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N AMERICAN

"A"

CITIZEN."

On reaching Chicago a few days ago, where I went to fulfill a professional engagement, I discovered that the title of my lecture had excited much adverse comment. "America for Americans" was rank heresy. According to that admirable man, the Reverend T. Lloyd Jones, the cry proclaimed "mediæval politics." According to some, it meant support of the American Protective Association and denunciation of Catholics. According to others it was a revival of, know-nothingism. Among all these wiseacres they arranged such an address as I would not dream of delivering while possessed of a single sense. Therefore when asked by reporters whether I belonged to the A. P. A., I stated that I did not, as I thought all secret societies a mistake, especially such as aimed at the support or overthrow of a religion. No good had ever come from these associations and I did not believe that this end of the century would render a different verdict. The Puritans had prohibited every religious creed but their own with no other result than that of strengthening their victims. Thus it has ever been with persecution. To array Protestants against Catholics would be to solidify the latter and return to medieval tactics. I knew little of the workings of the A. P. A., and never referred to it in my lecture. Little did I dream that so mild and reasonable a statement would bestir cranks, who, like the poor, are with us alway nowadays. No sooner did the reporters publish my apparently innocuous interview than the anonymous letter-writer gave me a bit of his brave mind. Here is a specimen :

MISS FIELD: So you are going to lecture against the A. P. A. are you? Well-you had better understand-what they are before you attempt anything of that kind because you do not seem to know anything about them. Their whole aim is to protect America and Americans from the encroachments of the Catholic Church-as any one knows who has any inteligense that that Church is determined to destroy our Public Schools and not only those but get possession of—America as they have made it their boast- -for a long time—Americans have very little chance here now. The Mayorty and all Positions are filled by Catholics even our schools (85 per cent) so you see you will loose a great deal of respect people have always had for you I did not imagine you were so ignorant on this question.

AN AMERICAN CITIZEN.

When an American citizen" addresses another American citizen in such illiterate fashion, using the letter paper of the "Balcony Waiting Room" of Marshall Field & Company's retail store, and not only descends to the anonymous, but posts her letter unstamped that I may pay for the insult nolens volens, it is evident that the United States has reason to be very much ashamed of at least one citizen.

Chicago has the ballot. If its municipal government be bad, by all means right it. The fact that an individual is a Catholic does not make that individual unworthy of trust any more than the profession of other creeds makes men reputable. The Congressman from The Congressman from Kentucky, who has lately filled a large space in the columns of the public prints, is a church deacon in good

NO. 17.

standing, has been the superintendent of a Sunday school and reverently bows his head in prayer when the Chaplain of the House appeals to Heaven. It is not profession of faith but integrity of character that is needed to lead our people out of bondage; and if I had a vote, I should always cast it for the candidate whose honesty could be depended upon.

I have been told that the population of Chicago consists of two hundred thousand Americans, three hundred thousand Irish, four hundred thousand Germans, forty thousand Poles, fifteen thousand Italians, etc., etc. If this uncontradicted statement be true, Americans are hopelessly in the minority. Irish, Germans, Poles, Italians are almost invariably Catholics. Being overwhelmingly in the majority, is it strange that they put into office men of their own faith? Would not Protestants do likewise had they the chance? If there be misrule where lies the blame? In naturalization laws so outrageous as to menace the very foundations of the Republic.

Let my anonymous correspondents go to the public schools, of which they seem to have had no personal experience, and learn, first, how to spell; secondly, how to write English, and lastly, how cheap it is to become "an American citizen." However, from circumstantial evidence I surmise that they know more than I about the last lesson.

FLAG

Extremes meet in this Republic. HavDAY. ing allowed trade to use the Star Spangled Banner as an advertising pendant-having permitted foreigners in New Orleans to insult that same banner, without so much as comment, we are now incorporating associations to teach public school children to respect what an older generation has ignored. It is time.

