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Of What Is 
 
 Uncle 
 
 Thinking? 
 
 Of the Boys and Girls of America. 
 
 ^ * 
 
 * * 
 
 m /]NlERlCm BOY'S f^El/IEW. 
 
 •»; 
 
 iff 
 
 WHAT IS CIVILIZATION, LIBERTY AND THE 
 PUBLIC SCHOOL MAKING OF US f 
 
 Thoughts for Every Father and Mother 
 of an American-Born Boy or Girl. 
 
 M^ritten by 
 
 ^o^^lU^ J^tc^'Utt, 
 
Of What Is Uncle Sam TliiukiiiR ? 
 
 BY 
 
 CORLIES MERRITT. 
 
 PORTLAND, OREGON, 
 
 Peaslee Bros., Printer; 
 
 1893. 
 
 ></:^^ 
 
•1A51 
 
 COPYRIOHT, 1893, 
 BY 
 
 coRi^iKs mp:rritt. 
 
TO THE READERS. 
 
 The motive prompting the writer to offer 
 the contents of this little book is to solicit on 
 the part of its readers their attention to our 
 political, social, mental, moral and physical 
 conditions, of the greatest importance to us as 
 a race of human beings, fortunate enough to 
 be in existence in America, where and when 
 it is possible, by thorough understanding and 
 united action, to attain a condition of inde- 
 pendence, peace, progress and prosperity, the 
 inherited right of every courageous and manly 
 American, who is devoted to the principles 
 of FREEDOM, JUSTICE and the equality of 
 ^ MAN, embodied in our American Declar- 
 
 («4.4 
 
ation of Independence and Constitution and 
 B3'-Ivaws, which have brought within the 
 
 territory of our Union every intelligent lover 
 
 of these principles, who are here bidding 
 
 defiance to the entire world, should it dispute 
 
 America's merited position as the peer of all 
 
 nations in strength, courage and intellect. 
 
 CORLIES MKRRITT. 
 Portland, Ore., 1893. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Acknowledged inability of the 
 leaders and political organs of both the Demo- 
 cratic and Republican parties throughout the 
 land to account at once for the announced an- 
 nihilation of one and the complete victory of 
 the other in the election of the President of 
 the United States, to assume the responsibility 
 of office on the fourth day of March, A.D., 
 1893, turned the attention of the writer to the 
 national issue, and a perusal of a number of 
 the leading newspapers, awakening his mind 
 
6 OF WHAT IS 
 
 to the importance of the existing conditions of 
 the American family, politically, socially, 
 mentally, morally and ph^^sically. 
 
 Looking to the matters pertaining to the 
 welfare of the American, as an American, we 
 will take into consideration the word Ameri- 
 can and its definition, as given by Webster : 
 
 AflERICAN — A native of America ; originally ap- 
 plied to aboriginal inhabitants, but 
 now applied to the descendants of 
 Europeans born in America ; and in a 
 restricted sense to the inhabitants of 
 the United States. 
 
 Of the utmost importance to the Ameri- 
 can is the conimitmenl to memory of the 
 Declaration of Independence and the Consti- 
 tution and By-Laws governing this nation, 
 which, to-day, stands alone on the principles 
 
 of JUSTICE, LIBERTY and EQUALITY OF MAN. 
 
 In order to sustain these principles and 
 our glorious nation we must show our zeal for 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING t ^ 
 
 our country by exercising our best judgment, 
 founded upon the careful study of Ameri- 
 canism, in voting for those to be placed in 
 executive power in whom we have confidence. 
 Those who will carry out their convictions as 
 honest Americans, regardless of party ism or 
 religious creed. 
 
 In the mind of ever}^ unprejudiced 
 American to-day is the feeling that the down- 
 fall of the Republican party can be attributed 
 to the boodlers, h)^pocrites and demagogues, 
 whose onl}' motives have been their own ava- 
 riciousness and self-consideration. 
 
 We must awake to the importance of the 
 example just set by the nation in demon- 
 strating what reformations are possible here 
 in this civilized and intelligent America, re- 
 sponding to the honest impulse of an Ameri- 
 can and down every political faction tending 
 to dishonor its principles of right, showing its 
 
8 OF WHA T IS 
 
 leaders that the educated American is alive to 
 their shortcomings. 
 
 Now is the time when we must strengthen 
 our band of unionism and drive from our free 
 soil every traitor to our cause and country. 
 
 With the installation of this new party 
 we must have action taken on matters which 
 are vital to our interests right here in America. 
 Let us make a careful review of the progress 
 of the past century of freedom and independ- 
 ence, detect the evils that have accrued, their 
 cause and their remedy. We cannot be 
 thoughtless, careless or indifferent regarding 
 our destiny. We must review and reorganize 
 our American ranks. Our motto must be, 
 "United we stand, divided we fall!" Four 
 years time will determine whether we shall 
 pool issues with the present incumbents, the 
 Democratic party, or follow the example of 
 
 last election day. 
 
 The establishing- of measures and success 
 
 '& 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING? 9 
 
 of our efforts to sustain the principles of Ameri- 
 canism must be directed on a fair, square, 
 "open and above board" basis. No secret 
 conventions ; no movements in the dark. 
 Whenever we discover an unfair trick, re- 
 sorted to by any political party, or its repre- 
 sentative, we must unite in a public condem- 
 nation, regardless of the consequence. 
 
 Following a thorough understanding of 
 the principles of this American government 
 we must take into consideration the vast im- 
 portance of our national territory and its un- 
 limited resources, which means to us not only 
 our homes and pursuits of peace and plent}', 
 but the support and protection of our descend- 
 ants, whom, through our vigilance and under- 
 standing, can be raised be3^ond the possibility 
 of the trials, anxieties and disturbances iu 
 existence to-day. 
 
 With tlie freedom of America began the 
 
lo OF WHAT IS 
 
 wonderful development of ingenuity in me- 
 chanical arts, which, to-day, has placed us far 
 in advance of all other nations combined. 
 Only a few weeks association with us and our 
 appliances make of all foreigners practical 
 and valuable mechanics in all departments of 
 of our industries, reg-ardlCvSS of their lack of 
 intelligence or education. 
 
 To continue this wonderful progress and 
 reach the highest standard of Americanism 
 the one possible medium is our thoroughly 
 American institution, 
 
 TIIK PUBLIC SCHOOL, 
 
 From which alone each development is placed 
 upon this field of action equally equipped for 
 the maintenance of our nation. The import- 
 ant feature of this institution is that every 
 child is educated to our one national recogni- 
 tion of social equality, which is the essential 
 to inseparable unionism. 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING i h 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 We often wonder why it is that foreign- 
 ers come to this country, without the least 
 conception of our language, our social or com- 
 mercial customs, and in a few years acquire a 
 competence, while so many of our native-born 
 citizens, educated and thoroughly familiar with 
 the laws governing our commercial interests, 
 as well as political positions, drag out such a 
 miserable existence, and go to their graves 
 ending an unsuccessful life. 
 
 The secret of the success of these foreign- 
 born people in America is the thorough disci- 
 pline of the powers ruling them in their own 
 
12 OF WHAT IS 
 
 countries, such as the church, schools and 
 military subordination. 
 
 Here the children born of these same 
 patient, industrious and successful foreign- 
 American citizens very often prove re factory, 
 leading lives of lawlessness and idleness. 
 
 Why is it so ? 
 
 Without doubt the absence of the control 
 of the foreign powers, which divest the parent 
 of such responsibility, and the laxity of our 
 public school discipline, together with our 
 charitable as well as mistaken consideration 
 for what is termed ' ' weakness of human 
 nature," is responsible for the majority of 
 these thriftless American citizens. 
 
 Take into consideration the rapidly in- 
 creasing tendency of our boys and girls to 
 *' hoodlumism," both in the cities and country. 
 
 It is in accordance with our American 
 spirit of independence, liberty and self-esteem 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING f 13 
 
 that our boys and girls should develop into 
 fun-loving, active and even mischievous 
 "young Americas." But when this same 
 freedom tends to develop insubordination, 
 then the necessity of wielding the lash of 
 subordination must not be questioned. 
 
 At home, where the parents should be 
 competent to control and discipline their 
 children, should the youth of our land be 
 taught to expect the punishment merited by 
 their misdemeanor. 
 
 When such discipline has been neglected 
 until the schoolroom is reached, then it should 
 be meted out without a question from the 
 parents, or the result will be that the laws of 
 our land will necessarily be compelled to as- 
 sume this responsibility, which means the 
 breaking of the spirit of developed man and 
 womanhood, thus making unfortunate crimi- 
 
14 OF WHAT IS 
 
 iials and burdens of those who should be 
 peaceable and progressive co-workers. 
 
