On Immigrants: I Could Never Have Said It As Well...

...as did Theodore Roosevelt when he wrote his last message (yes his last message before he passed away). It was written to the president of the American Defense Society on January 3, 1919; Roosevelt died on January 6, 1919. Now, as then, these sentiments run true. They should be the basis for all of our immigration policies, and the basis for becoming a citizen; and natural born Americans should live by them also. There is no room in the United States of America for those who are other than, or who strive to become, nothing but an American.

Yes this is a repeat of something I posted a while back, but in my mind, it is well worth repeating.


"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."


All the best,
Glenn B