"The Chinese of the Eastern States"
Carroll Wright and French Canadian Immigration
Carroll D. Wright, as a statistician, no doubt scarcely imagined his 1881
report on labor statistics in Massachusetts would cause controversy. He was, he
would say later, just reporting what he had been told by his researchers. But
that was not true. He interpreted the information, and from his interpretation he
launched into a broadside attack on an entire class of immigrants, the French
Canadians, whom he dubbed, "the Chinese of the Eastern States." His words were
picked up by newspapers and became slurs thrown at French Canadian workers on
mill floors. French Canadian journalists and lawyers struck back, organizing
mass meetings and passing resolutions to the Massachusetts legislature, which
turned them back to Wright and the Bureau of Statistics of Labor. Wright
responded by inviting the French leaders to present contrary evidence at a
hearing. Wright professed surprise that they would be offended, and, in both his
oral remarks and his written report, he defended his use of the term.
The controversy gives us insight both into attitudes towards French Canadians
and the actual lives of French Canadians immigrants in the early 1880s. Wright's
comments have been often quoted, but less attention has been paid to the
responses from the French Canadian leaders. Their defense of their countrymen
includes testimony of government, school, and business leaders, and statistical
information on that status of French Canadians in some of the most important
mill towns of New England.
On this page, I'm going to let Wright and his critics speak for themselves,
by reprinting the documentation form the 12th and 13th annual reports of the
Bureau of Statistics of Labor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
For more on the background of the controversy, see John
McClymer, "Carroll
D. Wright and Workers' Budgets," in Ballard C. Campbell, ed., The
Challenges of Change: American Lives, 1870-1920 (Scholarly Resources,
1999).
On repatriation, see
Rapatriement, "Events,
Issues and Concepts of Quebec History."
Primary Sources
Carroll D. Wright, "Uniform Hours of Labor." Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor (Boston: Rand,
Avery, & Co., 1881), pp. 469-471.
The third objection to ten hours is the presence of the
Canadian French. Wherever they appear, there their presence
is urged as a reason why the hours of labor should not
be reduced to ten.
The reasons for this urgency are not far
to find.
With some exceptions the Canadian French are the Chinese
of the Eastern States. They care nothing for our institutions,
civil, political, or educational. They do not come to
make a home among us, to dwell with us as citizens, and so
become a part of us; but their purpose is merely to sojourn
a few years as aliens, touching us only at a single point, that
of work, and, when they have gathered out of us what will
satisfy their ends, to get them away to whence they came,
and bestow it there. They are a horde of industrial invaders,
not a stream of stable settlers. Voting, with all that it
implies, they care nothing about, Rarely does one of them
become naturalized. They will not send their children to
school if they can help it, but endeavor to crowd them into
the mills at the earliest possible age. To do this they deceive
about the age of their children with brazen effrontery. They
deceive also about their schooling, declaring that they have
been to school the legal time, when they know they have not,
and do not intend that they shall. And when at length they
are cornered by the school officers, and there is no other
escape, often they scrabble together what few things they
have, and move away to some other place where they are
unknown, and where they hope by a repetition of the same
deceits to escape the schools entirely, and keep the children
at work right on in the mills. And when, as is indeed sometimes
the case, any of them are so situated that they cannot
escape at all, then the stolid indifference of the children
wears out the teacher with what seems to be an idle task.
These people have one good trait. They are indefatigable
workers, and docile. All they ask is to be set to work, and
they care little who rules them or how they are ruled. To
earn all they can by no matter how many hours of toil, to
live in the most beggarly way so that out of their earnings
they may spend as little for living as possible, and to carry
out of the country what they can thus save: this is the aim
of the Canadian French in our factory districts. Incidentally
they must have some amusements; and, so far as the males
are concerned, drinking and smoking and lounging constitute
the sum of these.
Now, it is not strange that so sordid and low a people
should awaken corresponding feelings in the managers, and
that these should feel that, the longer the hours for such people,
the better, and that to work them to the uttermost is
about the only good use they can be put to. Nor is it strange
that this impression is so strong, that the managers overlook
for the time being all the rest of the operatives, and think
that every thing should be shaped to these lowest ones. Yet
the same principle which we have stated as showing the right
way of conduct in the former case should direct here also.
Society should be shaped to the better portion of the people;
and where the case requires it the laws should be so amended
and enforced that these people will either be coerced to conform
to our established ways, or else go where the already
established ways of the country do please them.
It thus appears, from a full survey of the whole field, that
the objections urged against the universal adoption of a ten-hour
day are not really serious obstacles. A little resolute
energy, and some improvements in methods, and they will all
vanish. It appears also that there is no economic hinderance
to block the way of a ten-hour day. If all would act together,
and make the change, then all will be in equally as good a condition for success
as now. There is, therefore, but one
real obstacle to a universal ten-hour day, and that is the
inertia of men. The impulse to move, and the leadership to
direct in large affairs, these are all that are needed to effect
the change.
Carroll D. Wright, "The Canadian French in New England." Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
Thirteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor (Boston: Rand,
Avery, & Co., 1882), pp. 3-92.
The legislature of 1880 passed the following
Resolve relative
to a Uniform System of Laws in Certain States, regulating the Hours of
Labor.
Resolved, That the Bureau of
Statistics of Labor is hereby directed to collect data and obtain testimony
from employers and employιs in the States of Maine, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York, relative to a
uniform system of laws to regulate the hours of labor in the States
mentioned, and to present the results of its investigations to the
legislature in its next annual report.
Approved March 17,1880.
The results of the investigation conducted under this resolve were fully
reported in the Twelfth Annual Report of this Bureau. In discussing the reasons
urged by parties why the Massachusetts system should not be adopted in
neighboring States, we said,
" In all our investigations we have found but three
serious objections urged against the adoption of ten hours, and these we
will now state."
After stating the first and second objections urged against the adoption of
the ten-hour system, we gave a rιsumι of the
third in the following language (see pp. 469-470):
"The third objection to ten hours is the presence of the
Canadian French. Wherever they appear, there their presence is urged as a
reason why the hours of labor should not be reduced to ten. The reasons for
this urgency are not far to find.
"With some exceptions the Canadian French are the Chinese
of the Eastern States. They care nothing for our institutions, civil,
political, or educational. They do not come to make a home among us, to
dwell with us as citizens, and so become a part of us; but their purpose is
merely to sojourn a few years as aliens, touching us only at a single point,
that of work, and, when they have gathered out of us what will satisfy their
ends, to get them away to whence they came, and bestow it there. They are a
horde of industrial invaders, not a stream of stable settlers. Voting, with
all that it implies, they care nothing about. Rarely does one of them become
naturalized. They will not send their children to school if they can help
it, but endeavor to crowd them into the mills at the earliest possible age.
To do this they deceive about the age of their children with brazen
effrontery. They deceive also about their schooling, declaring that they
have been to school the legal time, when they know they have not, and do not
intend that they shall. And when at length they are cornered by the school
officers, and there is no other escape, often they scrabble together what
few things they have, and move away to some other place where they are
unknown, and where they hope by a repetition of the same deceits to escape
the schools entirely, and keep the children at work right on in the mills.
And when, as is indeed some times the case, any of them are so situated that
they cannot escape at all, then the stolid indifference of the children
wears out the teacher with what seems to be an idle task.
"These people have one good trait. They are indefatigable
workers, and docile. All they ask is to be set to work, and they care little
who rules them or how they are ruled. To earn all they can by no matter how
many hours of toil, to live in the most beggarly way so that out of their
earnings they may spend as little for living as possible, and to carry out
of the country what they can thus save: this is the aim of the Canadian
French in our factory districts. Incidentally they must have some
amusements; and, so far as the males are concerned, drinking and smoking and
lounging constitute the sum of these."
These statements met the earnest and patriotic condemnation of the Canadian
French of New England; and the French residents of Lowell and Hudson in Massachusetts passed series of resolutions on
the subject, and sent them to the legislature during its session of 1881. These
resolutions, by concurrent vote, were referred without other action to this
Bureau.
The resolutions are as follows:
Lowell, Mass., May, 1881.
Hon. Charles J. Noyes,
Speaker of the Home of Representatives:
Sir, The " Sociιtι St. Jean Baptiste de Lowell, Mass.," a national
and benevolent society of the Canadian French of Lowell, organized in 1869 and
incorporated in 1870, according to the laws of the Commonwealth, at a regular
meeting held May 4, 1881, unanimously adopted the following resolutions:
RESOLUTIONS.
Whereas, The Chief of the Bureau of
Statistics of Labor, in his Twelfth Annual Report to the Hon. Charles J. Noyes,
Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth, denounced the
presence of the Canadian French as an objection to the system of ten hours'
labor, calling them the "Chinese of the East; a horde of industrial invaders; a
deceitful people who seek their amusements in drinking, smoking, and lounging,"
etc., etc, it is
Resolved, That we deny each and every
accusation contained in said report, and that we protest most energetically
against these insinuations made against the French Canadians of the Eastern
States.
Resolved, That it is the duty of all and
every French Canadian in New England to strongly protest against this report so
far as it concerns them.
Resolved, That a copy of these presents be
submitted to the legislature of this Commonwealth, with our prayers to consider.