 Our American idea being that our public 
 school S3'stem is the one assured medium 
 through which the discordant elements of 
 society are to be overcome, we must see that 
 no interference with the instructors or work- 
 ings of that institution is tolerated. 
 
 It must be the duty of our directors to see 
 that those to whom is assigned the responsi- 
 bilit}^ of shaping the destiny of our American 
 youth are selected on the merits of their quali- 
 fication for this important duty. These same 
 instructors should not only be the highest 
 intellectual development of our different 
 branches of instruction, but just as important 
 
 is the neceSvSity of their being competent to 
 
 judge the nature of their charges and control 
 
 them in accordance with the requirements of 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING? I5 
 
 those natures. These professors must also be 
 in personal appearance and manners ex- 
 amples of the dignity and pride of our race, 
 instilling the neccessity of cleanliness and 
 well-bearing with their pupils. 
 
 The writer, in reviewing his varied life 
 at school, recalls the apparent indifference of 
 the majority of his instructors with regard to 
 his future destiny. Seemingly, those most 
 proficient in learning were least attentive to 
 child-like impulses, and they simply devoted 
 such time to their routine work as was neces- 
 sary to drawing their stipulated salary. When 
 the regular schoolroom work was at an end 
 the teacher's association with the pupils was, 
 likewise, at an end. leaving the boys and girls 
 to seek their own recreation and source of 
 learning, such as their impulses of nature 
 would dictate. Consequently the boys wou d 
 turn to associations that would naturally 
 
i6 OF WHAT IS 
 
 excite their 3^outhful passions, such as the 
 saloon, other improper resorts, and older 
 companions, who willingl}^ develop those 
 devastating destroyers of mental, moral and 
 ph^^sical manhood, never cautioning these 
 simple and honest minds of the disastrous 
 results. 
 
 How much better it would be for these 
 experienced teachers to be the associate com- 
 panions of these young natures outside of the 
 schoolroom, furnishing them with sufficient 
 excitement for a realization of its true nature, 
 and educating them to the control of such 
 immoderate desires as are positively making 
 inroads into the morals of a vast number of 
 our school children. 
 
 To the writer there seems to be some- 
 thing radically wrong about the selection of 
 our public school teachers, and the incentive 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKINGf 17 
 
 for them to meet the requirements of their 
 position. 
 
 Instead of a young, struggling and am- 
 bitious hoy or girl, just out of college, without 
 natural adaptation or other motive for teach- 
 ing than just to earn a small salary to " tide 
 them over' ' until a better paid and more agree- 
 able pursuit presents itself, being installed in 
 the position of teacher in the public schools, 
 this position should be made one that would 
 secure for it a man or woman of proper breadth 
 of mind, force, cultivation and learning nec- 
 essary for the maintenance of themselves and 
 those dependent upon them during their life- 
 time, or until such a time as their qualifica- 
 tions are unimpaired, and then when the 
 period of their practical usefulness is at an 
 end a pension for their declining years will be 
 unanimously voted them by the intelligent 
 and appreciative American nation, whose unity 
 and strength is due to their intelligent efforts. 
 
i8 OF WHAT IS 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 From time to time threatening clouds of 
 revolution overhang this prosperous country 
 of ours, and their origin can be traced direct 
 to the organization of institutions not in ac- 
 cord with the requirements of our national 
 principles ; institutions that are breeding a 
 disastrous condition of competition, where 
 there should be co-operation to strengthen 
 this army of true Americans. 
 
 As a race founded by extending to each 
 other the hand of fraternal brotherhood, we 
 must unite in our determination to eradicate 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING? 19 
 
 from our land every disturbing influence which 
 will tend to sever the bond of national unity 
 and social equality. 
 
 With the same fearlessness of our fore- 
 fathers, prompted \>y their love for this country 
 and the maintenance of our American institu- 
 tions, for which they laid down their lives, we 
 mUvSt exert our vigilance in detecting and 
 banishing every foe to our American cause. 
 Detect the creeds consistent and persistent in 
 their organization to consume the free and 
 independent equality of the American, and 
 banish them to the birthplace of their section 
 alism. Allow no foreigner or foreign-born 
 organization our protection that comes to us 
 with an intention of establishing only their 
 own un-American clique, whose religion and 
 ambition is other than 
 
20 OF WHAT IS 
 
 ASSIMILATION WITH OUR AMERICAN PEOPLE. 
 
 We must understand that the principles 
 of our American government are the out- 
 growth of the experiences of other forms of 
 government for ages past, and that our prog- 
 ress, enlightenment and prosperity is proof of 
 the best results to mankind, as well as this 
 world of our own. 
 
 It is well that America has been the 
 haven of refuge that it has for the oppressed 
 human beings of other nations, born in igno- 
 rance and poverty and driven hence under the 
 cruel lash of tyranny. To-day millions of 
 them are shouting, in broken English, "Glory 
 
 to America, its people and its free institu- 
 tions !" willing to respond with their life- 
 blood to maintain it, and a like condition for 
 their children, who are to succeed them. 
 
 Raised here in America our appreciation 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKIXG? 21 
 
 of our freedom, independence and opportuni- 
 ties sinks into utter insignificance compared 
 with that of the down -trodden, ignorant and 
 uneducated foreigner, who lives to-day in our 
 midst to see his son a well-educated, well- 
 appearing specimen of American manhood, 
 recognized as a leader in sustaining our laws 
 and our country ; and his daughter the bright, 
 intelligent, well-formed specimen of what our 
 American women should be. Too well do 
 these fathers and mothers know that had their 
 children's destiny been their condition in the 
 " old country " it would have meant for them 
 a poverty-stricken struggle of blind ignorance 
 and hopelessness, from which death alone 
 would be their welcomed release. 
 
 Is it to be wondered that such a foreign- 
 American, in his human love for his unfortu- 
 nate relatives, bends his every effort to bring 
 them to this country ? 
 
2a OF WHAT IS 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Now that this land of ours has reached 
 that period, when for its best interests the 
 supply of foreign immigrants has over- 
 reached the demand, comes the important 
 consideration of 
 
 TOTAL EXCLUSION. 
 
 Our first American duty is to protect our- 
 selves. To-day every avenue of industry re- 
 quiring the brawn and muscle of foreign 
 countries is crowded to overflowing. In 
 justice to ourselves, as native-born Americans, 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING? 23 
 
 as well as to those from foreign lands already 
 here, these floodgates must be closed and our 
 careful attention turned to the conditions as 
 they exist here, supporting and encouraging 
 every element loyal to our cause and country, 
 and descerning and driving from us every in- 
 fluence not in harmou}^ with us. 
 
 To thoroughly Americanize this great na- 
 tion, made up of the various-speaking races, 
 the one great essential is education, as taught 
 in our public schools, enforced upon every soul 
 acknowledging allegiance to our form of gov- 
 ernment. This action alone means the peace, 
 ' progress and prosperity of America's future, 
 and the elevation of the American to the 
 noblest specimens of independent man and 
 womanhood. 
 
 This ideal American is to be found any 
 day on our thoroughfares. It is the man or 
 woman, neat in appearance, educated to a de- 
 
24 OF WHAT IS 
 
 gree possible with every American-born boy 
 or girl, through the medium of our public 
 schools, public libraries and our almost gra- 
 tuitous distribution of literature. One imbued 
 with the proper consideration for every mem- 
 ber of the human family. One who extends 
 to all others a cordial greeting and the hand of 
 a brother, remembering that it is possible at 
 all times, by kindness and proper encourage- 
 ment, to elevate another to a clean and desir- 
 able position in society, as well as to a condi- 
 tion of progress and prosperity. It is one 
 who looks not only to the outward appearance 
 of a person, but one who acknowledges an- 
 other as a being endowed by nature with the 
 same deserving faculties as themselves. Hav- 
 ing, also, a kind consideration for tlie parents 
 of others, regardless of their unfortunate con- 
 dition or their nationality ; realizing that in 
 other countries, under other forms of govern- 
 
UXCLE SAM THINKING? 25 
 
 ment, where the privileg-e of education is de- 
 nied, and the equality of mankind is not 
 acknowledged ; where each member of the 
 family, regardless of sex, is driven by desti- 
 tution and tyranny into a field of ceaseless 
 drudgery, which is responsible for their bent 
 and undeveloped figures, their haggard and 
 expressionless faces and their utter disregard 
 of pensonal appearance ; also bearing in mind 
 that these same beings are the mothers and 
 fathers of your school companions, who are 
 with you, hand in hand, leading and founding 
 
 a nation whose intelligence and personal ap- 
 pearance excites the envy of the entire world. 
 What higher reward can be bestowed on 
 a parent, subjected to the conditions and pri- 
 vations of other countries, as cited, than to 
 rear a child to our American standard of in- 
 telligence, descency and progressive citizen- 
 
26 OF WHAT IS 
 
 ship, valuable to society and our land of 
 freedom ? 
 
