were illiterate; and of the Ruthenians, 63 per cent. Most of these
illiterates will never learn to read, as they are beyond the school
age.]
There is unquestionably some ground for the feeling that the new
immigration is in many respects less desirable than the older type.
These peoples come out of conditions of oppression and depression,
illiteracy and poverty. Far more important than this, they have had no
contact with Anglo-Saxon ideas or government. They are consequently
almost wholly ignorant of American ideals and standards. There is a vast
difference between the common ideas of these immigrants and those from
the more enlightened and progressive northern nations. So there is in
the type of character and the customs and manners.
[Sidenote: The Older Type of Immigration]
We are sufficiently familiar with the older type, and do not need here
to dwell upon it. We know how large a part has been played in the
development of our national material enterprises by the Germans, the
English and Irish, the Scotch and Welsh, the Swedes and Norwegians.
Millions of them are among the loyal Americans of to-day. The Irish
originally came to perform the unskilled labor of America.
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