TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
 

CHAPTER XXIV

DOES THIS TYPE OF AMERICAN CONTRIBUTE TO
AMERICAN DEMOCRACY?

■ Comparative observations allow one to conclude that
there are many valuable traits and qualities being added
to the store of assets that America has already gained
thru her immigrants, and also by this newer acquisition
of the Italian group.

This is readily discernible because in all the manifesta¬
tions of both his vocational and his recreational life this
American of Italian lineage is easily amalgamated. Not
only in the "art sense" does he make a most valuable
contribution because it is one of the qualities that we
most conspicuously lack, but as Miss Brandt continues to
say "grace, courtesy, ambition are characteristics of
Italian children in America. The first two qualities are
an inheritance that has come down to them thru three
centuries; the third is developed or at least given a
chance for expression by American conditions."*

He is not a "persona non grata." A review of his
institutions shows that given proper social, educational
and moral stimulation this American will respond in
ways that show him to be constructively creative. We
see in his schemes for betterment both with respect to
his own type and his ideas concerning those outside this
group that he is both fertile and facile in imitation. Un¬
deniable evidences are numerous that he is intellectual
and can become deliberative and rational. Given early
in life a proper sense of direction and immunity from the
vicious influences of the slums which cause him to evolve
a bastard notion of personal libeitv, we see that he does
become a peaceful and law-abiding American.

Proof of all this is easily forthcoming when we find
that the institutions of adult Italians offer no attraction
to him and hold no place in his life.    The Italian hos-

* Lillian Brandt — A Transplanted Birthright — Charities
1904, Vol. 12, p. 494.