 Our public school education and associa- 
 tion has solved the question of race-differ- 
 ences mentally, demonstrating the fact that 
 the offspring of any human race can be de- 
 veloped into an intelligent and valuable 
 member of our society. Therefore, within 
 the period of another generation, it is possible 
 and probable that the United States will be 
 populated with a distinct class of American 
 people, superior ph3'sicall5^ and intellectually 
 to an3^ nation on earth, everything foreign 
 having been completely absorbed through re- 
 striction and our system of schooling. To 
 make it so requires only the honest efforts of 
 our American leaders and instructors together 
 with the united efforts of our fellow citizens. 
 
 When our Republican form of govern- 
 ment accomplishes this end, then will other 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING? 27 
 
 nations pattern after us, which means ' ' peace 
 on earth and good will toward all men." 
 
 With equal education, the development 
 of science, industry and co-operation will 
 surel}^ come to each of us our share of the 
 products of our labor, insuring us against the 
 fear of want, which is now the horrid " night- 
 mare," so dicouraging to many of us in 
 America. Then will the peaceful pursuits 
 of industry be undisturbed by discontent and 
 discord, leading to disorder and "strikes." 
 
 The deplorable state of selfishness and 
 
 unfair dealing, in existence to-day, is purely 
 
 the result of our system of competition, thor- 
 oughly antagonistic to our American princi- 
 ples, and unnatural, as there is not a person 
 on the face of the earth who cannot be 
 prompted to generous impulses by fair and 
 considerate treatment. 
 
 In foreign countries millions upon mil- 
 lions of unfortunate human beings, ignorant, 
 
28 OF WHAT IS 
 
 destitute, wretched and valueless, have been 
 born to their condition, and are living a life of 
 
 utter hopelessness, the victims of the accursed 
 
 greed of other human sects, who are protected 
 
 through powers sustaining their own selfish 
 
 forms of government. 
 
 Every born victim to the above condi- 
 tions, coming to this glorious land of freedom 
 and equalit)^ rescued as he is, w^ell knows the 
 meaning of the above, and the fate of those 
 left behind. It is his duty, combined with 
 ev^ery soul in America, lo^-al to out "Stars 
 and Stripes," to destroy every faction tending 
 to introduce such a condition for any living 
 being on American soil. 
 
 Just as important is the necessity of 
 checking the development of slave-like de- 
 pendence in America as was the blotting out 
 of the actual existence of slaverj^ in the South, 
 the result of which cost us the lives of our 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING? 29 
 
 forefathers, Americans by birth, education 
 and color. The sacrifice of those American 
 lives is, in a great measure, responsible for 
 our past demand for foreign laborers. In 
 their stead we would now have young educa- 
 ted Americans, their sons and daughters, 
 working in unity, thereby raising the dignity 
 of industrious work to a level with our Ameri- 
 can progress. 
 
 To overcome the disastrous consequence 
 of that terrible destruction of a half-million 
 lives of those so necessary to the founding of 
 an American majority it will cost us the life- 
 time of our present generation to co-operate, 
 compete, associate with and educate an im- 
 portation of foreign substitutes, of every 
 country on earth and ever}- class, who have 
 brought with them organizations menacing 
 our peace and welfare as a nation, and which 
 will remain with us until every member of 
 
30 OF WHAT IS 
 
 such orders return to the land of their origin, 
 or are finally summoned b)^ that enevitable 
 law of nature, death. 
 
 Until we have an exclusive race, speak- 
 ing, reading and writing our purely American 
 English, it will be impossible for us to have a 
 united understanding as lo our national inter- 
 ests and welfare, which will end forever the 
 discordant elements, causing each one of us 
 in America anxiet}^ and distrust. 
 
 It is an undeniable fact that the violators 
 of the laws of our country and societ}^ are, in 
 a vast majority, a class of men and women 
 who are thoroughly ignorant of a proper men- 
 tal and moral training. Consequently, when 
 we are, as a race, educated to our American 
 standard of intelligence then we will witness 
 the decadence of the jails, penitentiaries, in- 
 sane asylums, poorhouses and charitable in- 
 stitutions, which, to-day, blot the fair surface 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING f 31 
 
 of our land and bring the blush of shame to 
 every person in America who has her inter- 
 est at heart. 
 
 When, through our American schooling, 
 we can place ourselves on a plain of equal 
 brotherhood then, instead of our showing no 
 recognition, condescending not so much as a 
 civil courtesy to our fellowman, as is now cus- 
 tomary, we will not only extend to each other 
 civil recognition, but that civility will em- 
 brace a feeling of love and interest that will 
 restore the human family to a confidence and 
 consideration, one for another, lasting until 
 the end of time. 
 
 As intelligent Americans, do not surren- 
 der to the conviction that such a condition of 
 the American family cannot be, but appeal to 
 to your own nature, study its desires, and ex- 
 tend your hand to those who are and can be 
 brought into sympathy with your feelings of 
 
32 OF WHAT IS 
 
 equal consideration. Let us all unite in our 
 efforts to bring about this reformation, and 
 just as sure as we have developed the tele- 
 graph to signal ever}" member of our Union 
 to its cause on an instant's notice, just as sure 
 will we all respond to reform or overthrow 
 any condition or institution not loyal to us. 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING? 33 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 To-day, in this country, foundations are 
 being laid for the establishment of antagonistic 
 conditions of societ}^ which positively mean, 
 eventually, the destruction of our American 
 policy and our nation. Chief of the deserting 
 factions is what is termed 
 
 "AMERICAN ARISTOCRACY." 
 
 This tendency, born of foreign parentage, 
 apeing foreign manners and customs, is, in 
 every sense of the word, un-American, and 
 
34 OF WHAT IS 
 
 calls from every honest, courageous, inde- 
 pendent and manly American a feeling of 
 pity and scorn. If America's wealth must 
 distinguish itself, it should adopt manners as 
 become the strength and independence of our 
 cosmopolitan race, and not pattern after the 
 snobbish elements of countries where our 
 parents were denied the consideration of 
 equality and progress. We must snap these 
 chains binding those controling our wealth to 
 factions which will, sooner or later, lose all 
 
 the original manhood of the genuine Ameri- 
 can and place them in the pathway of their 
 
 fellowmen who are marching steadily on to 
 the exalted throne of human superiority, 
 
 there to look back on the hapless remains of 
 those too weak to bear their American stand- 
 ard and arms. We must arouse ourelves to 
 the importance of this suicidal tendency. 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING f 35 
 
 The more fortunate members of our society 
 must realize that favorable circumstances have 
 alone raised them to their condition of afflu- 
 ence, and that their own protection, support 
 and welfare in this country is entirely depend- 
 ent upon the welfare of the less fortunate 
 members of our American famil}^ 
 
 We must study carefully' the motive of 
 every organization in this country and support 
 it only so long as it promotes the best interests 
 of our own people. No contending factions 
 should be allow^ed to develop, as they dis- 
 turb the community's peace, destroy the con- 
 dition of confidence, one in another, that is 
 positively necessarj^ to the realization of a con- 
 dition of peace, protection and plenty while 
 we are on earth and the perpetuation of a like 
 condition for those who are to follow us. 
 Our consideration should be the means of the 
 greatest importance to the greatest number. 
 
36 OF WHAT IS 
 
 An important consideration with the 
 American people should be the question of 
 private institutions and secret organizations 
 competing with our public institutions. 
 
 What will be the result of sectarian and 
 private school competing with our public 
 ones? 
 
 It means class distinction and competi- 
 tion, and competition means strife, which 
 leads to conflict and conflict breaks our Ameri- 
 can ranks. 
 
 It is just as practical to add to our public 
 schools the departments necessary for our 
 
 highest attainment as it is to establish and 
 perpetuate a private institution in America, 
 thereby bridging the chasm widening be- 
 tween these different developments. 
 
 Our American aim should be to unite 
 factions and not create them, which would 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKINGS 37 
 
 be the means of righting the present condition 
 of selfishness and dishonor 
 
 Ever}^ person in America well knows that 
 the competition of our great political parties 
 has been the means of installing into most of 
 the executive positions of our country a class 
 of unscrupulous men, ambitious for the spoils 
 of office only. These un-American traitors are 
 the treacherous authors of all our national 
 disturbances, the violators of our honest trust 
 and confidence. Such traitors deserve what 
 the}^ seldom get when detected, the wrath of 
 steadfast and loyal Americans — their merciless 
 condemnation and extermination. In our 
 charitable American mood we are criminally- 
 careless about the honest integrity of our 
 political officers. Must we allow their care- 
 lessness and their duplicity to return us to that 
 condition of oppression and revolution from 
 which we have been so nobly rescued ? Let 
 
38 OF WHAT IS 
 
 us all unite in determining that it must and 
 shall not be. We must despise and mete out 
 to these traitors their just dues. Bear in 
 mind during the desperate period of warfare 
 the merited fate of the traitor. To-day it is 
 of more consequence to sustain our condition 
 of peace and well-being. American citizens, 
 just as sure as we violate the laws of honor 
 just as sure will we suffer the consequence of 
 dishonor. 
 