The first State to wake up is Illinois. For several years the promoters of this patriotic idea have had June 14 recognized as the anniversary of the adoption of the American flag in 1777 by the Continental Congress. To make this recognition permanent, a corporation under the law was imperative; for this reason Le Roy Van Horn, Anna S. Smith, Dr. B. P. Reynolds, Fanny Mahan and John G. Maynard have organized the American Flag Day Association.

To foster love of country, patriotic exercises will be held in the public schools on the third Saturday in June to commemorate the adoption of our flag. This date will be more convenient as a holiday than June 14, the anniversary date. Prominent speakers will address the children on the lesson of the flag, and National songs will stir their young blood with such emotions as are too seldom excited for their own good. The expenses of this new holiday will be provided for by entertainments.

The men and women who have organized the American Flag Day Association have set an example that should be followed by every public school in the Union. Suppose Superintendent Powell of the District of Columbia takes this suggestion into immediate consideration?

ΜΥ

Y MAILBAG.

I thought that the literary octopus had laid her claws-the sex may be either male or female, but the latter predominates-on every possible idea evolved by every possible brain, but I reckoned without my octopus. The last requisition made upon me, who, of course, have nothing to do, reads thus:

I am preparing a newspaper article to be in the form of interviews and impersonal narratives, on amusing mistakes in real life, and will be greatly obliged to you if you will kindly spare me a few moments of your valuable time sufficient to write me out an account of a humorous incident in your life. I would prefer something of that period when we think we know it all, but will be equally pleased if you select an incident that happened later in life. Please determine the length of the narrative to suit the case, and kindly note, at foot, whether you want it used as interview or impersonal narrative. A copy of the paper containing it will be mailed to you immediately on publication.

Anticipating your kindness in granting this request, and trusting to hear from you shortly, I am

L. M. B.

Thankfully yours, DEAR MADAM: Your offer to send me a marked copy of a paper containing an article of mine to be presented to you gratuitously at your suggestion, combines so much naïvété with so much coolness as to have excited much laughter on my part. Therefore I can truthfully record the reception of your letter as a "humorous incident in my life." You are at liberty to republish this communication if you see fit. I cannot gratify you to the extent of limiting the humor of my life to "that period when we think we know it all," for I never got there," strange as may be the confession, and much as appearances may be against me.

66

Pardon me if I ask how a narrative of a person, whether related in the first or third person, can under any circumstances be "impersonal "? You are evidently writing

for a living, and therefore have my profound pity, as you have begun at the wrong end. Let me suggest that, before committing yourself to journalism, you make a study of the English language and aim at originality rather than attempt to turn the hard-worked brains of others into dollars and cents.

waukee, Washington City and Chicago, I state that the worst evil this country has to face is the criminal looseness of naturalization laws passed by thoughtless State legislatures for the purpose of increasing population, regardless of ultimate consequences. In Washington City I was challenged by a Congressman for including his State among the sixteen Commonwealths that actually allow aliens to vote. He did not know the laws under which he was elected and was astonished when convinced of the truth of my statement. Since then I have been asked by a Wall Street correspondent to make good my assertion by naming the States, as I am not believed and a wager is pending. Doubting Thomas is doomed to lose his money and I am sorry for it, as I'd much rather be wrong than right, when being right discloses political rottenness of appalling proportions.

That there may be no mistake, I give below the laws of all the States in connection with suffrage. Instead of referring at length to these laws as they are published in "Morse on Citizenship," I present the admirable compilation of the New York World Almanac, edited by Thomas Edgar Wilson, a very able journalist. These facts have been approved by the Attorneys-General of the several States.

States where aliens are given the ballot before becoming American citizens are indicated by italics:

Virginia

ship, idiots, insane,convicted of treason or felony, unless pardoned. Convicted of bribery or other infamous offense.

Citizen of United 1 yr.. 6 mo. 6 mo. (a) Idiots, lunatics, States.

paupers convicted of felony, U.S. soldiers and sea

men.

