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CHAPTER I

OCCASION FOR INTROSPECTION

IN due course I have given reasons for an inquiry into the status of American democracy, and finding that the alien invasion constitutes the chief reason for introspection, have presented facts and figures to illustrate the dominant position which the foreigner is assuming in the United States.

To my mind these indicate an intolerable situation, and shout a warning which must be heeded if this free government is to live.

That this warning has been heard by some is evidenced in the frequent appeal of platform and press for corrective action.

Meantime the Republic represents a vast aggregation of people, the inertia of whose movements in a wrong direction cannot readily be overcome. What is to be done in the premises by those who have caught the startling message?

I can think of nothing else than for each to follow the same course of action that he would pursue if a business or some domestic matter in which he was concerned with others was threatened by an obvious danger. In such a case he would

First-Echo the alarm in such a way as to compel the attention of his compatriots; and

Second-Inform himself and them in regard to the fitness of the joint business or like concern to withstand attack. This to be effective would have to be done while there was yet time to eliminate elements of weakness.

Taking my own medicine then and doing the thing which to me appears logical if not a duty, I have in preceding chapters set out certain distressing truths in regard to which I am informed in the hope that they may reach some reader equally interested in democracy who has not shared my opportunity for observation.

I wish now to dwell upon certain signs of decadence in the political life of the Nation which may well have been disregarded by those of my fellow-citizens who have not thus far noted the gathering storm clouds but which ought not to be longer ignored because they terribly emphasize the growing peril.

In doing this I shall only touch upon a few out of several tendencies and errancies which in themselves indicate decadence, and shall confine myself for the most part to such weaknesses as are brought into the high light by the foreign incursion. Those which have been selected as worthy of comment have largely to do with a false system of public education which has encouraged hypercriticism and socialism; the loss of political sanity,

explaining subservience to the intellectual expert and the absurd Americanization and Naturalization campaigns; and the confused social conditions which sharpen the edge of that dreadful enemy of democracy, propaganda.

In giving the matter thus presented such attention as it may warrant, I trust that the reader will constantly bear in mind the tremendous issues forced upon our citizenry by the incursion of the foreign armies that are now in occupancy of the land.

If it were not for this factor we could as a people take a chance at hazardous experiments and neglect the consideration of obvious faults until a more convenient season. Such a course might ultimately lead to ruin, but the Almighty has favored the Nation in spite of its predilection for strange gods and it is possible that he will continue so to do.

Unfortunately, however, we cannot eliminate the alien mind and will which threaten to crowd our concepts out of the national nest and substitute its own offspring. Therefore, we must face the situation and take corrective action if we are to avoid disaster. Like some abused bunting that is being dispossessed of its home by a cowbird, we can twitter in a high and thin key and make fierce little rushes at the intruder, but such flurries are of no import. The alien mind and will are affecting our political and economic standards, and they

will outlive this generation. They are not yet in full possession but they will soon be unless we bestir ourselves.

It is well enough for the shipmaster to ignore the fact that his vessel is unseaworthy while winds are propitious, but he is a fool and will meet the fate of a fool if he continues to do so when a tempest is gathering.