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PARTISAN REVIEW
such custodians of our Republic's well-being, as Mr. Vanderbilt,
Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Armour, Mr. Carnegie, Mr. Morgan, Mr.
Hanna, and many more , too numerous here to list, thought it very
unwise, to open the portals of Democracy, to such dangerous
enemies of our tradition as Catholics,-of the southern climes of
Europe, in particular-and Jews, and scarce-freed black slaves, and
anarchists of every stripe: hence, the prompt assembling, in the
1880's and '90's, of such altruistic and patriotic organizations, as
the
Daughters of the American Revolution,
and the
Sons of the American
Revolution,
and the
Missionaries Alliance,
and the
American Patriots
League,
and
Descendents of the Mayflower,
and many another,-some,
taking a general attitude of vigilance, against the incursions of
barbaric change ; others , addressing themselves to more specific, and
even local, areas of suppuration, as Boston, with its flood of illiterate
and superstitious Catholic immigrants; and California, gravely set
upon by the "Oriental menace"; and the South, with its especial
problem, of ignorant, uncouth , and animalistic blacks . The problem
pertaining to Jewish infiltration, of near all areas of finance, trade,
medicine, and even education, was deemed to be one afflicting
urban and populous areas, primarily; yet no less grave, for that.
Our University, I am pleased to say, under the guidance of Dr.
Wilson, as of all the presidents, up to recent decades, solved the
problem with very little fuss: which is to say, by behaving, with
gentlemanly discretion,
as
if
it did not exist!-it,
and the proliferating
tribe of Hebrew brethren themselves. As to Negroes, Woodrow
Wilson was of the adamant belief that such personages should study
in the South, in those especial institutions set aside for them; in his
own well-chosen words , 'twas " altogether inadvisable for a colored
man to enter Princeton," -for the bookish clime alone should
doubtless have proven disagreeable .)
That a goodly number of our Princeton families contributed
funds to the Sons of America Protective Association, or to similar
public-spirited societies , oft with a Protestant connection, argues, if
any such argument be required, for their
patriotism,
and their
abiding
concern for American civilization,
-albeit that , from time to time, in this
history, we may chance to o'erhear them criticizing such leaders as
Mr. Roosevelt. It was the great John Jay, a remote ancestor of the
van Dijcks, who made the observation that "those who own the
country ought to govern it" : by which the wise old Federalist meant,
govern it well.