 Do not give up in discouragement, but 
 come to the front and unite in establishing a 
 steadfast honor throughout our land, and es- 
 pecially between the members of our own class, 
 that the wealth and power of the entire crea- 
 tion cannot shatter. Tolerate nothing un- 
 fair. Begin with honor at the cradle and 
 carry it to the grave. 
 
 How quick our natural instinct rebels and 
 loathes an unfair advantage. Heed its warn- 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING? 39 
 
 ing and make a public example of every mis- 
 representation, and the outcome will be a res- 
 toration of confidence, founded on a basis of 
 honesty. Then will we all feel a condition of 
 safety, encouraging us in our efforts to become 
 and live our lives in America as Americans 
 are entitled. 
 
 Undeniable is the fact that the majority 
 of our criminals, confined within the prison 
 walls, are those of foreign birth and foreign 
 parentage. 
 
 In accordance with the laws of American 
 society and the laws of human nature it could 
 not be otherwise. In the first place, the pos- 
 sibility of being a law-abiding citizen is to be 
 educated to the comprehension of the laws. 
 The law^s of nature are understood through the 
 intuition of nature, but the laws of man are 
 understood only through the instruction of 
 man. 
 
40 OF WHAT IS 
 
 Most of the foreigners admitted and en- 
 couraged to come to this country by us arrive 
 here without even the least conception of our 
 language, our habits or our requirements. In 
 their own country the blessings of freedom, 
 civilization and humane treatment have never 
 been identified with their existence. In their 
 unfortunate condition they mereh' fall victims 
 to their lack of understanding. And we, as an 
 enlightened people, are alone responsible for 
 these unfortunates being retained within the 
 prison walls of our free and independent land, 
 without a pOvSsiblity of redemption. 
 
 Greater wisdom and a higher degree of 
 humane feeling would be shown by us in 
 adopting, instead of confinement in our 
 prisons, the method now in vogue in England 
 of the 
 
 TICKET-OF-LEAVE SYSTEM, 
 
 Through which over one hundred organiza- 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING f 41 
 
 tions, under the name of ** Discharged Prison- 
 ers' Aid Societies of Great Britain," have 
 shipped to this land of America thousands of 
 convicts annually, and thus return these dis- 
 turbers of our American peace to the land 
 from which they came. 
 
 " Is it possible that the intelligent executors 
 of our nation cannot solve these problems, 
 which are agitating our country, and, like 
 cancers, are gnawing into the vitals of its 
 important existence ? Or is it that they are 
 betraying the trust confided to them by us as 
 a people, who would respond without hesita- 
 tion with our lives to sustain these same 
 servants in the positions of guardianship over 
 our welfare ? 
 
42 O^ WHAT IS 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 With the advent of total restriction of 
 foreign immigration, through which we hav^e 
 been vSupplied with our great mass of unskilled 
 labor, who are opening up our vast industries 
 and natural resources, comes the perplexing 
 question of where we shall find our suppl}^ of 
 the laboring element to succeed this foreign 
 class ? 
 
 To-day it is commonly observed that the 
 Americans who are willing to devote them- 
 selves to the rough, hard work of what is 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING? 43 
 
 termed the laboring classes are on the decrease 
 in numbers, as their ambition is stirred by 
 education. Such being the existing condition 
 we must determine the cause. 
 
 Is it the American pride, or the develop- 
 ment of indolence on the part of our Ameri- 
 can-born youth, as some claim? Or, on the 
 other hand, is it not the abuse of the pursuits 
 of rough, manual labor that has buried it be- 
 neath the dignity of our free and enlightened 
 people ? 
 
 The contract system, which has placed 
 in these honest vocations in America the vile, 
 disgusting and un-American Chinese and like 
 aliens, without responsibility or respect, and 
 at wages insufficient to the descent support of 
 of a representative of America, who is ex- 
 pected to assume the responsibility of a family 
 and patronize American institutions and 
 products, pay taxes and respond with their 
 
44 OF WHAT IS 
 
 lives and property to defend this country, 
 their home of freedom, is alone responsible 
 for the abandonment of nature's most peaceful 
 pursuits by the nature-loving and intelligent 
 workmen of American education. 
 
 When American intelligence demands 
 and executes a reformation, then will American 
 brawn and muscle, stregthened by intelligence 
 and education, respond to the requirements of 
 American toil Then will the millions, w^ho 
 are to-day caking out a meagre existence in 
 this land of abundance by means of sharp 
 practice, filling the positions of '' middle 
 men," and preying upon these ignorant, 
 labor-degrading, lawless and dependant slaves, 
 imported from other countries through the 
 efforts of un-American corporations and 
 monied powders, will these same American 
 bo3's and girls respond to their American- 
 taught principles of honest labor for honest 
 
UNCLE SAM THIN KING f 45 
 
 dollars, which will lift them from their pres- 
 ent condition of uncertain support and anxiety, 
 encouraging them to marry and become the 
 strength of our nation. 
 
 When, to-day, an advocate of American 
 rights fails to listen to the voice oi American 
 labor when it pleads for the fruits of its labor, 
 its protection and elevation, then it is destroy- 
 ing our America through its maliciousness or 
 ignorance of the simple laws of our class of 
 humanity, laid down by our forefathers. 
 
 The compensation for labor in America 
 must meet the requirements of an American, 
 necessary for him to support himself, and also 
 support and educate those whom this gov- 
 ernment entrusts to his dependence, as be- 
 comes an intelligent, progressive and law- 
 abiding citizen. His competitors in the field 
 of labor must be those of like condition. 
 Competition with foreign-paid labor must not 
 
46 OF WHAT IS 
 
 be countenanced by the American people, as it 
 will surely develop a like condition of misery, 
 want, ignorance, degredation and neglect in 
 America as exists in foreign countries. 
 
 When we adopt as a nation an American 
 standard of wages for labor, then will these 
 same foreign-imported and devastating crea- 
 tures come up to this standard, every one of 
 them, and glory in their own and our progress. 
 
 It is the employers who must install this 
 reformed condition — the capital of America. 
 
 It is neceSvSary that we have a national 
 understanding and co-operation ; and our 
 national medium of keeping labor and capital 
 united in harmony and understanding is our 
 
 AMERICAN PRESS, 
 
 Throbbing with the same pulsations of justice. 
 Many ills of our social and political con- 
 dition are due to the violation of the laws of 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING? 47 
 
 justice by the greed of the monopolists of this 
 country. 
 
 In America organized trusts, aggregating 
 billions of dollars, are in existence, controling 
 the commodities which are positively neces- 
 sary to sustaining our lives and the develop- 
 ment and progress of our country. These 
 monopolists realize royal dividends, making 
 of them millionaires, while many other mem- 
 bers of society, equally deserving, are being 
 denied these same necessities of life 
 
 As Americans we must recognize in these 
 
 trusts and combinations, which are designed 
 
 to enable capital to get more than its just share 
 
 of the joint products of capital and labor, the 
 
 enemy to our best welfare, and attend to the 
 
 enforcement of the laws made to prevent and 
 
 control them. 
 
 A combination of capital, aiming to either 
 
 reduce the cost or furnish a higher grade of 
 
48 OF WHAT IS 
 
 commodities to the consumer, is deserving of 
 support, as thereby the best interests of the 
 masses are served, in contrast to the combi- 
 nation or trust organized to increase the cost 
 or decrease the quality. 
 
 The past few years in America has de- 
 veloped what is termed the "department 
 stores," institutions carrying large quantities 
 of the best makes of various classes of goods. 
 The increase in numbers and patronage of 
 these bazars prove conclusivelj^ that they are 
 meeting the favor of the American people. 
 
 Such being the fact we must concede the anni- 
 hilation of the small stores carrying special 
 lines of goods, which will necessarily drive an 
 army of our shrewdest citizens into other 
 pursuits. To meet this emergency suggests 
 the importance of placeing our field of manual 
 labor and our mechanical departments on a 
 plain of recognition suitable to the intelli- 
 gence of this class of our American citizens. 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKIXGf 49 
 
 In the study of the qiistions of manual 
 labor, mechanical skill and manufacturing 
 industries the intelligence of America must 
 thoroughly realize the importance of placing 
 their products bej^ond the reach of foreign 
 competition by equaling or exceling these 
 importations. 
 
