection was developed that subordination of 
 the individual to authority and that capacity 
 for organized action which still dbtinguishes 
 the Japanese, particularly in war. At the 
 same time the treachery developed toward 
 enemies in their local wars was as extreme as 
 the allegiance within the group. There are 
 many incidents in the wars between the 
 Japanese clans which for treachery read like 
 chapters from the life of Caesar Borgia.^ 
 
 When, eventually, the isolation of the 
 Japanese was broken down and they entered 
 into commercial relations with the larger 
 world, they showed the same bad faith and 
 treachery in foreign business that they had 
 used toward their domestic enemies. If, 
 for example, a cargo of pig iron was ordered 
 from England by a Japanese firm and the 
 price of pig iron declined before the boat 
 landed, the firm refused to accept the ship- 
 ment. They had had none of that trading 
 experience which makes the Chinese so 
 notable for business integrity. 
 
 The Japanese displayed this same attitude 
 in their first American contacts: 
 
 ' See, e.g., Murdock and Yamagata, A History of Japan. 
 176 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 114. The Chinese are entirely honest in all con- 
 tractual relations. The confidence in them is so 
 great that they usually pay no rent until the crops 
 are harvested. The fruit-shipping houses frequently 
 make loans to them on their personal unsecured 
 notes. They do not abandon their leases. The 
 standing of the Japanese, on the other hand, is 
 much lower. They are usually required to pay a 
 part of the cash rent in advance, the loans made 
 by fruit shippers are secured by mortgages on the 
 crops, and the loans are limited in amount to the 
 value of the work done. In rather numerous cases 
 they have abandoned their leases, with the result 
 that in some instances there are two or more out- 
 standing leases for the same land covering the same 
 period, the land being Ijeased to new parties as 
 abandoned by others. 
 
 There is widespread complaint that the Japanese 
 are unsatisfactory in other respects. It is commonly 
 said that they neglect the orchards and teams 
 furnished them and that farms leased to them are 
 permitted to deteriorate rapidly. That there is 
 some foundation for these complaints is shown by 
 the very general preference shown for Chinese and 
 the fact that leases are made to them for less rent 
 than required of Japanese.^ 
 
 115. /The Mexicans were employed in thinning 
 along with the Japanese, and worked on the same 
 wage basis of so many cents per 1,000 feet, the 
 rate varying according to the difficulty of the work. 
 At first the Mexicans worked carefully and were 
 content to make $1.50 a day. The Japanese, on 
 the other hand, were able, by much less careful 
 work, to make from $2.50 to $3 per day under 
 
 ' Report of the U. S. Immigration Commission, vol. xxiv, p. 428. 
 177 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 advantageous conditions. The favor with which the 
 growers naturally regarded the Mexicans alarmed 
 the Japanese. ' Their leaders accordingly went to 
 the Mexicans, it is said, and told them that they 
 were f ooUsh to be so careful with their work, pointing 
 out the fact that they were maldng only $1.50 a 
 day, while the Japanese "boys" were maldng twice 
 as much. The Mexicans accepted the suggestion 
 and are now regarded in this community with as 
 little favor as the Japanese.* 
 
 116. The question as to whether a contract shall 
 be kept or broken is apparently, in these cases, a 
 commercial one, the answer depending upon the 
 amount of money involved. If the contract prices, 
 less advances already made by the growers, is greater 
 than the expense of completing the work the contract 
 will be fulfilled; if it is less, the contract will be 
 broken. One instance is reported where a bond was 
 required from the contractor for the faithful per- 
 formance of his agreement.* 
 
 .)But precisely because of their historical 
 traits of allegiance and organization the 
 Japanese are capable of transforming their 
 lives and practices more rapidly than any 
 other immigrant group, and under the direc- 
 tion of the Japanese Association they are 
 acquiring a reputation for business integrity; 
 Because of their historical trait of allegiancfe 
 also they are inclined to make more far- 
 going concessions than any other group in 
 
 ' Report of the U. S. Immigration Commiasion, vol. xxiv, p. 106. 
 'Ibid,, p. 108. 
 
 178 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 order to overcome American prejudice and 
 secure status here. Like other immigrants, 
 they had the very natural practice of send- 
 ing home for wives (called "picture brides"), 
 but in response to American sentiment they 
 have abandoned this practice. They have 
 even gone so far as to undertake to limit 
 their efficiency here in order not to provoke 
 the resentment of Americans: 
 
 117. It is the sense of the Board of Directors of 
 the Japanese Association that the so-called "picture 
 marriage" which has been practiced among certain 
 classes of Japanese residing in this country should 
 be aboUshed because it is not only in contravention 
 of the accepted American conception of marriage, 
 but is also out of harmony with the growing ideals 
 of the Japanese themselves. With this belief in 
 mind the Board of Directors will make the utmost 
 efforts to carry out this resolution. . . .' 
 
 118, . . . The majority of these Japanese [criti- 
 cized for working long hours] lacked educational 
 opportimities at home. Recognizing this, it impels 
 them to work very hard so that they can give their 
 children a chance to get education. It is a well-known 
 fact that the Japanese will do anything to get an 
 education or to enable their children to obtain it. . . . 
 We are advising them, as best we know how, not to 
 work so hard as to cause their neighbors to criticize 
 them, and to create some leisiu:e for self-development. 
 At the same time, it appears rather strange even to 
 
 • Statement issued (at San Francisco) October 28, 1919. 
 179 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 us that the Americans should complain of Japanese 
 industry. . . ,' 
 
 While these opportunistic concessions are 
 not to be praised, they nevertheless indicate 
 that the Japanese are making extraordinary 
 efforts to be - assimilated. fThey are not 
 citizens, but their children ' are and they 
 wish them to be. \They are anxious to 
 break up their own colonies, to engage in 
 all sorts of occupations, to acquire American 
 manners, and to get education — all with 
 the motive of adapting themselves to this 
 countrj^ "Whether we like them or not, 
 no other foreign-language group is so com- 
 pletely and intelligently organized to control 
 its members, and no other group has at aU 
 equaled them in the work of accommodating 
 themselves to alien conditions. 
 
 THE MEXICANS 
 
 There is an undetermined quantity of immi- 
 /.gration from Mexico to the United States. 
 (The total Mexican population within our 
 
 borders may be as much as 600,000,* and 
 
 contains two elements: 
 
 (1) The old colonists in New Mexico,] 
 
 ' Address of the Japanese Association of America to President 
 Wilson (mimeographed copy, undated), p. 21. 
 ' V. S, Bureau of Labor, Bulletin 78, p. 520. 
 180 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 southern California, and Texas, representing 
 the population settled there before the 
 Americans arrived. These retain their orig- 
 inal cult\u-e and are still powerful in politics. 
 The present governor at New Mexico is of 
 Spanish-American descent. 
 
 (2)^The immigrant labor coming in at 
 present. ) About 50,000 Mexicans come 
 northward annually, and perhaps 20,000 of 
 these remain. There are Mexican colonies 
 of recent origin in Austin, San Antonio, and 
 Los Angeles. Documents 119 and 120 are 
 characterizations of this element, by a track- 
 master who has worked various kinds of 
 labor in southern Kansas and by a railroad 
 official, respectively: 
 
 119. Mexicans are better than Greeks or Italians, 
 and next to the American hobo. They must be well 
 fed, and want fresh beef and mutton, but don't eat 
 so much pork. They don't have feuds and disorders 
 like the Italians, who are always fighting unless the 
 whole gang is from the same town in Italy. We send 
 a man every spring to the Rio Grande to get our men 
 for the summer. We have to keep our engagements 
 with them or we can't get any men the next year. 
 Though they are used to low pay at home, they 
 want as much as anybody when they get to this 
 country.^ 
 
 120. We have worked Mexicans out of El Paso 
 for several years, and since 1903 have substituted 
 
 1 U. S. Bureau of Labor, Bulletin 78, p. 477. 
 13 181 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 them for Italians, who were disorderly, and for negroes 
 in northern Texas, nearly to Texarkana. They suit 
 us better than any other inunigrant labor we can get. 
 They are better than negroes at ballasting, laying 
 ties, and ordinary trackwork; but the negroes can 
 beat them laying rails, and will work better long 
 hours or at rush jobs, as in case of washouts or getting 
 a track around a wreck. Our chief difficulties are 
 due to ignorance of the language and to the rough 
 ways of our foremen, who sometimes frighten the 
 Mexicans ,so they won't work. Mexicans are not 
 very regular, and we have to carry about 50 men on 
 a payroll to be sure of 30 to 35 men working every 
 day.i 
 
 (The Mexicans are the least organized of 
 all the groups. At the same time they show 
 an easy adaptability to Ameiican habits 
 and a surprising interest in educationj 
 
 121. If Mexicans are an inferior people how is it 
 that thousands of them are leaving their coimtiy 
 where the booze flows freely and timing to a foreign 
 country where it flows not at all? /isn't it a sign that 
 the Mexican wants a chance to prosper where pros- 
 perity is for all? . . . They come to Texas, to 
 Arizona, New Mexico, and California; they work, 
 they buy red and blue clothes, they eat, they smoke, 
 they drink coffee and tea, and chew ice-cream cones, 
 they invest in large white hats, nickel dgars, and 
 other unwonted luxuries. In short, they emerge 
 promptly on a higher plane of living than they ever 
 before experienced. /p\u-thermore, they obey the 
 
 ^ 17. 8. Bureau qf Labor, Bulletin 78, p. 477. «r 
 
 188 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 laws, respect authority, and prosper according to 
 their capacity.^ 
 
 122. . . . Since childhood, I have always had 
 a peculiar affection and a profound admiration for 
 those who impart instruction — ^those who, by shaping 
 the intelligence, brighten up the future, and allow a 
 clear backgroimd for Kfe's struggle; but since I have 
 become a mother I realize the magnitude of so diflBcult 
 a task, and even more than ever hold these privileged 
 ones in love and veneration. With such a concept, 
 is it any wonder that I feel moved, that I admire, 
 that I hold to-day more than ever, unHmited grati- 
 tude toward this blessed institution in which I receive, 
 in company with many other mothers and young 
 women, the incalculable benefit of its instruction to 
 us? By this instruction we are allowed to take 
 another step toward progress and an open future 
 for ourselves and our children. Where can we find 
 wise counsel in perfecting our intelligence so that we 
 may be able to develop and cultivate that of our 
 beloved children, and how else can we discover a 
 worthy and honorable means of aiding and advising 
 our families when necessary? 
 
 I do not know how to express the thousand thoughts 
 which crowd my mind and echo from the bottom of 
 my heart! Words fail me — ^this subject which con- 
 cerns me is so great, so beautiful and so sublime — 
 knowledge! a magic word which, with its few 
 letters, embraces a world of happiness; a glorious 
 word which, as "Let there be light" to the uncreated, 
 scatters the shadows of this horrible darkness which 
 
 ^Dallas News, quoted by Vera L. Sturges, "The Progress of 
 Adjustment in Mexican and United States Life"; a paper read at 
 the National Conference of Social Workers, 1920 (manuscript). 
 
 183 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 abandons us without a guide on the edge of a prec- 
 ipice. . , .1 
 
 In transmitting the address of which 
 document 122 is an extract, the secretary 
 for non - English - speaking women. South- 
 western Field Committee of the Y. W. C. A., 
 says: 
 
 123. These sentiments are quite typical for hun- 
 dreds of Mexican women in Texas. Now and then 
 our workers have to win the support of their husbands, 
 but for the most part the men are eager to have their 
 wives study. We do not use our efforts on the veiy 
 poor peon-class women, unless they come to us or 
 stay by the things we start. The middle class is 
 very much more worth while, and Mexico's greatest 
 need is the development of this class as rapidly as 
 possible. The aristocrats are most in need of social- 
 izing, but, as with the peon class, the effort spent is 
 too great, considering the scarcity of qualified workers, 
 unless they come fairly easily. Our hands are full 
 helping those who crave — we simply cannot keep up 
 with the demand for English, American cookery, 
 home nursing, etc.* 
 
 There is in the state of New Mexico a 
 Mexican community about three hundred 
 years old, of peculiar interest to our study 
 because it shows how long an alien group 
 
 'Talk by Seflora Maria Teresa Palafoz de Pina in the Inter- 
 national Institute, Laredo, Texns, February 5, 1920, at a party 
 in honor of the arrival of the director of the institute. 
 
 * Letter from Vera L. Sturges. 
 
 181 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 may remain on American soil without change 
 or improvement if it brings a low level of 
 culture, no leaders, no institutions for pre- 
 serving and developing its characteristic 
 culture or appropriating the surrounding 
 American culture, no channels of communi- 
 cation with the culture of the mother country, 
 which in this case is also low. These con- 
 ditions and a particular geographic and 
 psychic isolation characterize the Spanish- 
 Americans of New Mexico. 
 
 We have selected the county of Taos and 
 the towns of San Juan and Chamita for 
 special investigation. 
 
 124. In New Mexico the Mexican is less indus- 
 trious and less thrifty than the Indian. Every self- 
 respecting Indian has good clothes put away which 
 he can don on occasion, but the Mexican, it he has 
 good clothes, cannot resist the temptation to wear 
 them. Both gamble, but the Mexican far more than 
 the Indian. Of the two, the Indian is more likely 
 to have a bank account. The Indian is less likely 
 to run in debt and the storekeeper, who has been 
 here fifty years, says he has never lost an account 
 with an Indian, even though he has had to wait many 
 years, but he cannot trust a Mexican very far. A 
 Mexican is disposed to consider that an account 
 liquidates itself by long standing. . . } 
 
 125. About 20 per cent of the Mexicans at Cha- 
 mita can read their own language. Less than 5 
 
 ' Mary Austin, The Indian-Mexican Settlements of San Juan and 
 Chamita (manuscript). 
 
 185 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 per cent can read or speak English (in other districts 
 the percentage is much higher, in some lower). They 
 have no knowledge of politics outside their own 
 locality and have strong Mexican sympathies. They 
 are inordinately ignorant and superstitious about 
 common things. Though less prejudiced than Lidians, 
 they are even less provided with the means of pro- 
 duction and add nothing to the country's wealth. 
 The literary and musical instincts are strong in them, 
 but so little known to the pubUc that I can name but 
 one collection of their songs, half a dozen, translated 
 and published by Charles Lummis in The Land of 
 Poco Tiempo. Naturally handicraftsmen, all their 
 crafts are in abeyance.* 
 
 126. Of the 13,000 present population of Taos 
 County, it is estimated that 10,000 speak Spanish by 
 preference. There is one county high school in Taos 
 County with nineteen pupils enrolled. There are 
 forty-four school districts, employing eighty-three 
 teachers. The names of all these teachers except 
 twelve are Spanish. . . . Only four of the twelve 
 are, to my personal knowledge, without any Spanish 
 strain, and two of these four are Sisters of the Order 
 of Loretto — Sister May McGinnes, and Sister Aim 
 Gartin (French). . . . 
 
 None of the public schools in Taos County have 
 libraries. Aside from the books on the teacher's 
 desk, there is not a book available to school children 
 in the whole county. There are no town hbraries, 
 and it is possible to travel the whole day in some 
 districts, visiting every house en route, and not find 
 any book of any description other than a mail-order 
 catalogue or an occasional Spanish prayer book. . . . 
 
 ' Mary Austin, The Indian-Mexican Settlements of San Juan and 
 Chamita (manuscript). 
 
 186 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 The Mexican is not really an agriculturist, but a 
 handicraftsman. He is patient in craft and a shrewd 
 and ready trader in things. But he has never learned 
 to manage money. . . . The chief economic reasons 
 for the discontinuance of the handicrafts among 
 them is their inability to take the measure of their 
 work in money. Curio dealers and others he in wait 
 to purchase their beautiful things at the moment of 
 their greatest need. They have no way of finding 
 out what these hand-made things are worth. All they 
 know is that the Americans give them less for the 
 things than they can live on. They begin to feel 
 that these things are of no value because the Amer- 
 icans always cheapened them to the utmost. . . . 
 That is one reason why certain of their old crafts 
 survive only among the convicts. I have seen a 
 convict take half a silver dollar and spend three or 
 four hours working it into a bracelet such as would 
 sell at Tiffany's for three or foiu" dollars, and then 
 some passing tourist will beat the convict down to 
 selling his work for sixty or seventy cents. But a 
 convict's time is not worth anything. I have seen 
 some American who has "spotted" a blanket, or a 
 beautiful old hand-carved chest, wait until sickness 
 or want forces its sale for less than the purchaser 
 could buy a "store" blanket or new lumber to make 
 another chest. Then the Americans rail against 
 the shiftlessness of the Mexican. . . . 
 
 One of the reasons why few Mexicans grow rich is 
 the ineradicable spirit of communism. If a man kills 
 a sheep and his neighbor has no sheep to kill, still 
 the neighbor has a piece of mutton. If a man knows 
 a good wild pasture, or a woman a nice thicket of 
 vnld plums, they tell the others. The idea of per- 
 sonal advantage is of very Uttle effect among them. 
 
 187 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 In the old days, if a Mexican found a silver mine, all 
 his friends went along and dug out a little bag of ore 
 apiece. This sort of communism is now principally 
 confined to the family. There is scarcely such a 
 thing as a rich relation, because the thrifty relation 
 seldom has enough, after dividing with the other 
 members, to be called rich. This economic interest 
 probably has something to do with the importance 
 attached to kinship, and particularly to the parental 
 relationship. There is no doubt that family claims 
 prevent private ambition. Many Mexican men 
 have told me this. They wished to go to school, to 
 go away into other towns, to big cities or more pros- 
 perous places to live, but they have yielded to the 
 plea of their parents, especially of the mother, to 
 keep the family intact. . . . 
 
 The great lack in the life of the Spanish-speaking 
 New Mexican is imaginative literature. During the 
 Spanish pioneer period this lack was supplied partly 
 by the last wash of that wave of creative literature 
 which was sweeping through Spain at the time, 
 Calderon, Lope de Vega, and the great Spanish 
 romanticists. It was supplied in part by the dra- 
 matic and stimulating history of their own achieve- 
 ment in New Spain. There are traces, too, in the 
 folklore of New Mexico, of the rich, and at that time 
 unsubmerged, field of native Mexican literature. 
 By the time of the American occupation all these 
 streams of imaginative life had been attenuated, if 
 not actually dried up, and nothing has been done since 
 to remedy the situation. 
 
 The County Superintendent of Schools told me 
 that 50 per cent of the adult Spanish-speaking popu- 
 lation of New Mexico ought, in view of the history 
 of public school education in this locality, to be able 
 
 188 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 to read the local Spanish newspaper. I hardly think 
 this is actually the case. I have seen groups of men 
 listening to one of their number reading the paper 
 aloud, and the reader was almost always a young 
 man. Of the two Spanish newspapers published in 
 Taos, El Bulletin has a circulation of about 800, and 
 La Revista has about 3,000, one-third of which are 
 out of the county. La Revista was once the leading 
 Spanish newspaper in America, and still has exchanges 
 all over the world. . . . But even if they could read 
 Spanish, very Uttle reading matter finds its way here. 
 The church is exceedingly negligent in this matter. 
 A Uttle hterature from Old Mexico finds its way here, 
 but is naturally expensive. The better-class Spanish 
 families all read English and have no books in Spanish 
 in their houses. 
 
 When it comes to English reading matter the case 
 is scarcely better. At this time there is probably 
 not a Spanish-speaking family which has not some 
 member with enough English to read the newspaper, 
 the mail-order catalogue, and such practical neces- 
 sities. But the number who would be able to read 
 and understand EngUsh literature is even less than 
 the number who can appreciate Spanish Hterature. 
 A glance at the school reading explains this. There 
 is nothing whatever in any Taos County school to 
 read except the textbooks. There is nothing what- 
 ever in any textbook which would create in any 
 child's mind the least suspicion that reading is a 
 method of coming into touch with its environment. 
 This country has a beautiful and dramatic mythology, 
 but there is only Greek mythology in the school 
 readers. On his way to school the child is confronted 
 with an abundant and beautiful flora, but the refer- 
 ences in the reader are to English daJBfodils and New 
 
 189 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 England Mayflowers. He reads about Bunker Hill, 
 but nothing about Black Mesa. Fray Marcos and 
 De Vargas are not even names to him. . . . 
 
 The most outstanding conclusion from all this is 
 that in our handling of our Spanish-speaking popula- 
 tion we have violated all the fundamentals of folk 
 growth. First of all, the best thing in the Spanish- 
 American peoples is their pride of race. It is the 
 one thing more than another by which we could have 
 laid hold of and awakened their pride of citizenship. 
 Instead of which we needlessly wounded and poisoned 
 it at every step. Through our earliest representa- 
 tives we made a mock of their love of ritual, of dignity 
 and ceremony in personal relations. "Americans," 
 said Don Amado Chaves to me, "think dignity and 
 ceremony belong only to the rich," 
 
 We have ignored their racial contribution of fine 
 deeds — ^the early history of New Mexico is crammed 
 with gallant and adventurous exploits — and overlaid 
 them with the achievements of the Anglo Saxon 
 strain, thus destroying all the power of their past 
 over their ideals of conduct. And even if it were 
 possible to substitute the past of one people for the 
 past of another, we have made an utterly inadequate 
 attempt to do so, for we have hardly so much as 
 succeeded in interesting them in the facts of our 
 Anglo-Saxon past. It is not a paradox to say that 
 a people with no past is a people without a futiue, 
 it is a simple statement of fact, like saying that a tree 
 with no roots produces no fruit. . . . 
 
 Not the slightest attempt was ever made to find a 
 market for the sort of thing that is being constantly 
 imported from Italy and Spain. There were no fairs, 
 exhibitions, prizes, honors, none of the things that 
 we know very well are the medium in which artistry 
 
 190 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 flourishes. And on the other hand, there have been 
 all sorts of mean trickery used to buy their products 
 for less than their worth, smuggle them out of the 
 country, and sell them for many times what they 
 cost. An American woman in Taos who insists on 
 paying something like a reasonable price for hand- 
 made products is accused of "spoiling" the trade 
 of the other people. 
 
 That has been one end of the process. At the 
 other end is the destruction of the source of art in 
 the suppression of their native stock of myth and 
 symbol from which their designs were derived. More 
 and more, as I study New Mexican, Indian, and 
 Spanish groups, I discover design to be a language 
 of profound experience. 
 
 The way in which certain beautiful things are 
 shown to be pecuhar to certain localities or even to 
 certain families, the way in which these designs sink 
 out of sight and reappear after generations in times 
 of spiritual distress, indicates that the things them- 
 selves have grown up out of experience as an expres- 
 sion of that experience, and perish with it. . . . 
 
