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Editorial
November 24, 1919
Webster City Freeman
Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa
What is this article about?
Editorial from Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent praises Congress's law barring undesirable aliens like Bolsheviks and anarchists from entering the US, but urges Americans to avoid cultivating similar 'undesirability' internally through exploitative practices, corruption, and self-interest, defining true Americanism by heart rather than birth.
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UNDESIRABLE ALIENS.
Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent:
Congress has lifted up its wand of power, and passed a law which will bar out a motley mob of inimical aliens, waiting in every port in Europe to descend upon this country. Bolshevists and anarchists, free-lovers and fanatics, half-brained agitators, unable to be heard in the din of industry in reconstructed Europe, have been looking to America as a land of gulls and gold.
It is well enough to shut from our ports anyone who may contaminate these ports or this soil. And it is wise to be suspicious that our late enemies would rejoice to thrust upon us hundreds of men and women who would work to distract and divide our people, and in some way wreck both our prosperity and our peace.
But--while we are shutting out incarnate undesirableness from the door, let us also be sure we are not cultivating undesirableness in the sitting room. We should be sure we are not cultivating it in our hearts or in our shops or in our churches.
The unwashed alien who comes to us with pictures of Bolshevik loafers worn next to his maddened heart, is an alien indeed. He is strange and hostile to our institutions and our liberties. But the man of American birth, of American wealth, who so treats his foreign employees that they regard all employers as enemies-that employer is also alien, even though he is native-born. The politician who corrupts our government at its fountain, the business who sells shoddy for silk or grinds the poor to make pennies, the newspaper which serves private interests instead of the public good, these are quite as hostile to our institutions and liberties as the latest-arrived Russian radical.
Not all of us are alien. Not all of us are undesirable. Not all foreigners are undesirable aliens. But let us never forget, if we do the smallest thing contrary to the best interests of our country and our countrymen, we are serving the cause of unknown enemies. Native-born though we may be, we are in spirit alien and undesirable, and the stranger from Mars would find a true American not in us, but in some man of alien birth who has acquired a true American heart.
Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent:
Congress has lifted up its wand of power, and passed a law which will bar out a motley mob of inimical aliens, waiting in every port in Europe to descend upon this country. Bolshevists and anarchists, free-lovers and fanatics, half-brained agitators, unable to be heard in the din of industry in reconstructed Europe, have been looking to America as a land of gulls and gold.
It is well enough to shut from our ports anyone who may contaminate these ports or this soil. And it is wise to be suspicious that our late enemies would rejoice to thrust upon us hundreds of men and women who would work to distract and divide our people, and in some way wreck both our prosperity and our peace.
But--while we are shutting out incarnate undesirableness from the door, let us also be sure we are not cultivating undesirableness in the sitting room. We should be sure we are not cultivating it in our hearts or in our shops or in our churches.
The unwashed alien who comes to us with pictures of Bolshevik loafers worn next to his maddened heart, is an alien indeed. He is strange and hostile to our institutions and our liberties. But the man of American birth, of American wealth, who so treats his foreign employees that they regard all employers as enemies-that employer is also alien, even though he is native-born. The politician who corrupts our government at its fountain, the business who sells shoddy for silk or grinds the poor to make pennies, the newspaper which serves private interests instead of the public good, these are quite as hostile to our institutions and liberties as the latest-arrived Russian radical.
Not all of us are alien. Not all of us are undesirable. Not all foreigners are undesirable aliens. But let us never forget, if we do the smallest thing contrary to the best interests of our country and our countrymen, we are serving the cause of unknown enemies. Native-born though we may be, we are in spirit alien and undesirable, and the stranger from Mars would find a true American not in us, but in some man of alien birth who has acquired a true American heart.
What sub-type of article is it?
Immigration
Social Reform
Moral Or Religious
What keywords are associated?
Undesirable Aliens
Immigration Law
Bolsheviks
American Undesirability
True Americanism
Social Reform
What entities or persons were involved?
Congress
Bolshevists
Anarchists
Henry Ford
Dearborn Independent
Editorial Details
Primary Topic
Barring Undesirable Aliens And Avoiding Internal Undesirability
Stance / Tone
Exhortative And Cautionary
Key Figures
Congress
Bolshevists
Anarchists
Henry Ford
Dearborn Independent
Key Arguments
Congress's New Law Bars Inimical Aliens Like Bolsheviks And Anarchists From Entering The Us.
Such Aliens Seek To Exploit America And Undermine Its Prosperity And Peace.
Americans Must Not Foster Undesirability Internally Through Hearts, Shops, Or Churches.
Native Born Americans Who Mistreat Employees, Corrupt Government, Sell Shoddy Goods, Or Prioritize Private Interests Are As Alien And Hostile As Foreign Radicals.
True Americanism Is Defined By Spirit And Heart, Not Birth; Some Immigrants Embody It Better Than Natives.