Out in South Dakota a Russian vote also has to be reckoned with, and in
New England a French-Canadian vote. All this is undemocratic and
unwholesome in the highest degree. Our government is based upon the
intelligent and responsible use of the ballot. How can such use be
possible in the case of the naturalized alien who cannot read or write
our language or any other? No one can declare it unreasonable that a
reading test as a qualification for voting should be required of all. On
the brighter side of the political phase, it is asserted that it was the
foreign element of the East Side in New York that made possible the
election of a reform candidate in a recent election, and that this
element can be relied upon for reform and independent voting quite as
much as the American society element, which is frequently too
indifferent to vote at all. There is too much truth in this. At the same
time, one who is familiar with the discussions at the People's Forum in
Cooper Institute, New York, or similar meeting places of the foreign
element in other large cities, knows how essentially un-American are the
point of view and the theories most advocated.
_IV. The Religious Problem_
[Sidenote: Effects upon Religious Conditions]
What is the effect of immigration upon the religious life of the
country? This is an exceedingly difficult matter upon which to
generalize.
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