 These people do not need missionaries. All they 
 need is to have the burden of their isolation lifted, 
 to have the stopped currents of their imaginative 
 life freed on the one side by giving them access to 
 their own history and traditions, and on the other 
 by giving them markets for the products of imagina- 
 tion and industry.* 
 
 127. The organization known as Los Hermanos 
 Penitentes (The Penitent Brotherhood) is the most 
 important society of the Spanish-speaking popula- 
 tion of the Southwest, and the only organization 
 
 " Mary Austin, Social Survey of Taos County, State of New Mesmio 
 (manuscript). 
 
 191 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 discoverable among the Mexican population of San 
 Juan. It has some 50,000 members in the state of 
 New Mexico, and spreads into Colorado and Old 
 Mexico. Although a religious organization, it exer- 
 cises great influence in politics and in the social life 
 of the commTinities where it is foimd. . . . [Dis- 
 countenanced by the Catholic Church in 1896,] the 
 society continued to flourish, applied for and obtained 
 a charter from the legislature, which permitted it 
 to exist on the same footing as other secret organiza- 
 tions. As late as thirty years ago it is estimated 
 that 95 per cent of the adult male population of 
 New Mexico belonged to it. . . . 
 
 The avowed object of the society is to keep alive 
 the "passion and sufferings of Our Lord." Special 
 saints' days, the first and second days of May, and 
 funerals of brother members, are celebrated with 
 penitential exercises. The whole of Lent is kept 
 with prayers and lashings, and Holy Week is cele- 
 brated with all manner of penitential practices, 
 including crucifixion. Formerly the crucifixion was 
 actual, and deaths as a result were not uncommon. 
 But since 1886 it has become the custom simply to 
 tie the victim to the cross, instead of using nails. 
 And lately the practice of using an effigy, life size, 
 has been general. Even where the brother is still 
 tied to the cross the time has been reduced from 
 three hours to about forty-five minutes. 
 
 Among the penitential practices are the carrying 
 of heavy crosses in procession, walking on trails 
 strewn with cactus, carrying heads of cactus on the 
 bare back or clasped to the bare breast, hugging a 
 post wrapped with cactus, cutting the back and 
 lashing it with braided whips of jnicca fiber. Peni- 
 tential pilgrimages made on hands and knees are 
 
 192 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 also a favorite mode of expression. Formerly these 
 practices were all as public as possible, but the 
 attitude of the Church and unfavorable comment in 
 the non-Catholic press have led to secrecy. The 
 crucifixions still take place at the prescribed afternoon 
 hour, but whipping is done in the lodge or at night, 
 when most of the processions take place. . . . 
 
 Besides the special services for saints' days, the 
 processions begin with the first Friday in Lent. 
 These are whipping processions, when the heavy 
 crosses, weighing several hundred pounds, are dragged 
 to and from the Calvarios by men half naked and 
 wearing crowns of the wild-rose brier. Every peni- 
 tent is accompanied by a brother who eases him to 
 the ground at each one of the fourteen stations. But 
 when a man staggers and faints he is whipped to his 
 feet. . . . Aid is furnished to sick members and 
 funeral expenses are borne when necessary. . . . 
 PoUtical aid and legal aid in difliculties are also 
 rendered, but not openly or officially. Formerly 
 the solidarity of the Penitentes made the society a 
 refuge for outlaws of every description, and aided the 
 Spanish-speaking population to maintain its isolation 
 from the American regime. As nearly every adult 
 male is a member, it is natural that the whole com- 
 munity should be more or less involved. . . . 
 Brotherly service in sickness and affliction is ren- 
 dered, and the rules of the order act occasionally 
 as a social corrective. ... A married man was ex- 
 pelled from the order for misbehavior with a young 
 woman. These are ofPenses against the families of 
 brother Penitentes. When the offense is against 
 the law of the state, however, there seems still to 
 be a disposition to regard the offender as simply 
 unfortxmate. 
 
 193 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 Commenting on the small number of dvil cases 
 in one of the communities where 90 per cent of the 
 population was Spanish-speaking, I was told: "You 
 see, they are all Penitentes up there." On inquiry, 
 I learned that most disputes between Penitentes 
 came before the Hermanos Mayor and that there was 
 seldom any exception to his decisions. The foUow<^ 
 ing was a partial list of the matters that had come 
 before him: (1) damages caused by a cow in neigh- 
 bor's garden; (2) quarrel about wood purchased; 
 (3) several cases of small debts; (4) young man 
 forbidden to marry a girl by her father on account 
 of personal prejudice, settled in the young man's 
 favor; (5) widower with small children reproved 
 for neglect of them; (6) mother whose son was in 
 France (a Penitent) helped to get her allowance 
 which she was too ignorant to apply for. 
 
 In spite of the alien attitude toward the law, and 
 the fact that that no Penitent on a jury will convict 
 another Penitent, there was a large percentage of 
 voluntary enhstments among them, and at the 
 Holy Week celebrations this year, in the processions, 
 were numbers of young men in uniform with foreign- 
 service stripes. . . . 
 
 Thus the Penitentes, with its religious fer\'ors, its 
 ritual and mystery, its friendly offices for the dead, 
 its annual processions and dramatic performance of 
 Holy Week, has grown deep into the life of the people.* 
 
 There are old and cultivated Spanish- 
 American farailies in New Mexico, still 
 powerful in politics (the present Governor 
 is a S panish- American), and the state has 
 
 >Mary Austin, The Peniimtes at Chamita de San Juan 
 (manuscript). 
 
 194 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 modem schools, industries, political admin- 
 istration, but these institutions mean that 
 the country is being settled by Americans. 
 The mass of the Mexican population remains 
 as little adapted to these institutions as the 
 Indians of the state. / 
 
 The whole situation shows what may 
 happen to an immigrant group when it 
 neither participates in American life nor 
 continues to draw its cultm-e from the mother 
 countiy. We shall notice later that even 
 when an immigrant community does keep 
 up its cultural intercourse with the home 
 country, if it does not participate in Amer- 
 ican life, its level of culture tends to fall 
 below the level of culture of the home 
 country. 
 
 At present the situation in New Mexico 
 is ripe for a nationalistic movement, if the 
 leaders appear. 
 
 THE JEWS 
 
 The Jews tend even more than other immi- 
 grant groups to settle in cities. It is esti- 
 mated that there are 3,320,000 Jews in 
 America, and of these 1,500,000 are in New 
 York City.^ The accompanying diagram 
 compares the number of Jews ia New York 
 
 * Jewish Communal Regigter of New York City (1917-18), p. 82 
 Anwrvsaa Jevnsh Yearbook (Oppenheim reprint), p. 66. 
 
 195 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 with those in other countries. If we include 
 Newark, New Rochelle, and other near-by- 
 towns, then within a district equivalent in 
 size to thirty square miles will be found fully 
 one-half of the Jews in the United States. 
 
 NEW YORK CITY 1.500,000 
 
 BHHHl GERM ANY-61 5.000 
 ■■great BRITAIN 257.000 
 
 ■ SOUTH AMERICA-117.000 
 
 ■ HOLLAND-106.000 
 
 ■ pALESTINE-100.000 
 ■FRANCE 100.000 
 (CANADA 75.000 
 |ITALY 44,000 
 |SWITZERLAND-19.000 
 
 |BEL6IUM-15.000 
 
 DUORAM 1. — COMPABIBON OF THB JkWISH POPULATION OF NeW 
 
 York Citt with that of Other Countries. (Jewish 
 
 comuunal rhqlatbr, 1917-18, frontispiece.) 
 
 196 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 128. No doubt this figure will cause astonishment 
 to many. One million and a half Jews is an extraordi- 
 nary community. The next largest Jewish com- 
 munity in the world — that of the city of Warsaw — 
 is estimated to have been between 300,000 and 
 330,000 Jews, about one-fifth as many as we estimate 
 for New York. All of the countries of western 
 Europe, together with the coimtries of South America, 
 Canada, and Palestine combined, do not have as 
 many Jews as Uve in this city. If we accept the 
 estimate of the number of Jews in the world as about 
 14,000,000, one Jew out of every ten resides in New 
 York.i 
 
 It costs the Jews of New York $3,120,000 
 a year to eat kosher meat, over and above 
 the normal cost of meat,^ and they spend 
 annually on Yiddish newspapers alone, 
 $2,097,453.3 
 
 129. This estimated 1,500,000 constitutes over 
 25 per cent of the whole population of New York 
 City. This is by far the largest proportionate group 
 among any of the 10 largest American cities; in the 
 9 next largest cities, the average proportion which 
 the Jewish group constitutes of the general popula- 
 ion is slightly under 10 per cent. In the 62 remain- 
 ing cities which have a population over 100,000, the 
 respective Jewish populations average 4.5 per cent 
 of the total group. For cities of the second class 
 (those having a population between 50,000 and 
 
 ' Alexander M. Dushkin, Jewish Communal Register (1917-18), 
 p. 82. 
 ' Jewish Communal Register, p. 320, 
 » Ihii, p. 614. 
 14 197 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 100,000) the average proportion of Jewish Inhabitants 
 is shown to decline quite evenly as the population 
 figures for the respective cities are ranged in decreas- 
 ing order, from 3.3 per cent for cities of from 90,000 
 to 100,000 each, to 2.4 per cent for those of from 
 50,000 to 60,000 each. Continuing this curve, the 
 average percentage of Jewish population in cities of 
 between 20,000 and 50,000 falls to a trifle over 2 
 per cent, in still smaller localities to a little over 
 1 per cent, and in places having less than 1,000 
 inhabitants to ^ to J^ of 1 per cent.^ 
 
 The Jews come to this country more 
 definitely as settlers than any other group, 
 but they come from many countries: Russia, 
 Rmnania, Poland, Galicia, Germany, Tur- 
 key, etc. Most of them speak Yiddish in 
 addition to the language of the country from 
 which they come (Russian, Polish, Rumanian, 
 Hungarian, and so forth), but there are 
 various dialects of Yiddish, and the Jews 
 from the Near East do not know Yiddish, 
 but speak Greek, Ladino (Judseo-Spanish), 
 Turkish, Arabic, and so forth. In their 
 religious ritual they may be orthodox, con- 
 servative, or reform. There are among 
 them members of the pietistic, mystical, 
 magical Chassidic sect; and at the other ex- 
 treme are the freethinkers. Consequently 
 the differences and mutual prejudices between 
 
 ' Renee Darmstadter, The Jevdsk Community in New York Cily 
 (manuscript). 
 
 199 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 dififerent groups of Jews may be as great as 
 those between members of different nationali- 
 ties, and these inner divisions afiFect both their 
 institutional life and their personal relations: 
 
 130, The Spanish and the Portuguese Jews found 
 it difficult in the first haK of the last century to admit 
 whole-heartedly the German Jew to a close kinship with 
 them — a difficulty which the German Jews experi- 
 enced almost half a century later with the Jews hail- 
 ing from Russia, and the Russian Jews in their turn 
 only a decade later with the Jews coming from 
 GaUcia and Rumania. Because of this clannishness, 
 several Jewish communities sprang up practically side 
 by side in New York City; a Spanish-Portuguese com- 
 mimity, a German commimity, a Russian commimity, 
 an Oriental community, and a Galician, a Himgarian 
 and a Rumanian community. Almost every one 
 of these communities was self-sufficient, with its 
 own synagogues, charitable and educational insti- 
 tutions, and, what was inevitable, with its own 
 politics. Under such conditions, the least untoward 
 act, fancied or real, on the part of one group, led 
 inevitably to strong separatistic tendencies in other 
 groups. So, for instance, did the ascendancy of the 
 German commimity result in the struggle of the 
 so-called Downtown against Uptown, a struggle 
 in which the combatants were mainly Russian and 
 German Jews. In the same way did the sense of 
 grievance which the Galician, Rumanian, Russian- 
 PoUsh, and Bessarabian Jews felt against the ascend- 
 ancy of the Russian Jewish community find its outlet 
 in the formation of separate Verbands. For the 
 Verbands, in spite of their voluble protestations 
 of good intentions, were invariably organized as 
 
 199 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 offensive and defensive alliances, a sort of Verein zur 
 Abwehr des Anti-Galizianerismus or Anti^Rumanier- 
 ismus, as the case might be. Only subsequent con- 
 ditions changed their original plans and induced a 
 new course of development.* 
 
 131. The Levantine Jews are very much isolated 
 from the great Yiddish-speaking mass of Jews all 
 about them. According to one of their spokesmen, 
 Joseph ZedaUcia, president of the Federation of 
 Oriental Jews, the Levantine Jews "feel more dis- 
 crimination from the other wings of the Jews than 
 they do from the non-Jews." Part of the problem 
 is that the Jews themselves, especially those of the 
 lower East Side communities — at least up until 
 recently — did not actually realize that these very 
 new immigrants were also Jewish. They looked 
 on these "Spanioles" among them as "dagoes." 
 Instances of street disturbances and neighborhood 
 disputes and complaints have been numerous. Some 
 years ago a group of residents in one section petitioned 
 the mayor at the time, Mr. Gaynor, to remove the 
 "Turks" in their midst. When they found that 
 these people were Jews they hastened to settle the 
 matter "among themselves." ^ 
 
 132. I am a Galician Jew and . . . God destined 
 me to have a Russian [Jewish] wife and it is a mis- 
 fortune for me — not because she feeds me with their 
 Russian dishes, which are not bad, but the Russian 
 company she brings up to our house is imbearable . . . 
 [detailed complaint].' 
 
 ' S. Margoshes, Jewish Communal Register, p. 1SS6. 
 
 ' It«nee Dannstadter, The Jewish Community (miuiuscript). 
 
 •Letter to Forward, December 6, 1914. The editor replies 
 humoristicolly, and advises him to thank God his wife is not a 
 Rumanian. 
 
 200 
 
RIVINGTON 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ST. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 k 
 
 
 m 
 
 ■0 
 
 
 
 
 B8 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 ,o 
 
 DELANCEY 
 
 zaoao 
 
 GRAND 
 
 ST. 
 
 BROOME 
 
 
 
 
 
 ST. 
 
 DIB^ 
 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■BB 
 
 
 D 
 D 
 
 ST. 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 us 
 g 
 
 
 z 
 
 
 a 
 
 flo 
 
 
 
 
 UJ 
 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 jl; 
 
 
 d 
 
 
 
 anoge 
 
 
 
 LU 
 
 ■ ms 
 
 
 ■ EB 
 
 o 
 
 aaa 
 
 
 KEY 
 
 
 □ UKRAINE 
 
 
 o WHITE RUSSIA 
 
 5; 
 
 a GREAT RUSSIA 
 
 
 ■ LITHUANIA 
 
 
 o RUSSIAN POUNQ 
 
 
 GALICIA 
 
 
 • BUKOWINA , 
 
 
 X ROUMANIA 
 
 
 » TURKEY 
 
 
 " ARABIA 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 • GREECE 
 
 as UNKNOWN 
 
 HESTER 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ST. 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 OB 
 
 □ ■ 
 
 ■■oe oa 
 
 ■ 
 
 CANAL 
 
 ST. 
 
 Map 7. — Biethpiace op the Fotojdehs of the Jewish 
 Synagooues in a Congested New Yore District 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 The preceding map indicates the Jewish 
 synagogues in a section of New York, 
 showing the wide diversity in origin of 
 their founders. Only the Jews themselves 
 appreciate how profound are these differ- 
 ences. While their spiritual life is based 
 on the same historical traditions, the differ- 
 ent groups have lived in different ghettos 
 as separate, self-governing communities, 
 suspicious of any intrusion whatever into 
 their affairs. The group of Jewish leaders 
 who organized the Kehillah, of which we 
 shall speak later, have recorded this sepa- 
 ratist attitude: 
 
 133. . . . Quite a number of societies actually 
 succeeded in withholding the information from us. 
 The history of this huge canvass is full of episodes 
 which are of great interest to the communal student. 
 Here is a typical case. A congregation in Williams- 
 burg is written to for information. No answer. 
 It is written to again, with the same result. A 
 canvasser is detailed to the job. He finds the beadle 
 and states his errand. This dignitary is noncommittal. 
 An inquiry for the home address of the president 
 elicits the doubtful information that he, the beadle, 
 does not know it. The card is then returned to the 
 ofiBce with the brief narrative. A special investi- 
 gatpr is sent. He uses strategy, spends an hour in 
 fraternizing with the disgruntled old beadle, treats 
 him to an extra-fine brand of tobacco, and finally 
 obtains the address of the president. This gentle- 
 man is too conscientious to impart any information 
 
 802 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 whatsoever mthout the consent of his fellow-members. 
 After the next meeting the information will be forth- 
 coming. But it does not. The congregation fears 
 a trap. You may fool some people, but you cannot 
 fool them. The congregation is ultimately listed 
 among those marked "no information available. . . ."^ 
 
 The Jew, like the peasant, first settled 
 here in a colony, the ghetto. This is not a 
 new experience. Indeed he may have lived 
 in several ghettos, VUna, Budapest, London, 
 before he makes his way to America. We 
 call the territories in which the Jews and 
 other immigrants first settle here areas of 
 first settlement. The lower East Side, the 
 upper East Side, in the neighborhood of 
 110th Street and Central Park, Brooklyn, 
 Brownsville, East New York, are such areas 
 for the Jews. 
 
 134. Within an area of first settlement are found 
 the customs and institutions of the home cotmtryj 
 language and social ritual, dress and food habits, the 
 familiar notions of neighborly relations, the tradi- 
 tional sanctions in family and personal conduct. 
 Here are set up in their essential forms the patterns 
 of community and family organization under which 
 the individuals of the group lived in their European 
 homes; the synagogue as it exists in the towns of 
 the Pale, the primitive forms of burial and mutual 
 aid societies, unmodified by the transplanting to a 
 new geographical environment. Spiritually, the old 
 
 ' Meir Isaacs, Jewish'Community Register, p. 96. 
 203 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 environment itself is transplanted. The greater 
 number of the synagogue and benefit society groups, 
 among all of the several divisions of the Jews of the 
 East Side, are organized on the basis of common 
 origins in Europe. The name of such a synagogue 
 or aid society indicates that it has been formed by a 
 group of persons who emigrated from the same 
 village or city in the Old World; its purpose and 
 organization is the same as it would be in the home 
 village; coming together to pray, visiting the sick, 
 caring for the burial of a member who has died, etc. 
 The pattern of action is the same as it would be in 
 the home village, and the feelings which keep it alive 
 are those traditional sentiments of neighborly kin- 
 ship and religious responsibihty to which the same 
 organization in Europe answered.^ 
 
 As the Jews become more prosperous they' 
 begin to move to better quarters of the city, 
 and the neighborhoods of Fourteenth Street 
 and Second Avenue, the Bronx, are areas 
 of second settlement. Finally the Jew may 
 separate himself completely from his original 
 colony and repudiate it. The contempt of 
 the ghetto Jew for the aUrightnick (see 
 documents 44 and 81, pp. 52 and 102), is 
 connected with this movement. 
 
 135. ... I visited a friend of mine in Riverside 
 Drive — ^a Russian-English Jew who spent the last 
 few years in Palestine. We took the bus. He . . . 
 began to talk to me in Jewish and in a loud voice. . . . 
 
 ■ Renee Darmstadter, Tht JewUh Communis of New York City 
 (manuscript). 
 
 204 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 At Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue we changed 
 busses. My friend continued his loud conversation 
 in Jewish. "Please, do not speak Jewish around 
 here," we heard a voice behind us. . . . It was the 
 transfer agent of the bus company. . . . And he 
 repeats his request in Jewish this time. "Why?" 
 my friend asks him. " Just so. They won't have it." 
 "Who won't have it?" "These people," and he 
 points to the great crowd who daUy pass this corner 
 in the afternoon. . . . But they consist of many 
 Jews. • . }■ 
 
 Although it has lost its hold upon .great 
 numbers, the synagogue, including the activ- 
 ities associated with it, remains the most 
 important feature in the life of the Jewish 
 community as a whole, with the possible 
 exception of the newspaper. The "syna- 
 gogue Jew" is passing away. He has be- 
 come a descriptive phrase and a literary 
 type, but the attitudes created by the syna- 
 gogue remain. The character of the Jew is 
 the joint production of the hostility of the 
 Gentile world and the communal life of 
 which the synagogue was the center. The 
 fact that the Jews pay the amount men- 
 tioned above for kosher meat is proof that 
 the old attitudes are alive. 
 
 136. The function of the synagogue was not 
 limited to that of defense. Like the moated mediaeval 
 
 »P. Hirschbein, "Impressions," The Day (Yiddish newspaper), 
 January 6, 1917. 
 
 205 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 castles, which outwardly with their bastions and 
 moats have all the appearance of fortresses, but 
 which from the inner courts present the aspect of 
 palaces intended to house and enrich a life of peace, 
 so the synagogue not only protected the Jewish faith 
 from a hostile world, but was also for the Jew a home 
 for the development of his strivings and ideals. It 
 was a house of prayer, a "beth tephiUah," a house of 
 study, a "beth ha'midrask," and a meeting house, 
 where communal undertakings were formulated, and 
 where all plans for the communal good were discussed 
 and adopted. The synagogue rendered possible the 
 cultivation of the spiritual life in the Diaspora, and 
 thus gave point to the truth that wherever the Jewish 
 people went it was accompanied by the "shekhina," 
 or Divine Presence. 
 
 Establishing a synagogue or being affiliated with 
 one was not considered a matter of option. It was 
 an accepted principle that wherever there were ten 
 Jews they were in duty bound to form themselves 
 into a congregation, and to carry on all the customary 
 Jewish communal activities. While the Jew is in a 
 position to discharge most of his religious duties by 
 himself, it was realized that detachment from com- 
 munal life could not but eventually lead to complete 
 severance from the faith. Hence the designation of 
 "evil neighbor" for one who, though hving near a 
 synagogue, kept aloof from it. That accepted 
 principle it was which, enforced by the sanction of 
 public sentiment, brought every Jew within the 
 influence of the synagogue.* 
 
 137. The total number of permanent synagogues 
 in Manhattan, by actual count from the list given 
 in the Communal Register (pp. 544 ff.), is 597; the 
 
 > M. M. Kaplan, Jewish Commvnal RegisUsr, p. 117. 
 20G 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 total count for all the boroughs of Greater New York, 
 from the same list, is 843, those of Manhattan con- 
 stituting, therefore, about 70 per cent of the number 
 in the greater city. 
 
