American people found but few champions, so completely had the change
been wrought in the thirty years since the Federal Government assumed
control of immigration.

By these tokens the days of unlimited freedom in migration are
numbered. Nations are beginning to realize that immigration is but the
obverse of emigration. Its dual character constitutes a problem
requiring delicate international readjustments. Moreover, the
countries released to a new life and those quickened to a new
industrialism by the Great War will need to employ all their muscle
and talents at home.

It is an inspiring drama of colonization that has been enacted on this
continent in a relatively short period. Its like was never witnessed
before and can never be witnessed again. Thirty-three nationalities
were represented in the significant group of American pilgrims that
gathered at Mount Vernon on July 4, 1918, to place garlands of native
flowers upon the tomb of Washington and to pledge their honor and
loyalty to the nation of their adoption. This event is symbolic of the
great fact that the United States is, after all, a nation of
immigrants, among whom the word foreigner is descriptive of an
attitude of mind rather than of a place of birth.


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 50: Congress has on several occasions granted aid for
specific colonies or groups of immigrants.]

[Footnote 51: Henderson et al. _vs_. The Mayor of New York City et al.