J. W. PARADIS, President.
J. H. GUILLET,
Secretary.
A true copy of the record
Attest: J. H. GUILLET, Secretary.
Lowell, May, 1881.
Hon.
Charles J.
Noyes, Speaker of the House of Representatives:
Sir, The French Canadians of Lowell,
feeling aggrieved at the report of Col. Carroll D. Wright, Chief of the Bureau
of Statistics of Labor, assembled at a mass-meeting, May 5, 1881, and passed the
following resolutions, which they humbly present for your consideration:
RESOLUTIONS.
Whereas, The Chief of the Bureau of
Statistics of Labor, in his report to the Hon. Charles J. Noyes, Speaker of the
House of Representatives of Massachusetts, declares that the presence of the
French Canadians in the Eastern States is an objection to the system of ten
hours of labor in manufacturing establishments; and
Whereas, Lowell is the greatest manufacturing
district of the Eastern States, and the number of French Canadians is much
greater than in any other centre in New England; and
Whereas, We recognize unanimously the wisdom
of the ten-hour system,
Resolved, That we protest energetically
against this portion of the report of the Bureau of Statistics, as being
entirely groundless; and
Whereas, For the past fifteen years, agents
of the manufacturers have been sent to Canada to solicit its inhabitants to come
to the States, promising them good places and good wages; and
Whereas, By repeated invitations this class
of population has come to this section to live in this land of liberty; and
Whereas, The Chief of the Bureau of
Statistics in his report called them "the Chinese of the East:" it is
Resolved, That we deny with indignation the
epithet, and protest strongly against this portion of the report as being
injurious to our race.
Whereas, We Canadian French of New England
are yet, for the most part, ignorant of the English language, but as soon as we
become acquainted with the language, and the habits and customs of this country
we recognize the high wisdom of the institutions,
Resolved, That we protest against the part of
the report which says that "we do not care for the institutions civil,
political, or educational in this country."
Whereas, Since the French Canadians have come
to this section they hare reached a population of four hundred thousand in New
England: and whereas a large number have become proprietors, paying large taxes:
and whereas for the most part the young men propose to make their home here,
Resolved, That we, protest against the
portion of the report which says that we "are a horde of industrial invaders."
Whereas, We have to live five years in this
country before we can become citizens of this glorious Republic, and the French
Canadians have been here in large numbers but five or six years, there are over
two hundred voters of this class in Lowell alone,
Resolved, That we protest with energy against
the portion of the report which says, that "voting, with all that it implies,
they care nothing about, nor rarely does one of them become naturalized."
Whereas, We recognize the necessity of
sending our children to school, and having done so continually, petitioning the
city of Lowell to find schoolrooms for our children,
Resolved, That we protest strongly against
the portion of the report which says "that they will not send their children to
school if they can help it, and that they deceive also about their schooling
with brazen effrontery."
Resolved, That whereas the French Canadians
of Lowell have established two national benevolent societies, two literary
societies which give literary and dramatic representations twice a month, a band
that give occasional public concerts, and three societies for children,
furnishing them with proper amusements; and
Whereas, In our population, which is above
ten thousand in Lowell, the average found guilty of intoxication before the
police court of Lowell is not over twelve per annum: it is
Resolved, That we protest strongly against
the portion of the report which says that "drinking and smoking and lounging are
the sum of their amusements."
J. H. GUILLET, President.
E. H. KING,
Secretary.
A true copy Attest: E. H. KING, Secretary.
---------------------------------------
LOWELL, May, 1881.
Hon. Charles J. Noyes,
Speaker of the House of Representatives:
Sir, "L' Association des Jeunes Gens
Catholiques," a literary society of Lowell, Mass., organized in 1878, at a
meeting held May 4, 1881, adopted unanimously the following
RESOLUTION.
Whereas, Col. Carroll D. Wright, Chief of the
Bureau of Statistics of Labor, in his report to Hon. Charles J. Noyes, Speaker
of the House of Representatives, has most unjustly and injuriously treated the
French Canadian population of the Eastern States: it is
Resolved, That we protest most energetically
against each and every allegation, contained in the said report, having a
tendency to injure in any way the good standing of the French Canadian
nationality.
JEAN G. COTΙ, President.
H. Constantineau, Jun.,
Secretary.
A true copy Attest: H. CONSTANTINEAU, JUN.,
Secretary.
We earnestly request that the above resolution be
transmitted to the legislature for their early consideration.
A. J. G. C.
H. CONSTANTINEAU, JUN., Secretary.
---------------------------------------
Resolutions protesting against Certain Portions of Carroll D. Wright's Annual
Report of the Bureau of Statistics.
Whereas, The Chief of the Bureau of
Statistics of Labor, Hon. Carroll D. Wright, in his report to the Hon. Charles
J. Noyes, Speaker of the General Court of Massachusetts, declares that the
presence of the French Canadians in the Eastern States is an objection and an
obstacle to the system of ten hours of labor in manufacturing establishments;
and
Whereas, Such an accusation should not be
allowed to pass unrebuked as the calumny of a prejudiced and uninformed mind
against so respectable a portion of population as the four hundred thousand
Canadians in the Eastern States represent; and
Whereas, We recognize unanimously the wisdom
of the ten-hour system, be it
Resolved, That we, the French Canadians of
Hudson, in public meeting assembled, protest earnestly against that portion of
Carroll D. Wright's report which declares our presence, there or elsewhere in
the State, to be an objection or obstacle to the introduction of that system;
and
Whereas, For the past fifteen years, agents
of the manufacturers of New England have been sent to Canada to solicit its
inhabitants to come to the States, promising them good places and good wages;
and
Whereas, It is by repeated invitations that
this class of population has come to this section to live in this land of
liberty; and
Whereas, They have been called by the Chief
of the Bureau of Statistics "the Chinese of the East," be it
Resolved, That we protest indignantly against
the injustice of the comparison, and qualify it as injurious to our industrious,
indefatigable, docile, moral, and religious race; and
Whereas, Though many of us are not fully
versed in the English language, or acquainted with the habits and customs of the
country, still we recognize the high wisdom of its institutions, be it
Resolved, That we protest against that part
of the report which says that we do not care for the institutions civil,
political or educational of the country; and
Whereas, Since the French Canadians have come
to this section, they have reached a population of four hundred thousand in New
England; and
Whereas, A large number have become land and
property holders, paying their share of the taxes; and
Whereas, For the most part, the young men
propose to here make their homes, be it
Resolved, That we protest against that
portion of the report which says that "we are a horde of industrial invaders;"
and
Whereas, Although a large number of French
Canadians have been here but five or six years, yet they still seek to maintain
their proportion of naturalized citizens of the United States, be it
Resolved, That we protest with energy against
the statement of the report which says, "they care little for voting, with all
that it implies, nor rarely does one of them become naturalized; " and
Whereas, We recognize the necessity of
sending our children to school, and have done so continually, be it
Resolved, That we protest against that
portion of the report which declares that "they will not send their children to
school if they can help it, and that they deceive also about their schooling
with brazen effrontery;" and
Whereas, The French Canadians of Hudson have
established a national benevolent and literary society, which gives literary and
dramatic representations, furnishing proper amusements; and
Whereas, In our population, the average found
guilty of intoxication, or graver crimes, is quite small, be it
Resolved, That we protest against that
portion of the report which asserts that "drinking and smoking and lounging are
the sum of their amusements."
Resolved, That, in drawing his conclusions
henceforth, the honorable Chief of the Bureau pays more attention to that rule
of logic which forbids drawing universal principles from particular cases, thus
condemning the mass for the faults of some. Resolved, That these resolutions, signed by a committee of five citizens,
including our pastor, be transmitted to our honorable Representative to the
General Assembly, E. M. Stowe, with the request that he publicly present them to
the honorable Speaker, Charles J. Noyes.
P. A. McKENNA, Pastor,
J. J. DeNOYER, M.D.,
P. O. DUPONT,
PETER SHARON,
J. A. COURTEMANCHE,
FRANK L. FRANCIS,
Committee on Resolutions.
The legislature, in referring these vigorous
resolutions to this office, did not indicate any action regarding them; and if
the statements which were so strongly condemned had been made in any spirit of
captiousness, or in malice, or
through any prejudice against the French Canadians, we should have contented
ourselves by simply printing the protests. The statements in the last report
having been made in good faith, and as the results of the observations of, and
statements made to, our agents, we thought it but fair to all parties that the
French should have a full and free opportunity
to present such testimony as they might have showing their progress in the
United States; and consequently a hearing
was announced for Oct. 25, 1881, to which all persons interested were invited.
The circular of invitation, which was given the widest circulation, contained in
brief the reasons for the hearing, and the following statement:
"I am not aware that any other
desire exists on the part of the officers of this Bureau than that to obtain
the exact truth. Certainly no prejudice exists against the French, and in
order that the statements of French Canadians residing in this State or in
the States covered by the investigation may have the benefit of the same
prominence as that given to the statements to which they object, they are
invited to attend a hearing in the Green Room at the State House, Boston, on
Tuesday, Oct. 25, 1881, at ten o'clock
a.m.
