The Holland Society of New York - Yearbook (New York, NY)

Page 69 text:

' 43 problem, but is one which appeals to the heart and brain of every patriotic citizen who desires to see the Republic grow in power and in glory, It must be dealt with in such manner that we shall steer clear between the extremes of paternal des- potism and sentimental legislation, which shall in- ject into the body politic a dangerous franchise, which will prove a menace to our own freedom and the intelligent purity. of our own institutions. We do not .owe it to ourselves, or to them, or to civilization that we shall go there proclaiming the dogma, which we do not believe ourselves, that all men are born free and equal. They are not! Men' are born just as horses and mules and don- keys and dogs are born. Some are of one kind and some of another. An old darkey was once asked to dehne the difference between a mule and a jackass. He promptly replied: A jackass is exactly like a mule, only a mule is a little more so 1 just so, an intelligent Christian American cit-izen may be just like a Cuban, Puerto Rican, a Sand- wich Islander, or a Filipino, but I, for one at least, ,believe the American is a little more so! I We must realize that, for the present at least, we have had enough of Fourteenth Amendments ! We want to get a good, strong-minded American administration, which will take these intellectual babies, whose cradles we must rock, and put them to school when they are large enough, and birch them if they do not study their books, and keep them in healthy and kindly tutelage until they are ready to graduate. Then it will be time enough to consider their status and their rights to citizen- ship, absolute or qualified. To deal with them otherwise now, would be midsummer madness.