 The area within which the synagogues in lower 
 Manhattan are concentrated falls within the bounda- 
 ries of three conjoined Kehillah Districts — ^the 
 Tompkins Square District (Dist. VII of the New 
 York Kehillah), the Delancey District (Dist. VIII), 
 and the East Broadway District (Dist. IX). Within 
 these districts fall also the areas of greatest density 
 of Jewish population [see Map No. 7 p. 201]. This 
 is also the region of greatest concentration of the 
 mutual aid societies. Out of the 968 organizations 
 of this character listed in the Communal Register, 
 823 are located in these three districts of the lower 
 East Side. The next largest number, 83, belong 
 to the West Side and Harlem District. East Harlem 
 has 28, Central Manhattan, 19; Yorkville, 9. Only 
 7 are given for the two districts of the Bronx. Among 
 all the districts the East Broadway District makes 
 second largest provision of synagogues — 12.2 per 
 10,000 of population; the Delancey District, which 
 has the largest popxdation, making also largest 
 synagogue provision — i.e., 15.3 per 10,000 of popula- 
 tion.i 
 
 138. The synagogue has lost hold on more than 
 one-half of the largest Jewish community in the 
 ■world. The estimated Jewish population of this 
 city is about 1,500,000, which is a very conservative 
 figure. But taking into consideration the 30 per 
 cent who constitute the child population up to the 
 
 ' Renee Darmstadter, The Jewish Community of New York City 
 (manuscript). 
 
 207 
 
KEY 
 
 IVOLSOUMIIU TCII,S<eiMI 
 
 I Over 300,000 iOver2,150 
 200,000-306,000 1/430-2,150 
 100.000-200,000 715-1,430 
 
 50,000-100,000 358-715 
 
 WA 10,000-50,000 72-358 
 Q Below 10,000 Below 72 
 
 Map 8. — Densitt of 
 Jewish Population in 
 
 THE NeIORBORHOODS OF 
 
 Cebtain Kehillah'Dib- 
 TRiCTS OP Manhattan. 
 (Jewish Comuunal 
 Begisteb, p. 80) 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 age of fourteen, and allowing 10 per cent for adolescent 
 Jewish girls, who, unfortunately, have hardly any 
 place in the synagogue, we should expect at least 
 900,000 seats to accommodate Jewish worshipers 
 on the high holidays, when the maximum attendance 
 is reached. We find, however, the total seating 
 capacity to be 381,000. If we add to that the 30,000 
 to 35,000 seats to be found in the 120 small synagogues 
 not yet investigated, we see that out of 900,000 Jews 
 only about 415,000 are synagogue Jews. 
 
 Secondly, we observe the remarkable unevenness 
 in the per cent of the population affiliated with the 
 synagogues, when judged by districts. Whereas in 
 the Delancey District 44 per cent are synagogue Jews, 
 in Bushwick and in Richmond only 7 per cent, in 
 West Queens only 2 per cent, worship in synagogues. 
 It is evident that the density of population, economic 
 conditions, and length of stay in this country have 
 so rapid an effect upon synagogue affiliation that 
 we cannot but infer that the synagogue owes its 
 existence more to the momentum of the past than 
 to any new forces created in this country that make 
 for its conservation and development.^ 
 
 In 1908 the more self-conscious Jews of 
 New York, recognizing that the old com- 
 munity agencies were no longer adequate 
 to control the moral life of the vast Jewish 
 population, that the various Jewish com- 
 munities and agencies in New York did not 
 know one another and were not known by 
 
 ' M. M. Kaplan, Jewish Communal Register, p. 120. 
 209 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 the Americans, realizing the value of organ- 
 ization both for the regulation of their com- 
 munity life and as a power for influencing 
 American opinion, and aroused by a state- 
 ment of Commissioner Bingham that the 
 Jews contributed 50 per cent of the criminals 
 of New York City,* undertook to unite all 
 the Jewish commimities and organizations 
 into one Kehillah, or Jewish community. 
 The first step was to make an inventory 
 and an impartial interpretation of all Jewish 
 community activities in New York City, 
 and the result was published in 1918 as the 
 Jewish Communal Register. This voliune 
 of 1,536 pages lists and describes 3,637 
 organizations: synagogues, burial societies, 
 immigrant aid societies, employment bureaus, 
 loan societies, mutual aid societies, lodges, 
 relief societies, day nurseries, child-caring 
 agencies, hospitals and convalescent homes, 
 old-age homes, institutions for defectives, 
 correctional agencies (prevention of delin- 
 quency, after-care of inmates of prisons), 
 research bureaus, technical, religious, and 
 private schools, and so forth. The total 
 amount spent annually by the Jewish com- 
 munal agencies in New York City for Jewish 
 purposes is approximately $17,657,000, not 
 
 ' This statement was afterward retracted. See Communal 
 RegUter, p. 49. 
 
 210 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 including social clubs and theaters, but 
 including the Yiddish newspapers. 
 
 THE POLES 
 
 In Polish-American society the parish is the 
 center of community life, but the formation 
 of the colony precedes the formation of the 
 parish. Wherever Poles are collected for 
 work, other Poles join them from the old 
 country, and the colony grows spontaneously. 
 The first organization is a mutual aid society. 
 It is only when the colony has grown in num- 
 bers that a priest is called. But when the 
 parish is established in America, it has a 
 much larger social function than it has in 
 Poland. It assumes, to a degree, the char- 
 acter of a commune. 
 
 139. Just as the benefit society is much more than 
 a mutual insurance company, so the Polish-American 
 parish is much more than a religious association for 
 common worship under the leadership of a priest. 
 The unique power of the parish in Polish-American 
 life, much greater than in even the most conservative 
 peasant communities in Poland, cannot be explained 
 by the predominance of religious interests, which, 
 like all other traditional social attitudes, are weakened 
 by emigration, though they seem to be the last to 
 disappear completely. The parish is, indeed, simply 
 the old primary commimity reorganized and con- 
 centrated. In its concrete totality it is a substitute 
 for both the narrower but more coherent village 
 
 811 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 group and the mder but more diffuse and vaguely 
 outlined okolica. In its institutional organization 
 it performs the functions which in Poland are ful- 
 filled by both the parish and the commune. It does 
 not control the life of its members as efficiently as 
 did the old community, for, first of all, it seldom 
 covers a given territory entirely and is imable to 
 compel everyone living within this territory to belong 
 to it; secondly, its stock of socially recognized rules 
 and forms of behavior is much poorer; thirdly, the 
 attitudes of its members evolve too rapidly in the 
 new conditions; finally, it has no backing for its 
 coercive measures in the wider society of which it 
 is a part. But its activities are much broader and 
 more complex than those of a parish or of a commune 
 in the old country.^ 
 
 The priest and the parish committee are 
 careful to select a site for the chm-ch as close 
 as possible to the centers where Poles work, 
 and in a locality where rent is low and land 
 is cheap. There follows a further terri- 
 torial concentration of Poles. The original 
 population — ^Italians, Gtermans, Irish — 
 slowly moves out as the neighborhood be- 
 comes predominantly Polish. The parish 
 thus becomes the community. Polish busi- 
 ness is developed, associations of the type 
 enumerated in document 140 are formed, 
 aflFording their members economic advan- 
 tages, social entertainment, a field for 
 
 ' Florian Znoniecki, Study qf Polish InatituHona in America 
 (manuscript). 
 
 218 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 economic co-operation, educational oppor- 
 tunities, help in expressing and realizing 
 their political ideals, and a congenial social 
 milieu in which the desires for recognition 
 and response are satisfied. Even Poles who 
 are not religious are thus drawn into the 
 parish institutions. 
 
 The following document, 140, is an enu- 
 meration of the organizations connected 
 with the largest Polish parish in America — 
 St. Stanislaw Kostka, in Chicago; document 
 141 characterizes one of these organizations. 
 
 140. Zuaves of St. Stanislaw Kostka; Society of 
 the Virgins of the Holy Rosary; Brotherhood of the 
 Young Men of St. Joseph; Citizens' Club of Thaddeus 
 Kosciuszko; Theater and Dramatic Club; the 
 Parochial School; the Parish Committee; the Asso- 
 ciation of Altar Boys; the Marshals of the Upper 
 Church; the Marshals of the Lower Church; the 
 Arch-sorority of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (two 
 groups) ; the Women of the Holy Rosary (four groups) 
 the Arch-brotherhood of the Saints; the Third Order 
 of St. Francis; the Choirs of the Upper Church; the 
 Choirs of the Lower Church; the Club of Ladies of 
 Queen Labrowska; the Society of the Alumni of the 
 Parish School; the Musical and Literary Society of 
 Leo XIII; the Needlework Club of St. Rose of Lima; 
 the Polish Roman Catholic Union (central office); 
 the Society of St. Cecilia (No. 14 of the R. C. Union); 
 the Society of King John III Sobieski imder the 
 patronage of the Most Holy Virgin Mary; Queen 
 of the Polish Crown (No. 16 of the R. C. Union); 
 15 213 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 the Society of the Most Holy Name of Mary (No. 
 2 of the R. C. Union); the Society of St. Stanislaw 
 the Bishop (No. 31 of the R. C. Union); the Society 
 of St. Walenty (No. 847 of the R. C. Union); the 
 Society of the Heart of Jesus (No. 32 of the R. C. 
 Union); the Society of St. Stefan (No. 318 of the 
 R. C. Union); the Society of St. Nicholas (No. 42 
 of the R. C. Union); the Society of Polish Women 
 of God's Mother of Czestochowa (No. 53 of the 
 R. C. Union); the Society of Priest Wincenty Bar- 
 zynski (No. 91 of the R. C. Union); the Society of 
 Polish Women of St. Cecilia (No. 219 of the R. C. 
 Union); the Society of St. Bernard the Abbot (No. 
 320 of the R. C. Union); the Society of St. Andrew 
 the Apostle (No. 233 of the R. C. Union) ; the Society 
 of Polish Women of St. Agnes (No. 256 of the R. C. 
 Union); the Society of the Polish Crown (No. 296 
 of the R. C. Union); the Society of Polish Women 
 of St. Lucia (No. 378 of the R. C. Union) ; the Society 
 of Polish Women of St. Anna (No. 480 of the R. C. 
 Union) ; the Society of Polish Women of St. Apolonia 
 (No. 482 of the R. C. Union); the Society of St. 
 Helena (No. 924 of the R. C. Union); the Society 
 of Polish Women of Queen Wanda (No. 525 of the 
 R. C. Union) ; the Polish Alma Mater (central oflSce) ; 
 the Branch of St. Kazimierz the £dng*s Son (No. 1 
 of the Alma Mater); the Branch of St. KInga (No. 
 12 of the Alma Mater); the Branch of St. Monica 
 (No. 25 of the Alma Mater) ; the Branch of St. Clara 
 (No. 26 of the Ahna Mater); the Branch of St. 
 Cecilia (No. 92 of the Alma Mater); the Branch of 
 St. Joseph (No. 49 of the Alma Mater); the Court 
 of Pulaski (No. 482 of the Union of Catholic For- 
 esters) ; the Court of God's Mother of Good Advice 
 (No. 91 of Catholic Foresters); the Court of St. 
 
 2U 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 Vincent of Ferrara (No. 174 of Catholic Foresters); 
 the Court of St. Stanislaw Kostka (No. 255 of Catholic 
 Foresters); the Court of Priest Barzynski (No. 995 
 of Catholic Foresters); the Court of St. Walenty 
 (No. 1,001 of Catholic Foresters); the Court of St. 
 Irene (No. 445 of Catholic Foresters); the Court of 
 Frederic Chopin (No. 1,391 of Catholic Foresters); 
 the Court of St. John (No. 864 of Catholic Foresters); 
 the Court of Leo XIII (No. [?] of the CathoHc For- 
 esters) ; the Court of St. Martin the Pope (No. 1,143 
 of the CathoUc Foresters) ; the Society of the Guardi- 
 anship of St. Joseph (Group 115 of the Polish Asso- 
 ciation in America); the Society of St. George the 
 Martyr (Group 96 of the Polish Association); the 
 Society of St. Roch (Group 71 of the Polish Associa- 
 tion) ; the Society of St. John of Nepomuk (Group 26 
 of the Polish Association) ; the Society of the Heart 
 of Jesuus (Group 124 of the Polish Association) ; the 
 Society Pearl of Mary (Group 152 of the Polish 
 Association); the Society of St. Wojciech (Group 
 104 of the Polish Association) ; the Society of Young 
 Men of St. Kazimierz (Independent Mutual Help 
 Association) ; the Society of Ladies of Queen Jadwiga 
 (Mutual Help Association); the Loan and Savings 
 Association of St. Joseph No. 3; the Building Loan 
 and Savings Association of Pulaski; the Building 
 Loan and Savings Association of St. Francis; the 
 Press Committee; the College of St. Stanislaw 
 Kostka; the Novice's Convent of the Resurrec- 
 tionists; the Convent of the Sisters of St. Francis; 
 the Chicago Daily News (Polish) — 74 in all.' 
 
 1 listed and described in Album Pamiqticowe z Okazyi ^tego 
 Jubileuszu Parafii Sw. Stanidawa Kostka (Memorial Album of 
 the Celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Parish of St. Stanislaus 
 Kostka). 
 
 215 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 141. Zuaves of St. Stanislaus Kostka. The Zuaves 
 were organized into an association May 1, 1915, by 
 Rev. Franciszek Dembinski, the present rector of 
 the parish. They wear uniforms, helmets, and swords 
 on the model of the Papal Guard in the Vatican. 
 These little knights participate in large celebrations 
 like New Year's, the Forty Hours' Divine Service, 
 Pentecost, Christmas, the first communion of the 
 school children; they stand on guard at the grave 
 of Lord Jesus (before Easter), take part in the pro- 
 cessions on Easter and Corpus Christi. The Zuaves 
 drill in the school courtyard. The drill is taught by 
 the well-known captain of the cavalry of Stanislaw, 
 Mr. Franciszek Gorzynski. The Zuaves are com- 
 posed of thirty members chosen from the Society of 
 Altar Boys. . . . They are sons of parents who 
 have belonged to the parish for many years and have 
 been educated in the parochial school. Th^ are 
 obliged to shine as models of devotion, to partake 
 regularly of the Holy Sacraments and thereby to be 
 good sons of their dear parents, to know the history 
 of their ancestors, the great men of Poland, to talk 
 Polish among themselves and at home. In a word, 
 the Zuaves are expected to be the guardians of every- 
 thing that is divine and Polish in order to grow to be 
 real Polish patriots and defenders of the Christian faith. 
 [Picture of the group and names of members ^ven.] * 
 
 Document 142 illustrates the formation 
 of a small parish, and document 143 shows 
 the condition of the same parish after 
 twenty-five years, imder the leadership of 
 an exceptionally energetic priest. 
 
 * Album of the Parish of St. Stanislaus Kostka, p. 90. 
 216 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 142. The first Pole who came to New Britain was 
 Mr. Tomasz Ostrowski. After him others began to 
 arrive and in September, 1889, a mutual help society 
 under the patronage of St. Michael the Archangel 
 was established. [AU the oflBcers enumerated. . . . ] 
 In 1894 Priest Dr. Misicki, rector of the parish in 
 Meriden, Connecticut, came every Sunday to cele- 
 brate the holy mass in New Britain in the old Irish 
 church on Myrtle Street, at a yearly salary of $500. 
 Then the society, together with other noble-minded 
 Poles, began to think about establishing a Polish 
 parish, which was organized under the patronage of 
 St. Kazimierz. . . . 
 
 In September, 1895, Rev. Lucyan B6jnowski . . . 
 was appointed rector of the parish . . . and a wooden 
 church was built under the patronage of the Sweetest 
 Heart of Jesus. . . . First of aU Priest B6jnowski 
 made efforts to turn the people from drink, from 
 getting married in coiu-t, from indecent dress, from 
 holding baUs on Saturdays and nightly revelries, 
 from playing cards, loafing in saloons, fighting in 
 their homes, immoral hfe, conjugal infideUty, theft, 
 bad education of children, indecent behavior on the 
 street, and disorderly conduct at weddings and 
 christenings. Instead, he encouraged them to go 
 to confession and communion, to participate in 
 various divine services, to belong to fraternities, 
 etc. . . ,1 
 
 143. (1) The old church now contains school- 
 rooms and the rectorate. It is worth $25,000. (2) 
 The new church (the largest in New Britain) cost 
 $150,000 when built, and is now worth $300,000. 
 (3) The new school was built in 1904 at the cost of 
 
 ' Prom a history of the parish of New Britain, written by Priest 
 Bdjnowski, and published in 1902. 
 
 217 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 $150,000. It is now worth twice as much. (4) A 
 house for the teaching nuns is worth $15,000. (5) 
 The parish has a cemetery worth $25,000. There 
 are no debts on all of these buildings and lots. (6) In 
 1889 a co-operative bakery was estabhshed with an 
 original capital of $6,000 contributed by 5 associa- 
 tions. At present its property is worth $60,000. 
 (7) In 1904 a PoUsh orphanage was founded. It 
 owns now 4 houses, 146 acres within the limits of 
 the town, 107 acres outside the limits, 30 head of 
 cattle, 7 horses, 70 hogs, 500 hens; total value over 
 $200,000. No debts. (8) There is a parochial 
 printing office. The lot, the building, and the 
 machinery are worth $35,000. There is a debt of 
 $5,000. (9) The Polish Loan and Industrial Cor- 
 poration, founded in 1915, has a capitalization of 
 $50,000, and owns $45,000 worth of houses. (10) The 
 Polish Investment and Loan Corporation, founded 
 in 1915, has a capitalization of $75,000 and real 
 estate worth $10,000. (11) The People's Savings 
 Bank, founded in December, 1916, has $496,000 
 deposited. (12) The New Britain Clothing Cor- 
 poration, founded in 1919, capitalized at $50,000, 
 has merchandise worth $100,000 and real estate 
 worth $140,000. (13) The White Eagle Factory, 
 established in 1919, capitalized at $25,000, produces 
 cutlery. All of the above are co-operative organiza- 
 tions. (14) We gave 750 solbiers to the American 
 army and 301 to the Polish army. (15) We have 
 contributed to the Polish Relief Fund and to the 
 Polish Army Fund, up to this moment, $110,672.36. 
 (16) The parish counts now nearly 9,000 souls, 
 including children. In 1894 there were only 700, 
 
 counting Lithuanians, Slovaks, and Poles. (17) The 
 
 818 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 parochial school has 35 teachers and an attendance 
 of 1,736 chUdren.! 
 
 THE BOHEMIANS 
 
 In contrast with tlie Poles, who, as we have 
 seen, are very diflSeult from the standpoint 
 of assimilation, the Bohemians are almost 
 ideal material. They are democratic in 
 their tendencies, have the settler psychology, 
 own a larger percentage of their homes here 
 than any other immigrant group, bring the 
 smallest amount of illiteracy and the largest 
 amoimt of skilled labor of any group from 
 the former dual empire, not excepting the 
 Germans.^ 
 
 The feature of Bohemian life in America 
 which has attracted most attention and 
 caused most criticism is their freethinking 
 organizations. They are a deeply moral 
 people and every Bohemian has in him a 
 bit of John Hus, but in America there has 
 been a movement away from the Catholic 
 religion toward rationalism. Their morality 
 is here formulated in terms of the negation 
 of religion. Perhaps half of the Bohemians 
 in America are freethinkers: 
 
 'Letter of Priest B6jnowski to Florian Znaniecki. We know 
 from other sources that most of the institutions of the parish are 
 due to the initiative of Priest B6jnowski liimself . 
 
 ' See, e.g., Thomas Capek, The Cechs in America (Introduction). 
 219 
 
OLD WOBLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 144. Professor Steiner in an article on the Bohe- 
 mians in America in the Outlook for April 25, 1903, 
 says that they are the most irreligious of all our im- 
 migrants and quotes Mr. Geringer, editor of the 
 Svomost, "that there are in Chicago alone three him- 
 dred societies that teach infideUty, that cany on 
 propaganda for their unbelief, and that maintain 
 Simday-schools in which the attendance varies from 
 thirty to three thousand." This must count as one, 
 each branch of all the organizations, in which case 
 that cannot be far from correct. It must be borne in 
 mind, however, that many of these organizations are 
 aiming at something else, and in some cases directly 
 prohibit discussion of religious subjects, but the 
 sympathy of the members is such that they come 
 to be recognized as free-thought societies by the 
 members and by outsiders. . . . Probably the best 
 articulated organization which openly advocates 
 freethinking is the Bohemian-Slavonian Benevolent 
 Society, generally known by the initials of the 
 Bohemian name, C. S. P. S. This was founded in 
 St. Louis in 1854, and now has 25,000 members. 
 At first it was CathoUc and for benevolent purposes. 
 In September, 1909, it declared absolutely for free 
 thought. This does not mean that all the members 
 are interested in the propaganda of freethinking, but 
 no one is a member who is not in sympathy with 
 it, and through the official monthly paper, which 
 each member must take, a great influence is exerted. 
 
 The object of the brotherhood, as expressed in its 
 constitution, is "to endeavor to perpetuate the 
 Bohemian language ia this country and seciure for 
 both sexes the moral as well as the inteUectual and 
 material elevation of our countrymen; to foster 
 
 220 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 brotherly love and intellectual freedom among the 
 members; and to give mutual aid in sickness and 
 death as well as in public life." Observation shows 
 that this purpose is kept rather consistently, though 
 there are many members whose only interest is the 
 sickness and death benefit. The organization has 
 the form of lodges, and in many towns in the cotmtry 
 they have good halls. An interesting tendenqr 
 which shows a reaction from the Church is the 
 gradual dropping of forms and secrecy. Formerly 
 it had three degrees, but now only the password, 
 and many of the members object to even retaining 
 that. Again, formerly they had elaborate badges, 
 but these have become more and more simple, and 
 the button which is worn as an insignia is very plaiu.^ 
 
 THE SCANDINAVIANS 
 
 The Scandinavians bring a psychology which 
 presents no particular obstacles to assimila- 
 tion. They are not carrying on a nation- 
 alistic struggle here; they are not possessed 
 of a .mania of grandeur as representatives 
 of states that are great, have been great, or 
 will to be great. They are not the objects 
 of exploitation by their own leaders. They 
 are usually settlers, or have the settler 
 psychology, represented in document 62, 
 p, 84. In general, the Chiu-ch is the center 
 of their cultural activities, and they read 
 and print much religious literature. They 
 
 ' Herbert A. Miller, The Bohemians in America (manuscript). 
 221 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 have also a tender sentiment for their home 
 country and language: 
 
 145. The Synod expresses its appreraation of the 
 loyalty of our people toward our country and our 
 government, its willing sacrifice of men and means 
 for all governmental purposes, and the work which 
 is being done in the army and navy by our chaplains, 
 the National Lutheran Commission and the Lutheran 
 Brotherhood; and reaffirms its fidelity toward our 
 country, its constitution, laws, and government, and 
 its purposes to place property and life, in the future 
 as hitherto, at the disposal of our country and our 
 government. The Synod is also gratefully cognizant 
 of the fact that our Lutheran people of Swedish 
 parentage in Canada, with great readiness, have 
 placed men and means at the disposal of the British 
 government in the present war. 
 