"This hearing shall be conducted
in a thoroughly impartial manner by the officers of this Bureau, and all
parties desiring to be heard upon the matters in question shall have an
opportunity. The results of the hearing will be printed in the Thirteenth
Annual Report of the Bureau to be laid before the next legislature. It
should be understood that facts only should be given at the hearing; that
is, facts relating to the education, habits, etc., of the French Canadian
residents in the States named."
In accordance with this invitation, some sixty
representative
French Canadian gentlemen attended, and offered their
protests and their evidence which appear in the following
full stenographic
Report of the Hearing.
Mr. Wright, Chief of the Bureau, presiding, opened the
hearing as follows:
Gentlemen, The legislature of Massachusetts, by chap.
29, Resolves of 1880, directed this Bureau to make an investigation
in the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, and Connecticut, relative to "a
uniform system of laws to regulate the hours of labor in the
States mentioned, and to present the results of its investigations
to the legislature in its next annual report."
The investigation was made, and the results reported in
the Twelfth Annual Report of this Bureau.
Among the objections given by many manufacturers and
operatives, in the States where no ten-hour system existed,
was the presence of the French Canadians; and the reasons
given by parties why the French were an obstacle to the
extension of the system were presented in said report.
These reasons, as well as all other results of the investigation,
were reported; and the officers of the Bureau would have
been derelict in their duties, and would have disobeyed the
positive commands of the legislature, had these reasons not
been reported.
The moment the Bureau, either through fear of offending
any party or race, or through desire to favor any party or
race, suppresses facts or evidence given it in the legitimate
course of an investigation, or introduces statements of its own
invention, and reports such for facts, whatever usefulness it
may have will be gone, and the officers so prostituting the
privileges of the Bureau should meet the very severest condemnation
the public can bestow.
The reasons given by parties why the presence of the
French Canadians in factory towns is an obstacle to the extension
of the ten-hour system have offended the French; and
they have expressed their disapprobation of such reasons by
resolutions, which have been presented to the legislature,
and by the legislature referred to the Bureau of Statistics.
Many bodies of the French, in convention, have passed
very severe strictures upon the statements of the report; and,
what is to be regretted, have not confined themselves to
denying the truth of the reasons reported, but have seen fit
to accuse the officers of the Bureau, personally, of issuing
calumnious statements. I do not know as I can blame the French for being
exasperated; the only fault, however, I
can plead guilty to in regard to the report in question, as it
relates to the French, is that it was not stated fully enough,
perhaps, that the evidence which offends did not relate to
Massachusetts at all, and that it was not explicit enough in
stating the localities to which the evidence applied. We were
discussing the reasons against the extension of the ten-hour
system; and such reasons could not apply to Massachusetts,
because the ten-hour system existed here already.
The legislature has not indicated any way in which the
resolutions referred to the Bureau should be treated; but I
have thought it only fair and honorable to invite you to this
hearing, that you may not only protest against the statements of the report, but that you may introduce such evidence as
you may have relative to the progress of your race.
Please bear in mind that personally I have no pride of
opinion in this matter, and shall not feel hurt if you succeed
in proving every statement made to the Bureau relative to the
French to be absolutely false. I hope you will confine your
statements to facts, and be as brief as possible in your testimony,
all material parts of which will be printed in the next
annual report of the Bureau.
After the French present have been heard, or rather those
who have come delegated to speak, an opportunity will be
given to any who may wish, to be heard in the matter before
us.
I hope we now understand each other, and that you have
come here in the same spirit in which you have been invited
that of truth and fairness. I wish you to remember one
thing, however, and that is that while this land is open to all,
and a welcoming hand is extended to all without regard to
nationality, the people of the United States will always look
with disapprobation upon any attempt upon the part of
settlers to be other than American citizens. Our laws protect
the alien as well as. the citizen, and all the benefits of our
institutions are as free to you as to the native born; but you
cannot be loyal Americans and loyal French Canadians at
the same time.
I am inclined to think that whatever prejudice there has
has been in the public mind against the French Canadians,
and I am aware there has been such, has arisen from the
seeming disposition of the French to insist upon preserving a
distinct national existence within the Republic. If the
French can learn, even by the report they condemn, that to
become citizens here in the fullest sense means their progress
and elevation, the Bureau will have done them the greatest
possible service.
Certainly it is in the hearts of the officers of the Bureau to
perform such service by any legitimate means in their power.
This sentiment has actuated them in announcing this hearing.
Mr. H. A. Dubuque of Fall River will conduct the
hearing for the French. I wish to say to you now, however,
that I have not summoned a single witness here. I have not
asked any one to come here in opposition to the views you
may express, or in favor of the statements which were made
to the agents of the Bureau by the manufacturers and operatives throughout the States which we canvassed.
Mr. Dubuque can carry on the hearing in his own way.
I will only ask you to be as brief as possible in your statements.
Mr. Dubuque. Honored gentlemen of the Bureau of Statistics
of Labor, It devolves upon me to open this hearing
on behalf of the French Canadians who have been called here
to give their evidence relative to certain statements contained
in the Twelfth Annual Report of this Bureau. Before, however,
proceeding to present the evidence before you, gentlemen,
I wish to impress upon your minds the abnormal attitude
in which the French are placed before you. Accusations
have been made against them in a report made by the Bureau
appointed by State authority. These accusations are presumed to be true, and
taken to be true, to a certain extent;
and we are called upon here to refute them.
Of course, we understand, gentlemen, that this hearing is
somewhat informal. We cannot proceed as we would in a
court of justice. We must obtain the facts as best we may
with the means at hand, and if certain parties are not obliged
to come and testify we must rely upon the good will of those
who are willing. We feel more keenly the sting of these
accusations, for there they stand in black and white; there is
material which will go to write the history either of the
Republic, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, or of the
French Canadians in this State or in the country. That is
opposed to the fundamental law, laid down in the Constitution,
that no one shall be accused unless he has the right and
the advantage of being confronted by his accuser. I do not
say this, gentlemen of this Bureau, because I want to blame
you. You are, as it were, a reflection of the evidence which
has been presented to you. Your duty is that of a court of
justice, or a master in chancery presenting his report according to the state of the facts as they have come to his knowledge, and then letting the court, or, in this instance, the
legislature or public opinion, pass upon the report.
Gentlemen, I do not wish to say that you have not done
your duty; but this Bureau, even with all the good will that
it could have, with all the kind feelings towards the French
people that it has had, has done us an injustice. You have
felt it yourselves, gentlemen, because you have summoned us
to come here to-day to present to you evidence to refute the
facts which you have stated.
Now, if we are to consider this statement as an allegation
in a civil cause, are we going to say that the allegations of
the plaintiff or complainant are taken to be true, and the
defendant called upon to prove that they are false?
Now, with these few remarks, gentlemen, we want to proceed in the best spirit possible. You have expressed the
desire of getting at the truth in the matter relating to the
French people. You have said further, Mr. Chief of this
Bureau, that the statement contained in the report did not
apply to the French people in Massachusetts. It is to be
regretted, indeed, that we did not know of this fact, this
very essential fact, till only a very few days before this hearing;
because, as you know, Mr. Chief and gentlemen of this
Bureau, the French Canadians in this State number one hundred
thousand. As you know, the French are more numerous in Massachusetts than in any other State in the Union:
therefore this report which applied to all the French of the
Eastern, States as we understood it we in Massachusetts
have felt the sting of it as well as it has been felt in other
States.
I am willing to admit, Mr. Chief of this Bureau, that it
was not intended by this Bureau to apply the statements to
any but special cases outside of Massachusetts, and to special
localities; but we read by the very words of this report that
it treats of the question of the schools, that where compulsory
education exists the French have "lied with brazen
effrontery" about the age of their children. Now, of course
you know, gentlemen of this Bureau, that in all the Eastern
States, in all the New England States, you have not the same
law regarding compulsory education that you have in Massachusetts; consequently, where the law exists and is enforced
so strictly as it is here, we have considered that the words
relating to the school laws applied to the Canadians of
Massachusetts, and we have come here prepared to present
facts from Massachusetts to show you that these statements
are not founded upon truth.
We have come before you, also, gentlemen of this Bureau,
with evidence concerning the social and moral condition of
the French in New York, in New Hampshire, in Connecticut,
in Maine, and in Massachusetts. We have come here with
evidence concerning the French in various localities and various
places in Massachusetts, where they are in large numbers
and mostly engaged in working in the manufactories.
We have come here of our own free will. Of course we are
grateful to you who have given us an opportunity to refute
publicly, before this Bureau, the statements which have been
made against us; but it is to be regretted, I repeat again,
that, when these statements were recorded against the French
people by the officers of this Bureau, no one was asked, on
the part of the French who were accused condemned by
the report to come and refute the facts given against them.
It is to be regretted gentlemen.
We do not wish to blame you; you have done your duty
as you thought best, and we consider that you have endeavored to be as impartial as man can be when he is swayed by
the opinions of others, whether the statements are made in a court of justice or
before a legislative committee.