 Then comes the consideration of the 
 number of hours of labor best suited to the 
 preservation of the mental and physical con- 
 dition of our people, thereby encouraging 
 contentment in such a pursuit of labor, mak- 
 ing of our working people permanent and 
 accumulating citizens, instead of shifting 
 discontents. 
 
50 OF WHAT IS 
 
 CHAPTER VII, 
 
 A VERY serious question with our nation, 
 which threatens our future and disturbs our 
 present condition of peace, is intemperance. 
 
 With the growth of society, increase of 
 commerce and advancement of civilization the 
 drinking of intoxicating liquors has increased 
 in like proportion. Its ruinous effects can be 
 detected on every hand. It has proven with 
 men, according to that old proverb, "the 
 thief, when put in their mouths, that steals 
 their brains, ' ' and with the loss of their brains 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING f 51 
 
 results the loss of their homes, their friends, 
 their mental, moral and phj^sical manhood, 
 leaving them the loathsome, disgusting, 
 despised and undeserving outcasts of the 
 American family. 
 
 For all time has the moral tone of society 
 been directed against intemperance, but still 
 its evil results continue to increase in our 
 midst, showing that we have as yet failed in 
 the development of the proper remedy for this 
 acknowdedged evil. 
 
 With the free and independent enlighten- 
 ment of the human family is developed a con- 
 scientious belief of the individual's ability of 
 self-control. This same independent spirit 
 will naturally antagonize a movement directed 
 to assume control of what is acknowledged his 
 personal right, dictated to him through the 
 
 desires of his nature. Consequently all efforts 
 tending to prohibition have proven of little 
 
52 OF WHAT IS 
 
 avail. Then, again, those who have under- 
 taken to father these institutions of temper- 
 ance reform, have, in a great majority, been 
 those who have never learned through their 
 own ])ersonal experience the influence of 
 liquor upon the human temperament. They 
 cannot full}- understand the change in the 
 nature of a man outside of a saloon without 
 liquor compared to the condition of the same 
 
 man inside the saloon under the influence of 
 liquor. 
 
 Outside of a saloon, in any position of 
 society, whether in the church, the fraternal 
 hall, the political, social or business walks of 
 life, after a person passes that period of 
 honest, innocent childhood, they, through the 
 force of policy and contact with our competi- 
 tive business system, develop a tendency to 
 
 patronize or show most consideration for those 
 whom circumstances have placed in a position 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING? 53 
 
 of wealth, or where it is po'^sible for them to 
 advance their personal interests, creating that 
 unapproachable and selfish reserve, so appall- 
 ing to human nature. 
 
 On the other hand, when a man steps into 
 a saloon and imbibes sufficient liquor to loosen 
 the true impulses of his nature, then all self- 
 consideration and class distinction is thrown 
 aside, and he then yields to a feeling of equal 
 consideration for ever}^ being with whom lie 
 comes in contact, regardless of color, position, 
 creed or intelligence. In that condition, 
 equally intoxicated, every difference will ad- 
 just itself. This relaxation from the burdens 
 of life and society seem to be reached by many 
 through no other source than this destroying 
 medium of liquor drinking. And often when 
 there is lack of confidence in an undertaking, 
 due to former fruitless effort, liquor furnishes 
 the necessary propelling force to carry into 
 
54 OF WHAT IS 
 
 execution and succeed, or, in case of failure, 
 robs the venturer of that keen sense of the 
 reality of a disappointment. 
 
 The question is, is it possible to overcome 
 this treacherous destroyer of manhood ? 
 
 Yes, by first understanding the true in- 
 centive to effort, equal as a stimulus to liquor. 
 This incentive is a certain and satisfactory 
 reward for a person's effort. 
 
 Of utmost importance, insuring temper- 
 ance, is a disposition on the part of the Ameri- 
 can people to develop the happy feeling of con- 
 tentment and satisfied ambition in realizing for 
 honest industry a compensation meeting their 
 requirements, insuring them against want, 
 and a guarantee that American charity will 
 respond to the help of those unable to help 
 themselves, placing a valuation on every 
 human life worthy of perpetuation. 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING f 55 
 
 Human love for preservation and perpetu- 
 ation of human life and its comforts is the 
 strongest desire of our nature. 
 
 To take the place of saloons must be 
 established institutions where men can meet 
 each other licensed to experience a like feeling 
 of equal consideration for every one with whom 
 he comes in contact, as a member of a loving 
 family feels for another. 
 
 These conditions of peace, goodwill, tem- 
 perance and national accord will come only 
 when equal rights and human consideration is 
 established through the medium of our national 
 schools— when we are a nation of one tongue. 
 As it is, we are a nation of mixed races, made 
 up of people who have come to this country 
 with fixed ideas and natures regarding even 
 the use of intoxicating liquors. Until the in- 
 fluence of these foreign-raised people are be- 
 yond the boundary line of our land just so 
 
56 OF WHAT IS 
 
 long will there be a lack of united understand- 
 ing and action necessary to this feeling of 
 equality and the restriction of intemperance. 
 Just as the law setting aside our American 
 day of rest has been swept to one side by these 
 foreign-developed races, not willing to abide 
 by our American Constitution, will any law, 
 written or unwritten, be violated. That old- 
 time feeling of quiet and rest of the Sabbath, 
 so sacred to our forefathers, must not be 
 broken by discord , and turned : nto a day of 
 dissipation. 
 
 Again the importance of sustaining the 
 principles of Americanism, regardless of other 
 discenting nationalities. With persistent, un- 
 tiring and never-ceasing devotion to our 
 American laws and land must our instructors 
 continue their work of uniting every element 
 coming in contact with our nation. 
 
UNCLE SAM THIN KING f 57 
 
 As the Chiuese and Jews are held in 
 sacred unity let the Americans stand by those 
 who already are and will become members of 
 our distinct race. Just as a father and 
 mother understands, loves, appreciates and 
 takes the precaution of instilling in the minds 
 of their children the kind and unselfish con- 
 sideration of one toward the other, just as 
 careful should they be to keep constantly be- 
 fore these young minds a love for their assimi- 
 lating fellowman. 
 
 These American parents and instructors 
 must detect and study the means of the re- 
 moval of every influence that tends to deny 
 the highest attainment of the comforts and 
 unity of the American family. 
 
 Very often a man's pretense for drinking 
 and seeking the saloon as a resort is an un- 
 satisfactory condition of affairs in his home. 
 The home of every father, mother, vson or 
 
58 OF WHAT IS 
 
 daughter, who seeks, in preference to that 
 home, the saloon, pleasure resort, or the 
 street, is not what it should be. This un- 
 natural desire may be due to the ignorance of 
 the wife or mother. Her unfortunate igno- 
 rance prevents her from doing those things 
 which should make her home a place of rest, 
 a refuge for her husband and children. Her 
 ignorance prevents her from buying and pre- 
 paring the kind of ft)od that will give proper 
 nourishment, and satisfy the cravings of 
 hunger. 
 
 The husband will turn from his home 
 table as he will from that of an unsavory 
 restaurant with unsatisfied cravings to intox- 
 cating stimulants, which seem to silence these 
 longings. The majority of our immoderate 
 drinkers, to-day, will acknowledge that their 
 first use for stimulants was to create an appe- 
 tite for the unsatisfactory food they were com- 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING i 59 
 
 pelled to partake of, either at home or the pub- 
 lic feeding houses. 
 
 Now, mothers, such home conditions you 
 are responsible for. We must look to you for 
 the remedy. 
 
 Instead of instilling in the minds of your 
 daughters the advisability of living inde- 
 pendent of men ; that, in this age, men are 
 responsible for women's misery ; that girls 
 must fit themselves for any pursuit other than 
 uniting with a man in founding a home of 
 peace, love and happiness, let the mother, if 
 competent, if not, secure the instruction of a 
 woman who is, and teach these girls that their 
 most important mission in life is to follow the 
 dictates of nature, as becomes their civilized 
 condition. Make them practical in every de- 
 partment of their home requirements ; com- 
 petent to exert an influence over her husband 
 that no outside attraction can detract from. 
 
6o OF WHAT IS 
 
 There is not a marriageable young man in 
 this land, not contaminated with the evil de- 
 sire of depraved associates, who, had he the 
 confidence in the ability of a girl, suitable to 
 his nature, to make of a home what it should 
 be, who would not shrink from a life of in- 
 difference, dissatisfaction, dissipation or self- 
 destruction, and enter into a union with all 
 the fervor of his nature, filling a position that 
 would bring him and his children into recog- 
 nition as progressive American citizens, be- 
 yond the reach of squallor, discord, disease, 
 degredation and destruction. 
 
 Just as sure as a girl takes up the rela- 
 tionship of marriage without a thorough un- 
 derstanding of its requirements she must nec- 
 essarily make of her home a place of discon- 
 tent for her husband. 
 