 Li aU our school activities — as well as in ^ other 
 branches of our church work — it is incimibent upon 
 us to meet existing linguistic needs. Our immigrants 
 and our children must learn the English, the official 
 language of the country, but the Swedish should 
 also be retained as a valuable cultural heritage, as 
 far as possible. The Sjmod is of the opinion that 
 limitation in the stu(^ of foreign languages is a 
 lowering of national educational ideals, and that the 
 prohibition of the use of other languages than the 
 Enghsh is at variance with American principles of 
 liberty for which the nation has bled and is bleeding.' 
 
 The map on page 223 shows the distri- 
 bution of Norwegian Lutheran churches in 
 Minnesota. 
 
 ' Augustana Synodens Referai (1918), p. 49. 
 
 22« 
 
THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY 
 
 We shall speak later of the pauperization 
 of culture which an immigrant group in 
 America suffers when it fails to use the 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 - "' ',Vv.' ''' 
 
 
 it:^'-^'^ 
 
 • PREACHING PUCES 
 » CHURCHES 
 
 Map 9. — ^Norwegian Lutheran Churches in Minnesota* 
 
 general values provided by the larger Amer- 
 ican society (see p. 304 and document 168.) 
 This has happened, in some measiu"e, to the 
 Scand inavians. 
 
 ' Drawn from map in Norsk Ltdherske Menigh^er i Amerika, 1916. 
 223 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 146. In higher education the Scandinavians have 
 allowed their denominational zeal to outrun their 
 judgment. They have founded ntmierous seminaries 
 and so-called colleges, but almost invariably as a 
 part of the necessary equipment of a religious denom- 
 ination, for how could a self-respecting sect, no matter 
 how young or how slightly differentiated from its 
 older brethren, permit its children to attend the 
 schools of those whose denominational beliefs or 
 practices had become objectionable enough to war- 
 rant a schism in the church? A few of these in- 
 stitutions, like Luther College, at Deborah, Iowa, 
 Gustavus Adolphus College, at St. Peter, Minnesota, 
 Augustana College at Rock Island, Illinois, and 
 Bethany College at Lindsborg, Kansas, have main- 
 tained an excellent standard of work and exercised 
 a wide and beneficent influence. The great majority, 
 however, have simply wasted resources by the multi- 
 plication of ambitious, struggling, poorly equipped, 
 so-called colleges, with little or no endowment, and 
 often dependent upon the congregations of the 
 denomination which gave them birth. 
 
 One of the results of the excessive splitting up of 
 the Scandinavian churches is that the energies which 
 ought to be concentrated are frittered away on 
 unnecessary schools. A separate denominational 
 school and a family paper seem to be indispensable 
 parts of the machinery of every newly organized sect, 
 no matter how young or how small or how poor it 
 may be.' 
 
 > C. H. Babcock, The Scandinavian EUment in Ike United States, 
 p. 111. 
 
VIII 
 
 TYPES OF COMMUNITY INFLUENCE 
 
 In the preceding chapters we have implicitly 
 or explicitly characterized the influence of 
 certain immigrant communities on their 
 members. In the present chapter we com- 
 pare the preparation that the largest three 
 groups of the so-called new immigration — 
 the Poles, the Jews, and the Italians — give 
 their members for engaging in American 
 activities. These groups are numerically ^ 
 about equal, the Poles numbering about 
 5,000,000, the Jews, 3,300,000, the Italians 
 about 3,200,000. 
 
 THE POLISH COMMTJNirr 
 
 Polish leaders in Europe have done a unique 
 work for the improvement of the condition 
 of the people. After many bloody and 
 futile revolutions, the nobility realized that 
 its strength was spent and turned to the 
 people — ^particularly the peasants. After 
 1863 a "movement for enlightenment" was 
 
 225 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 begun whose object was to make the peas- 
 ant self-conscious, nationally conscious, and 
 materially prosperous. Men and women of 
 the nobility, students, young girls, priests, 
 all the Polish intelligentsia, participated 
 seriously and ceaselessly. Newspapers were 
 developed appealing to the peasant, agri- 
 cultural societies were formed, banks were 
 established for the peasant, some enthusi- 
 asts married peasant women. At first the 
 peasants viewed all this with suspicion, but 
 in the end they realized that the motives of 
 the other classes were unselfish, and began 
 to respond and participate. They wrote 
 to the newspapers, asked information about 
 soils and bee keeping, reported successes, 
 organized co-operative societies. 
 
 The results of this movement were very 
 real and practical. One of them was the 
 complete economic defeat of the Prussians 
 in German Poland. In their attempts to 
 Germanize this region the Prussians spent 
 $140,000,000 in colonizing it with Germans 
 from the Rhine provinces. To resist them, 
 the Poles, under the leadership of Maximilian 
 Jackowski (a noble), organized 330 peasant 
 societies; a powerful prelate, Wawrzyniak, 
 organized a system of peasant banks; any 
 Pole who outbid the Germans on land and 
 saved it for Poland was lauded in more than 
 
 226 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITY INFLUENCE 
 
 300 newspapers and periodicals; all German 
 goods were boycotted. In the end the Poles 
 had more land than when Bismarck inau- 
 gurated the German colonization movement, 
 after the war with France. In Prussian 
 Poland the movement was mainly economic 
 and political. Bernhard's important book. 
 Die Polenfrage (1909), was a semiofficial re- 
 port on iJie situation, informing the Prus- 
 sian government that it was defeated and 
 advising it to expropriate Polish land. The 
 movement in Russian Poland was rather 
 along educational and co-operative lines 
 and is recorded in Volume IV of The Polish 
 Peasant. 
 
 As a result of this social experiment, the 
 Poles learned to regard the individual mem- 
 ber of the community as a supreme value 
 and thus benefited Poland immensely, in 
 spite of the fact that Poland was not a state 
 and was siuroimded by states ready to 
 destroy her values as fast as she created 
 them. Having this in mind, it is remarkable 
 that the Polish commimities in America 
 have conspicuously neglected those of their 
 members who are not successful. 
 
 147. The social attitude manifested with reference 
 to questions of public charity and social work in 
 general are interesting. It has been noticed that 
 as compared, for instance, with the Jewish charitable 
 
 227 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 institutions, the Poles m America have little to show 
 in this line. Care for orphans and care for the old 
 and incurable are practically the only problems which 
 are more or Jess seriously dealt with; in other fields 
 initiative is rare and realization insufficient. The 
 few charitable institutions are due to the personal 
 efforts of a few leading members of Polish-American 
 society acting through the Church and influenced 
 by Christian principles, rather than to the recogni- 
 tion of altruistic obhgations by the society at large. 
 In a word, no social need to take care of the weak 
 seems to be felt by Pohsh-American communities. . . . 
 
 The moral reason by which the Polish-American 
 conununity justifies its apparent egotism is found 
 in the very basis of its organization. The latter is 
 socially and economically an organization for self- 
 help; its first purpose is to prevent the individual 
 from becoming a biu-den to the community, and the 
 individual who does not choose to avail himself of 
 the opportunities which this organization offers, 
 volimtarily resigns aU claims to the help of the group. 
 If the latter still feels obliged to assist in some meas- 
 ure the orphans, the old, and the incurables, it is 
 only in so far as it feels that the system of mutual 
 insurance is not yet efficient enough to cover these 
 cases adequately. 
 
 Of course since the Polish-American coimnunity 
 tends to ignore even the merely inefficient, we cannot 
 expect it to take any care of the demoralized. The 
 contrast is striking between the intense reformatory 
 work in this country. Individual demoralization 
 is either ignored or the demorahzed individual is 
 simply dropped at once. No one bothers about the 
 innumerable cases of family decay, juvenile delin- 
 quency, alcoholism, vagabondage, crime. Few know 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITY INFLUENCE 
 
 the full extent of the demoralization going on among 
 American Poles.^ 
 
 This means that while the Poles have been 
 carrying on a struggle here to preserve their 
 members from Americanization and save 
 them for Poland, or for a Polonia Americana, 
 they have at the same time abandoned their 
 unfit and misadapted members to the min- 
 istrations of our charity organizations, legal 
 aid societies, and juvenile courts. The cases 
 with Polish names cited in the documents 
 in Chapter IV are examples.^ 
 
 American social workers who handle 
 Polish cases feel that the Polish organiza- 
 tions are often inclined to avoid their respon- 
 sibilities toward those who are legally entitled 
 to benefits, as shown in document 148 below: 
 
 148. Plaintiff, Sigmimd Stecki, belonged to the 
 Polish National Alliance, group 565, paid his dues 
 regularly and was in good standing. According to 
 the by-laws a sick member unable to support his 
 
 'Thomas and Znaniecki, The Polish Peasant, vol. v (in press). 
 
 ' The Polish-American organizations have imitated the organi- 
 zation of the historical Polish state, not the 'peasant community in 
 Poland. The peasant community was absolutely democratic, 
 while the Polish state was formerly a "nobility-nation," aristo- 
 cratic and hierarchic to an almost unparalleled degree. And it 
 was the latter spirit which Polish leaders introduced into their 
 organizations here. All of their organizations select their members 
 carefully (see document 147). Even the one corresponding to the 
 American Boy Scouts (document 141, p. 216) selects its members 
 for their good breeding, piety, "knightly" qualities, etc., whereas 
 the American Boy Scouts convert even the worst characters. 
 
 16 229 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 family is entitled to a sick benefit of $5 a week for 
 three months, and $3 a week for six months there- 
 after, if he is sick more than a week and rei>orts his 
 sickness. 
 
 PlaintiflE was sick from May 23 to July 3, 1912— 
 eight weeks. He reported his sickness. The secre- 
 tary of the lodge (his cousin) came to see Mm, and 
 said he would rather pay from his own money than 
 from the lodge, because he had recommended plain- 
 tiff to the lodge and would be disgraced by plaintiff's 
 sickness. Plaintiff had a swelling in his right leg 
 from eczema. Doctor Golembianski from the lodge 
 did not call on plaintiff until the end of his sickness. 
 Plaintiff called at his office once the following week. 
 That was all the care he got. No help came from the 
 lodge. When plaintiff was well, he attended a meet- 
 ing of the lodge, and when he noticed no movement 
 to pay his claim he rose and asked why they had 
 forgotten him. The lodge said he had failed to notify 
 them. He assured them his wife had notified the 
 secretary, the secretary had called, and also the 
 doctor who had reported to the lodge. Then they 
 gave him $10 only; the balance of $25 they never 
 paid. 
 
 [Plaintiff acutely sick three times later without 
 aid.] The fourth time Horn Brothers (his employers) 
 wrote to [the proper group of] the Polish National 
 Alliance, suggesting they were getting, money under 
 false pretenses. He got no answer and turned case 
 over to the Legal Aid Society. 
 
 At first they paid no attention to us. Then [their 
 attorney] wrote that his society had dedded to pay 
 plaintiff nothing for five reasons: (1) he did not 
 belong to the group; (2) he did not pay according 
 to the constitution; (3) he did not go to their doctor 
 
 230 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITY INFLUENCE 
 
 to be treated; (4) he indulged in intoxicating liquors 
 during his illness, preventing recovery; (5) this 
 society had paid him twice and according to the 
 constitution once is required [in cases of chronic 
 sickness]. 
 
 [Their attorney] told our attorney when they met 
 in court that plaintiff was "no good," beats his wife, 
 gets "dead drunk," fights, was brought into court 
 and fined for fighting, had been expelled from numer- 
 ous lodges for "crookedness," that plaintiff's cousin, 
 first secretary, did not notify the lodge of plaintiff's 
 first iUness as the rules required, etc. 
 
 As to the reasons for not paying: (1) he did 
 belong to the lodge at the time, but dropped out 
 later when they continually refused to pay him; (2) 
 he did pay dues, and paid $12 in all for dues; (3) he 
 did go to their doctor whenever notified; (4) he 
 never drank to excess; (5) the disease was always 
 acute, not chronic. Investigation by his employers 
 showed that all the stories against his character were 
 false. He was honest, steady, reliable, kind to wife, 
 and Horn Brothers thought highly of him. 
 
 The judge gave judgment for plaintiff for $75. 
 But the lodge then moved to set aside judgment, 
 showing they were not a corporation as sued. 
 
 The Legal Aid Society could not find whom to 
 sue and has done nothing. The case dragged so 
 long in court that everybody, even Horn Brothers, 
 lost interest. The last letter from Horn Brothers, 
 dated October 30, 1914, says: 
 
 "[The attorney] in this case, met Mr. Stecki about 
 two weeks ago, and claimed they would fight the 
 case and spend $200 or $400 in defeating his claim- 
 It seems from all we can gather that there has been 
 a fight among themselves and that it is a band of 
 
 231 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 saloon keepers who are running this for their mutual 
 advantage. If this is a fact, it should be wiped out, 
 and we trust you will do what you can to accomplish 
 this end." » 
 
 Another defect of the Polish communiiy 
 is the failure to provide various types of 
 organizations which would assist their mem- 
 bers in adjusting themselves to the complex 
 American life. Practically all of their organ- 
 izations have the same fimction — mutual 
 aid, social recognition, and cultivation of 
 the Polish spirit. The Polish National 
 Alliance, for example, is merely a federation 
 of about 1,700 such societies. 
 
 149. By multipljring indefinitely associations and 
 circles, and by a very active propaganda exercised 
 through all possible mediums, nearly all the members 
 of the parish — men, women, and yoimg people — 
 even those who for some reason or other have not 
 yet joined the parish, or have dropped out, can 
 become in some way connected with the system and 
 thus acquire a minimum of public character. This 
 public character grows whenever an individual is, 
 even if only momentarily, connected as pubhc func- 
 tionary with some scheme for common action — 
 religious ceremony, entertainment, meeting, bazaar, 
 collection for a social purpose, etc. — and this increased 
 public importance is every year attained by large 
 proportion of the community. The highest degree 
 of public dignity is, of course, the share of those who 
 are elected officers in associations or become mem- 
 
 * Records of the Chicago Legal Aid Soeitty. 
 232 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITY IKFLUENCE 
 
 bers of permanent committees, or directors of insti- 
 tutions; and if we realize that every association has 
 from 6 to 20 officials, that every committee numbers 
 on the average 10 members, and that some large 
 parishes have more than 70 associations and com- 
 mittees, while even a small parish has at least a 
 dozen of them, we see that every active and fairly 
 intelligent individual, whatever his sex and age, is 
 sure of becoming some time a public dignitary; and 
 even if the existing organization does not give him 
 enough opportunities, he can always initiate a new 
 institution and gain recognition as organizer and 
 charter member.^ 
 
 By thus multiplying "dignities" and pro- 
 viding opportunities for public appearance 
 — ^in theatrical representations, concerts, 
 balls, and recitals — the Polish community 
 has succeeded in institutionalizing a large 
 part of the activities of its members, and 
 subjecting them to control. But with the 
 exception of the Alliance of Polish Socialists 
 (a numerically small body appealing to the 
 specialized city workman) every Polish insti- 
 tution here attempts to meet all the needs 
 of the individual member. The result is 
 that the Polish immigrant is arrested within 
 his community. He shows little tendency 
 to participate in American life and insti- 
 tutions, is hardly ever seen in dur colleges 
 and universities, shows notably little public 
 
 ' Thomas and Znaniecki, The Polish Peasant, vol. v (in press). 
 233 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 spirit, remains on a relatively low level of 
 efficiency, and contributes heavily through 
 crime and poverty to the burden of the 
 American state. 
 
 THE JEWISH COMMUMITV 
 
 Although the Jew has always been obliged 
 to organize his commimity life in a separate 
 and self-sufficient way in the diflFerent Euro- 
 pean states, and consequently brings to this 
 country the habits of organization, the con- 
 ditions of industry in Europe were so dif- 
 ferent, the American melting-pot has so 
 powerful an effect on the old ritualistic and 
 communistic attitudes, the mass of Jews is 
 so great in New York City, the Jews so 
 strange to one another, that the problem 
 of organization has been as great for the 
 Jews as for the other groups. The Jews, 
 however, have the settler psychology. They 
 bring their intellectuals, professionals, busi- 
 ness men, as well as their revolutionists 
 and workers, and have, more than other 
 groups, the elements for a complete society. 
 Other immigrant groups are usually de- 
 fective in leadership and creative individ- 
 uals; few intellectuals come, and those who 
 do come are usually only intelligent enough 
 to exploit the simpler members of their own 
 
 834 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITY INFLUENCE 
 
 groups, not to compete with intellectual 
 Americans. Consequently it is in general 
 true that the immigrant leader is able and 
 willing to organize his people just sufficiently 
 for his own good, but not sufficiently for 
 their good. 
 
 The Jews, on the contrary, are conspic- 
 uous as creators and organizers in different 
 fields — economic, scientific, artistic, etc. — 
 and their superior members not only live 
 without exploiting their own people, but 
 sincerely devote their abilities and resources 
 to the improvement of the mass of their 
 race. Furthermore^ for the first time since 
 the dispersion the Jews have found in Amer- 
 ica a toleration which has made it possible 
 for them to show an open interest in their 
 own welfare and to discuss openly the 
 improvement of theu' status and the realiza- 
 tion of their ideals.^ 
 
 For these reasons, the Jews, far more than 
 any other immigrant group, are resorting 
 to reflective social activity and supplement- 
 ing the old social forms, spontaneously 
 
 '"For centuries Jews had been forced by drcumstances to 
 abandon their own traditions of democracy inherited from their 
 fathers and expressed in the Hebrew commonwealth, and to 
 seek protection, not through the methods of free and open discus- 
 sion, and the development of public opinion, but by secret and 
 indirect means, through the efforts of individuals who had or 
 were supposed to have influence." — ^Louis D. Brandeis, Jevdsk 
 Righla and the Congress, address, Carnegie Hall, January 24, 1916. 
 
 235 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 reproduced, with new, conscious organiza- 
 tions. The organization of the Kehillah in 
 New York City was, in fact, the beginning 
 of a scientific study of the Jews by them- 
 selves. Their primary aim was: 
 
 150. (1) To secure exact, systematic, compre- 
 hensive knowledge concerning the Jewish community 
 of New York City, and the Jewish problem in all its 
 phases; (2) to engage upon as many experiments 
 as possible through first-hand experience of the 
 various phases of the problem; and (3) to point 
 out paths along which the community mi^t develop 
 in order to become in fact a conscious, organized, 
 united community.* 
 
 Beside taking action to meet a large num- 
 ber of specific needs, emergencies and abuses, 
 the Kehillah has estabUshed a number of 
 co-ordinating, standardizing, and research 
 iustitutions. Among them are: a Bureau 
 of Jewish Education ("for the purpose of 
 standardizing the methods of Jewish educa- 
 tion; ... to find ways and means of pro- 
 viding Jewish training for all the Jewish 
 children of school age in this city"); a 
 Bureau of Industry (" . . . to direct voca- 
 tional training, to provide employment for 
 the handicapped, as well as for the highly 
 skilled, and to work out methods for the 
 maintenance of peace ia industries where 
 
 * Communal Regitter, p. 55. 
 
 236 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITY INFLUENCE 
 
 Jews preponderate"); a School for Com- 
 munal Work, a Bureau of Philanthropic 
 Research, etc.^ 
 
 From the standpoint of organization the 
 Jews are the most interesting of the immi- 
 grant groups. There is among them, indeed, 
 a great variety of disorder and personal 
 demoralization — ^gambling, extortion, vaga- 
 bondage, family desertion, white slavery, 
 ordinary and extraordinary crime — as a 
 consequence of the rapid decay in America 
 of the Jewish traditions and attitudes;^ 
 there are divisions and animosities among 
 them, and quarrels about opinions — the 
 mere statement that the Jews are a national 
 rather than a religious community was suf- 
 ficient to convulse the recent Jewish con- 
 gress at Philadelphia for more than an hour 
 — and Jewish leaders realize that the sys- 
 
 ' CommuTud Register, pp. 49-55, 1139-1155. 
 
 ' The American born Jew may become totally and unreflectively 
 bad. but usually the Jew shows a survival of his ritualistic- 
 communistic morality in his scrupulous approach to any act of 
 wrong-doing. He always seeks some show of sanction for the 
 unsocial act. Thus, if he wishes to repudiate a marriage engage- 
 ment he persuades himself that the girl is anaemic or that he has 
 heart disease and that the children will consequently be unsound, 
 and seeks a confirmation of this opinion. A considerable number 
 of the " Bintel-Brief " in the newspaper Forward seek the editor's 
 sanction of an unsocial wish. The writer knows his motive is bad, 
 but is not sure the editor will know it. In the issue of February 
 20, 1920, for example, a writer represents that his blind wife wishes 
 to separate from him in order to allow him to pursue a happy 
 existence, and seeks the editor's approval of a divorce. 
 
 237 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 tematic activities we have mentioned have 
 had as yet little eflFect on the great mass 
 of Jewish life. But in our examination of 
 the Jewish type of organization we gain an 
 impression that the experiments of this 
 community upon its own problems contain 
 an interest not limited to the Jewish com- 
 munity, but extending to American society 
 as a whole. Our interest in the organiza- 
 tion of other immigrant commimities is 
 limited to the possible discovery of devices 
 which may assist these groups until they are 
 able to enjoy the benefits of American 
 institutions. In the case of the Jewish 
 group, we find spontaneous, intelligent, and 
 highly organized experiments in democratic 
 control which may asstune the character of 
 permanent contributions to the organiza- 
 tion of the American state. In this respect 
 the Jewish organization differs completely 
 from the Japanese (see Chapter VIII), 
 which is the most efficient organization 
 among the immigrant groups, but one based 
 on the military principle of ordering and 
 forbidding. 
 
 THE ITALIAN COMMUNITT 
 
 Italian leaders frequently point out that the 
 power of the Italian community both to 
 
 238 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITY INFLUENCE 
 
 organize for itself and to use American 
 organizations is limited. 
 