I may state to you, gentlemen of the Bureau, that I am
not the only one who has been appointed to conduct this
hearing. We have been appointed, I believe, five or six,
representing different States, and I have been called upon to
open the hearing with these few remarks; and now, if other
gentlemen who are members of the committee to conduct the
hearing wish to state any thing farther before we present the
evidence to you, I would ask your kind favor to hear any
suggestions which they might make. I would state to you,
also, gentlemen, that there are gentlemen here, and especially
a gentleman from Maine, who has very important statistics
concerning the French Canadians. He is not very familiar
with the English language, but he will express himself as
best he can; for all of us, you know, cannot use an acquired
language as well as we can our own. He and the other gentlemen
will have to ask your indulgence; and, if he cannot
express himself in any way which you can understand, he will ask to be heard through an interpreter. But I can assure
you that he will make all the efforts in his power in
order to be understood by you in the official language of the hearing.
Now, gentlemen of the Bureau, the first gentleman who
will give you evidence will be Mr. F. Gagnon, the editor
of "Le Travailleur," a French paper published in Worcester,
Mass. I believe it is the oldest French Canadian paper published
in the Eastern States. Mr. Gagnon has sent circulars
to various cities and towns, and obtained reports, and he has
had a great experience, probably a larger experience than
any of the rest of us, in this matter. He has been with the
French people, has founded religious, educational, and literary
societies among them; and he will give you the reports he
has prepared from more than thirty cities and towns.
Mr. Gagnon represents a delegation from Worcester consisting,
besides himself, of Rev. J[ean] B[aptiste] Primeau, pastor of the church of
Notre Dame des Canadiens
[and
here]; and Mr. Charles Lalime, immigration agent of the Canadian Government.
Mr.
Ferd[inand]. Gagnon then said: Mr. Carroll D. Wright,
Chief of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts, in his Twelfth Annual Report has
published the evidence furnished the Bureau that the presence
of the French Canadians is an obstacle to the adoption
of the ten-hour system of labor in certain States; and that
the French Canadians are a horde of industrial invaders caring nothing for the institutions of this country, neglecting to
become citizens, living in a beggarly way, trying to evade
the provisions of the school laws, being a sordid and low
people, and fit only to work under any kind of rulers and for
any scale of prices. It is the first time that such slanders of
a national element find a place in an official document.
Mr. Wright says that he was officially obliged to include
in the document all that was reported to him. While, however,
we admit this obligation, we regret the expressions
which have been used to illustrate the reports of his informants.
We acknowledge that in order to indicate his sense
of fair play and justice he has called this meeting for a
hearing.
We come to refute opinions given ex parte, and to reform
the verdict based on them. This situation is quite abnormal;
but we rely upon the justice of our cause, and the impartiality
of the tribune before which we present our evidence; and we
say that the informants of the Bureau have taken, in every
town or city from whence they reported, the exceptional for
the general.
Moreover we say that malice, prejudice, and very probably
individual interest, were the chief denunciators of our countrymen.
And, moreover, we say that considering the circumstances
under which the Canadians emigrate to this country;
speaking, as they do, a language different from the idiom
spoken in the United States; they can show a record within
the last ten years that no other national element can exhibit.
Moreover, we say that, comparatively, considering their
number, the French Canadians do more for the general prosperity
of the Eastern States than any other national element.
Moreover, we say that the French Canadian element ought
to be respected as others, for they have rendered services in
every manner to the United States; establishing cities,
counties, States; fighting for the stars and stripes; pacifying
Indian tribes; guiding explorers and United States armies;
and we say this without claiming, in this case, the honor to
be the sons of France, the generous friend of the United
States, whose alliance was cemented by the blood of Lafayette
at Brandywine, and by the surrender of Cornwallis to
Washington and Rochambeau at Yorktown.
It may happen that ignorant or malicious gossips denounce,
in their villages, the French Canadians, because the farmers
who come to this country do not wear modern garments, and
have not the "nobby" appearance of their traducers; but
ignorance ought not to prevail.
Denouncing a whole national element because the families
in a village do not send their children to school, wear poor
clothing, eat poor victuals, is the act of a prejudiced man.
The faults of ten are not the faults of a nation of nearly
two millions of individuals.
There was premeditated malice in the reports of the informants to this Bureau.
Who gave the key note to these denunciations? The
manufacturers themselves, who send agents to Canada to recruit factory help.
I have a letter from an agent of the Boston and Albany
Railroad at Worcester, who says he is ready to testify that
since two years, no less than one hundred superintendents or
agents of mills have applied to him for French help, one mill
asking for as many as fifty families at a time. And Mr. E.
I. L'Herault, justice of the peace at Fall River, could testify in the same manner. Manufacturers cannot say that the
French Canadians have been an obstacle to the system of ten
hours of labor.
Never, at any place, have Canadian help asked an increase
in the hours of labor, and never, at any place, have they been
opposed, as a body, to the ten-hour law.
The Canadians are peaceful, law-abiding citizens; and they
accept the wages fixed by the liberality, or sometimes the
cupidity and avarice, of the manufacturers.
Unable to speak the English language when they arrive in
this country, burdened with a family, poor as the generality of
immigrants are, the French Canadians have but to go to the
textile factories, and there accept what is offered to them.
After a few months, and the children have learned a few
words of English, being not satisfied with the wages, they ask
for more, and, if refused, they move to another village where
they expect to get more. This perpetual moving displeases
some manufacturers; but it shows that our countrymen do
not try to reduce the scale of wages, but that, on the contrary, they put themselves to trouble and expense to get better wages.
Canadians do not go back to their country in a large number,
as is believed by many manufacturers. Leaving their
relatives in Canada, being at a short distance they go often
to visit their friends, but come back to the States to their
usual occupations.
We propose to overthrow specifically, by logical reasoning
and statistics, all the misrepresentations contained in the
reports transmitted to the Bureau.
We have affirmed that the French Canadians have never
asked for an increase, nor have they opposed a reduction of
the hours of labor. Having many children, the Canadian
emigrant living in factory towns cares for his family. He and his children do
not generally take side with strikers when strikes occur, and for this
reason the prejudices go against the law-abiding Canadian. Is it not
probable that many of the informants of the Bureau were men who had already
been engaged in strikes, and that Canadians did not follow
them? And hence the malice.
During the last ten years the Eastern States
have received the greatest bulk of the Canadian immigration, and already we
count over thirty churches built by them, many schools, and a great many are
real estate owners.
We have the statistics of thirty-two cities and
villages where Canadians are to be found in great numbers. They are as
follows:
[chart]
What do we learn from these statistics?
These thirty-two different places have a
population of 417,877, and of this number 88,653 are Canadians more than
one-fifth of the whole.
These 88,653 Canadians represent about 10,000
families, and of these we find that 2,516 have a home and own a house in the
United States. More than twenty-five hundred! Is there a better
signification that the Canadians are not wandering Jews, but that, on the
contrary, they settle here to make a home?
Mark, gentlemen, that in certain towns the
manufacturing companies oblige their employιs to dwell in the tenements of
the company; that in many towns these companies do not sell land to
individuals, and, consequently, in such places Canadians cannot become real
estate owners. We shall compare two groups, for example:
Grosvenordale, Conn., has (including
Mechanicsville) a population of 2,400 Canadians, and 12 real estate owners.
At Gardner, Mass., where the Canadian population is only 766, we have 78
real estate owners.
Spencer, Mass., has 140 Canadian real estate
owners, the Canadian population being 3,450. This number of Canadian real
estate owners is astonishing when it is an acknowledged fact that the mass
of these emigrants have been in the Eastern States during fifteen years
only. It has been said in the report that the Canadians did not send their
children to school, and that they try to evade the tenure of the law, This
is given as a generality in the report. Now let us examine our statistics.
We find that thirty-two towns or cities send 56,888 children to the schools,
and of this number 13,406, or 23+ per cent, are Canadian children. And we
also find that these Canadians, called "the Chinese of the East," have
religion enough, patriotism enough, to have forty French and English
Catholic schools in these thirty-two cities and towns.
We acknowledge that some of the new comers, too
poor, and unable to speak English, and the wages being low, are obliged
to send children to the mills against the law of humanity, and, in
Massachusetts, against the State law. But who is the most guilty? Is it not
the manufacturer who gives employment to young children of eight of nine
years of age for merely nominal salary? These children, belonging to poor
families, are submitted to a daily task of nine or ten hours, for thirty
cents a day. Why does not the manufacturer cut the evil at its root, and
refuse employment to these poor little ones, pay a little more to the adult
members of these families, and give the children a chance to have an
education? But no! These manufacturers complain of the ignorance of the
Canadian children, and they try to get them at their mills for a few cents a
day. Yet, notwithstanding the opportunity offered by the cupidity of the
manufacturer, few parents only evade the school law.
The statistics above given demonstrate that
Canadians send their children to school; for more than twenty-two per cent
of the school children of thirty-two cities and towns are Canadians.
The report says that Canadians do not care to
vote, another error. The informants had forgotten, probably, that the law
requires a residence of five years in this country for an alien to become a
citizen. In Massachusetts the law requires that a man to be a voter shall
read the Constitution in the English language. In Rhode Island the law
requires that a foreigner shall be a real estate owner to vote. In New
Hampshire the Constitution says that no Catholic shall be elected to office.
With such liberality which is a real
barrier to universal suffrage it is yet surprising to see so many
Canadians who are citizens of the United States.
