o, if any race, is to make to America the
contribution of which it is capable, it must be free; and this raises
the whole question of relation to the rest of the body politic. One of
the interesting phenomena of society in America is that the more foreign
elements enter into the "melting pot" and advance in culture, the more
do they cling to their racial identity. Incorporation into American
life, instead of making the Greek or the Pole or the Irishman forget his
native country, makes him all the more jealous of its traditions. The
more a center of any one of these nationalities develops, the more
wealthy and cultured its members become, the more do we find them proud
of the source from which they sprang. The Irishman is now so much an
American that he controls whole wards in our large cities, and sometimes
the cities themselves. All the same he clings more tenaciously than ever
to the celebration of March 17. When an isolated Greek came years ago,
poor and friendless, nobody thought very much about him, and he
effaced himself as much as possible, taking advantage, however, of any
opportunity that offered for self-improvement or economic advance. When
thousands came and the newcomers could take inspiration from those of
their brothers who had preceded them and achieved success, nationality
asserted itself. Larger groups now talked about Venizelos and a greater
Greece; their chests expanded at the thought of Marathon and Plato; and
companies paraded amid applause as they went to fight in the Balkans. In
every case, with increasing intelligence and wealth, race pride asserted
itself. At the same time no one would think of denying to the Greek or
the Irishman or the Italian his full rights as an American citizen.

It is a paradox indeed, this thing of a race's holding its identity
at the same time that it is supposed to lose this in the larger
civilization. Apply the principle to the Negro. Very soon after the
Civil War, when conditions were chaotic and ignorance was rampant, the
ideals constantly held before the race were those of white people. Some
leaders indeed measured success primarily by the extent to which they
became merged in the white man's life. At the time this was very
natural. A struggling people wished to show that it could be judged by
the standards of the highest civilization within sight, and it did so.
To-day the tide has changed. The race now numbers a few millionaires. In
almost every city there are be