Unpardoned convicts and deserters from U. S.military or naval service during civil war,ex-Confederates.

Citizen of United 1 yr.. 3 mo. 3 mo. 30dys Idiots, lunatics, States.

convicted of bribery at election, embezzlement of public funds, treason, felony and petty larceny, duelists and abettors, unless pardoned by Legislature.

Washington... Citizen of United 1 yr.. 90dys 30 dys 30 dys Indians not taxed.

States.

West Virginia. Citizen of the State. 1 yr.. 6odys......

Wisconsin*...... Citizen of United 1 yr..

Wyoming..

States or alien who has declared intention.

Citizen of United 1 yr.. 6odys States, male female.

or

(a) Paupers, idiots, lu

natics, convicted of treason, felony or bribery at elections,U. S.soldier or sailor. 1odys Insane, under guardianship, convicted of treason or felony, unless pardoned. Idiots, insane, felons, to read State Constitution.

unable

Australian ballot law or a modification of it in force. † Indian must have several tribal relations two years next preceding the election. Or if, having previously been a qualified elector or native, he shall have removed and returned, then 6 months. § One year's residence in the United States prior to election required.

(a) Actual residence in the precinct or district required. (b) If residing in State 1 year, a bona fide resident in precinct at time of registration may vote without previous residence in precinct.

Doubting Thomas may now count for himself Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wisconsin-sixteen!

Does Doubting Thomas know what it costs to be an American citizen? Twenty cents to declare intention Both politiand fifty cents to obtain the final papers. cal parties establish bureaus weeks before an election, where the faithful apply and obtain the money to buy This is one of the socitizenship in order to vote. called legitimate campaign expenses for which funds are raised from reputable Americans.

I am

Before the last National election I visited City Hall, New York, and saw how citizens were ground out at the rate of thousands a week. I saw long lines of very dirty, illiterate men who did not understand our language well and had no intelligent idea of our Constitution. assured that before the Chicago election three weeks ago several judges worked overtime, by night, that aliens should be made citizens in order to vote according to the orders of their "bosses." Many of these aliens needed interpreters to answer questions the purport of which they did not comprehend. One judge is said to have broken all previous records by manufacturing citi

zens at the rate of seventy-two in sixty minutes, the fastest time heretofore having been one a minute.

A Republican Judiciary Committee of the Fifty-first Congress showed that Federal Courts are even worse than State Courts in their administration of naturalization. According to their report, the United States District Judge for Massachusetts allowed his underlings to issue naturalization papers to aliens during his absence and without his knowledge. This ghastly performance had been going on for years! During 1890 all the State Courts of Massachusetts naturalized 1,505 aliens only, while the United States Courts in Boston naturalized nearly eight thousand aliens, many of whom came from distant parts of the State in parties of fifty.and seventy-five at a time, sometimes provided with only two witnesses to testify for

all!

How much longer will Americans, who are still twothirds of our population, allow this sort of thing to exist? They have the remedy in their own hands if they choose to administer it.

Naturalization should be a ceremony of dignity and deliberation, performed at stated periods of the year and never immediately before an election. No unclean person, no one who cannot read and write English and who is unfamiliar with the Constitution should be allowed naturalization. What is not worth working for is not worth having, and no alien living five years in this country without using soap and learning our language, deserves citizenship.

A

"The mills of the Gods grind slowQUORUM AT LAST. ly, but they grind exceedingly small." With some such faith in his soul, exSpeaker Reed has stood by his quorum-counting gun and watched defiant enemies fight within their own ranks while making faces at him, until at last from sheer shame and exhaustion they have laid down their arms and acknowledged themselves beaten. Czar Reed has found a brother in Czar Crisp. Reedism and Crispism are twins; the pot can no longer call the kettle black. Let us praise God from whom all blessings flow, even the blessing of being able to count a quorum in the Lower House of our National Congress.