In these thirty-two cities and towns. 4,480
Canadians are American citizens, and more than 58 of them hold public
office. One is a member of the legislature of Connecticut, one is a town
treasurer, many are aldermen, councilmen, selectmen, members of the school
committee, etc. Many have declared already their intention to become
citizens. Our national conventions, our newspapers, our local organizations,
urge on the question of citizenship with very satisfactory results. Let the
young generation, which speaks the English language, grow a few years more,
and politicians will have to count with us.
The report says that Canadians live in a
beggarly way. Very few of them do; and it is acknowledged by our merchants,
by our pastors, that Canadians spend everything they earn for the food and
clothing of their families. If it was not so, we should not see so many
Canadians engaged in different trades.
In the thirty-two cities and towns above
mentioned, we find 549 merchants and professional men and 2,014 tradesmen
and clerks. These statistics are abundant evidence that the trade of the
French Canadians is important.
In fact, they have not inherited the economy and
frugality of their ancestors. They are inclined to extravagance, and they
scorn with indignation the expressions used in the report to describe
falsely their way of living. Because they like to trade where the French
language is spoken, some merchants who do not employ French help may believe
that Canadians live in a beggarly way, not buying much at their store. It is
a great mistake, and the many Canadian dealers and clerks, and the American
merchants in towns where no French Canadians are engaged in trade, could
testify to the contrary.
We believe we have shown, in the light of
logical truth, the error of the report. As we have said before, informants
have everywhere taken the exceptional for the generality; and for this
reason the Canadians have protested publicly, as they now protest at this
hearing, against the authenticity of the evidence on which the report was
based. And they ask that the sense of justice of Mr. Wright be equal to the
circumstances, that this report be acknowledged by him and the Bureau as a
slander, and that in his next report he shall recognize that he has been
deceived by informants prejudiced against the Canadian element.
Canadians have been great factors in the
prosperity of manufacturing interests. Steady workers and skilful, the
manufacturers have benefited by their condition of poverty to reduce wages,
and compete favorably with the industries of the Old World.
Americans who study but one history their own
do not know enough of the services rendered to their country by Canadians.
In fact, nearly all the large cities of the Western States have been
established by Canadians. Consult the historical societies of Michigan,
Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and you will learn to respect and admire
the French Canadian element.
From Langlade, the father of Wisconsin; Juneau,
the founder of Milwaukee; Joseph Robidon, the founder of St. Joe Mission;
Vital Guerin, the founder of St. Paul, Minn.; Menard, first lieutenant
governor of Illinois; to Jean Louis Lιgarι, the trader, who has persuaded
Sitting Bull to surrender to the United States authorities, the list is
long of the Canadians who have rendered famous the name of our national
element.
In the Eastern States we are from yesterday, and
already we form quite an important element of the population. And, if we
have not yet had the opportunity of illustrating our nationality by great
historical deeds, we try in our daily vocation of duty to obtain the respect
and consideration of our fellow-citizens by our loyalty to State
constitutions and municipal laws, and by our good behavior.
All we want is the freedom guaranteed to all
citizens, and we want protection against such slanders as the informants of
the Bureau have laid upon us.
Public spirited citizens whose honor sustains no
stain, we have protested, and do here solemnly protest, against the
expressions and sentiments of the informants of the Bureau. In the name of
justice and respect of decency we ask that the report be corrected so that
it shall place our national element in the true light in which we stand,
loyal and honorable citizens.
Mr.
Dubuque. Now, gentlemen, before we proceed further, I would like to
make a remark in regard to the ten-hour law in Massachusetts. The people are
under an impression that this ten-hour law applies to everybody in
Massachusetts. The first law relating to ten hours of labor in Massachusetts
was passed in 1842, chap. 60, sects. 3 and 4. That law provided that no
child under ten years of age should be employed more than ten hours per day,
and the penalty was $50 fine for a violation of the law. That law has been
incorporated in the General Statutes, chap. 42, sect. 3, published in 1860.
Later, in 1867, by statute of 1867, 285, sects. 1, 2, 8, and 4, it was
provided that no child under fifteen years of age should be employed more
than sixty hours per week. That is the progress of the ten-hour law in this
State. Under the statute of 1842 no child under ten years shall be employed
more than ten hours a day, and thence to 1867, when the law provides that no
child under fifteen shall be employed more than sixty hours per week. Then
influence brought to bear on the legislature caused the so-called ten-hour
law to be passed in 1874. It provides that "no child under eighteen years of
age, and no woman over that age, shall be employed in the manufactures more
than ten hours per day." It does not say that no man shall be employed. It
does not apply to men. The manufacturer has no right to employ a child under
eighteen years or a woman of any age more than sixty hours per week, having
the right to divide the hours of labor so that they will not amount to more
than sixty hours per week.
Now, in 1876 there came a continuation of that
same progress; and the legislature of 1876 by chap. 52, sects. 1, 2, 3, and
4, enacted, "no child under ten years shall be employed at all in the
manufactories, and no "child under fourteen years shall be employed unless
he attend school twenty weeks in a year."
Then in 1878, by chap. 171, sect. 1, the
legislature authorized the school committees to approve private schools, the
teaching as well in private schools as in public schools and then, in
1879, struck the word "wilful" out of the ten-hour law, so that it might be
more effectually enforced.
So we are to understand that the law applies to
children under eighteen, and also to women. It does not apply to men. It is
not a law which forbids the manufacturers from employing men more than ten
hours a day. Of course it was one way of getting at the object in view, but
still we want to understand the law as it is. Now, if Mr. Gagnon will be
kind enough to give us his statistics.
Mr.
Gagnon. The statistics have been given in bulk in my remarks. I have
them here, and they can be consulted by the Bureau; the questions are here,
and the answers.
Mr.
Dubuque. Will you please state to the Bureau how you have proceeded
in order to get these reports, so we may get at the way in which you have
collected the statistics?
Mr.
Gagnon. These blanks were addressed to some prominent citizen, and
the response came from him.
Q. You have printed how many circulars,
and sent to the various towns?
A. I have thirty-two answers here.
Q. You have sent a great number?
A. I have sent forty-four. That is all.
Q. And these circulars have been printed
by you?
A. By me.
Q. At your office in Worcester, and sent
to the most prominent French citizens that you knew in the various towns?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you have received the answers
which you have given?
A. Yes, sir; they are signed.
Mr.
Dubuque. We want to state further that we have evidence to offer on
this point; it is stated that we are opposed to the ten-hour law.
Mr.
Wright. No; I think there is no such statement.
Mr.
Dubuque. "The third objection to the ten hours, is the presence of
the Canadian French."
Mr.
Wright. I do, not think it is stated anywhere that
the French Canadians have opposed the law.
Mr.
Dubuque. No; but that their presence is opposed to the ten-hour law.
Now, we want to state what the action of the Canadians has been in
Massachusetts, and why they have not entered into that movement.
Mr.
Wright. To set you right, so that there shall be no misunderstanding,
let me say that, as I understood the testimony, the presence of the French
Canadians was urged as an objection to the ten-hour law on account of their
migratory customs and habits which it has alleged they had; not on account
of any movement of their own, but that manufacturers objected to taking up
any reformatory movements for the elevation of a people that were not going
to stay among them.
Mr.
Dubuque. I want to state this, which will bear upon the question, as
you will see in a moment, that what brought about the ten-hour law in 1874
I have lived in Fall River for ten years, and know something about these
things what brought about this ten-hour law in 1874 was started by a great
movement in Fall River, first by a strike, the argument being by
intimidation, violation of law, rows, public demonstrations, which were
converting the whole city into a state of rebellion. Now we want to
introduce evidence to show that the Canadian French, wherever a strike has
taken place, wherever any of these public demonstrations against law and
order in any place have been made, have never taken part in the movement,
and have staid at home like good law-abiding citizens; in a measure that
lies created a prejudice against them, and made other nationalities believe
that they were opposed to a ten-hour law, while, on the contrary, they were
staying at home like good law-abiding citizens, not wanting to be mixed up
in any breach of the peace.
Mr.
Wright. You will introduce testimony, if I understand you, to show
that the French Canadians, on account of their non-participation in strikes,
have incurred the enmity of agitators?
Mr.
Dubuque. Yes, sir.
Mr.
Wright. What are known as " labor reformers"?
Mr.
Dubuque. Yes, sir.
Mr.
Wright. Do you think any testimony from them
would be particularly unfriendly to the French?
Mr.
Dubuque. Yes, sir, by reason of their abstaining from taking part in
any of these movements in which were mixed up these violations of law. The
French people have kept away, have been advised by their ministers, by their
leaders, to keep away, to keep within the law, and to respect the laws of
the Commonwealth. That has been the reason why they have not entered into
this movement; and it has given the opinion that they were opposed to it, or
that their presence was an objection to it.
Mr.
Wright. I want to ask Mr. Gagnon if it has been the policy of the
French Canadians in the United States or of the leaders, those whom you
might call the principal men, to advocate the doctrine of repatriation?
Mr.
Gagnon. Yes, sir; I have been an agent, myself.
Q. That has been the policy?
A. That has been the policy, to take out
from this country families which, it was evident, would not succeed in the
mills.
