Name _____________________________ Class _________________ Date __________________
Primary Source
From War to Peace
Representative Parish Discusses
Immigration
ABOUT THE SOURCE Soon after World War I, the Bolshevik government in
Russia announced plans to spread a Communist revolution around the world.
Americans feared that Communist groups were active inside the United States.
Such fears caused citizens to distrust immigrants from southern and eastern
Europe. Many Americans called for laws to stop people from those areas from
entering the country. In 1921 Congress debated the issue of immigration. During
that debate, Representative Lucian Walton Parish, a Democrat from Texas, gave
the following speech.
As you read note the specific reasons Representative Parish provides for limiting
immigration to the United States. The following words may be new to you:
downtrodden, stringent, renders. You may want to use a dictionary to look
them up.
We should stop immigration entirely until such a time as we can amend our
immigration laws and so write them that hereafter no one shall be admitted
except he be in full sympathy with our Constitution and laws, willing to
declare himself obedient to our flag, and willing to release himself from
any obligations he may owe to the flag of the country from which he came.
It is time that we act now, because within a few short years the damage
will have been done. The endless tide of immigration will have filled our
country with a foreign and unsympathetic element. Those who are out of
sympathy with our Constitution and the spirit of our Government will be
here in large numbers, and the true spirit of Americanism left us by our
fathers will gradually become poisoned by this uncertain element.
The time once was when we welcomed to our shores the oppressed and
downtrodden people from all the world, but they came to us because of
oppression at home and with the sincere purpose of making true and loyal
American citizens, and in truth and in fact they did adapt themselves to our
ways of thinking and contributed in a substantial sense to the progress and
development that our civilization has made. But that time has passed now;
new and strange conditions have arisen in the countries over there; new
and strange doctrines are being taught. The governments of the Orient are
being overturned and destroyed, and anarchy and bolshevism are
threatening the very foundation of many of them, and no one can foretell
what the future will bring to many of those countries of the Old World now
struggling with these problems . . .
Now is the time to throw about this country the most stringent
immigration laws and keep from our shores forever those who are not in
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
12
From War to Peace
Name _____________________________ Class _________________ Date __________________
Primary Source
From War to Peace
sympathy with the American ideals. It is the time now for us to act and act
quickly, because every month’s delay increases the difficulty in which we
find ourselves and renders the problems of government more difficult of
solution. We must protect ourselves from the poisonous influences that are
threatening the very foundation of the Governments of Europe; we must
see to it that those who come here are loyal and true to our Nation and
impress upon them that it means something to have the privileges of
American citizenship. We must hold this country true to the American
thought and the American ideals.
Source: Congressional Record, April 20, 1921, 450.
WHAT DID YOU LEARN?
1. How did Representative Parish describe the immigrants who had come to the United
States decades before he made this speech?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
2. According to Parish, how did recent world events increase the risk that some
immigrants posed to America?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
3. What did Parish believe needed to be done?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
13
From War to Peace
Answer Key
From War to Peace
ACTIVITY
up semi-independent divisions that made
cars for different income levels. Ford
produced one model for years, and GM
produced new models every year. Ford
controlled his company himself, while
Sloan spread control over a strong
administrative department that held the
various divisions together.
2. Students may be surprised to know that
the idea of coming out with new models
every year was specifically created in
order to manipulate consumers’ desire for
something new. Students may answer that
it is indeed effective, as many of them
want to have “the latest thing.” Some may
feel it is dishonest and unfair to
manufacture the desire for a product as
well as the product. Others may realize
this is the basis of modern advertising.
Students should research/review information
on the Progressives, women’s suffrage, and
any other information that will help them
create their scenes. They might write out the
parts or improvise based on what they have
learned. The scene could be played either
seriously or with humor. If students have
trouble getting into character, point out that
the La Follettes seem to have been a very
articulate and socially involved family.
Literature
Main Street
ANALYZING LITERATURE
1. From the first paragraph: “Even the girls
who knew that they were going to be
married pretended to be considering
important business positions; even they
who knew that they would have to work
hinted about fabulous suitors.” From the
third paragraph: “At various times during
Senior year Carol finally decided upon
studying law, writing motion-picture
scenarios, professional nursing, and
marrying an unidentified hero.”
