Indeed, if one were not
afraid of being accused of gross exaggeration, he might take heart and
proclaim his conviction that a long and really inclusive European war
would give the United States a practical monopoly of the South American
and Pacific trade, provided always that the United States acquire by
purchase a merchant marine and that the Panama Canal becomes feasible in
January for large ships.
Foreigners Leaving America
One other effect of the war has already begun to reveal itself in the
emigration from America of thousands of Servians, Austrians, Russians,
Germans, Frenchmen, going home to take their places in the ranks. While
many of these men are brave and honorable citizens, the fact that they
respond to such a call proves them not yet Americans. The war will tend
to remove a goodly part of the distinctly foreign element in the
country, the part not yet amalgamated, and therefore the part most alien
to our institutions and the most difficult to place in our social
structure. If the war continues, Europe will draw every able-bodied man
who can be influenced to go. Far more important, immigration will
probably become negligible not only during the war, but for some time
after it.
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