Q. Is that the policy now?
A. Every thing is stopped. The government
of the Province of Quebec have no more subsidy to repatriate with, so, for
two years, nothing has been done; and it is the reason it partially failed.
Q. They are now, after that failure,
feeling more permanent, and even some of those are returning who had
repatriated?
A. Well, some are returning, yet but few
repatriated; and during the repatriation movement the Canadians were just as
anxious to stay as since: we could not repatriate them in large numbers, I
mean.
Mr.
Dubuque. For the information of this Bureau, it would be well to
state, also, that the condition of the French now is different from what it
was five, or six, or ten, years ago. The French to-day have become more
familiar with the institutions, and more familiar with the language and the
ways of living, of the American people, than they were five or ten years ago
when they first came. For instance, in Fall River we had, about ten years
ago, some five hundred French citizens: to-day we have eleven thousand in a
population of forty-nine thousand.
Mr.
Wright. Mr. Gagnon, are there places either in New York or
Connecticut, for instance, because it was from those States that the
testimony came to us principally, are there places in those two States
where the statements made to the Bureau would be applicable to any great
extent, or even applicable during the last ten years?
Mr.
Gagnon. It may be, sir, in those States, because the people have
migrated more from these factory places on account of the failure of the
Spragues. They were obliged to go to other places on account of the failure
of these mills, and they lost considerable money in Baltic on account of
that failure; they had money deposited in the banks, and were losers.
Q. Is it your idea that the financial
depressions following the year 1878 had an influence in bringing about the
conditions alleged in the report?
A. Yes, sir, and also that in Connecticut
villages the manufacturer is the king of the place, and they cannot own land
as in Massachusetts, and in Maine, and in New York, without being citizens.
Q. You mean, they cannot be citizens
without being real estate owners?
A. I mean, that, should their death
occur, if they were not citizens the State can claim their real estate.
Rev. Father
Millet of Nashua. The Canadian
Government, and I look upon this point as important, as bearing upon the
question, the Canadian Government, not only
here, but in the different countries of Europe,
I have seen
them myself, in England, in Belgium, and in France, establish
agencies, with well-paid officials, endeavoring to draw
towards Canada a current of immigration; and here, in the
States as well as in Europe, these agencies were established.
What kind of success they were in Europe, it is not the question; but in the States it is well to note down that it was a
total failure. That is, not perfectly total, but by an immense
majority it was a failure, so much so that the government has
ceased to subsidize these agencies.
Mr. Wright. If I understand you, the attempt was made
by the Canadian Government to repatriate French Canadians
from the United States?
Father Millet. Yes, sir;
not only that, but great inducements were offered if they would return; and some of them
did return, but of those who did go a certain proportion returned
to the States again, and in a majority of places the
thing was a total failure, so much so, that the subsidy which
was given has been withdrawn.
Q. So that the work of repatriation has ceased?
A. It is the desire of the government that they should
return, but it has ceased to pay; though it encourages immigration
to all parts of Canada, it has ceased to subsidize
these agencies.
Q. Now, let me ask you, Father Millet, one other question,
because you seem to be the best man to ask it of, has
it been the policy of the Church to which the French Canadians
mostly belong in Canada, to urge repatriation now or
at any time within the past ten years?
A. The Church in Canada, as represented by its bishops
and priests, has done all in its power to stop immigration; but
that was at the first.
Q. How does the establishment of French Catholic
churches in America affect the permanency of the French
people here?
A. It brings on what in Canada was feared, because in
Canada they said this was a great evil for the country, the
constant flowing out of the country of the population; they
desired the people to remain there, and, when we priests
were sent into the States to attend to their spiritual wants,
it was only then that they saw what the result of their action
was, and that they could not hold the French among them.
Q. Now, am I right in this opinion, that during the last
five years the condition of the French Canadians, with reference to their policy of repatriation and their desire to better
themselves, has been in a transition state? that is, that it
has been a crucial period with the French Canadians, is
that true?
A. I should consider that for the moment the question
of repatriation is not given up, but partially so.
Q. I do not mean that particularly; but, have the French
been in a transition state, during the past five years, as the
result of the establishment and failure of the repatriation
system and the gradual establishment of churches here?
A. I should consider that especially for the last five years
this has been partially so. I look upon it now as a permanent
population.
Q. And that that permanency has just begun to take positive form?
Q. You mean, take it from ten years back?
Mr. Gagnon. From the establishment of our churches?
Q. (By Mr. Wright.) From the establishment of the
French Canadian churches in America, the permanency of
the French population began?
Father Millet. The permanency of the French population was secured.
Mr. Dubuque. While we are on that point we might
well call Mr. Lalime of Worcester, who has been an agent of
the government.
Mr. Lalime. I wish to tell you what I know personally
about this immigration matter. I have been appointed agent
by the Federal Government of Canada in 1875, and I am still
the Federal Government's agent for the New England States,
that is, what you might call the repatriation agent. I wish
to state this, that, as stated a few minutes ago by the Rev.
Father Millet, this repatriation is almost a failure, if it is not
a total failure. Why? Because we have work in the New
England States, because everybody finds occupation, and our
Canadians will not go West, or a very few of them. For the
last four years, gentlemen, for the last three years, we certainly have not sent from New England, more than, I should
say, thirty families, I mean, sent to Canada or any one of the
provinces of Canada, or to Manitoba. Quite a number from
the other side have gone to settle in Minnesota and Dakota.
And I wish to state, inasmuch as I understood that Mr.
Wright wanted to find out if our clergy were in favor of
immigration or repatriation to Canada, I wish to say this,
that but very few of our clergymen in the New England
States have favored that movement.
Mr. Wright. My point was this, if you will allow me to
interrupt you a moment: whether the French clergy in New
England or America had not acknowledged public influence
here and in Canada in this matter of repatriation?
Mr. Lalime. Yes, sir, that is just what I want to say, and
that I can prove. We have but very few clergymen in New
England who have favored the repatriation movement. Far
from it: they have always done what they could to have our
people settle permanently here, and get naturalized and become
citizens. That we can prove, any of us can prove, in every
parish. So that repatriation is almost a dead letter to-day.
Mr.
Dubuque. I will call upon Father Bedard of Fall
River, if he will be kind enough to give us some statements
on the question of immigration. He is a member of the
clergy, and has the charge of a parish in Fall River; and I
will ask him to state whether or not, in his opinion, the
founding of parishes for the French Canadians in the States
has not tended to make the Canadians settle more permanently
in the States?
Rev. Father P[ierre]. J[ean]. B[aptiste].
Bedard. On that matter I can say
that for my own part, and knowing the action of my friends
of the clergy, we did respect that desire in Canada; but at
the same time we did not fight against the people wishing to
stay in the States. More than that, the French clergymen
in the United States, as can be proved by acts and resolutions,
did favor the title "citizen" and naturalization. It is
quite natural for the clergy in Canada to desire the people
living in Canada to stay there; but I do believe the American
clergymen will be the first to raise their voice in favor
of the permanent settlement of American citizens in the
United States. But we, becoming citizens in the United
States or not becoming citizens, we do respect the desire of
the American population, and we do favor it, as is proved by
our conventions not only in the State of Massachusetts but
in all the conventions in the other States. So I believe, Mr.
Wright, you will have a good opinion of the influence of the
clergy on the people in that matter, and I believe everybody
will be inclined to give credit to the clergy on that question.
Mr.
Dubuque. I would ask you, Father Bedard, how
many were real estate owners in the city of Fall River,
where you founded a parish, before you came there, in that
particular portion included in your parish?
Father Bedard. Very few, very few.
Q. Can you state about how many, to the best of your
knowledge, there are now in your parish?
A. I did give the answer in writing to Mr. Gagnon: we
have now about one hundred.
Mr. Wright. Out of a parish of how many members?
Father Bedard. In my parish about a hundred French
Canadians own property, real estate; and I encourage this,
myself, any time I can do it. And more than that, one or
more bishops, coming from Canada (to Woonsocket, R.I.)
lately, did say the same to the people living here, who intend to live here, to have property, to encourage the progress of
this country, and so forth.
Q. You do not hesitate to assert, then, fully, that the influence
of the French Church in America to-day is in favor
of permanency, and against the policy of repatriation?
A. Here in the United States?
Q. Here in the United States.
A. Yes, sir, I do believe so.
Q. While, in the past, the influence of the French Catholic Church of Canada has been in favor of repatriation?
A. Yes, sir.
Mr. Gagnon. On that question of repatriation, it was
movement begun in 1875. A vote of the legislature of Quebec
was passed granting a subsidy of sixty thousand dollars
to promote this movement of immigration. And this money
was not only intended for the Canadians in the States; it
was intended for the immigrants from Europe, and for the
families of the farmers of the Province of Quebec who wished
to make new homes on new lands. After that year a subsidy
of ten thousand dollars was granted by the legislature,
and it stopped there. We sent, I was the agent of the
government at that time, we sent about six hundred families to Canada, and about three hundred, only, staid there.
The other three hundred did not settle, but came back to
this country, or, if they did not come to this country, did not
settle on the land given for the purpose by the government.
The grant was this: the government of Quebec gave one hundred acres
acres of land for the sum of sixty dollars, and built a
log house, and cleared about four acres of the land. This,
with the price of the land, amounted to two hundred dollars.
