has long been repealed and a new land system has brought great
prosperity to his island home, the Irishman has not abated one whit in
his temperamental attitude towards England and as a consequence some
40,000 or 50,000 of his fellow countrymen come to the United States
every year. Here he has been dispossessed of his monopoly of shovel
and pick by the French Canadian in New England and by the Italian,
Syrian, and Armenian in other parts of the country. He finds work in
factories, for he still shuns the soil, much as he professes to love
the "old sod." A great change has come over the economic condition of
the second and third generation of Irish immigrants. Their remarkable
buoyancy of temperament is everywhere displayed. Bridget's daughter
has left the kitchen and is a school teacher, a stenographer, a
saleswoman, a milliner, or a dressmaker; her son is a clerk, a
bookkeeper, a traveling salesman, or a foreman. Wherever the human
touch is the essential of success, there you find the Irish. That is
why in some cities one-half the teachers are Irish; why salesmanship
lures them; why they are the most successful walking delegates,
solicitors, agents, foremen, and contractors. In the higher walks of
life you find them where dash, brilliance, cleverness, and emotion are
demanded. The law and the priesthood utilize their eloquence,
journalism their keen insight into the human side of news, and
literature their imagination and humor. They possess a positive genius
for organization and management. The labor unions are led by them; and
what would municipal politics be without them? The list of eminent
names which they have contributed to these callings will increase as
their generations multiply in the favorable American environment. But
remote indeed is the day and complex must be the experience that will
erase the memory of the ancient Erse proverb, which their racial
temperament evoked: "Contention is better than loneliness."