Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 80.djvu/395

Rh with our body politic. No race is desirable which does not tend to lose its distinctive traits in the process of blending with our own social body. It would seem from history that the Jew only blends inadvertently and against his conscious endeavor and desire. Hence the process of true assimilation must be very backward. Moreover, in origin, racial traits, instincts and point of view, the Hebrew race is essentially oriental, and altogether there is at least ground for objection to unrestricted Jewish immigration.

No one can mistake the pressing necessity for a solution of the immigration problem. The problem of New York City in this respect is unique and differs from that of the rest of the country, because as Walter Laidlaw points out. New York City is in reality a foreign city, inasmuch as in 1910 the native-born of native parents numbered only 193 in every 1,000 inhabitants. This preponderating foreign element is due to the concentration of arrested immigration in New York. For the country as a whole, great interest attaches to the influence which the Panama Canal will exert in diverting immigration lines to southern and Pacific coast points. New local problems will of course arise, but the basic proposition remains always the same. Immigration should be restricted absolutely to such races as will amalgamate, without lowering the standard of our own national life.

In general, immigrants from the Mediterranean countries should be excluded, especially those from Greece, South Italy and Syria, as well as most Hebrews, Magyars, Armenians and Turks. Strict enforcement