The settler had to pay twelve dollars during five years with
interest, and the remaining one hundred and forty dollars in
ten years without interest. That is all that was done for
the purpose of repatriation. Three years after, I myself sent
my letter of declination, my resignation, to the government
of Quebec, because I saw it was not necessary to maintain
an agent here for nothing, as no money had been appropriated
since three years for that purpose. Of course it is just
that the Province of Quebec wishes to have as many of her
children as she can have. She wants them to return, if possible;
but there has been no other urging but this action
partially devoted to the Canadians in the United States to
repatriate them. Certainly, gentlemen, there are families
here who cannot succeed in the mills, who cannot make a
home, make a future for themselves and their children and
we, knowing that, try to take out those families, and settle
them in Canada, or in the Western States, on land to cultivate. It is not so much repatriation to the Province of Quebec
we want, as to draw those families from the mills, and
settle them on land. They were farmers before coming here,
and we think that, trying again under more favorable circumstances,
they would make a better future for their families.
Mr.
Dubuque. Now, gentlemen of this Bureau, I only
want to state another thing on this question of immigration,
and then we will proceed to some other matter. The most
overwhelming fact that we can bring to bear on this question
is, that for the last ten years, in every place where
the French have settled, it is a known fact that they have
doubled, if not trebled, in population. Now, if they were
coming here and earning money; and going back to Canada,
how could it be possible that the population would double and
treble in such a short time? It must be that there is a new influx from
Canada right along, and that those who are here
stay here continuously. Now, we are prepared to show by
various witnesses that, it is the minority, the very small number,
that go back. Some will go back, will be dissatisfied;
a great many of them, as Mr. Lalime has said, go to Montana,
Dakota, Kansas, and the Western States; and others go
to Canada, where they think they can do better. Now, we
have a gentleman here from Marlborough, Mr. Aldrich, who
has been kind enough to come here and give testimony in
relation to this matter. There is a delegation, I should say,
from Marlborough, and I will call upon Mr. Aldrich first.
Hon. S. N. Aldrich said: I was requested this morning,
in behalf of some of my Canadian friends in Marlborough, to
come up here and say a word. I can only say that, so far as
the French Canadians of Marlborough are concerned, they
are a quiet, peaceful, industrious, and temperate class among
us. If you should go to Marlborough with me, you would see,
in the place where they live, what is called "French Hill,"
and other parts of the town, some of the best residences in
the town occupied, by French. They have a splendid church;
there are many merchants among them, dry goods merchants,
provision dealers, and men engaged in all sorts of business.
It is a fact, as will appear from the papers that will be presented
to you, the statistics, that the French of Marlborough
are a quiet, temperate people, industrious, and as good as any
of our citizens. We have some two thousand of them there,
and all of them are at work, enjoying themselves, building
homes, and, in fact, about all of them have homes, and none
of them have poor homes; they are all good houses. If a
stranger went through our town to-day, and saw the homes of
the workmen, he would come back and ask where our poor
people are. They are all doing well, and enjoying themselves.
I don't know as I can add any thing more to the statistics
which will be presented to you from the clergymen and traders
and others in regard to them.
Mr.
Dubuque. You are an ex-senator of the State, I
believe.
Mr. Aldrich. I was a senator three years ago.
Q. Now, Mr. Aldrich, how long has that condition of the
French people, as you have stated, existed in Marlborough,
about when did they first come there to settle, to your best recollection?
A. Well, sir, I went to Marlborough some seventeen years
ago. At that time there were a very few French Canadians
there, and from that time up to the present they have been
continuously coming, so that to-day our Canadian population
is about one-fifth, I think, of the whole.
Q. Now, what is their desire or inclination to take part in
any political movements, or getting naturalized, or any thing
like that? Do they take part in public affairs?
A. They have taken part. We have made them selectmen;
we have put them on the school committee, and we
have recognized them as good citizens of Marlborough.
Q. How have they proved as citizens of Marlborough,
what is their record, those who have been elected to public
office, whether as school committee men or as selectmen,
what is their record?
A. Perfectly good, sir. They have discharged their duties
in any office as well as any of us, sir. I believe one of the
gentlemen who was elected on the Board of Selectmen
declined to serve, or he could have been elected again.
Q. Now, what is their condition as regards education?
A. Well, sir, we think they are educated too much in our
town, for the benefit of the town financially, they have to
have too many schoolhouses. They fill up our schoolhouses,
sir. Our low schools have been sixty or seventy or even one
hundred in number, so that to-day the town of Marlborough
is expending forty thousand dollars for schoolhouses on
account of this population. I don't know as they increase
faster than we Yankees do, but I think they must.
Q. Whether you have observed the French people outside
of Marlborough, or outside of the State of Massachusetts?
A. My experience has not been very great in that direction.
I only know them practically in Marlborough.
Mr. Wright. The French Canadians of Marlborough, if
I am properly informed, are employed in the shoe manufactories?
Mr. Aldrich. Wholly in the shoe manufactories.
Q. Are you connected with the school committee?
A. I am not now connected with it; I have been connected
with it for a long time.
Hon.
Charles Q. Tirrell then said; Mr. Chairman, I
have the honor of representing, in the State Senate, the district of which Marlborough forms a part, at the present time;
and, as of necessity and in the interest of my constituents, I
have taken considerable interest in this question, in its examination
and its presentation; I have been requested by the
French people, although I do not desire to obtrude myself, to
present some facts- at this hearing in reference to the various
points which are to be considered.
Now, in the first place, I desire to present, Mr. Chairman,
some testimony in regard to the matter of schools, upon which
you asked the Hon. Mr. Aldrich a few questions. I have here
a few letters relative to the public schools, and I think that
they demonstrate, if the testimony of the school committee
of the town of Marlborough, if the testimony of the business
men of the town of Marlborough, if the testimony of the
school teachers of the town of Marlborough, is of any value
or force, that a better class of children the teachers do not
desire, nor the school committee themselves.
Now, in regard to the criminal statistics of the town of
Marlborough. It has been stated by Mr. Aldrich that the
French population of the town of Marlborough is about two
thousand, or one-fifth of our entire population. Now, let us
see how many cases have been brought before the trial justice
of that town for the violation of the laws of the Commonwealth.
The number of criminal cases brought before him
from Oct. 1, 1880, to Oct. 1, 1881, was 383; the number, of
French nationality, 43, that is, one-fifth of the population,
and only one-tenth of the criminality, is French.
Now, we will see how it is about their being a burden
upon
the community, a curse to any town or village where they
may happen to be located, so far as the town being compelled
to assist them is concerned. From the report of the overseers
of the poor it appears that the total amount paid out by the
town for the assistance of the poor, as I understand it, in
1880-81, although the year is not stated here, was $3,580.42;
paid to people of French nationality, $496,81.
The real estate and personal property of the town of
Marlborough
is about as follows: total $3,720,166, and the French
people possess $138,970. Poll-tax payers, 2,626; French,
363. The French constitute one-fifth of the population; they
receive fourteen per cent of the aid which is given to the
poor. They have four per cent of the wealth, of the town.
We have a perfect mass of testimony here from the business
men of the town of Marlborough that we propose to submit.
It would take up too much valuable time to read this
testimony here; but the committee desire me to leave these
letters from the manufacturers of Marlborough, from the
grocers, from the tailors, from the men in every department
of the industries of life, which all go to show by an overwhelming
and an irrefutable accumulation of evidence that
the French people of the town of Marlborough are as desirable
a class as any that exists within its borders.
Mr. Tirrell filed resolutions passed by the French Canadians
of Marlborough, June 18, 1881, similar to those
already printed from Lowell and Hudson. These resolutions
were signed by Rev. J. Z. Dumontier, Dr. J. A. Trembley,
Onesime Levasseur, Jonas Gregoire, Charles Favreau, Louis
B. Talbot, Leon Burgess, committee on resolutions.
Mr. Tirrell also submitted letters (referred to in his
remarks) from prominent parties in Marlborough, among
others the following:
Marlborough, October, 1881.
Hon. Carroll D. Wright.
Dear Sir, Having read what you have written in the Report of the
Statistics of Labor concerning the Canadian French in the State, I have
been requested to give my opinion of them as they are in Marlborough.
We have here in town a Canadian French population, I should judge today,
of a thousand or more, about a hundred and seventy-five legal
voters, and some seventy-five real estate owners. Having been in trade
in town from twenty to twenty-five years, and having had a large share
of their trade, I have had a good opportunity to judge of their habits, etc.
I cannot say what class of Canadian French there may be in other places;
but your article does not do them justice here.
As a class, in Marlborough, they compare favorably with any other.
Of course there are individual exceptions. During our civil war there
might not have been many in town at that time naturalized; but a number
enlisted in the service, though we had a much smaller French population
than at present. But since that time, as the young men have grown
up, they stay with us, buy real estate, become citizens, and are
Industrious.
Many of the families that came here twenty years ago are here
to-day, and take an interest in our affairs.