 Instead of a father and mother's ambition 
 being merely to start their sons and daughters 
 
UNCLE SAM THIN KING f 6t 
 
 in marriage with wealth equal to their ac- 
 cumulation of a life-long work and economj^ 
 let them equip them with their acquired 
 knowledge, learned, perhaps, from bitter ex- 
 perience, as to what will keep them united in 
 harmony, love and happiness, through which 
 nothing will come but devotion and prosperity. 
 
 First for consideration should be a 
 knowledge of the laws of health and hj^giene ; 
 the importance of cleanliness, the beauty of 
 neatness and culture, and the development of 
 industry and energy necessary to make home 
 what it should be, and life worth living as 
 educated people. 
 
 Parents, make of your daughters good 
 cooks and good housekeepers ; enforce upon 
 them the importance of understanding hov; to 
 keep their famil}^ in a condition of good health 
 and good spirits ; develop in them a disposi- 
 tion of loving kindnCvSS, cheerfulness and con- 
 
62 OF WHAT IS 
 
 tentment. Then you will see a change in the 
 disposition of our American boys. They will 
 have an incentive to abandon the resorts 
 which are to-day the deadfalls of American 
 manhood, making* worthless wrecks of those 
 who should be the intellect and support of 
 our nation. 
 
 Let our parents, instead of crying out in 
 condemnation against the youthful members 
 of society who have entered the wrong path, 
 bend their efforts to sta}-, support and make 
 useful beings of these, who have the youthful 
 strength and vigor to perform the purpose for 
 which they were created. 
 
 The downfall of every bo}^ or girl, born 
 with the proper natural senses, can be attrib- 
 uted to the carelessness of the older members 
 of society, our parents, who have not, in tb.^'s 
 period of their weakness, due to inexperience 
 and lack of understanding of the serious con- 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING f 63 
 
 sequences, stepped to the front when they 
 should and saved them from their inevitable 
 fate. For humanity's sake there must be no 
 more inhuman sacrifices of blighted lives to 
 be held up as examples for your own children. 
 
 Parents must realize that they are, as 
 authors of a child's existence, responsible for 
 its destiny, and that thej^ must show every 
 child, born of other parents, the same chari- 
 table consideration that they would appreciate 
 when extended in order and in time to save 
 their own children from disgrace and possible 
 destruction . 
 
 Encourage every young person in their 
 ambition. Help them to become thoroughly 
 familiar with the things of nature and that 
 which is necessary to their highest develop- 
 ment and usefulness. Teach them that work- 
 ing intelligently is the only means of accom- 
 plishing this desired end. To be a success in 
 
64 OF WHAT IS 
 
 life a person must be a master mechanic. To 
 become one all it requires is an interest in the 
 pursuit and proper application. We must not, 
 in this enlightened age, content ourselves with 
 being nierel}' the tools of another person, who 
 is but equally endowed, to be used, worn out 
 and finally cast upon the pile of refuse. 
 As our individual work is finished let it stand 
 as the highest attainment of skill to the pres- 
 ent time, reflecting credit upon the workman, 
 insuring a demand for his services. 
 
 We are all naturally adapted to at least 
 one pursuit that will place us in a superior 
 position of recognition. We must detect that 
 pursuit, and when once intalled it means to us 
 a condition of contentment, in which discord, 
 envy, false ambition and failure were never 
 known to enter. 
 
 The necessity of a public-school education 
 to an apprentice is without question. It 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING f 65 
 
 means for him recognition in the best society 
 of our American people, which will elevate 
 his vocation to a dignity t© which every class 
 of honest toil is entitled. Education will en- 
 able him to intelligently study, understand 
 and accomplish results that are beyond the 
 comprehension of an illiterate youth, conse- 
 quently saving him years of fruitless work. 
 Again, his early years at school save him from 
 the evil consequences of working at a young 
 and undeveloped period, which is responsible 
 for the ungainliness and physical deformities 
 so common with the mechanics of the * * old 
 country," where their apprenticeship began 
 while they were, we might say, iu their in- 
 fancy. 
 
66 OF WHAT IS 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 Chikf of all the demoralizing influences, 
 *' the root of all evil " here in America, what 
 has been the destro}- er of the peace of nation 
 upon nation, the autbcr of misery to every 
 free-born and enlightened being, is our un- 
 natural, but cultivated evil, avaric:^, de- 
 fined by Webster thus : 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING? 67 
 
 AVARICIOUS — Actuated by avarice ; greedy of gain; 
 immoderately desirous of accumu- 
 lating property. 
 
 Synonymous — Avaricious^ covetous, parsimonious^ 
 penurious, yniserly^ niggardly. The 
 avaricious eagerly desire wealth with 
 a view to hoard it. The covetous 
 grasp after it at the expense of 
 others, though not of necessity with 
 a design to save, since a man may 
 be covetous and yet a spendthrift. 
 The penurious^ parsimonious and 
 m,iserly save money by disgraceful 
 self-denial, and the niggardly by 
 meanness in their dealing with 
 others. We speak of persons as 
 covetous in getting, avaricious in 
 retaining, parsim-onious in expend- 
 ing, penuriotis or miserly in modes 
 of living, niggardly in dispensing. 
 
 This greed, for gain drives from us all the 
 pleasant impulses of our nature. Even the 
 joys and honesty of youth are consumed by 
 this evil of destruction. The beauties of 
 nature, the love of home, sacredness of virtue, 
 
68 OF WHAT IS 
 
 the preservation of health, honor ; in fact, 
 everything honest and true to us is buried in 
 oblivion before this insane, inhuman destrojxr. 
 As Americans we must beware. Our 
 fathers, mothers and instructors must compre- 
 hend the certain consequences of avaricious- 
 ness, which is destroying our love one for an- 
 other, and our country. It is breaking up 
 homes and scattering children to the ends of 
 the earth, there to either go down to destruc- 
 tion, discouraged, in a vain endeavor to ride 
 in a "golden chariot" over the remains of 
 hapless humanity, or bide the welcomed news 
 of the death of those parents who brought 
 them into this struggling existence, that, 
 through their hoarded wealth, th-y can be re- 
 leased from their instilled belief of privation, 
 
 disgrace and earthly misery. 
 
 Fathers and mothers of America, stop and 
 
 consider the truth and existence of this con- 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING f 69 
 
 dition. As fathers and mothers consider 
 what you owe your children, what your de- 
 sires are relative to their destiny. Protect, 
 support, educate and divide with them just as 
 long as they are dependent on you, and then, 
 by the laws of love and nature, you can place 
 your dependence on them, to be protected, 
 loved and cared for when the infirmaties of 
 old age are upon you, making your life's 
 work a blessing to the past, the present and 
 
 future generations. 
 
 How many fathers and mothers in this 
 
 land of our's close their eyes in everlasting 
 
 sleep their last anxious thoughts being, " If I 
 
 only knew the whereabouts and welfare of my 
 
 darling child ? Has he crossed the dark and 
 
 mysterious river of death, or do I leave him 
 
 in the sunlit land of the living ? ' ' 
 
 Parents, when your final harvest is at 
 
 hand you will " reap what you have sown." 
 
70 OF WHAT IS 
 
 If your life*s ambition has been only that of 
 avariciousness, you will have only the fruits 
 of avarice with you when death knocks at your 
 door. On the other hand, if your life's work 
 and ambition has been to love, protect, sup- 
 port, aid and content yourself with the bless- 
 ings of nature, your home and your children, 
 then, when the final summons come, you will 
 be surrounded by love, and there will be no 
 anxiety relative to the ' ' whereabouts of your 
 darling child." He will be at your bedside, a 
 living example of devotion and affection, and 
 not a soulless deserter of his home and parents, 
 whose covetous nature will respond only to 
 
 the money or property hoarded by the avari- 
 cious parent. 
 
 These same natural and simple laws of 
 
 devotion, necessary to keep together father, 
 mother, sons and daughters, will keep to- 
 gether with the same consistent devotion our 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING f 71 
 
 entire family of Americans. And when we 
 adopt understandingly as our national motto, 
 ** To live, and to let live 1" and see to its en- 
 forcement, then we will fulfill the mission of 
 our lives in this land of equal rights. 
 
 As an author writes, the disposition nec- 
 essary to grow rich is **To trust nobody, to 
 befriend none, to get everything and save all 
 you get, to stint yourself and everybody be- 
 longing to you, to be the friend of no man, to 
 heap interest upon interest, cent upon cent, to 
 be mean, miserable and despised for the best 
 part of your lives ; and riches will come to you 
 just as sure as disease and disappointment. 
 And when pretty near enough wealth is col- 
 lected by a disregard of human heart, at the 
 expense of every enjoyment, death comes to 
 finish the work. The body is buried in a hole, 
 the heirs dance over it, and its spirit has 
 gone , where ?*' 
 
72 OF WHAT IS 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CoNTHNDiNG as the American people are 
 at the present time with different creeds, 
 which are religiously antagonistic to the pre- 
 dominating power of our thorough American 
 class, it is our dut}^ to unite and adopt the 
 same consistent tactics resorted to by these 
 un-American creeds, surrendering no portion 
 of our constitutional rights or territory. 
 