2. Student answers will vary, but their
positions should be supported by logical
arguments.
ACTIVITY
Students will probably want to discuss this
question before beginning their lists. Their
lists should include pro and con points about
the following issues: foreign control of
American companies and vice versa; the
combination of businesses in order to acquire
expertise, parts, staff, etc., or to streamline
operations by eliminating jobs; and the
elimination of competition through corporate
buyout. You might want to remind students
that a healthy, competitive marketplace is
sometimes considered the foundation of the
American economy.
Primary Source
Representative Parish
Discusses Immigration
Robert La Follette
WHAT DID YOU LEARN?
WHAT DID YOU LEARN?
1. Parish described them as downtrodden
people who sought to escape oppression
and who became loyal American citizens
and contributed to the progress of the
nation.
2. Bolshevism and anarchy were threatening
governments in Europe and Asia and it
was important that people infected with
these poisonous ideas were kept from
emigrating to America.
3. He wanted to stop immigration entirely
and then amend the laws so that only
1. Progressives wanted to end the special
interests that controlled big business and
government. They wanted to make a better
life for ordinary people.
2. La Follette’s Weekly was meant to be a
journal for the progressive movement.
Students may hypothesize that the journal
is still in print today because many
Americans still feel dissatisfied with the
government and identify with the goals of
the Progressive movement.
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
24
From War to Peace
Answer Key
From War to Peace
map’s key and to shade or underline
Detroit, Greensboro, Akron, Houston, and
Los Angeles.
5. Students should use the fifth highlighter or
pen to fill in the box next to “Population
increase, 300%+” in the map’s key and to
shade or underline Phoenix, Bethlehem,
Gary, Tulsa, Highland Park, and Miami.
people who will be loyal Americans can
enter the country.
Automobiles and Buses
Change City Life
WHAT DID YOU LEARN?
1. Student answers will vary. A major
change is that automobiles and buses
allowed people to travel throughout cities
more quickly than by foot, horse, or horsedrawn vehicles, so people could live
farther from where they worked, shopped,
or enjoyed leisure activities.
2. Student answers will vary. Problems may
have included congestion, lack of parking
in parts of cities that were built before
cars, increased risks for pedestrians as
they crossed streets, and the costs
associated with paving and maintaining
streets and employing traffic police.
3. Student answers will vary. There would
have been no motor vehicles, probably
few paved streets, and no traffic patrol box
in the middle of the street; there may have
been horses or horse-drawn carriages
instead.
ANALYZING MAPS
1.
2.
3.
4.
Middle Atlantic
Midwest and the South
approximately 1,300 miles (2,092 km)
The general growth and prosperity did not
continue unabated; the Great Depression
caused economic decline in most cities.
Social Studies Skill
Interpreting Line Graphs
PRACTICE AND APPLY THE SKILL
1. rising immigration
2. the 1910s and 1920s
3. 1910
Focus on Writing
The Impact of the
Assembly Line
History and Geography
Growth of Cities in the 1920s
Student paragraphs should be evaluated using
the criteria covered in the “Evaluating and
Proofreading” section of the activity.
MAP ACTIVITY
1. Students should use the first highlighter or
pen to fill in the box next to “Population
decrease” in the map’s key and to shade or
underline Hoboken.
2. Students should use the second highlighter
or pen to fill in the box next to
“Population increase, 0–99%” in the
map’s key and to shade or underline
Portland, Seattle, Chicago, Lincoln, and
Little Rock.
3. Students should use the third highlighter
or pen to fill in the box next to
“Population increase, 100–199%” in the
map’s key and to shade or underline
Wichita, Madison, and Knoxville.
4. Students should use the fourth highlighter
or pen to fill in the box next to
“Population increase, 200–299%” in the
Chapter Review
REVIEWING VOCABULARY,
TERMS, AND PEOPLE
1. Teapot Dome
2. arms race
3. suburbs
4. installment buying
5. aliens
COMPREHENSION AND CRITICAL
THINKING
1. Red Scare
2. normalcy
3. assembly line
REVIEWING THEMES
1. economics
2. politics
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
25
From War to Peace