Page:Immigration and the Commissioners of Emigration of the state of New York.djvu/14

ii saving any which without my researches might, perhaps, have perished, I have accomplished my purpose. I trust that they may facilitate for the future historian the study and appreciation of this interesting subject.

Strange as it may seem, the youngest nation that has made its appearance on the historical stage is singularly deficient in that historical spirit which characterizes true civilization. Germany, France, England, and Italy are laboring more earnestly for the preservation of the records of their barbarism than the United States for the illustration of its unbroken record of civilization. How can this lack of interest be explained? Is it that the task of the hour makes Americans blind to all things else? Is it that so much is still to be done that no time is left for the consideration of what has been done? Be it as it may, it is a melancholy fact and seriously detrimental to the most vital interests of the nation. People look with indifference at this colossal immigration of the European masses, whose presence alone will exercise a powerful influence on the destinies of the Western World; National and State legislators care little or nothing for the direction which is given to this foreign element, and forget that their own welfare and the welfare of their children is indissolubly interwoven with the condition of the new-comers. In short, they are not yet aroused to the great importance of emigration, of its laws and its development, but consider it rather with an incredulous curiosity than with an earnest desire to fathom its resources and foresee its results.

My principal sources of information have been the minutes and the annual reports of the Commissioners of Emigration, which, wherever it was possible, I have quoted in their own