 151. The Italians in America may be compared 
 to a man who is starving in the midst of an abundant 
 supply of excellent food to which he has no access, 
 either because it is locked away from him or because 
 he is too ill to assimilate it, or because he feels a 
 strong repugnance toward the receptacle that contains 
 it.i 
 
 152. If the Italians would do as the Jews do we 
 should be better off. The Italian institutions here 
 are very few and very poor, and most of the big 
 organizations do nothing to help them. ... I 
 should hke to open the eyes of the public to the fact 
 that very little is done here for Italians by Italian 
 organizations. Such organizations as the Sons of 
 Italy do not use their money as they should. They 
 may spend it in Italy for private needs and things. 
 They should spend it here for American institutions 
 for Italians. We should all unite as the Jewish 
 people do.^ 
 
 153. Do we not see all the giant strides which 
 the Hebrew element is making in the conquest of 
 this country? It is true. They are owners of busi- 
 ness, banks, and affairs. Israelites are the lawyers, 
 judges, doctors, professors, teachers, managers of 
 theaters, the monopolists of arts. The most perfect 
 institutions of mutual aid and providence are Israelite. 
 The biggest settlement in New York is Israelite. 
 Their clubs, social, political, artistic, and professional, 
 are the best of their kind. Their schools are the 
 most frequented and most active. What wonder 
 
 ' Joseph Giardina, Winning the Italians for Christ (manuscript). 
 ^ Father Bassi, St. Lucy's Church, New York City (interview). 
 239 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 if they audaciously proclaim themselves the owners, 
 the conquerers of this country! Those who can 
 emulate them in this method of intellectual and 
 social invasion are the Italian element, which has 
 much affinity of intellect and artistic sensibility with 
 the old and refined Jewish race. But we must do as 
 they do; we must thus invade the schools, teach our- 
 selves, have our children taught, open to them the 
 social paths by means of the hatchet of knowledge 
 and genius. We must organize our forces as the 
 Jews do, persist in exhausting that which constitutes 
 gain for our race over the Anglo-Saxon race. . . . 
 
 But instead of this, what a contrast! The schools 
 where the Italian language is taught are deserted. 
 The Italian families falsify even the ages of their 
 children in order to send them to the factories, instead 
 of to the schools, showing thus an avarice more sordid 
 than that of the traditional Shylock. There is not 
 a young Italian girl who knows how to typewrite 
 in both languages and our men of affairs must employ 
 Jewish girls or Americans for lack of Italians. 
 
 Without being niggardly and egoistic as the Jew 
 sometimes is, let us try to imitate him in his ardor 
 for conquest and in the discipline and knowledge 
 with which he knows how to organize his admirable 
 institutions, which put him in a position to raise a 
 high voice and command respect for the name of 
 the race. 
 
 This is the reason we have put at the head of this 
 article the exhortation, "Let us do as the Jews." * 
 
 1 Editorial, BoUelino della Sera, November SO, 1907. Incidentally 
 this statement is typical of the Italian attitude toward success in 
 America: that this is to be gained not by constructiTe work in co- 
 operation with the American public, but in some way at the expense 
 of this public. It corresponds to the predatory economic theory 
 which preceded Adam Smith. 
 
 240 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITY INFLUENCE 
 
 On the other hand the Italians retain 
 longer than many other nationalities the 
 virtues of the primary-group organization. 
 Their family and community life has a very 
 afiPectionate and intimate character, and its 
 ties usually remain strong enough to prevent 
 that demoralization of the second genera- 
 tion which characterizes the Poles and, to 
 some extent, the Jews. The Italian family 
 tends to remain solidary long enough to 
 secure the result which Mrs. Leavitt indicates 
 at the end of document 103, p. 151. Map 10 
 on the following page indicates the location 
 of Italian colonies in New York. 
 
 It is certainly true that the spirit of mafia, 
 camorra, and vendetta, the most notorious 
 of the Italian heritages, which developed 
 here into the Black Hand activities, has had 
 a paralyzing effect on the development of 
 Italian life. Before 1905, in New York, 
 Chicago, New Orleans, Pennsylvania, Ohio, 
 wherever Italians were congregated, sys- 
 tematic blackmail and murder produced a 
 feeling of insecurity and terror imfavorable 
 to a;ll constructive activity: 
 
 154. Here in the land of liberty, of labor, of the 
 boldest steps in human progress, there has originated 
 and extended through the ItaUan colonies such an 
 air of mystery and terror that it disturbs the peace 
 of families, hampers the profitable development of 
 
 241 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 all the industries, dishonors the Italian name, and 
 tends to prolong that state of moral degradation 
 from which the lowest social strain of certain unhappy 
 regions of Italy are just now beginning to emerge. . . . 
 
 A. "Little Italy" colony from 
 
 Piedmont 
 Emilia 
 Lombardy 
 Venetice 
 
 B. 69th Street colony from 
 
 Sicily, including the 
 Cinisi group 
 
 C. Bowery colony from 
 
 Sicily 
 
 Naples 
 
 Basilicata 
 
 Calabria 
 
 Abruzzi 
 
 Apuglia 
 
 Genoa 
 
 D. Chatham Square colony from 
 
 Sicily 
 Basilicata* 
 
 E. Washington Square colony from 
 
 Genoa 
 
 Lombardy 
 
 Tuscany 
 
 Piedmont 
 
 Venice 
 
 Emilia 
 
 Map 10.— Location or Itauam Colonies m New Yobk Crrr 
 
 WITH SOURCBS OP EmIGHATION IN ItALT. 
 
 242 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITY INFLUENCE 
 
 Whole Italian families, in which a blackmailing letter 
 or a threat in another form has been received from 
 the Black Hand, live in continued anxiety and fear 
 of the vague, unknown, but always terrible danger 
 which hangs over them, and nobody knows whom 
 it wiU fall upon, the father, one of the children, a 
 relative, or all together, in the destruction of the 
 house or little store, demolished and set on fire by 
 the explosion of a dynamite bomb. . . . Even 
 business men of conspicuously strong character, and 
 professional men of unusual ability, frankly admit 
 that, after a threatening letter, a certain time has 
 to pass before they are able to attend to their busi- 
 ness with all the composure and energy required. . . .^ 
 
 155. In these last few years the number of threat- 
 ening letters has been increasing at an appalling rate, 
 and the field of victims has been enlarged to include 
 all: the poor laborer who by means of great sacri- 
 fices has succeeded in putting aside a few dollars, or, 
 perhaps, bought a wretched little property not yet 
 entirely paid for; the small merchant who, with 
 others of his family, is his own clerk in his little 
 store, and barely manages to make a living from it; 
 the proprietor who has retired from business and 
 would enjoy in peace the fruit of his toil; the whole- 
 sale merchant; the professional man; and even the 
 representative of the Italian government in Chicago. 
 
 The letter in its classic form is short, written in 
 an unassuming and sometimes friendly tone. It 
 contains the request for money, with an indication 
 of the place where it is to be delivered, and a threat, 
 sometimes veiled by mysterious allusions, and some- 
 times expressed with a brutal lack of reserve. 
 
 ^ La Mano Bianca, p. 18. A report issued by the Italian White 
 Hand Society, Chicago, 1908. 
 
 243 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 At the place designated the victim does not find 
 anybody; but at the house he finds, a few days later, 
 a second letter, in which the request is repeated, also 
 the threat, in an aggravated form. And thus at 
 brief intervals comes a third and a fourth letter, 
 each containing more violent threats than the pre- 
 ceding, expressed either in words or symbols, such 
 as drawings of pierced hearts, of pistols, daggers, 
 crosses, skulls and crossbones, bombs, etc. AH 
 these letters are prepared with a system of progres- 
 sion which shows in the author a mind by no means 
 crude and untrained, but shows, rather, a consum- 
 mate skill acquired by practice in this class of crime. 
 
 In this manner the victim is intimidated to such a 
 point that there is not left in his veins another drop 
 of blood beyond that needed to nourish his fear, and 
 to enable him, in such a depressed condition of mind, 
 to lay hold on the anchor of salvation which is pointed 
 out to him in one of the letters, that is, to apply to 
 "friends." Some phrase in the letter hints vaguely 
 at so-called friends; suggests that whoever seeks 
 will find; gives to understand, in short, that some- 
 body might intervene between the victim and the 
 mysterious and terrible god that has made the 
 demand, and is threatening with all the thunder- 
 bolts in his possession, so that the matter might be 
 adjusted in some way. In one letter in the posses- 
 sion of the "White Hand," this "friend" who is to 
 be the* intermediary, and who in reality is the accom- 
 plice if not the author of the blackmail, is indicated 
 with su£5cient precision. He must be a Terminese 
 from Termini, says the letter, meaning from the 
 town of Termini, not from the country, and must 
 live in the same street as the victim, which is a very 
 short street. . . . 
 
 244 
 
TYPES OP COMMUNITY INPLUENCE 
 
 So the unfortunate victim finally looks for the 
 "friend" who can save him from the threatening peril, 
 and has no difficulty whatever in finding him. Por 
 some time there has been continually at his side 
 somebody who has shown himself more solicitous 
 than ever before, if known for a considerable time; 
 obUging and exceedingly friendly, if of recent acquaint- 
 ance. This man sometimes guesses, sometimes 
 induces the other to tell him the trouble which has 
 destroyed his peace of mind, and curses the assassins 
 who blackmail poor people and who ought to be 
 hung or put in the penitentiary. He knows some 
 mysterious people, banded together, who live and 
 have a good time with money extorted from honest, 
 industrious people. . . . 
 
 The trial of Schiro before Judge H. N. Chetlain 
 of the Chicago court, furnishes very eloquent proof 
 of the means by which the conscience of poor people 
 is depraved, and the terror of mysterious societies 
 of villains is strengthened and spread by tyrannical 
 power. 
 
 Antonio Schiro, oflfering his services to Giovanni 
 Gastello as a "friend" for a transaction with the 
 authors of a blackmaihng letter, suggested that he 
 accompany the offer of a smaller sum with a letter 
 which would cause it to be accepted. He would 
 write the letter himseK for Castello, and in fact did 
 write it and deposited it, together with the money, 
 at the place designated by the mysterious black- 
 mailers. Found when he was caught, it was offered 
 in evidence at the trial. It ran as follows: 
 
 "My dear children, I answer your dear letter 
 
 which stated that you wanted this flower. So, my 
 
 dear children, I cannot. I can only give you this 
 
 flower of two himdred because I am not a person like 
 
 17 246 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 you, gentlemen, believe. You must excuse me if I 
 cannot make you content because I am a laborer and 
 have nothing else to say, but salute you friendly 
 and sign. Your friend Giovanni. You come and 
 get this letter in the place you know, because I can- 
 not go there. Good-by, good-by and make a good 
 life." . . . 
 
 The White Hand, which had studied all phases 
 of those cases which had come to its knowledge, 
 finding it extremely difficult to reach the principal 
 actor, directed all its attention toward this so-called 
 friend whose conduct and explanations gave some 
 clue which might fiuTush a more or less substantial 
 proof of his participation in the crime. Then the 
 tactics of these criminals were changed, and to the 
 common "friend" of the blackmailed and the black- 
 mailer was assigned the role of enemy of the latter, 
 under the necessity of submitting to a humiliation, 
 the humiliation of being obliged himself to carry to 
 the feet of the powerful and mysterious god the 
 tribute of the money extorted and the homage of 
 his own obedience. 
 
 In this way every weapon of the prosecution is 
 broken. The go-between did not offer himself, he 
 was appealed to; he always advised against yielding 
 to the imposition; he refused to intervene; they 
 begged him to, entreated, implored; he yielded out 
 of consideration for his friend, being himself a ^'ictim 
 of the oppression of the same mysterious enemy. 
 And in the face of this evidence, in fact, no jury can 
 find him guilty. . . .* 
 
 156. This type of crime has been carried on to 
 such an extent that, though the majority of those in 
 the colony are honest and industrious laborers, 
 
 • La Mono Blanco, pp. 11-16, jxuaim. 
 S46 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITY INFLUENCE 
 
 nearly every one seems to feel that lie is in constant 
 danger of either becoming the victim of a plot or 
 of being forced to involve himself with the gang. 
 
 Continental Italians and those of other nation- 
 alities who live in the district may own well-stocked 
 stores or acquire a reputation for wealth, but are 
 never molested or threatened, but a Sicilian who 
 shows any sign of prosperity almost invariably 
 begins to receive threatening letters and, though a 
 love of display is a national characteristic, few have 
 the courage to raise their standard of living as long 
 as they continue to live in the district. The streets 
 lying in the heart of the colony are thought to be 
 centers of danger, so there has been a tendency to 
 move toward the boundaries, or a few blocks beyond, 
 and families that have done so have a sense of security, 
 though they still live within easy walking distance 
 and return daily to visit friends, attend church, 
 patronize the shops, etc. 
 
 In the district itself it is considered very bad form 
 to discuss these affairs. No one alludes to them 
 voluntarily, or in plain terms speaks of a murder. 
 A murdered man is spoken of as the "poor disgraced 
 one," and the murders or persecutions as "trouble." 
 Certain men are called "mafiosi," but this generally 
 means only that they are domineering, swaggering, 
 and fearless, and no one would think of making a 
 direct accusation. There are men who are said to 
 be "imwilhng to work for their bread," and certain 
 names are never mentioned without a significant 
 raising of eyebrows. The term Black Hand is never 
 used except jokingly, nor does one hear the words 
 vendetta, omerta or fevdo, though every one is imbued 
 with the sentiments for which they stand. In the 
 whole colony there is no one so despised as an informer, 
 
 5847 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 nor is it thought desirable to show an interest in 
 another's private affairs. There is a general belief 
 that men who are murdered usually deserve their 
 fate. Murdered men are not buried from the church 
 unless a large sum is paid for a special mass. 
 
 The American press and police attribute all these 
 "Italian killings" to the Black Hand and consider 
 them inevitable. Every so often the newspapers 
 print an interview with a poUce official in which a 
 certain number of murders are prophesied to occur 
 in this district, and the pubUc are given to under- 
 stand that the situation is hopeless. When a murder 
 is committed it is either reported as a minor occur- 
 rence in a single paragraph, or absurdly elaborated 
 in highly romantic style. A few years ago the chief 
 of police, on being urged to have a careful study 
 made of the situation, dismissed the matter by saying, 
 " Oh, we've always had trouble up there; they never 
 bother anyone but each other." ^ 
 
 The Italian community had no power of 
 organization to combat a practice which 
 was traditional and operated like one of the 
 laws of nature. The Italian press got as 
 much news value as possible out of the 
 situation, and threw the blame on the Amer- 
 icans, claiming that they admitted too many 
 Italian criminals, and that the American 
 police and court systems were defective in 
 comparison with the Italian.* But grad- 
 
 ' Marie Leavitt, Rtport on the Sicilian Colony in Chicago 
 (manuscript). 
 
 ' Both of these claims were in fact true. The majority of 
 Sicilian criminals have probably been at one time or another in 
 
 848 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITY INFLUENCE 
 
 ually as the practice became epidemic, 
 affecting all classes of Italians, and involving 
 Americans also, the Italian community and 
 the American police were forced by public 
 opinion into an alliance which succeeded in 
 abating the evil. 
 
 the United States, and American laws (with jury system, techni- 
 calities safeguarding the rights of the accused, etc.) are not adapted 
 to dealing with the Sicilian character. 
 
 "The United States has become the refuge of all the delinquents 
 and the bandits of Italy, of Sicily, Sardinia, and Calabri^. About 
 a year ago the authorities of Tunis decided to cleanse the Italian 
 quarter of that city where there were a great number of crimes. 
 The French government proceeded to make a rigorous inquest 
 which residted in the expulsion of 10,000 Italians from that coimtry. 
 Where did that flower of manhood go? They were welcomed with 
 open arms by Uncle Sam. . . . Our Penal Code should be made 
 more severe. The worst with immigrants who come here from 
 Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, and Calabria is that they do not know 
 how to use the liberty which is enjoyed in this country. . . ." — 
 Statement of Lieutenant Petrosino, Head of the Italian De- 
 tective Bureau, New York City, BoUetino delta Sera, January 7, 
 1908. 
 
 "To a certain type of Italian criminal, who in his native land 
 lives in continual dread of the carabineers, the guards of public 
 safety, the civic guards, and even the rural and forest guards, any 
 one of whom may appear at his very bedside any hour of the 
 night to make sure that he is at home from sxmset until dawn, 
 this country where such an abimdance of guardians of the peace 
 is replaced only by the policeman, often nothing but a creature of 
 politics, cannot fail to appear as the promised land. 
 
 "To a certain type of Italian criminal, who, when mysterious 
 crimes are comi]&itted, is liable to be locked up in jail as a suspect, 
 sometimes even for months, simply because he is recognized as 
 being capable of committing crime, this country, where hold-ups, 
 thugs plying their trade in the most prominent streets, or in the 
 elevated railroad stations and street cars, night riders and lynchers, 
 so often escape justice, cannot fail to appear as a most fertile 
 vineyard, easy of cultivation for one willing to take chances." — 
 La Mono Bianca, p. 2. 
 
 249 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 We are unable to trace the whole history 
 of this reform movement, but the following 
 data, from one of the Itahan newspapers 
 published in New York, indicate the gradual 
 modification of the attitude of the Italians: 
 
 157. In April, 1903, a murdered man was found 
 in a barrel at Avenue A and Eleventh Street, New 
 York. The Italian detectives arrested twelve Sicil- 
 ians. The American newspapers had full accounts 
 and articles abusive of the Italians and the Black 
 Hand.i The Italian papers protested violently against 
 the blackening of the Italian name. The BoUettino 
 claimed'that "the fear of the mafia is in great part a 
 product of the reporter's fancy." * 
 
 During 1903 and 1904 the publicity given these 
 crimes seemed merely to augment them. The 
 BoUettino resented the fact that "that odious word 
 'irwfia' is continually thrown in our faces," quoted 
 American newspaper accounts of American lawless- 
 ness — ^the feuds of the Kentucky mountains, etc. — 
 and criticized the inefficiency of the American police.' 
 
 "Do the European newspapers say that the good 
 Londoners are hyenas who suck the blood from the 
 torn flesh of women, and that of aU their sports the 
 Americans prefer that of holding up trains, robbing 
 the passengers, perhaps killing them, and dynamiting 
 safes?"* 
 
 On October 18, 1905, the BoUetHno published a 
 statement of Lieutenant Petrosino that he needed 
 more men, that there were 30,000 members of the 
 Black Hand in America, and that the only way to 
 
 1 BoUettiTio della Sera. April 16, 1903. 
 > Ibid., April 17, 22. 27. May 11. 1903. 
 
 ' Ibid., July 24, December 23. 1903. « Ibid., May 7, 1903. 
 
 250 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITY INFLUENCE 
 
 deal with them was to deport their leaders. The 
 municipal council of Scranton, Pennsylvania, offered 
 $1,000 for information as to headquarters of the Black 
 Hand in that city.' 
 
 July 10, 1905, the Bollettino, referring to the Black 
 Hand, "which is said to have infiltrated itself among 
 the workmen of the Croton aqueduct," advised 
 Italians not to communicate details to the American 
 reporters but to the Italian consul general. Sep- 
 tember 27, 1905, a Black Hand case appeared for 
 the first time on the second page of the Bollettino. 
 Heretofore these cases had appeared on the first page. 
 
 September 10, 1906, the Bollettino reprinted from 
 the Tribuna Italiana, Chicago, an account of the 
 outbreak of a vendetta during a religious procession 
 in Chicago and "the dragging of the Italian name 
 in the dirt." Both papers asked: "When will this 
 end.''" "Another Sunday like the past will see the 
 proposal not of one plan, but of ten, to exclude Italian 
 emigrants from America." 
 
 In 1907 the "activities" increased. "There is 
 not a day that we are not compelled to record in 
 increasing numbers deeds so horrible as to redden 
 the faces of this puritanical people. To-day threat- 
 ening letters, to-morrow murder, then kidnapping, 
 following the explosion of bombs, and thus ... we 
 proceed upon the path of crime. "^ Judge Roberto 
 Cortese, of Paterson, New Jersey, received an infernal 
 machine through the mail and was blown to pieces. 
 He had aided the police in connection with Black 
 Hand cases. A protest meeting of 500 was led by 
 Italians; $10,000 was raised to aid in the search for 
 the criminals, and in addition the Municipal Council 
 
 1 Bollettino della Sera, January 11, 1906. 
 
 2 Ibid., January 30, 1907. 
 
 251 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 of Paterson contributed $2,000, the Passaic Board 
 of Freeholders, $1,000, the State Camp Woodmen, 
 $2,500, etc.i 
 
 The year 1908 shows the highest nmnber of Black 
 Hand activities. The BoUettino records 311 cases. 
 Two columns in the BoUettino (January 25, 1908) 
 call on Italians to rise up and put a stop to the crimes 
 which are besmirching the Italian name, and call 
 a mass meeting to effect an organization. An edi- 
 torial headed "The Cry of Alarm," January 28th, 
 warned that the doors of this coimtiy would be 
 closed to Italians. At the meeting a sodety of 
 over 300 was formed — "Association de Vigilanza e 
 Protezione Italiana" — and Mr. Frugone, editor of 
 the BoUettino, was made president.* 
 
 "In many places employers are beginning to refuse 
 to take Itahans."' The phrase, "It is about time 
 to quit it," became current in Italian newspapers.* 
 The BoUettino, commenting on a case where a man 
 went to jail rather than disclose the name of a black- 
 mailer, gave advice which proved very important 
 later — ^to carry information to the police.* Com- 
 menting on a law proposed in West Virginia to exclude 
 Italians from the state, the BoUettino said the ItaUans 
 bade fair to be classed with the Chinese." The 
 BoUettino printed a letter from the King of Italy to 
 an ItaUan poUceman commending him for bravery 
 in fighting the bad Italian element in Pittsburgh.' 
 The BoUettino pointed out that ItaUans were afraid 
 to inform the poUce of threatening letters, because 
 the police were unable to protect them, cited the 
 
 1 BoUeOino della Sera, February 10-14, 1907. 
 ' lUd., February 7, 1908. ' Ibid., March 21, 1908. 
 
 » Ibid., January 30, 1908. • Ibid, March 80, 1908. 
 
 « Ibid., February 17, 1908. ' Ibid., May 8, 1908. 
 
 252 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITY INFLUENCE 
 
 case of Mr. Spinella, and translated a communica- 
 tion sent by him to the TiTties in July, showing that 
 he informed the pohce of threats, and his house was 
 nevertheless dynamited six times.i The Bollettino 
 printed a notice, "Against the Black Hand," advising 
 all honest Italians to aid Commissioner Bingham 
 by sending him, marked "personal," all threatening 
 letters, and information about Black Handers and 
 idle Italians, with a description of individuals.^ 
 Lieut. Giuseppe Petrosino was killed in Palermo. 
 The Bollettino placed the blame on the chief of police 
 for revealing the fact that Petrosino was in Italy.' 
 A law was passed in Albany making punishment for 
 kidnapping fifty years in prison.* 
 
 Rizzo, who killed three children in an attempt to 
 extort money from their father, went to the electric 
 chair.* Lupo, leader of a gang, was sentenced to 
 thirty years, and members of that gang were given 
 heavy sentences.* The Italian dailies attacked the 
 ItaUan Civic League because it was collaborating 
 too much with Americans — under the guise of defend- 
 ing the Italian name it called in Americans to discuss 
 how to deal with Italian criminals.^ Professor 
 Pecomi of the Italian Civic League, admitted that 
 the league could do nothing imless aided by the 
 police. He blamed the pohce for not deporting the 
 700 criminals listed by Petrosino and Vaccarezza.* 
 The Bollettino and many Italian societies protested 
 against the use of the word "Italian" by the Amer- 
 
 ■ Bollettino delta Sera, September 6, 1908. 
 
