I decided to reprint the full version of President roosevelt's letter about the Americanization of immigrants here. It was the last written piece, of a political nature, known to have been penned by President Theodore Roosevelt; and though it was written a long time ago, it still has a resounding amount of logic to it. The words he wrote, ever so appropriate then just after WWI, are just as applicable to immigrants entering our nation today. I believe the piece to be timeless in its nature as it regards immigrants coming into, and becoming part of, the United States of America.
The version below, was found at: http://67.19.222.106/politics/graphics/troosevelt.pdf; and the link to it was found at Snopes.com (and I note that Snopes.com did not have the complete version as the letter at the provided link appears to be).
January 3rd, 1919
Dear Mr. Hurd:
I cannot be with you and so all I can do is to wish you God speed. There must be no sagging back in the fight for Americanism merely because the war is over. There are plenty of persons who have already made the assertion that they believe the American people have a short memory and that they intend to revive all the foreign associations which most directly interfere with the complete Americanization of our people. Our principle in this matter should be absolutely simple. In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here does in good faith become an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with every one else ,for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American and nothing but an American. If he tries to keep segregated with men of his own origin and separated from the rest of America, then he isn’t doing his part as an American. There can be no divided allegience here. Any man who says he is an American but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile. We have room for but one language here and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans,of American nationality, and not as dwellers in a pollyglot boarding house; and we have room for but one soul loyalty, and that is loyalty to the American people.
Faithfully yours,
Mr. Richard K. Hurd,
59 Liberty
Street,
New York.
Note, I printed it just as it appeared in the letter, or at least I tried to get the spacing (which got messed up when I published here), punctuation, and even mistakes (such as "pollyglot" just the same. One other note, when TR wrote the words: "soul loyalty", I believe it was a play on words to mean both 'a loyalty of the soul or spirit', and a singular or 'sole loyalty', but that is just my hunch.
Now that you have read the above you can, whenever someone challenges strictly reformed immigration policy including removal of illegal aliens from the USA and the Americanization of legal aliens, reply with wisdom that transcends the ages about the particular subject.
As a matter of fact, it might be a good idea to send a copy of that letter to our elected officials, citing it properly, and then including our own ideas on the subject, so that our politicians get the idea that only immigrants who will obey the laws of this nation, and who truly show that they want to become Americanized, and then become good U.S. citizens, should be permitted to remain within our borders for any amount of time.
I do not believe I have ever heard it put better than in this letter as penned by TR.
Faithfully yours,
Glenn B
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