He has lost the touch and
ideal of America, for America was created to unite mankind by those
passions which lift and not by the passions which separate and debase.
We came to America, either ourselves or in persons of our ancestors, to
better the ideals of men, to make them see finer things than they had
seen before, to get rid of things that divide, and to make sure of the
things that unite. It was but a historical accident no doubt that this
great country was called the "United States," and yet I am very
thankful that it has the word "united" in its title; and the man who
seeks to divide man from man, group from group, interest from interest,
in the United States is striking at its very heart.
It is a very interesting circumstance to me, in thinking of those of you
who have just sworn allegiance to this great Government, that you were
drawn across the ocean by some beckoning finger of hope, by some belief,
by some vision of a new kind of justice, by some expectation of a better
kind of life.
No doubt you have been disappointed in some of us; some of us are very
disappointing. No doubt you have found that justice in the United States
goes only with a pure heart and a right purpose as it does everywhere
else in the world.
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