 Principal among these foreign-born creeds, 
 who have made the most inroads into our ter- 
 ritory, industries, mercantile pursuits, national 
 
 finances and peaceful vocations, are the race 
 of Jews. 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING f 78 
 
 Differing in physical strength and courage 
 from other nationalities, they have peaceabl}', 
 patiently and unnoticed crept into our Ameri- 
 can-entitled stronghold of financial wealth, 
 and are fast barricading the doors of ease and 
 luxury to the legitimate heirs of our fore- 
 fathers, who braved the terrible results of 
 devastating warfare to deliver to this new 
 race of Americans a land upon which they 
 could develop and found a nation, united on 
 consideration of human equality, which would 
 be intellectually, scientifically and physically 
 the peer of all ages past. 
 
 In the Hebrew Institute, on Eighth ave- 
 nue, New York City, Editor Solomon, of the 
 Hebrew Standard, said in behalf of the rela- 
 tionship between the Hebrews and the politi- 
 cal party they were to support : 
 
74 OF WHAT IS 
 
 "Whether we view it as a mere incident, or as a 
 dispensation of Providence, it is a fact that the same 
 year that witnessed the expulsion of six thousand 
 Jews from vSpain, witnessed the discovery of America. 
 This country was designed as a home for the 
 oppressed." 
 «««••* •« 
 
 • • Who is it who arrests a man for selling a three- 
 cent collar button on Sunday ? Who is it who pre- 
 vents you from drinking a glass of beer on Sunday ? 
 It is the Republicans !" 
 
 Americans, what does the above signify ? 
 Does it not reveal the far-seeing and tenacious 
 purpose of the Hebrew race to eventually 
 wrest from us our emblem of America, carica- 
 tured in "Uncle Sam," the embodiment of 
 originality, derived from freedom, independ- 
 ence and human acknowledgement of the 
 equality of man ? 
 
 This Hebrew advocate, laying at the 
 door of the Republican party, American as it 
 is, the responsibility of the restriction of even 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING? 75 
 
 their violation of our American Sunday law, 
 shows conclusively that the Jews are not in 
 accord with our American control. 
 
 According to our American consideration 
 of what constitutes an American, entitled to 
 American citizenship and protection, as de- 
 scribed in a previous chapter, it is our duty to 
 
 turn our attention to the progress of this race 
 of Jews in America. 
 
 Just as we have suppressed the dissenting 
 elements of our laws and land, such as the 
 creed of polygamy, the condition of slavery, 
 secessionism, and the influx of the un-Ameri- 
 can Chinese, just as urgent is the necessity of 
 our uniting in self-protection against this 
 class, who are usurping our business indus- 
 tries, resources and Avealth, yet denying co- 
 operation and assimilation with us as gentiles, 
 
 who are alone eligible to American classifica- 
 tion. 
 
76 OF WHAT IS 
 
 Now, Americans, while we are the recog- 
 nized power in this land, shall we retain it ? 
 Shall America be the stronghold of the Ameri- 
 cans, or shall it be the stronghold of the Jews ? 
 
 Turn back to the pages of your history, 
 note in ages past the enthronement and the 
 dethronement of this race of Hebrews, cling- 
 ing with unflinching tenacity to their sect. 
 Look to Russia's desperate measures at the 
 present time. Beware of the influx of these 
 Russian exiles, bound by the sacred laws of 
 religion to stand aloof from intermingling with 
 any other race in existence. 
 
 Americans, we cannot become Jews, and 
 Jews refuse to become Americans. 
 
 Their pure blood, their sacred and en- 
 forced honor toward each other, their wealth, 
 their business integrity and co-operation, their 
 early marriages and domestic relationship is 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING? 77 
 
 fast filling their ranks here in this land of 
 Americans. 
 
 Beware of this element, which is weaken- 
 ing 3^our band of unionism. 
 
 Stretch out your hand to the foreigner 
 only who is to pool issues with, add to your 
 numbers and strengthen your mighty nation. 
 Barricade America to every faction tending to 
 competition or conflict, disturbing the peace, 
 prosperity and unity, the outgrowth of sus- 
 taining the principles of our American Consti- 
 tution and By-Laws. 
 
 To-day, in America, these Jews live, com- 
 bine and monopolize without concern, in con- 
 sideration of their vast wealth, of ever being 
 checked in their advancement, leading to the 
 final control of what is now, and should be 
 forever the ' * land of the free and the home of 
 the brave." 
 
78 OF WHAT IS 
 
 This mistaken faith in the power of 
 
 wealth has and ever will go down before a 
 
 united feeling of justice, inspired by the reali- 
 zation of self-protection and preservation. 
 
 For example, just as the Republican party 
 has been swept from its position, ruling the 
 American universe, notwithstanding its ac- 
 knowledged wealth, the occupation of the 
 nation's strongholds and fortifications, from 
 the Presidential Chair to the most insignifi- 
 cant political office, by means of our free and 
 all-powerful instrument, "the American bal- 
 lot, " is it possible for us to enforce the princi- 
 ples of Americanism in America. 
 
 In every department of business can be 
 detected the superior understanding and sys- 
 tematic co-operation of the Jews, whose mar- 
 velous ventures and monumental stores, stand 
 erected to awe the undertakings of the Ameri- 
 can gentile. These same institutions are 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING f 79 
 
 supported by us, while we allow our own to 
 totter and fall, burying beneath them that 
 confidence and American fairness, independ- 
 ence and energy, necessary to the excellence 
 of our American institutions and people. 
 
 Now, Americans, do not allow yourselves 
 to degenerate into a class of discouraged, dis- 
 heartened, weak and subordinate beings, 
 eventually to either fall the victims of a better- 
 united faction, or of disease and disorder, but 
 unite in co-operation with those who are to 
 become members of your own family, stand- 
 ing shoulder to shoulder in time of peace and 
 prosperity as you have stood unflinching in 
 
 time of cruel and devastating warfare, extend- 
 ing to each other the hand of an equal, regard- 
 less of wealth or sectionalism. 
 
 As the Jews will not conform to our 
 
 national consideration of equality, brought 
 
 about by the intermingling of the races in 
 
8o OF WHAT JS 
 
 America, making- of their desirable class those 
 to act in unity with us, we have, in order to 
 sustain our own class, but the one recourse, 
 which is to adopt their successful tactics of 
 wresting from them what they are taking 
 from us. 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING9 81 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 During the short life of our republic the 
 negro problem has proven one which the in- 
 tellect of our most intelligent race has, appar- 
 ently, been unable to solve. 
 
 Since the liberation of the negro from the 
 bondage of slavery, from time to time, move- 
 ments have been inaugurated with an object 
 of segregating the blacks from the whites, 
 prompted through the conception of the laws 
 of nature and the preservation of our white 
 race. 
 
82 OF WHAT IS 
 
 Experience has taught us that the uniting- 
 of the two races means the absorption of the 
 whites, clearly demonstrating the predomi- 
 nating power of the black nature. This fact 
 being so familiar to us as an intelligent class, 
 whose ambition, as the American people, is to 
 preserve our individual species, we have no 
 pretense for speculation as to what action 
 should be taken. Nature solves it for us, as 
 she does all other issues pertaining to her 
 laws, demonstrating clearly what is necessary 
 for the preservation of our color. 
 
 The white people of America demon- 
 strated thoroughly their sacred consideration 
 
 for humanity in laying down four hundred 
 
 thousand of their invaluable lives and millions 
 
 upon millions of dollars in the destruction of 
 
 the institution of American slavery, for which 
 
 they will have the undying gratitude of the 
 
^ 
 
 UNCLE SAM THINKING t 83 
 
 colored man, as he is now placed on a free and 
 
 intelligent basis, enabling them to redeem 
 
 their entire race from a condition of barbarism, 
 
 as exists with them outside of American 
 territory. 
 
 The result of that war and these subse- 
 quent years of peaceful condition and con- 
 sideration for human equality has established 
 between the two races a confidence that should 
 lead to a peaceable and just solution, of equal 
 importance to both white and colored people. 
 
 Freedom and education develops in the 
 
 black man the same high standard of science 
 
 and intellect as is developed in the white man. 
 
 Nature endows them with the same physical 
 perfection. 
 
 What means to us the attainment of our 
 
 highest standard of intellectual, physical and 
 
 moral perfection, as a white race, is, as nature 
 
 demands, total exclusion of the negro blood. 
 
84 OF WHAT IS 
 
 To them as a progressive black race, of 
 equal intellect and physical development, the 
 exclusion of white blood is necessary. 
 
