“The poverty or misrule which has overborne large numbers of the subjects of European monarchies, and the attractions which have been offered by the United States to many who desire to better their fortunes, have, for some years past, turned an immense current of emigration toward our shore. [...] The emigrant, ignorant of our institutions and laws, often ignorant of our language, necessarily in all cases unimbued with the traditional and native sentiment which give life and permanence to our institutions – a sentiment without which no American citizenship can be relied upon as the support of a true American policy – has been permitted, after the probation of a few years, to be brought into the circle of national fellowship, armed with all the powers for good or evil which belong to the natives of the soil.

Nor is this all that enters into the topic of our complaint. A very considerable portion of this yearly emigration, perhaps the majority of it, is evidently, and, without meaning any disparagement, we might say bigotedly attached to a church which is regarded with jealousy and suspicion by the greater number of our people.”

“[...] Perhaps, to an American, the most striking feature in the character of the Germans at home is their respect for law and authority. [...] but I venture to say that Germany is what it is to-day, probably the least politically corrupt country in all Europe...

Patience and perseverance are the next prominent characteristics. Germans stick to a thing that they have begun. [...] The Germans are also an industrious people. They work at something, men, women, and children, the whole day long. [...]

Finally the Germans are a healthy people. [...] Taking them as a race, I think they are better fitted for life, physically, than we are, and they seldom have to rely so much on nervous power to do their work. [...]

Theoretically, the German immigrants whom we get ought to have these characteristics, and in so far as they are intelligently retained here they help to make our life better. With these, however, they bring others which are not so desirable, and I must note them too.

The first characteristic, and it is the worst of all, is their view of women and the treatment they apply to them [...] The woman exists merely to bear his children and keep his home clean. [...] It is probably also the military spirit which makes the Germans such rough people. [...]

The Germans are also somewhat inclined to be petty and small. They are so crowded together, and so afraid that someone will trample on their rights, that it is fairly impossible for them to overlook little things [...]

Finally the German is a Gemüthsmensch; he lives pretty much for and by his feelings. This is both a good trait and a bad one, and the Germans show both sides [...]

The striking thing, however, in German children born in this country is the ease and almost eagerness with which they throw off their nationality. Except possibly the Irish, there is no other race which so quickly becomes American and anti-European [...]

Our first and greatest debt to the Germans is for their help in developing our country [...] As a people the Germans work more slowly than we do, and in certain branches where quickness is necessary they are not equal to the demand, but they have contributed a steadying element to our working classes which has been most salutary [...]”