By a vote of two hundred and twelve to forty-seven on April 16 Democratic filibustering ceased after a chaotic A quorum-counting rule was reign of four months. adopted at the suggestion of a Democratic committee at the head of which is Speaker Crisp himself. Time works wonders. Four years ago "Tom" Reed of Maine was the incarnation of despotism because he dared to count Representatives who sat solidly in chairs before their own desks yet denied their own presence. Because he meant business and expected the House to do business, he made rules founded on common sense and had behind him the support of all persons, regardless of party, who were not hopelessly partisan.

With a majority of ninety-four, a Democratic Congress has been harassed well-nigh to death by an obstreperous minority, until in despair and disgust that minority has been reduced to good behavior by adopting rules as like in principle to Mr. Reed's as two shades of the same color. The new rule reads thus:

Upon every roll-call and before the beginning thereof the Speaker shall name two members, one from each side of the pending question if practicable, who shall take their places at the clerk's desk to take the names of at least enough members who are in the hall of the House during the roll call who do not respond to make a quorum. If a quorum does not respond on the roll-call then the names of those so noted as present shall be reported to the Speaker, who shall cause the list to be called from the clerk's desk and recorded in the journal, and in determining

the presence of a quorum to do business those who voted, those who answered present, and those so reported present shall be considered. Members noted may when their names are called record their votes.

Amend Clause 1 of Rule 8 by adding this to the following words: "And on a roll-call should he not vote he shall answer 'present,' so as to read: Every member shall be present within the hall of the House during its sittings, unless excused or necessarily prevented, and shall vote on each question put, unless he has a direct personal or pecuniary interest in the event of such a question, a question, and on a roll-call shall he not vote he shall answer present.

Yes,

"What a fuss about nothing!" you exclaim. friends, but if you knew how fusses go on at the Capitol and how they drive business members distracted, you'd fully appreciate the great gain to the country by this new and just dispensation. The immortal forty-seven who voted against reason will one of these days wish to blot out a record for which their children will have

cause to blush. Mr. Bryan opposed the proposed rule on the ground that it throttled the minority and "it was better to be safe than to be sorry." Inasmuch as the minority have for months throttled the majority it would seem to be safe to get down to business and let the majority rule. Undoubtedly the tail may enjoy waggling the little dog, but Nature intended the little dog to waggle his own tail; the dog is decidedly in the majority. Mr. Springer won for himself great applause by supporting the new rule; he rightly said it would enable members to do what their constituents had sent them to Washington for, and that in a month the House had not done more than two days' business. Blind to the fact that the proof of a pudding is in the eating, Mr. Kilgore argued that the rule was unnecessary in a legislative body where the controlling party had ninetyMore four majority and thirty more than a quorum. shame for them that their own wrongdoing compelled a new ruling.

It was worth while having retired from the Speaker's chair two years ago without a vote of thanks, to stand upon the floor of the House and see himself vindicated by his old assailants. Mr. Reed beamed all over. He had won and could afford to be magnanimous. He gave his time for talking to his Democratic friends, performed no war dance, contenting himself by congratulating the Fifty-third Congress on a wise decree.

Now then, members of the Fifty-third Congress, "leave off your damnable faces and begin."

KATE FIELD.

MARK TWAIN, THE IRREPRESSIBLE.

THE HE news of the failure of Mark Twain's publishing house was probably received by a large part of the public with a slight measure of incredulity. Mark has been guilty of so many jokes that it is hard to guess when he is actually in earnest, and not a few of his admirers still suspect him of having merely tried to play a fresh prank upon their sympathies. He began life by playing jokes on his parents. According to his mother, "his father would often start him off to school, and in a little while would follow him to ascertain his whereThere was a large stump on the way to the schoolhouse, and Sam would take his position behind that, and as his father went past would gradually circle around it in such a way as to keep out of sight. Finally his father and the teacher both said it was of no use to try to teach Sam anything, because he was determined not to learn. But I never gave up. He was always a great boy for history, and could never get tired of that kind of reading, but he hadn't any use for schoolhouses and text-books."

abouts.