 Now, the question seems simple enough 
 
 for the broad-minded intellects of both the 
 whites and the blacks. The peace and future 
 
 welfare of both depend upon it. There is. no 
 
 requirement for the services or suggestions of 
 
 philanthropic enthusiasts, inspired by senti- 
 
 mentalit}^ or economy. We must avoid a 
 
 "race war" of extermination in our midst and 
 
 provide for separate territory, in ancestral 
 
 Africa, or elsewhere, where the negro will be 
 
 enabled to develop an independent African 
 nation of equality. 
 
 In America to-day there are hundreds of 
 
 thousands of colored men and women, equally 
 
 intelligent, humane and in sympathy with. 
 
 their natural-born brethren, to take up the 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKINGf 85 
 
 work of reorganizing, elevating and shaping 
 the proper destiny of their race. It means to 
 them, through the co-operation of the whites, 
 a much less undertaking than we, as white, 
 educated Americans, have already assumed in 
 educating and providing means of support for 
 the millions upon millions of low, degraded, 
 neglected and matured unfortunate beings 
 shipped here from foreign countries, where 
 their condition was vastly worse than that of 
 the American slave. 
 
 The more enlightend becomes the condi- 
 tion of the negro the stronger will be his sense 
 of gratitude for the American people and their 
 wisdom. 
 
 The sympathies of the people of America, 
 both white and black, have been appealed to 
 in behalf of the few American negroes en- 
 deavoring to found the Republic of Liberia, 
 
86 OF WHAT IS 
 
 the little nation on the west coast of Africa. 
 This experiment of the American Colonization 
 Society has undoubtedly been very discourag- 
 ing, owing to the meagre knowledge they had 
 relative to the resources and climatic condi- 
 tions of that country, as suitable to the physi- 
 cal condition of the negro. Besides, many 
 dishonest practices have been more or less re- 
 sponsible for the possible defeat of success, 
 subjecting the colonists to desperate and de- 
 structive conditions, such as pioneers of civili- 
 zation have and ever will be subjected to. 
 
 It is within the possibility of American 
 intelligence, energy, determinat on and wealth 
 to locate, investigate and secure a territory 
 where the Afi ican race can reach an elevation 
 to which they are entitled, saving them, as 
 
 well as the American people, the disturbances 
 that will naturally arise in event of their re- 
 maining and increasing in our midst. 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING? 87 
 
 The efforts of a few men of our present 
 generation with the characteristics of Bushrod 
 Washington, Charles Carroll, James Madison 
 and Henry Claj- , who were at one time presi- 
 dents of the American Colonization Society, 
 would reduce this race problem to a practical 
 solution in short order. 
 
88 OF WHA'l IS 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 ThK decisive action taken by our country 
 on the question of Chinese restriction has 
 been an example of the wisdom shown not 
 only in the protection of the positions of 
 domestic help, labor in our outside fields, 
 factories, canneries, foundries, and many other 
 vocations of lucrative employment, but has 
 possibly prevented contamination with the 
 Dlood of this inferior race. 
 
 The very same evils and disturbances of 
 society developed in America through this 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKINGf ^ 
 
 Mongolian race will come to us with the in- 
 troduction of the Japanese. The^^ will seek 
 the very same positions the Chinese have been 
 compelled to vacate, sounding the same death - 
 knell to the ambition of the industrial classes 
 of our American people, lowering both the 
 dignity of work and its compensation, incon- 
 sistent with the welfare of our free-born 
 Americans. 
 
 Then again, the Japanese race concede 
 
 the superiority mentally and physically of 
 
 our white American race, developed through 
 
 the intermingling of the blood of all white 
 
 nations and, in consequence, are tending not 
 
 only to our American education and customs 
 
 but also to inter-marrying with our white 
 
 race, which will, owing to their dwarfed 
 
 stature, their Mongolian features and copper 
 color, taint our American blood, with a most 
 undesirable element. 
 
90 OF WHAT IS 
 
 Now, Americans, our physical condition 
 is of the utmost importance to us. As it is 
 we have numberless defects to eradicate, the 
 result of a total disregard of physical strength 
 and beauty. Our American system of de- 
 velopment of the intellect regardless of a like 
 physical perfection is a crime against nature, 
 and will lead to the discouragement of the 
 undertakings of the American people and to 
 their deterioration and destruction. 
 
 Whenever the American press records the 
 marriage of an American man or woman to 
 one of the Mongolian race, regardless of their 
 intelligence or rank, how our sense of Ameri- 
 can refinement is shocked. With a repugnant 
 
 shudder we instantly consign this member, 
 
 whom we consider utterly void of all sense of 
 
 appreciation of our white American family, to 
 
 the consuming influence of the Mongolian 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING f 91 
 
 blood, thereby saving our race from contam- 
 ination through this unnatural alliance. 
 Such should be our American consideration 
 and protection for our nation, and fortunate 
 for both our physical and moral welfare is the 
 tact that nature responds as she does against 
 the sacrifice of these members of our society 
 who will violate our laws of self-protection 
 and progress. 
 
 As Americans our first consideration is 
 due to those of our kind. To lift our Ameri- 
 can youth from conditions unbecoming our 
 sense of descency it is the natural duty of our 
 American missionaries to devote their time, 
 efforts, love and ambition to bettering the 
 
 condition of the many unfortunate beings 
 
 living neglected within the boundary lines of 
 
 our own country, wfio can be restored to 
 
 a respectable and valued position in society. 
 
92 OF WHAT IS 
 
 To-day thousands of our fairest sons and 
 daughters of America are devoting their time, 
 wealth and refined natures exclusively to 
 Christianizing and elevating those whom they 
 deem the "unfortunate heathens" of other 
 races and lands. Note the untiring devotion 
 of those who are sustaining the Chinese mis- 
 sions in our midst. According to the laws of 
 the Chinese Empire and the laws of the United 
 States the unity of these two races is posi- 
 tively prohibited. Consequently, when our 
 refined, intelligent and Christian people vol- 
 unteer their charity for the education and 
 advancement of this race in America, who are 
 here for the one purpose of carrying to their 
 own land such spoils as fall into their hands, 
 they are committing a grievous wrong to 
 the members of their own nation. 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKING f 93 
 
 Our American girls and mothers, who are 
 devoting their time to the education of the 
 Chinese, must realize that this neat, intelli- 
 gent and gentlemanly Chinese youth, their 
 ideal, developed through the influence of their 
 refined natures, constant association and teach- 
 ing, must, sooner or later, return to his own 
 land, carrying with him that which belongs, 
 by all the sacred laws of love and humanity, 
 to your own children. 
 
 There is not a white boy in America, 
 American at heart, who does not watch your 
 devotion to these aliens with a jealous eye 
 and with earnest longings for that same influ- 
 ence and encouragement, which would make 
 
 of them clean, descent, gentlemanly and de- 
 voted promoters of virtue, home and happiness. 
 American charity's first consideration is 
 our American field and subjects, whose life- 
 
94 OF WHAT IS 
 
 blood is to develop and perpetuate our highest 
 
 order of humanity. 
 
 With the same self-sacrificing, unflinch- 
 ing and steadfast purpose of the sectarian mis- 
 sionary, who goes to the wilds of foreign 
 countries intent upon adding to the number 
 of his religious sect, we must, as Americans, 
 enlist the same religious zeal in uniting our 
 American race, void of contention, religious 
 or otherwise. Then will we serve the best 
 interest of our fellowman, our country and 
 our Creator. 
 
UNCLE SAM THINKINGt 95 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 In concIvUding this little book, the first 
 attempt of the writer to preserve these con- 
 clusions, derived at through observation, it 
 is his purpose to arouse the minds of the 
 3'oung members of American society to the 
 necessity of accepting only such conclusions 
 relative to the interests of our people and 
 our government as they have personally in- 
 vestigated, thereby developing their practical 
 abilities, which is the only means of making 
 one self-dependent and successful. Young 
 
96 07- WHAT IS 
 
 American people, of education and ctdture, 
 must value practical preparation for life in 
 preference to the money that will purchase 
 advantages, as the loss of money or its value 
 leaves the unfortunate and those dependent 
 upon him without means of support to be- 
 come slave-like subordinates to those who 
 do understand the practical laws of society 
 and nature. 
 
^m^ 
 
 Young Americans: 
 
 Thk author solicits correspondence from 
 the young minds of America, inspired by 
 the few ideas he has embodied in this little 
 book. Its wide margins are for notes while 
 reading. Those notes will be reproduced in 
 an extensive edition, under cover of this title 
 page, if mailed to 
 
 CORLIES MERRITT, 
 Box 2143 Portland, 
 
 Station "A." Oregon. 
 
 ^^m: 
 
 H 19 89 
 

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