 * Ibid., January 12, 1909. ' lUd., December 17, 19, 27, etc., 1910. 
 « Ibid., March 13, 1909. « md., December 17, 1910. 
 
 * Ibid., April 6, 1909. 
 
 5 Ibid., November 22, 1909. 
 « Ibid. February 21, 1910. 
 
 253 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 ican press in describing a criminal. A coupon was 
 run daily in the Bollettino: "We protest in the use 
 of the word 'Italian' in the American press on any 
 news item detrimental to our countrymen," to be 
 signed and returned to the editor;* and in Jime, 
 1911, Mr. Frugone carried the protest to over 1,000 
 Italian lodges and 50 newspapers to the convention 
 of newspaper managers in Chicago.^ 
 
 The postoflBce inspectors were instructed to watch 
 the mails for Black Hand letters.' Italians protested 
 against the action of the police commissioner in 
 abolishing the Italian detective squad. The Bol- 
 lettino printed an article in English, by Mr. Palmieri, 
 in which he said in substance: 
 
 "Commissioner Waldo has injured the Italian 
 colony by aboHshing the detective squad, which sent 
 back such dangerous criminals as Enrico Alfono, 
 chief of the camorra in Italy. The Italian criminals 
 find a haven here, with weak policing and inmiigra- 
 tion officials easily evaded. Lieutenant Petrosino 
 died to perform the great duty of listing dangerous 
 Italian criminals. Lieutenant Vaccarezza now has 
 worthily succeeded him. There are in New York 
 600,000 Italians, and there were only 60 men to 
 police them. Now Commissioner Waldo abohshes 
 these. The Italian colony is sad. The ItaUan 
 merchants once responded to the call for funds and 
 will do so again; but a proper squad of Italian detec- 
 tives is necessary, men who are familiar with the 
 dialects, customs, habits, and methods of the crim- 
 inals who prey on the Italian people by blackmailing, 
 extortion, kidnapping, and other outrages. Let 
 
 > BoUettino delta Sera, April 6, 1911. 
 
 » Ibid.. June 15, 19U. » Ibid.. AprU 3. 1911. 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITY INFLUENCE 
 
 us not throw away valuable information. Let us 
 not waste time, but restore the detective squad." ' 
 
 "The ItaUan government is right in saying that 
 the blame for the increase of the Black Hand is on 
 the United States. Nowhere in the world does this 
 organization flourish as here in America. Lieutenant 
 Vaccarezza is right. The dissolution of his secret 
 poUce department has increased the outrages. As 
 long as the Black Hand is stronger than the police 
 the mass of ignorant Italians will put their faith 
 in settlements with the malefactors rather than rely 
 on New York police. . . . The police cannot obtain 
 the confidence of the people until they (1) re-estab- 
 hsh the Italian detective bureau; (2) scrutinize 
 passports; (3) agree with the Italian government 
 as to precautions to keep criminals from the United 
 States." 2 
 
 "... We caimot command respect unless we 
 abolish this criminality among us. We often have 
 to say we are French, or Spanish, or Turks, to hold a 
 job. Think what a disgrace these Black Handers 
 have brought upon us ! The Americans are too good 
 to us, too tolerant, but their limit is reached. They 
 are passing laws to hit us directly. Why not quit 
 it? We should appreciate this country. In Italy 
 we could hardly dare to do what we do here. This 
 tumor is of course produced by the corrupt New 
 York police, but let us do our part to cut it out." ' 
 
 In 1909 the Black Hand activities had 
 begun to decline, owing to the efforts of the 
 Italian press and organizations, severer laws, 
 
 > Bollettino della Sera. July 14, 1911. 
 
 ^ Ibid., September 2, 1911. ' Ibid., September 18, 1911. 
 
 255 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 extraordinary earnestness in the police de- 
 partment following the murder of Petrosino, 
 and, above all, the disposition of the Italians 
 to follow the advice of their newspapers 
 and commimicate information to Commis- 
 sioner Bingham, "if not openly, then secretly 
 or anonymously." In 1909 there were 205 
 activities as against 311 in 1908; in 1910, 
 128 activities. When the ItaUan squad 
 was dispersed in 1911 (owing, as the Italians 
 claimed, to corruption and vanity in the 
 police department), the activities were re- 
 newed; but they were met with more 
 resistance, because the Italian people had 
 learned to have some confidence in the police 
 and obey their leaders. Consequently the 
 Black Handers were compelled to use more 
 bombs than ever before in order to intimidate 
 their victims. In 1908 only 20 bombs 
 were exploded, because their victims settled 
 readily. In 1909 and 1910 less than 20 
 bombs were used, but in 1911, while there 
 were only 95 activities, 79 bombs were 
 used. Between August 5 and September 
 25, 1911 (shortly after the abolition of the 
 Italian detective bureau), 25 bombs were 
 used. In 1912 there were 85 activities and 
 81 bombs; in 1913, 100 activities and 173 
 bombs. In the first twenty days of January, 
 1913, there were 17 bombs recorded. Fol- 
 
 iS6 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITY INFLUENCE 
 
 lowing the persistent protests of Italians, 
 the Italian detective squad was restored, 
 in July, 1913. In 1914 there were only 32 
 combined activities and bombs, and in 1915 
 Italian crime became "normal" in New 
 York. 
 
 There is one particularly instructive feature 
 in this record of Italian crime: while there 
 was bad feeling between the Italian public 
 and the American public, neither side could 
 accomplish a reform without the participa- 
 tion of the other. A reading of the whole 
 record impresses us with the fact that the 
 Italian public responded as readily as was 
 reasonable to their leaders' efiForts to induce 
 them to resist their tormentors. In the 
 first place, one of the characteristic heritages 
 of the southern Italian is a strong repugnance 
 to any sort of co-operation with the state. 
 Further, the Black-Handers always made 
 good their threats. There are cases recorded 
 where a man is killed at the hour and minute 
 appointed;^ where a man who betrayed his 
 gang in Palermo is followed through the 
 Transvaal, Australia, South America, and 
 killed after ten years in a Brooklyn dance 
 hall; 2 where a man who has testified in 
 court asks for twenty years of the peniten- 
 
 » BoUettino dda Sera, AprQ 15, 1912. 
 2/6ia., Mayl9, 1913. 
 
 257 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 tiary because that means twenty years of 
 life.^ There is no such certitude in the 
 operations of the law or of the poUce. The 
 Itahans held with the police as soon as they 
 felt any degree of safety in doing so, and 
 after they had taken this attitude tiiey 
 persisted in it even when the police dis- 
 banded for a time the organization in which 
 the Italians had most confidence — the Italian 
 detective squad. 
 
 I BoUettino della Sera, January 29, 1910. 
 
IX 
 
 RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 Immigration in the form it has taken in 
 America differs from all previous move- 
 ments of population. Populous countries 
 have planted colonies, states have been 
 conquered and occupied, slaves have been 
 imported. But when a single country is 
 peacefully invaded by millions of men from 
 scores of other countries, when there are 
 added to one American city as many Jews 
 as there are Danes in Denmark, and to the 
 same city more Italians than there are 
 Italians in Rome, we have something new 
 in history. 
 
 Natiu"ally the mass and quality of this 
 immigration is important to us because it 
 cannot fail to have an influence on our 
 whole system of life. Every country must 
 have an organization for securing order and 
 efficiency, not only to insure the happiness 
 and prosperity of its citizens within its 
 boundaries, but also to protect it from for- 
 eign attack. The various nationalities and 
 
 259 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 civilizations of the world are in a state of 
 rivalry, and a low eflSciency in any country 
 may lead to its destruction, actual or eco- 
 nomic. Our wish to assimilate the immi- 
 grants who remain here means that we want 
 to make them a practical part of our organ- 
 ization. 
 
 There is an interesting parallel between 
 the influence which a coimtry wishes to 
 exercise over its members and the influence 
 of what geographers and naturalists call an 
 *'area of characterization." In the natural 
 world an area of characterization is a geo- 
 graphical region suflSciently marked in its 
 physical features to put a characteristic 
 imprint on its flora and fauna. In the same 
 way, the human inhabitants of a coimtiy 
 develop a body of characteristic values. A 
 country is an area of cultural dbaracteiiza- 
 tion. 
 
 KEQUmED IN A DEMOCRACT 
 
 Among the distinguishing features of the 
 American "area of characterization" is the 
 principle that no man is to be used as a tool 
 and thus placed in the category of purely 
 material values, and we have consequently 
 repudiated the ancient conception of the 
 state, in which by a system of "ordering 
 and forbidding" great things were achieved, 
 
 860 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 indeed, but only by keeping the masses 
 permanently in the category of things. 
 
 Our state system is based on the partic- 
 ipation of every member and assumes in 
 all the wish and ability to participate; for 
 in the last analysis we mean by democracy 
 participation by all, both practically and 
 imaginatively, in the common life of the 
 communifty. Our democracy is not work- 
 ing perfectly at present because not even 
 the native bom are participating com- 
 pletely. Our old order was a territorial 
 one. The autonomy of the political and 
 social groups was based on size and geo- 
 graphical isolation. So long as the group 
 remained small and isolated, individuals 
 were able to act responsibly, because the 
 situations they dealt with came easily within 
 their understanding and capacity. But the 
 free communication provided by the loco- 
 motive, the post, the telegraph, the press, 
 has dissolved distances. As a result men 
 find themselves in a system of relationships, 
 poUtical and economic, over which, in spite 
 of their traditional liberties of speech and ac- 
 tion, they no longer have control. The con- 
 ditions of their daily living are vitally aflfected 
 by events occurring without their knowledge, 
 thousands of miles away. 
 
 It is silnilarly impossible for average 
 
 18 • 261 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 citizens to grasp all the elements of the 
 political issues on which they give decisions. 
 The economic nexus holds them in an 
 inevitable interdependence; they are polit- 
 ically disfranchised while retaining the cer- 
 emony of a vote. No longer able to act 
 intelligently or responsibly, they act upon 
 vagrant impulses. They are directed by 
 suggestion and advertising. This is the 
 meaning of social imrest. It is the sign of 
 a baffled wish to participate. It represents 
 energy, and the problem is to use it con- 
 structively. While we are forming a new 
 definition of the situation, we are subject 
 to emotional states and random movements. 
 
 The foimders of America defined the 
 future state as a democracy characterized 
 by the largest possible amount of individual 
 freedom, but this ideal has not been fully 
 realized. At best we can say that we are in 
 the process of giving this country the cultural 
 characterization of such a democracy. 
 
 While we have on our hands this problem 
 we are importing large numbers of aliens, 
 representing various types, in the main 
 below our cultm-al level. Some of them 
 bring a greater and more violent unrest than 
 we know here: psychoses acquired under con- 
 ditions where violence was the only means 
 of political participation. Others belong 
 
 268 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 to the nationalistic, opportunistic, or in 
 fewer numbers to the radical elements, who 
 not only do not regard this country as their 
 coimtry, but do not regard it as a country 
 at all — do not recognize that we have a 
 characteristic body of values and the right 
 to preserve these values. 
 
 The immigrant usually brings a value 
 which is very important to us — ^labor — and 
 it would be possible to regard him in a nar- 
 rowly practical way as a merely material 
 value, just as the negro in slavery and 
 Chinese labor in earlier days were regarded 
 as material values, and as the Germans 
 regarded the 600,000 laborers from Austria 
 and Russia who crossed their borders 
 annually and returned to their homes at 
 the end of the harvest season. But we 
 know from om- experience with slavery and 
 from the German experiences with the 
 Sachsengdnger, that this attitude has a bad 
 effect both on the aliens and on the culture 
 of the group which receives and uses them 
 as mere things. If visitors are disorderly, 
 unsanitary, or ignorant, the group which 
 incorporates them, even temporarily, wiU 
 not escape the bad effects of this. 
 
 Every country has a certain amount of 
 culturally undeveloped material. We have 
 it, for instance, in the Negroes and Indians, 
 
 263 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 the Southern mountameers, the Mexicans 
 and Spanish-Americans, and the slums. 
 There is a limit, however, to the amoimt of 
 material of this kind that a country can 
 incorporate without losing the character 
 of its culture. For example, the "three 
 R's" represent our minimum of cultural 
 equipment, and we are able to transmit 
 this much to practically everybody. With 
 this equipment the individual is able to 
 penetrate any sphere of life; without it, 
 he cannot move upward at all. But if we 
 should receive, say, a million Congo blacks 
 and a million Chinese coolies annually, and 
 if they should propagate faster than the 
 white Americans, it is certain that our 
 educational system would break down; we 
 could not impart even the "three R's." 
 We should then be in a state of chaos unless 
 we abandoned the idea of democracy and 
 secured efficiency by reverting to the "order- 
 ing and forbidding " type of state. 
 
 This is the general significance of inuni- 
 gration to our problem of democracy. We 
 must make the immigrants a working part 
 in our system of life, ideal and political, as 
 well as economic, or lose the character of 
 oiu* culture. Self-preservation makes this 
 necessary; the fact that they bring valuable 
 additions to our culture makes it desirable. 
 
 264 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 Now we can assimilate the immigrants only 
 if their attitudes and values, their ideas on 
 the conduct of life, are brought into harmony 
 with our own. They cannot be intelligent 
 citizens unless they "get the hang" of 
 American ways of thinking as well as of 
 doing. How fast and how well this is 
 accomplished depends (1) on the degree 
 of similarity between their attitudes and 
 values and our own, giving them a certain 
 preadaptation to our scheme of life and an 
 ability to aid in their own Americaniza- 
 tion; and (2) on how we treat them — 
 our attitude toward their heritages. These 
 are, roughly, the elements in oiu: problem 
 of assimilation. 
 
 SIMILARITY OP HERITAGES 
 
 It is one of the ordinary experiences of social 
 intercourse that words and things do not 
 have the same meanings with different 
 people, in different periods of time, in dif- 
 ferent parts of a country — ^that is, in general, 
 in different contexts. The same "thing" 
 has a different meaning for the naive person 
 and the sophisticated person, for the child 
 and the philosopher. The new experience 
 derives its significance from the character 
 and interpretation of previous experiences. 
 To the peasant a comet, a plague, an epileptic 
 
 265 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 person, may mean, respectively, a divine 
 portent, a visitation of God, a possession 
 by the devil; to the scientist they mean 
 something quite different. The word slavery 
 had a connotation in the ancient world very 
 different from the one it bears to-day. It 
 has a different significance to-day in the 
 Southern and Northern states. "Socialism" 
 has a very different significance to the 
 immigrant from the Russian pale living on 
 the "East Side" of New York City, to the 
 citizen on Riverside Drive, and to the native 
 American in the hills of Georgia. 
 
 The meaning any word has for an indi- 
 vidual depends on his past experience, not 
 only with the thing the word means, but 
 with many other things associated with it 
 in his mind. For example, the concept 
 evoked in his mind by the word "food" is 
 determined not oiJy by the kinds of food 
 he has eaten, but also by the normal state 
 of his appetite and digestion, the ease or 
 difficulty with which he secures his daily 
 ration, whether he grows, himts, or buys it, 
 whether or not he prepares it, whether he 
 has ever been near starvation, and so forth. 
 No two people have exactly the same expe- 
 rience by which to define the same word, 
 and sometimes the resulting difference in 
 meaning is immeasurably great. This is 
 
 866 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 the meaning of the saying of the logicians 
 that persons who attach different meanings 
 to the same words and the same things are 
 in different "universes of discourse," — ^that 
 is, do not talk in the same world. 
 
 I All the meanings of past experience re- 
 tained in the memory of the individual 
 form what is called by psychologists the 
 "apperception mass."! It is the body of 
 memories with which every new item of 
 experience comes in contact, to which it 
 is related, and in connection with which it 
 gets its meaning. The difference in the 
 interpretation of words is merely an example 
 of the fact that persons whose apperception 
 masses are radically different give a different 
 interpretation to all experience. The eccle- 
 siastic, the artist; the mystic, the scientist; 
 the Philistine, the Bohemian — ^are examples 
 of classes not always mutually intelligible. 
 Similarly, /different races and nationalities, 
 as wholes/ represent different apperception 
 masses and consequently different universes of 
 discourse, and are not mutually intelligible.) 
 Even our forefathers are with difficulty in- 
 telligible to us, though always more intelligible 
 than the eastern European inmiigrant, be- 
 cause of the continuity of our tradition. 
 
 ' The set of attitudes and values, which 
 we call the immigrant's heritage, are the 
 
 267 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 expression in ideas and action of his apper- 
 ception mass.^ "Heritages" diflfer because 
 the races and nationaUties concerned have 
 developed diflFerent apperception masses; 
 and they have developed different apper- 
 ception masses because, owing to histor- 
 ical circumstances, they have defined the 
 situation in different ways. (See Chapter 11.) 
 Certain prominent personalities, schools 
 of thought, bodies of doctrine, historical 
 events, have helped to define the situation 
 and determine the attitudes and values of 
 our various immigrant groups in character- 
 istic ways in their home coimtries. To the 
 Sicilian, for example, marital infidelity means 
 conventionally the stiletto; to the American, 
 the divorce court. These differences some- 
 times go so far that it is impossible for those 
 concerned to talk to one another. The 
 Western World, for example, appreciates 
 learning, and we have signalized this in 
 our schools. The Jews also show this 
 appreciation (documents 1-3), and even 
 the Polish peasant, in document 4, p. 7, 
 appreciates learning, though not for his 
 class. But in document 5, p. 8, we have a 
 complete repudiation of learning; the sit- 
 uation is here defined in terms of piety, 
 somewhat as we defined it before Darwin. 
 We can imagine that if the Oriental who 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 signs this document met a Western ento- 
 mologist at dinner, and, interrogating him 
 as to his interests, fomid that he spent his 
 life in examining potato bugs, moving them 
 from one temperature to another, from one 
 degree of humidity to another, from one 
 altitude to another, to see if their spots 
 changed, and if they changed whether the 
 change remained permanent imder all con- 
 ditions, or whether new generations reverted 
 to the previous type if removed to the old 
 conditions — in other words, that he was 
 trying to create a new species — the Oriental 
 would conclude that his interlocutor was 
 not only impious, but insane. 
 
 [Ji the unmigrant possesses already an 
 apperception mass corresponding in some 
 degree to our own, his participation in our 
 life will, of course, follow more easily. While 
 we have given in Chapter I and elsewhere 
 examples of heritages strange to us, the 
 body of material presented shows that he 
 does not diflPer from us profoundly. ) We 
 can best appreciate the immigrants' mental 
 kinship with ourselves negatively, by com- 
 paring them with what they are not. If 
 the immigrants practiced and defended can- 
 nibahsm and incest; if they burned their 
 widows and killed their parents and broke 
 the necks of their wayward daughters, cus- 
 
 269 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 tomarily; if (as in a North African Arab 
 tribe) a girl were not eligible for marriage 
 until she had given her older brother a child 
 bom out of wedlock, to be reared as a slave; 
 if immigrant families linuted their children 
 by law to one boy and one girl, killing the 
 others (as in the Ellice Archipelago); or 
 (as in liie Solomon Islands) if they killed 
 aU, or nearly aU, their children and bought 
 others from their neighbors, as oiu* farmers 
 sell yoimg calves to butchers and buy 
 yearlmgs; if immigrant army recruits de- 
 clined target practice because the bullet 
 would go straight anyway if Allah willed it 
 — then the problem of assimilation would be 
 itnmensely compUcated. 
 
 I In comparison with these examples immi- 
 grant heritages usually differ but shghtly 
 from ours, probably not more than ours 
 differ from those of our more conservative 
 grandfathers.] Slavery, dueling, burning of 
 witches, contempt of soil analysis, condem- 
 nation of the view that plants and animals 
 have been developed slowly, not suddenly 
 created, are comparatively recent American 
 values and attitudes. 
 
 PSYCHOLOGY OF ASSIMILATION 
 
 It is evidently necessary that the people 
 who compose a community and participate 
 
 270 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 in common enterprises shall have a body of 
 common memories sufficient to enable them 
 to understand one another. This is par- 
 ticularly true in a democracy, where it is 
 intended that the public institution should 
 be responsive to public opinion. There 
 can be no public opinion unless the persons 
 who compose the public are able to live and 
 think in the same world. (The process of 
 assimilation involves the development in 
 the immigrant and the native of similar 
 apperception masses. ^ To this end it is 
 desirable that the immigrants should not 
 only speak the language of the country, 
 but also know something of the history of 
 the people among whom they have chosen 
 to dwell. For the same reason it is import- 
 ant that native Americans should know 
 the history and social life of the countries 
 from which the immigrants come. 
 
 It is important also that every individual 
 should share as fully as possible a fund of 
 knowledge, experience, sentiments, and ideals 
 common to the whole community, and him- 
 self contribute to that fimd. It is for this 
 reason that we maintain and seek to main- 
 tain freedom of speech and free schools. 
 The function of literature, including poetry, 
 romance, and the newspaper, is to enable 
 all to share vicariously the umer life of each. 
 
 271 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 The function of science is to gather up, 
 classify, digest, and preserve, in a form in 
 which they may be available to the com- 
 munity as a whole, the ideas, inventions, 
 and technical experience of the individuals 
 composing it. Not merely the possession 
 of a common language, but the widest ex- 
 tension of the opportunities for education, 
 is a condition of Americanization. 
 
 iFor the immigrant to achieve an apper- 
 ception mass in common with the Amer- 
 ^an community, involves the development 
 of new attitudes on his part, and his old 
 experiences are the only possible foimdation 
 for the new structure.) If a person becomes 
 interested in anything whatever, it is because 
 there is already in him something to which 
 it can appeal. Visitors to the Dresden 
 Gallery are all affected by the Sistine 
 Madonna in approximately the same way 
 because they bring to it a similar body of 
 socially created appreciations — the sanctity 
 of motherhood, the sufferings of our Lord, 
 the adoration of Mary, the aesthetic appre- 
 ciation of female beauty, and so forth. 
 No amount of explanation or persuasion 
 would arouse the same feeling in an African 
 black man. Livingstone relates that an 
 African mother brought to him through the 
 dust and heat a child pitiably misshapen 
 
 272 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 through rupture. Two native men uncov- 
 ered the basket and were moved, not to 
 pity, but to laughter. These Africans evi- 
 dently would not appreciate the painting 
 of a Madonna because they have not devel- 
 oped our tenderness toward children, because 
 white men and women impress them some- 
 what as cadavers and albinos impress us,^ 
 because they have not our tradition of 
 chivalry and know nothing of the sufferings 
 of our Lord. 
 
 I A certain identity of experiences and 
 memories between immigrants and Amer- 
 icans is of main importance for assimilation, 
 because, in the process of learning, a new 
 fact has a meaning and makes aa appeal 
 only if it is identified with some previous 
 experience, something that is already known 
 and felt.) Thus, when we appealed to the 
 patriotism of our immigrants during the 
 war, we found a ready response, because they 
 knew what patriotism is. The Bohemians 
 in a Cleveland parade carried a banner with 
 the inscription: "We are Americans through 
 and through by the spirit of our nation," 
 and interpreted this by another banner: 
 "Americans, do not be discouraged. We 
 have been fighting these tyrants for three 
 
 'Livingston states that after a long residence among black 
 men, white men reminded him of celery and white mice. 
 
 273 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 hundred years." And in the following letter 
 a Slovenian boy participates in American 
 life on the basis of old-country attitudes: 
 
 158. Dkab Bhother: ... I received the civil 
 clothes sent me from Cleveland, and at the same 
 time a thought occurred to me which has never left 
 me — ^that I should feel ashamed to leave the army 
 and go back to civil life. I do, indeed, love my yoimg 
 healthy life, I long to be free again, going on my 
 own ways, without hearing the command of another, 
 but, alas! Am I justified in thinking of my own 
 liberty and happy life when the moment is here that 
 calls on every yoimg man to bring liberty to others? 
 Away, you selfish thoughts! On into the battle! I 
 am a Slovene myself, and my fathers and grand- 
 fathers never had any opportunity to fight for liberty. 
 Indeed, they fought for hundreds of years under the 
 command of Hapsburgs to continue slavery and 
 tyranny. . . . Goodbye, my beloved young life, I 
 shall not return to my happy home until the day 
 has come when I can proudly see the liberated Jugo- 
 slavia in a Uberated world. Then I shall return, 
 conscious that I have done my bit. If I shall perish — 
 I am afraid I shall let it be so. The only thing I am 
 sorry about is that I don't possess hundreds of lives, 
 giving them all for liberty. 
 
 Dear brother, the suit of clothes you sent me, I 
 sold to-day for thirty dollars, to a man who thinks 
 less than I do.^ 
 
 This process of making warm and personal 
 something that would otherwise remain cold, 
 
 • Letter from a Slovene, eligible to lelease from military serrioe 
 on the declaration o( war with Austria-Hmigary (unpublished). 
 
 274 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 extraneous, irrelevant, and foreign, by iden- 
 tifying it with a body of sentiments that 
 is already intimate and warm, is illus- 
 trated in more detail by the ease of the 
 Italian boy whose first disillusionment in 
 America is referred to in document 34, p. 46. 
 
 159. I go about the streets to find the great his- 
 tory, to feel the great emotion for all that is noble 
 in America. I do not see how the people can think 
 to compare the American city with the beauty of 
 Rome, or Venice, or Naples. Even in big city like 
 New York I do not find much monuments to the 
 great deeds, to the great heroes, and the great artists. 
 I was deeply surprised not to find the fountains. I 
 do not find the great art to compare with the art of 
 Italy. . . . But one day I see very, very big build- 
 ing. My mind is struck. With all I have seen in 
 Italy, in Rome, in Venice, in Genoa, in Milano, in 
 Florence, in Naples — ^I have never seen anything 
 like that! I say, "There is the thing American. It 
 is a giant !" 
 
 When I went to night school, I had a good impres- 
 sion to me. The teacher treat every one just the 
 same. The Jew just the same the Chinaman, and 
 the Chinaman just the same the ItaHan. This was 
 a wonderful impression. When I saw the principal 
 of the school, he look to me like ItaHan nobleman, 
 the way he hold his eyeglasses. I went to this 
 school just because I hke the principal. He give it 
 to me welcome like I was an American. I learn 
 little English, and about the American government, 
 and how the people can make change and progress 
 by legislation without the force of revolution, and I 
 
 275 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 like very much this idea. The teacher told me why 
 not to become an American? . . . 
 
 I have good impression to become an American. 
 But I do not become American because I think 
 always of the grandeur of the Italy civilization of 
 the past! . . . [Then I fall in love and] ... I do 
 not wish at all to go back to Italy. I think to take 
 a wife. A man must situate himself. I think about 
 many things, but I think especially about the future. 
 Everything begin to look different. I have not 
 think much about the future before, I have think 
 about the past. Maybe I have a son, it is the future 
 that is for him. America is to be his country. What 
 is the past? It is gone. The future is to come, and 
 I think that when my son shall live I wish it to be 
 some great time. For the future I cannot see so 
 much Italy as America. The grandeur of the Italian 
 cities, Venice, Genoa, Florence, Naples, held Italy 
 in the world's highest place for nearly one thousand 
 years. But the world continue. It go on. Now 
 comes the great day for America, the great finandal, 
 the great mercantile power, and I think with that 
 the great science, the great art, the great letters. 
 Why to live always in the memory of past grandeur? 
 They were only men. I am a man, and my son will 
 be a man. Why not live to be somebody ourselves, 
 in a nation more great than any nation before, and 
 my son perhaps the greatest of any great man? 
 
 And I see that big work to build the future. I see 
 the necessity to learn the English, to become the 
 citizen, to take part in the political [life, to work to 
 create the better understanding between the races 
 that they come to love each another, to work for 
 better conditions in industry, for health and safety 
 and prosperity, to work for the progress in science, 
 
 276 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 for the better government, and for the higher morality 
 — and it become more pleasure to work than to take 
 the leisure. Suddenly it looks to me like that is the 
 American, that is what the American is always to 
 do, always to work for the achievement. It come 
 to me, like I am born — I am American! ' 
 
 In this case a new experience makes an 
 appeal because it is identified with a wish. 
 The Italian boy specifies that he wishes a 
 wife, child, home, but more generally he 
 wishes success, and he identifies this with 
 the American principle of "achievement." 
 ( Most frequently the appreciation of 
 America begins in connection with a wish 
 or a general ideal which was not attainable 
 in the old country, but is attainable here. 
 In document 160 the writer realizes that 
 America is a coimtry where everybody can 
 get an education: 
 
 160. The strongest reason for my preference of 
 America to other countries is perhaps my apprecia- 
 tion of education and its opportunities. This is 
 probably explained by my previous experience as a 
 worker in the educational field in the old country — 
 Russia. After graduating from a teachers' college 
 at Petrograd I served as director of a pedegogical 
 class in Esthonia during three years, from 1897 to 
 1900. As my views upon education conflicted with 
 those of higher "Russianizing" authorities, I chose 
 to leave the teaching field and entered a university. 
 to study law and political economy. 
 
 ' Reference same as in document 10, p. 11. 
 19 277 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 The children in the public schools in Esthonia had 
 to study everything except religion in Russian. They 
 had to study Russian (Slavic) history instead of that 
 of their own country and people. A good deal of 
 time was given to lessons in religion and the singing 
 of church hymns. But the saddest thing of all was 
 that the children going through public school learned 
 nothing or very little of the rudiments of the sciences. 
 For adults there were no facilities for learning. The 
 people forming private classes were pursued and in 
 many instances arrested and fined. 
 
 Later I went to Germany and other West European 
 countries and found that though public schools there 
 gave some knowledge to the children, their indi- 
 viduality was suppressed by a system of discipline 
 and punishment, and by being forced to learn rather 
 by memorizing than by understanding, and rather 
 by compulsion than by their own love for learning. 
 
 America is not only a "melting pot" for races but 
 also a testing ground or laboratory for ideas, original 
 American as well as imported European. Here 
 they are compared in practical application, through 
 which the degrees of their vitality can be determined. 
 This makes America an interesting country in which 
 to learn — ^to learn through observation and experience 
 and through amply provided educational institutions 
 and facilities, from the evening schools to the great 
 universities, from various expositions to libraries. 
 I know no other country where opportunities for 
 learning by everybody are so rich as here. 
 
 The immigrants arriving on American shores soon 
 find out that they need to learn, and first of all to 
 leatn the American methods of their prospective 
 trades if they are going to make good in the New 
 World. Formerly many of them were discouraged 
 
 278 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 by not knowing or not finding opportunities for 
 learning here. But nowadays they are, as it were, 
 discovering these opportunities. For this reason I 
 believe that the immigrants in the future wiU come 
 here not only for higher earnings, but also for the 
 sake of learning, desiring industrial training as well 
 as general education. 
 
 The appreciation of America as a wonderful country 
 in which to learn dawned upon me after years of 
 wanderings, study, and observation here and in 
 Europe, and as a result of comparing this country 
 with the European countries, within the limitations 
 of my personal experience. 
 
 My field study and observations led me, to the 
 conclusion that in the public school programs and 
 methods in America and in Eueopean countries there 
 is a still more pronounced difference than in the field 
 of higher education. In Europe the main emphasis 
 is laid upon form, authority, obedience, discipline, 
 while in the American public schools freedom of 
 action, imagination, initiative, and seK-reliance are 
 pursued as the main goal in the training of youth. 
 The Emropean public school suppresses individuality, 
 while the American builds it up, or at least leaves it 
 untrammeled.^ 
 
 The identification of immigrant groups 
 with America takes place on the psycho- 
 logical basis si.own in the preceding docu- 
 ments. Points of contact are found in the 
 respective apperception masses, where inter- 
 ests merge, and as a result of the increased 
 community of interests other contacts are 
 
 ^Autobiography of an Intelleclual Esthonian (manuscript). 
 279 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 made progressively. \^ Assimilation may be 
 compared with skin grafting, where the 
 new tissue is not applied to the whole sur-i 
 face, but spots are grafted, and from these 
 the connecting tissues ramify. 
 
 TOLERANCE VS. SUPPRESSION 
 
 The apperception mass of the immigrant, 
 expressed in the attitudes and values he 
 brings with him from his old life, is the 
 material from which he must build his 
 Americanism.^ It is also the material we 
 must work with, if we would aid this process. 
 Our tools may be in part American customs 
 and institutions, but the substance we seek 
 to mold into new forms is the product of 
 other centuries in other lands. In education 
 it is valuable to let the child, as far as pos- 
 sible, make his own discoveries and follow 
 his own interests. He should have the 
 opportunity of seeking new experiences which 
 have a meaning for him when connected 
 with his old experiences. VA wise policy of 
 assimilation, like a wise educational policy, 
 does not seek to destroy the attitudes and 
 memories that are there, but to build on 
 them. ) 
 
 ThCTe is a current opinion in America, 
 of the "ordering and forbidding" type, 
 
 280 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 demanding from the immigrant a quick 
 and complete Americanization through the 
 suppression and repudiation of all the signs 
 that distinguish him from us.^ Those who 
 have this view wish the repudiation to be 
 what the qhurch fathers demanded of a 
 confession of sint — "sudden, complete, and 
 bitter." 
 
 It is notable that this destruction of 
 memories is the plan of both those who 
 demand a quick and complete Americani- 
 zation and those who demand a quick and 
 complete social revolution — the extreme 
 Americanists and the extreme radicals. In 
 the anarchist-communist manifesto (docu- 
 ment 76, p. 100) we read: "We must mer- 
 cilessly destroy. . . . We must take care 
 that everything is wiped out from the 
 earth that is a reminder." Both positions 
 imply that there is nothing of value for 
 the future in the whole of past experience; 
 whereas we have shown, in speaking of the 
 psychology of assimilation (particularly in 
 the case of the Italian boy) that "reminders" 
 are precisely what the individual uses in 
 
 ' "Broadly speaking, we mean [by Americanization] an ap- 
 preciation of the institutions of this country, absolute forgetfuhiess 
 of all obligations or connections with other countries because of 
 descent or birth." — Superintendent of the New York Public Schools, 
 N. Y. Evening Post, August 9, 1918. Quoted by I. B. Berkson. 
 Americanization, chapter ii (in press). 
 
 281 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 making constructive changes in his life; and 
 in the chapter on demoralization we pointed 
 out that the absence of reminders, forget- 
 fulness of the standards of the community, 
 failure to live in the light of the past, reduce 
 a man to the basis of the instincts, with 
 which humanity first began. How badly 
 the mere instincts work is exemplified in 
 document 56, p. 72. 
 
 ^/ There is an element of pure prejudice in 
 this theory of Americanization. It appears 
 as intolerance of the more obvious signs 
 of imlikeness. Where color exists, it is the 
 mark specially singled out by prejudice, but 
 since our immigrants are mainly not colored, 
 language becomes the most concrete sign 
 of unlikeness and the foremost object of 
 animosity. It is certainly true that a man 
 cannot participate fully in our life without 
 our language, and that its acquisition is 
 rightly considered a sign and rough index 
 of Americanization. But the American who 
 does not know the details of the immigrant's 
 life and problems cannot imagine how useful 
 his language is here in the first stages. Take 
 an actual case. The Danes are distinguished 
 farmers, but here the soil, the demand, are 
 unfamiliar and they have trouble. The 
 American government could help them, but 
 they do not know this. Even if they did 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 they could not inquire in English; they 
 would not know whether to address the 
 President or the Senate; and they would 
 not address either because they would not 
 know with what honorific form to begia the 
 letter. A certain Danish editor invites com- 
 mimications on specific plans and troubles 
 of this kind. In each case (and the number 
 is relatively large) he sends with his reply 
 a letter in English, addressed to the Depart- 
 ment of Agriculture, asking for the proper 
 bulletin. The Dane is to copy the letter 
 and send it. This much he will do, and the 
 buUetiu somehow gets read. Here again 
 is the typical process of assimilation — the 
 identification of the immigrant's success 
 with America; here, too, is an example of 
 what we mean when we say that the immi- 
 grants must assist in their own American- 
 ization. Prejudice against language thus 
 means bringing into disrepute one of the 
 tools most useful in assimilation. 
 
 Again, the Yiddish language is a very 
 usefid heritage to the Jew, and this is a 
 clear case of utility, without any obstinacy 
 or sentimentality. The Jews associate their 
 nationalism with Hebrew, the language of 
 the Jews and the one that their national 
 idealists are seeking to restore. Yiddish 
 is a German dialect, with a mixture of 
 
 283 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 Hebrew, Polish, and so forth, developed 
 originally by the Jews as a business expedient. 
 It is an imcouth speech, with very limited 
 power of literary expression, and nothing 
 with which a man would seek to identify 
 himself. The Jews in America drop it as 
 soon as possible, and it is really difficult to 
 induce a Jew to speak a few words of it in 
 order to show you what it is like. And yet 
 the Jewish community in New York City 
 pays annually more than $2,000,000 for 
 Yiddish newspapers. These newspapers and 
 other Jewish institutions do thousands of 
 particular and very personal services for 
 Jews which American institutions could not 
 do and which no one could undertake with- 
 out the use of Yiddish. Language is a tool 
 which its possessor cannot afford to throw 
 away until he has another. 
 
 Quite aside from the question of utility, 
 immigrants, especially the older ones, cherish 
 the memories of their former home, and wish 
 to preserve some signs identifying them 
 with their past. This is a natural sentiment. 
 It is frankly expressed in the following doc- 
 uments from groups which have no national- 
 istic psychoses and represent the settler type: 
 
 161. In a news item in Skandinaren, the editor of 
 the Lutheran Herald ... is quoted as saying . . . 
 with reference to the Norwegian flag, that in this 
 
 281 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 country it did not belong anywhere outside of the 
 dictionary and the Norwegian legation headquarters 
 in Washington. . . . 
 
 No flag except the American has a place as a 
 national emblem in the heart of any good citizen. 
 But how is it that we have here the flags of all the 
 nations of the earth? Dm-ing the war, when the 
 country surely required the loyalty of every citizen 
 as never before, there were foreign flags around us 
 wherever we went. The English flag, the French, 
 the Belgian, the Italian — they were to be seen every- 
 where. They were used at patriotic and other 
 meetings; people displayed buttons with these flags 
 on them, and it was very common to see automobiles 
 decorated in this way. . . . No one feared enemy 
 purposes from the nations these flags represent. 
 The same can with even greater truth be said about 
 Norway. In the first place, Norway's relatively 
 small military strength makes this thought untenable. 
 Also that country's pronounced peace pohcy puts 
 the idea out of the question; also its later historical 
 traditions. Norway is one of the few nations which 
 have managed a decisive national crisis without 
 resorting to war. . . . 
 
 When the Norwegian flag is seen here the object 
 of its display is to celebrate the intellectual and 
 spiritual values which Norway has achieved. In 
 the same way we honor the important intellectual 
 and spiritual revivals and achievements in all nations. 
 If this had not been permitted, the Rev. Mr. Lee or 
 any other American would not have a bible to teach 
 from. 
 
 But when people of Norwegian extraction in this 
 coimtry hold fast to their Norwegian cultural heri- 
 tages, then it is because a people who have lived 
 
 285 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 together in the same country through centuries must 
 have given birth to spiritual and intellectual values 
 which are peculiar to such a people. , . .* 
 
 162. . . . The small Danish society of which I 
 am the secretary has a membership of only twenty- 
 eight, and while in regard to American ideas these 
 men are as loyal as if they were bom Americans — 
 and this is the case with the immigrated Danes as 
 a general rule — ^yet I cannot say that our society 
 does much to Americanize its members. At their 
 meetings they speak their mother tongue and sing 
 their old coimtry songs, looking upon one another 
 almost as members of the same family, and their 
 object is to help each other in case of necessity, 
 especially, of course, in case of sickness. . . . 
 
 When the different Liberty loans were floated I 
 found all of us personally deeply interested and buy- 
 ing to our capacity, and at my initiative our little 
 society bought $500 worth of bonds, practically 
 using all the cash money we had in the treasury; I, 
 personally, managed out of my $35 per week job to 
 buy bonds to the value of $600.* 
 
 Any fine fund of personal feeling is valu- 
 able in identifying the present with the past 
 in the life of the immigrant, but aside from 
 this these sentimental memories should com- 
 mand respect, and we should let them remain 
 unmolested in the region of personal life. 
 We should know by this time that under 
 tolerance, peculiar group values — such as 
 language and religion — are only means to 
 
 ' Simon Johnson, Skandindven, (Chicago) December I, 1919. 
 ' Communication from Mr. Fred Thomsen. 
 280 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 a fuller life; under oppression, they become 
 objects of life. 
 
 IMMIGRANT ORGANIZATIONS VALUABLE 
 
 Following the instinctive prejudice against 
 strangeness, many Americans distrust immi- 
 grant organizations, as such, and consider 
 them obstacles to assimilation. ( On the 
 contrary, we have emphasized throughout 
 this study the importance of these organi- 
 zations. ) Indeed, the amount of immigra- 
 tion which we can continue to tolerate or 
 encourage depends on their character. 
 
 (Organizations, beginning in the family and 
 community, are the means by which men 
 regulate their lives. ) The healthy life of a so- 
 ciety always depends more on the spontane- 
 ous organization of its members than on 
 formal legal and political regulations. It is 
 only in an organized group — in the home, 
 the neighborhood, the trade union, the co- 
 operative society — where he is a power and 
 an influence, in some region where he has 
 status and represents something, that man 
 can maintain a stable personality. There is 
 only one kind of neighborhood having no 
 representative citizen — the slum; a world 
 where men cease to be persons because they 
 represent nothing. In the slum men live 
 
 287 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 in an enforced intimacy, but they do not 
 communicate. They suspect one another 
 and keep away from one another. They 
 cannot maintain a personality because 
 there are no standards; if standards of 
 decency, morality, and sanitation exist they 
 are imposed from without. A slmn is a 
 place, composed at first of the poor, which 
 has become inevitably a refuge for criminals 
 and disorderly persons — a, place of missions 
 and lost souls. 
 
 I If the face -to -face organization which 
 made the immigrant moral at home is sud- 
 denly dissolved in this coimtry, we have the 
 general situation presented in the docu- 
 ments on demoralizationjin Chapter IV. We 
 saw there that meUj'^^removed from the 
 restrainiag influence of an organized com- 
 munity, tend to follow their immediate 
 impulses and behave in monstrous ways. 
 Ethnologists have shown that when the 
 imcivilized races come into contact with the 
 products of our civilization they appropriate 
 the vices and ornaments, the whisky and 
 beads, and leave the more substantial values. 
 The same tendency appears among immi- 
 grants, especially the children. The term 
 "Americanization" is not used popularly 
 among the immigrants as we use it. They 
 call a badly demoralized boy "completely 
 
 288 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 Americanized." Thomas and Znaniecki 
 have presented a large mass of materials 
 on the demoralization of the Poles in Amer- 
 ica, and they conclude that the "wild" 
 behavior found in this group is to be explained 
 by the fact that "the individual does not 
 feel himself backed in his dealings with the 
 outside world by any strong social group of 
 his own, and is not conscious of being a 
 member of a steadily organized society. . . . 
 This does not, of course, apply to the rela- 
 tively intelligent and sociably responsible 
 immigrants who take an active part in the 
 construction of Polish institutions and have 
 an economic ideal which gives stability to 
 their lives. [It characterizes] that floating 
 unorganized mass of the intellectually back- 
 ward immigrant population which consti- 
 tutes among the Poles from one-fourth to 
 one-third of the total number." ^ 
 /The organization of the immigrant com- 
 mimity is necessary as a regulative measure. 
 Any type of organization which succeeds in 
 regulating the lives of its members is bene- 
 ficial. If you can induce a man to belong 
 to something, to co-operate with any group 
 whatever, where something is expected of 
 him, where he has responsibility, dignity, 
 recognition, economic security, you have 
 
 • Thomas and Znaniecki, The Polish Peasant, vol. v (in press). 
 289 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 at least regulated his life. From this stand- 
 point even the nationalistic societies do 
 more to promote assimilation than to retard 
 it. There is no doubt, for example, that 
 the nationalistic newspapers do not want 
 their readers to become Americanized, but 
 they make them mote inteUigent, more 
 prepared to be Americans, simply by print- 
 ing the news of what is going on in America, 
 and this they have to do in order to circulate 
 at all. The nationalistic organizations are 
 the means by which certain men make their 
 living and get their distinction; they assist 
 the home countries materially in their strug- 
 gle for freedom, they stimulate some older 
 people to return to Europe, but they have 
 almost no effect in keeping the immigrant, 
 especially the yoimg generation, estranged 
 from American life: 
 
 163. In spite of the continual use of patriotic 
 Polish slogans by all local groups, Poland is for the 
 great majority of the Poles mainly the object of an 
 almost purely aesthetic interest, whose motive power 
 is very small as compared with the many and com- 
 plex practical interests connected with the imme- 
 diate social environment. . . . £ven before the 
 great war Polish patriotism was not a vital matter 
 with the great mass of American Poles.* 
 
 164. It is a very painful admission, but we cannot 
 fail to recognize that our language has suffered and 
 
 > Thomas and Znaniecki, The Poliah Peasant, vol. v (in press). 
 290 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 is suffering constant and lamentable losses. . . . 
 Children born in this country, and consequently- 
 American citizens by birth, have produced a third 
 generation of a totally different mentality from the 
 first. ... [It is true that] some intelligent indi- 
 viduals who had in childhood no opportunity to 
 secure a French education, and little opportunity 
 to speak French, have applied themselves to the study 
 of the French language, forcing themselves to prac- 
 tice it and to show themselves truly patriotic. But 
 these are people of heart and character who appreciate 
 all that is noble in the race frorh which they are issued 
 and who were unwilling to be simply Americans.* 
 
 The propaganda of hate carried on notably 
 by the Italian press, and described by an 
 Italian in the note below,'' is also partly 
 
 * J. G. Le Boutillier, Preface to Alexandre Belise. Mistoire de la 
 Presse Frarwo-Am&ricaine. 
 
 * " I have seen a large number of articles from Italian newspapers, 
 written by Italian professional men concerning America, which 
 if translated and published, would open the eyes even of the blind. 
 America is described in these articles as a ruthless, rapacious, 
 hypocritical, puritanical country. American men are superficial 
 weak, ridiculous; American women are vain and prefer to have 
 a good time rather than to be good wives and mothers; chiuches 
 in America are places of business; social and philanthropic work 
 is established to furnish fat salaries to innumerable officeholders; 
 the political life is incurably corrupt; and everything else is termed 
 "Americanate," meaning the quintessence of foolishness. A 
 sensational divorce case, a scandal at the City Hall, Dowie or 
 Billy Sunday, anything and everything is used as a pretext for a 
 long phihppic against America. I have seen ItaUan newspapers 
 with laudatory articles on America written in English, which no 
 Italian would read, and with an article in Italian in the same 
 issue, that the American would not understand, painting America in 
 the blackest colors." — ^E. C. Sartorio, Somd and Religious Life of 
 the Italians in America, p. 50. 
 
 291 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 nationalistic in its aim. While not among 
 the dependent nationalities, Italy has been 
 particularly active in preserving the alle- 
 giance of her emigrated subjects, and her 
 leaders have acted, so to speak, as repre- 
 sentatives of a country that is trying to 
 control a colony. They have used hate, 
 because enmity is the motive through which, 
 men can be aroused and controlled most 
 easily. But here also, if we recognize the 
 fact that editors are playing on attitudes 
 that are already there, not creating them, 
 the propaganda has slight importance. 
 Italians who returned to Sicily after the war, 
 are now returning to America. They found 
 that it was "too small" over there. They 
 had entered their own country as immi- 
 grants, and suffered again the disillusion- 
 ment of the immigrajit. The fault to be 
 found with the nationalistic organizations 
 is not that they do the damage they imag- 
 ine they are doing, but that they fail to do 
 the constructive work of which, as organ- 
 izations, they are capable; that they do 
 not help their people to identify their 
 success with America, in such ways as we 
 have exemplified above in the case of the 
 Danes and Jews. 
 
 / We have not developed American insti- 
 (tutions adapted to meeting the first needs of 
 
KECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 the immigrant and preserving in him the 
 good qualities which he brings. Usually 
 he reaches our institutions only after he has 
 become a failure. The immigrant organi- 
 zations are doing very positive services for 
 their members by maintaining their sense 
 of social responsibility, of responsibility to 
 some type of community. We have seen 
 examples of it in this chapter and in the 
 chapter on "Types of Community Influ- 
 ence." But more than this, our experience 
 has shown that, while it is possible for an 
 individual immigrant, especially if he repre- 
 sents a relatively cultured type, to identify 
 himself directly with American society with- 
 out an intermediate connection with a group 
 of his own nationality, in the main the 
 immigrants are becoming Americanized en 
 masse, by whole blocks, precisely through 
 their own organizations. The organization 
 as a whole is influenced, modified, Ameri- 
 canized by its efforts to adjust itself to 
 American conditions. This happened, for 
 example, when the inmaigrant athletic 
 organizations recently joined the American 
 Amateur Athletic Association; for^ this 
 alliance implies acceptance by the immi- 
 grant of all the American athletic stand- 
 ards. Similarly, the immigrant who pen- 
 etrates American society as a member of 
 
 20 293 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 an inunigrant group forms a bond between 
 this group and American societyA The Letts 
 in New York City felt pride m a young 
 violinist who had played at their weekly 
 entertaiimaents. For his further develop- 
 ment the Lettish organization sent him to 
 the American teacher, Damrosch. The indi- 
 vidual thus forms a link between the immi- 
 grant society and American society. He 
 will transmit the influence of his American 
 contacts to the immigrant organization. 
 
 We illustrated in Chapter IE the impor- 
 tant fact that the immigrant is not a highly 
 individualized person. He has been accus- 
 tomed to live in a small, intimate, face-to-face 
 group, and his conduct has been determined 
 by this group. Naturally he needs the 
 assistance of such a group for a time in 
 America, and naturally this group is com- 
 posed of his own people. This general 
 condition explains the perfect success of 
 our government in its appeal to the immi- 
 grant population for subscriptions to the 
 Liberty loans. The appeal was not made 
 to the immigrant individually, but throu^ 
 his organizations. 
 
 The type of organization which the immi- 
 grants bring with them from home (see 
 Chapter 11) is one which we ought to appre- 
 ciate. It represents the individual's respon- 
 
 204 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 sibility to society which we have in a measure 
 lost, and are consciously attempting to 
 restore by the reorganization of the local 
 commmiity. It is a type of organization 
 which can be made the basis of all kinds of 
 co-operative enterprise — the basis, in fact, 
 on which the local community will again 
 function. Co-operation is an attitude al- 
 ready present in immigrant consciousness, 
 and co-operative economic enterprises are 
 arising spontaneously among immigrant 
 groups — ^the Finns, the Italians, the Poles, 
 and others. This is especially true since 
 younger men of immigrant parentage, who 
 have gone through our schools, who are 
 American in feeling, are beginning to assume 
 the leadership in the immigrant groups and 
 to employ constructively the traditional 
 spirit of co-operation. 
 
 If we wish to help the immigrant to get 
 a grip on American life, to understand its 
 conditions, and find his own r61e in it, we 
 must seize on everything in his old life which 
 will serve either to interpret the new or to 
 hold him steady while he is getting adjusted. 
 The language through which his compatriots 
 can give him their garnered experience, the 
 "societies" which make him feel "at home," 
 the symbols of his home land, reminding 
 him of the moral standards under which he 
 
 295 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 grew up. Common courtesy and kindness 
 exact tolerance for these things, and common 
 sense indicates that they are the foimdation 
 of the readjustment we seek. 
 
 PERPETITATION OF GROUPS IMPOSSIBLE 
 
 The evident value of these immigrant or- 
 ganizations during the period of adjust- 
 ment raises another question. Is he to 
 remain permanently in one of these racial 
 organizations, and are they to continue as 
 centers of cultures diverse from and com- 
 peting with that of America? This question 
 touches a larger aspect of the heritages, 
 relating to the ideal character of our national 
 life — ^whether we shall strive for a miiform 
 or a diversified type of culture and whether 
 the perpetuation of immigrant traits and 
 organizations will accomplish this diversity. 
 We have recognized the importance of a 
 , resemblance between the members of a 
 community which will enable them to under- 
 stand and influence one another. In a 
 peasant community, as iii a herd or flock, 
 great unanimity in following tested habits 
 is suflScient, without any great intelligence, 
 to enable all to live. But as communities 
 progress the members behave more and 
 more independently, use more freedom. 
 
 296 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 Communities progress, indeed, because cer- 
 tain of their members insist on using more 
 freedom. 
 
 The civilization we have is the product 
 of an association of individuals who are 
 widely unlike, and with the progress of 
 civilization the divergence in individual 
 human types has been and must continue 
 to be constantly multiplied. Our progress 
 in the arts and sciences and in the creation 
 of values in general has been dependent on 
 specialists whose distinctive worth was pre- 
 cisely their divergence from other individ- 
 uals. It is even evident that we have been 
 able to use productively persons who in a 
 savage or peasant society would have been 
 classed as insane — ^who were, perhaps, insane. 
 Until recently our conception of insanity 
 has been to some extent determined by the 
 standards of the "primary group," which 
 demands uniformity in its members. Many 
 persons who had the qualities of genius have 
 simply passed as queer in their local com- 
 mimities. Julius Robert Mayer, the dis- 
 coverer of the law of the conservation of 
 energy, was twice confined in insane asylums 
 by the people of the provincial town of 
 Heilbronn. Where else did a man belong 
 who went about arguing that "heat was a 
 mode of motion," that if a house burned 
 
 297 
 
OLD WOELD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 down it was not destroyed? Indeed, he 
 considered himself insane in his home town, 
 and when the physicist During wished to 
 visit him he decUned to receive him in Heil- 
 broim, but arranged to meet him in the 
 neighboring village of Wildbad. "Since 
 everybody here," he wrote, "considers me 
 a fool, everybody considers himself justified 
 in exercising a spiritual guardianship over 
 me." ^ We have already pointed out that 
 the Mohammedan could regard a modem 
 scientist as insane. However, we have had 
 so many profitable retmns from the queer 
 behavior of such men as Mayer, Darwin, 
 and Langley (whose experiments with the 
 flying machine were regarded by many as 
 insane), that we have changed our definition 
 of insanity and regard any man as sane 
 the siun of whose activities is valuable to 
 the community.^ 
 
 The value of the principle of diversity 
 has already been fully recognized in the 
 scientific world and in the specialized occu- 
 pations. Efficiency in these fields is based 
 on far-going individualization of function. 
 The astronomer or the physiological chemist 
 
 ' The details are in Ostwald's GfrMM MSntur. 
 
 * "When we begin to acknowledge many ttandardt tf tiormalUg 
 we take away the sting of a stigma." — ^Adolf Meyer, Suggettioiu of 
 Modem Science Concerning Education, p. 143. 
 
 298 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 awaits the result of the physicist or the 
 chemist as condition of further steps in his 
 own investigation. The more diversified 
 the personaUties, the more particularized 
 the products of these personalities, the 
 greater the likelihood that we shall find 
 among them the elements for the realization 
 of our own plans, the construction of our 
 own values. 
 
 In the civilization having the highest 
 eflBciency all are not in the same "universe 
 of discourse," but there tend to be smaller 
 groups or circles who xmderstand one another 
 and co-operate. Although they are not 
 understood by everybody, their products 
 become useful to everybody. The physi- 
 cists, for example, represent such a circle. 
 The physicist demonstrates a law which the 
 public cannot understand; but the engineer 
 understands it and applies it in the invention 
 of machines which become of general use. 
 
 Now representatives of the dififerent immi- 
 grant groups claim a similar social value 
 — ^that, on account of their racial peculi- 
 arities and the fact that they have devel- 
 oped by their past experiences dififerent 
 apperception masses, they are predisposed 
 to individualized fimctions as groups, and 
 that by permanently organizing along the 
 lines of tiaeir aptitudes they will not only 
 
OLD WOELD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 express their peculiar genius, but contribute 
 unique values to America: 
 
 165. Democracy rejected the proposal of the 
 superman who should rise through sacrifice of the 
 many. It insists that the full development of each 
 individual is not only a right, but a duty to society; 
 and that our best hope for civilization lies not in 
 uniformity, but in wide differentiation. 
 
 The movements of the last century have proved 
 that whole peoples have individuality no less marked 
 than that of the single person; that the individuality 
 of a people is irrepressible and that the misnamed 
 internationalism which seeks the obliteration of 
 nationalities or peoples is imattainable. The new 
 nationalism proclaims that each race or people, like 
 each individual, has a right and duty to develop, 
 and that only through such differentiated develop- 
 ment will high civilization be attained. Not until 
 these principles of nationalism, like those of democ- 
 racy, are generally accepted, will liberty be fully 
 attained, and minorities be secure in their rights.* 
 
 166. In contradistinction to fusion is the attitude 
 which deals with the entire problem of Jewish life 
 as the problem of a community, which wishes to 
 preserve the integrity of its group life. Those who 
 hold this attitude believe that the continued con- 
 servation of those values which are worth while in 
 Jewish life can but work for the enrichment of the 
 character of the American Jew, and must therefore 
 redound to the benefit of America. They contend 
 that America will accomplish its destiny to the fullest 
 only if it will permit complete social expression on 
 
 * Louis D. Brandeis, Jewish Righta and ike [Jewish] Congress, 
 Address, Carnegie Hall, January 24, 1916. 
 
 300 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 the part of all the people which come to its shores, 
 provided, of course, such expression is co-operative 
 and does not militate against the common good. . . . 
 In his political and civic life, therefore, the individual 
 must necessarily have a single affiUation. But it 
 is possible for one individual to know many languages, 
 to be acquainted with many literatures, and to be 
 imbued with the ideals of many groups. Democracy 
 not only permits such multiple spiritual affiUations, 
 but encourages them to the utmost.^ 
 
 167. The ethnic groups are justified in organizing 
 among themselves for the perpetuation of what they 
 consider to be of significance for their heritage, pro- 
 viding that by so doing they do not preclude the 
 influence of what the state considers to be of sig- 
 nificance to its own heritage. The adjustment of 
 the individual born within an ethnic group to the 
 total life must rightly be made through the co-oper-; 
 ative work of the public and the ethnic schools.* 
 
 This position would seem very secure only 
 if the groups represented in inunigration 
 were specialized by heredity, so that some 
 of them could do certain things that others 
 could not do, or do them better — ^if some 
 of them were poetical, some philosophical, 
 some bom physicists. But it is not apparent 
 that even the most distinct races, the black, 
 white, and yellow, are characterized in this 
 way. The anthropologists think that if 
 
 1 Alexander M. Dushkin, Jewish Education in New York City, 
 pp. 4 and 386. 
 ' I. B. Berkson, Americanimtion: A Critical Study (in press). 
 301 
 
OM) WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 such di£ferences exist they are not very 
 great. Certainly the Japanese have shown 
 that in general they can do anything that 
 we can do, and have not shown that iiiey 
 can do anything that we cannot do. It 
 is easier to explain why the Jew is in the 
 needle trades, is not a farmer, and is intelli- 
 gent, on the grovmd of circumstances — ^that 
 he has had a given racial history — ^than on 
 the groimd of inborn aptitudes. 
 
 In any case, so far as European immigra- 
 tion is concerned, we do not have to do with 
 races at all in the proper sense. The " races '* 
 of Europe are all mongrel, and are classified 
 on the basis of language and custom. The 
 Magyars, for example, came in from Asia 
 only a thousand years ago, but they are so 
 interbred with Germans, Ruthenians, Slovaks 
 Rumanians, Serbians, Croatians, that it 
 is difficult to find an example of the original 
 Magyar type. The Prussians were not orig- 
 inally Germans at all, but a Baltic tribe, 
 akin to the Lithuanians. Even the Jews 
 are greatly intermixed with both Asiatics 
 and Europeans. Twenty per cent of the 
 Jews are blond.' 
 
 We have referred in Chapter VI to the fact 
 that the peasant does not greatly fear death 
 for him self, but is terrified by a pest or war, 
 
 ' Details are in Franz Boas' The Mind of PrimiiiM Man. 
 302 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 where the existence of his group is threatened. 
 Men fear extinction, not only for themselves, 
 but for their groups. We do not wish to 
 have our families die out; we cannot think 
 calmly of the white race as dying out; we 
 do not wish to have even the birds and the 
 flowers die out. We wish only our enemies 
 to die out. The thought of a given group 
 being swallowed up by another group leaves 
 the apprehension of death in the minds of 
 its members. The dread of the death of 
 their communities is the instinctive basis 
 of the wish of the immigrant groups to 
 remain separate in America. The rational 
 and practical basis of the wish is the claim 
 that they will in that way have more security, 
 recognition, and efficiency. 
 
 We see no objection to an immigrant 
 group remaining perpetually in America 
 as immigrant group or as racial element on 
 the basis claimed by the Jews in documents 
 165-167, if it is able to do so. Certainly our 
 opposition would fan the wish to a flame, 
 as, on the contrary, laws compelling immi- 
 grants to remain in such groups would arouse 
 their fanatical resistance. But since we 
 must ascribe the peculiarities of these groups 
 to a long train of conamon experiences, not 
 to inborn and ineradicable traits, there 
 are apparently only three grounds on the 
 
 303 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 basis of one or more of which an immigrant 
 group could remain culturally separate for 
 an indefinite time: (1) the ability to per- 
 petuate in the new generations the tradi- 
 tional memories of the group without loss; 
 (2) the ability to create values superior to 
 those of America, and the maintenance of 
 separation in order not to sink to the cultural 
 level of America; or (3) an ineradicable 
 prejudice on one or both sides. 
 
 (1) Actually, individuals and groups cling 
 to their memories only so long as they are 
 practically or sentimentally useful. The 
 eflSciency of the newer immigrants depends 
 on their not forgetting, and on contact with 
 their own past, as is illustrated in the fol- 
 lowing document, which was sent from 
 America to Norway, and advises against 
 certain radical changes in the Norwegian 
 language. 
 
 168. The Norwegians in America are and intend 
 to remain Americans. They do not consider them- 
 selves colonists in a foreign land. They regard this 
 country as their own. They have helped to build 
 large sections of it. Here their children are bom 
 and here they will remain. But a supply of cultural 
 values from the old country will strengthen them 
 individually and collectively and make them even 
 better citizens than they already are. . . . 
 
 Norwegian-Americans will continue for many years 
 to need cultural supply from the mother country. 
 
 304 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 The need will continue until our people have become 
 so far assimilated that they can supply their own 
 cultural requirements from American sources. But 
 that will take a long time, because, while the pioneers, 
 or those who are left of them, and their descendants 
 are thoroughly Americanized, there are still hun- , 
 dreds of thousands of people of the first generation 
 who are not yet in touch with American cultural 
 sources and therefore depend upon Norway for their 
 supply through the medium of their own language. 
 . . . The continued cultiu-al coimection between 
 Norway and the Norwegian-Americans ought, in my 
 judgment, to be built up on a solid language founda- 
 tion. If the language be lost we may be absolutely 
 sure that cultural supply from Norway will cease.* 
 
 We know however, that the grandchildren 
 of Norwegian immigrants have become prac- 
 tically indistinguishable from other Amer- 
 icans and that Norway has for them, at most, 
 only a poetic value. All immigrant groups 
 are losing, even too completely and rapidly, 
 their languages, which would be the chief 
 sign and instrument of their separate identity. 
 
 (2) There are frequent cases where a 
 people of superior culture remains indefi- 
 nitely separate in a culturally inferior group. 
 The English in India and the Saxons in 
 Transylvania have remained separate for 
 centuries. But no immigrant group here 
 can claim so great a diversity of values as 
 
 ' H. Sundby-Hansen, in a communication from America to the 
 Norwegian newspaper Stavangeren, October 4, 1919. 
 
 305 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 is produced by America as a whole, and to 
 the degree that an immigrant group is 
 separated from American life, volimtarily 
 or by geographical isolation, it will be 
 pauperized in even the culture which it 
 brings. The document last quoted e3q)resses 
 this fear. No existing state or nation, and 
 certainly no nation within a nation, can 
 create alone the values necessary to a high 
 degree of eflBciency. In a world charac-' 
 terized by individualization of function, 
 values must be secured from wherever they 
 exist in the whole world. 
 
 (3) The question of prejudice and dis- 
 crimination may be put aside as not serious 
 enough in America to affect the persistence 
 of immigrant groups. The Jews have felt 
 it, but in general the Jew is losing the marks 
 of his identity as fast as possible, and to 
 the degree that he does this the prejudice 
 disappears. "To the degree that racial 
 minorities are not secure in theif rights" 
 (as Justice Brandeis puts it), the separateness 
 will continue. 
 
 The present immigrant organizations rep- 
 resent a separateness of the immigrant groups 
 from America, but these organizations exist 
 precisely because they enable the immigrants 
 to overcome this separateness. They are 
 signs, not of the perpetuation of immigrant 
 
 306 
 
RECONCILIATION OF THE HERITAGES 
 
 groups here, but of their assimilation. We 
 know no type of immigrant organization 
 which is able to live without some feature 
 related to the needs of the imniigrant in 
 America. The success of the nationalistic 
 societies is based on such features as insur- 
 ance. In addition they provide entertain- 
 ment and recognition, which represent uni- 
 versal needs. On the other hand, American 
 organizations for the immigrant interest 
 him only to the degree that they understand 
 and supply his needs as immigrant. 
 
 We have recorded the wish of the Italian 
 editor (docimient 147, p. 227) that the 
 Italians would organize as do the Jews. 
 From his standpoint this meant a gain to 
 be made at the expense of the Americans, 
 for the sake of "what constitutes a gain for 
 our race over the Anglo-Saxon race." From 
 our standpoint, the Jewish community is 
 serving the Jew by enabling him to identify 
 his interests with America. Because Jewish 
 organizations make the Jew efficient lliey 
 prepare him to use all the American institu- 
 tions. If you open a school for immigrants 
 it is filled with Jews; if you open a school 
 for immigrant women it is filled with Jewish 
 women. Some Americans are disquieted 
 by the persistence of immigrant organiza- 
 tions even in groups of long-standing in this 
 
 307 
 
OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED 
 
 country. But they disregard the continual 
 intake of recruits from the old country 
 who need the support and schooling of their 
 fellow countrymen, and the fact that these 
 organizations are constantly graduating their 
 members into general American life. 
 
 Assimilation is thus as inevitable as it is 
 desirable; it is impossible for the immigrants 
 we receive to remain permanently in separate 
 groups. Through point after point of con- 
 tact, as they find situations in Apaerica 
 intelligible to them in the light of old knowl- 
 edge and experience, they identify them- 
 selves with us. We can delay or hasten 
 this development. We cannot stop it. If 
 we give the immigrants a favorable milieu, 
 if we tolerate their strangeness during their 
 period of adjustment, if we ^ve them free- 
 dom to make their own connections between 
 old and new experiences, if we help them to 
 find points of contact, then we hasten their 
 assimilation. This is a process of growth 
 as against the "ordering and forbidding" 
 policy and the demand that the assimilation 
 of the immigrant shall be "sudden, complete, 
 and bitter." And this is the completely 
 democratic process, for we cannot have a 
 political democracy unless we have a social 
 democracy also. 
 
 THE END