Having had an experience with the children as a member of the school
committee, I have not found any more truants from that nationality than
any other. I can recollect many of the brightest and most interesting of
the scholars were French. Many of the French children work in our
shoe factories; but in my experience I have never found that the parents
wish to evade the laws about sending their children to school. They
hare seemed to me to desire to have the children at school, as a rule.
Poverty in some cases has brought them so that the help of their children
was needed; yet, when the heads of families were able to educate their
children, as a rule, they wished to have their children go to school.
So far as their living in a beggarly way, it is not true of the Canadians
in this town. As a class they live well, and, as the facts will prove, save,
and invest in real estate. The French like amusement, yet I do not
think they carry it to excess any more than other nationalities. They
seem to enjoy life, yet, after all, as it is here, many of them become good
citizens, and reflect credit on themselves and the town.
Yours very truly,
(Signed) E. L. BIGELOW.
Marlborough, MASS., Oct. 17, 1881.
To whom, it may concern:
This is to certify that in my acquaintance with the French Canadian
people of this town, I find them, as a class, honest, industrious, and
taking an active part in the welfare of the town. Many of them naturalized,
realizing what it is to vote, demand their rights with as much
promptness as any other class of people. Also many of them own real
estate, which is strong evidence that they have come amongst us to remain
and make homes for themselves and children.
Respectfully submitted.
(Signed)
JAMES T. MURPHY,
One of the Selectmen of Marlborough.
Marlborough, Mass., Oct. 24, 1881.
This is to certify that, as merchants of this place with many years'
experience, we hold the trade of the French people of this town and vicinity
in such esteem that we encourage our salesmen to learn French so as
to increase our trade with the older folks of this nationality who may
not speak English readily.
The French residents of this town and their descendants furnish a
large percentage of our customers. They are good judges of values,
appreciative
of new styles and novelties, and, in proportion to their numbers,
are good buyers of all classes of dry goods. To lose their patronage
would be a calamity.
(Signed)
HOWE & STETSON.
Marlborough, Oct. 18, 1881.
During the past ten years we have counted the French residents of
Marlborough and vicinity as amongst our best customers, and find them,
as a rule, very particular as to style and quality, and willing to pay good
prices if they find what they want.
(Signed) D. W. COSGROVE.
Marlborough, Mass., Oct. 21, 1881.
To whom it may concern:
This is to certify that I, Charles Mowry, police officer of the town of
Marlborough, am called upon to perform duty in the section of the town
called "French Hill" it being occupied by French Canadians. I find
them a quiet and a law-abiding class of people; disturbance of any kind
is of rare occurrence, and those caused principally by strangers. I never
was interfered with in the performance of my duty by them. I consider
them a first-class sort of people.
Respectfully submitted.
(Signed)
CHAS. MOWRY.
Marlborough, Oct. 12, 1881.
To all whom it may concern:
This is to certify that I have employed Canadian French for near a
quarter of a century, and that I have always been pleased with them. I
have found them obedient, quiet, and, in fact, they compare favorably
with any I have ever employed.
(Signed)
JOHN O'CONNELL,
Manufacturer of Boots and Shoes.
Marlborough, Oct. 17, 1881.
Having, in the course of several years' service on the school committee
of the town of Marlborough, become familiar with the pupils attending
the public schools in that town, among whom every year may be
found hundreds of children of French Canadian parentage, I can truly
assert from actual observation that these children have in the past and do
now compare favorably with their mates of other parentage in intelligence,
morality, and deportment.
The French Canadian children are very apt, and manifest in a high
degree the desirable characteristics of industry and perseverance.
In my official capacity I have frequently come in contact with the parents
of these children, and they have at all times shown great interest in
the cause of education, arid ever have been anxious that the young of
their community should receive the benefits to be derived from our
educational
institutions.
(Signed)
JAMES N. McDONALD,
Of the School Board of Marlborough.
Marlborough, Mass., Oct. 25, 1881.
To whom it may concern:
This is to certify that, as a member of the school committee of this
town for two years, daring which time I had under my special charge
several schools of the primary grade largely composed of French Canadian
children, I have uniformly found this class bright, docile, and teachable
in every respect. Their reputation for good conduct was always
excellent, also, among our teachers.
(Signed)
E. D. PRATT.
To whom it may concern:
This is to certify, that in no manner have the pupils of French Canadian
birth or descent caused special difficulty to the teachers of our public
schools. Except in the most extreme cases, I can safely acknowledge
them to be keen, quick-witted, and remarkably obedient. Teachers
individually amply testify that their relations with said pupils have been
especially pleasant.
In our section, at present, the majority of the pupils in question are
specially apt and agreeable to training. I can recall no case, during my
experience, in which even one of said pupils has committed any violent
breach of good manners.
In conclusion, the French Canadian pupils in our department are not
conspicuous on account of any baneful characteristics.
Most respectfully submitted.
(Signed)
ELLEN A. O'CONNELL,
Washington Street Department of the Public Schools of Marlborough.
I can cheerfully indorse every word of the above statement, so far as
my departments are concerned.
(Signed)
J. V. JACKMAN,
Master of Pleasant Street Schools.
Marlborough, Mass., Oct. 14, 1881.
To whom it may concern:
This is to certify, that in the capacity of Treasurer of the Marlborough
Savings Bank, I have constant dealings with the French citizens of this
town both as depositors and borrowers, and I uniformly find them an
honest, industrious, and money saving people.
(Signed)
EDWARD R. ALLEY,
Treasurer of the Marlborough Savings Bank.
Marlborough, Mass., Oct. 24, 1881.
Louis B. Talbot, Esq.
Dear Sir, In reply to your inquiry as to my knowledge of a disposition
extant among our French citizens of Marlborough to hoard their
earnings under any probable contingency of a return to their native
country, I must of necessity return you a negative answer. My business
relations with our French population cover a period of eleven years and
upwards; and the goods in which I deal being distinctive from what
might be termed the necessaries of life, enables me to meet your inquiry
more broadly perhaps than any other trader here could.
From positive knowledge, I can say, that in proportion to their means
they spend their money as freely as those of any other nationality, in
providing the essential comforts and luxuries for their homes. I find also
that a very large proportion of those with whom I came in contact ten
and eleven years ago are still living here, and many of them have either
erected or purchased homes that they own; and, so far as outward evidence
exists, they are as permanently located as any other class, not even excepting the Yankees. And, in connection with the defence
you are to
make, it may not be out of place to add a farther word as to my knowledge
of their general character. My business connections with them
have been quite extended, and my experience justifies the statement that,
so far as discharging their debt obligations are concerned, they are
usually
actuated by a high sense of honor.
I have found them considerate, just, disposed to deal fairly, and seldom
resorting to any trickery to avoid discharging an obligation. In
fact, they are a people (and I think all our traders will bear me out in
the assertion) with whom it is very pleasant to meet in the business
affairs of every day life.
Trusting my reply may meet your inquiry,
I remain yours truly,
(Signed)
J. W. POPE.
Letters of similar tenor were also submitted, signed by Miss
Eva S. C. Wheelock, and Miss Hattie E. Brigham, school
teachers, and Messrs. Samuel Boyd, Sidney G. Fay, John L.
Stone, William Barnes, John Rock, Brigham & Eager, and
H. G. Fay, all of Marlborough.
Mr. Tirrell (in closing). I think that is all that I wish to
present; but there are other citizens of Marlborough, French
people and others, who, perhaps, would like to say a word.
I would call upon Mr. Timothy A. Coolidge.
Mr. Tirrell. Where do you reside?
Mr. Coolidge. Marlborough.
Q. How long have you lived there?
A. Twenty-two years.
Q. What is your business there?
A. Manufacturer of shoes.
Q. How extensively are you engaged in that manufacture?
A. I employ about three hundred persons, making about
twenty-five hundred or three thousand pairs a day.
Q. Have you carried on such a business as that for a
number of years in the town of Marlborough?
A. Perhaps ten years.
Q. During this period, whether or not you have employed
a large number of French Canadian people in that town?
A. I think I have employed as large a share of French
people as any of the factories, perhaps more so, or as much
so, at any rate. I have a large share of French people, being
in that part of the town where the French people mostly
reside.
Q. How many should you say you had in your employ at the present time?
A. I should say there were one hundred.
Q. Now, Mr. Coolidge, what have you to say relative to
their habits of industry?
A. Well, I have always considered them as having good
habits of industry, as good as any class I have had in my
employ; and, out of the factory, I don't see but they are the
same.
Q. How as to their intelligence, and aptness for work?
A. That is very good. Their mechanical skill is good;
they are quick to see into any thing, and to take hold of any
thing; they are quick, and they are always willing to do
whatever is required.
Q. How do the French people of Marlborough stand in
the community there, as citizens?
A. I think they are recognized the same as any other
class of citizens.
Q. Whether or not they take an interest in public affairs
in the town of Marlborough?
A. They do, and I think they generally show more interest
than do a great many others.
Q. How about their habits through the
town at large, whether they are public violators of law, or otherwise, I
mean, take them as a class generally in the community?
A. Well, take them as a class, I consider them on an
average with the other people. I live right among them. I
live in a part of the town that most of the French live in;
there are a number of the families on the street, and they are
just as good neighbors as any neighbors I could have. I
would not wish to change for any neighbors of Yankee
people or Irish. They are good neighbors. Their children
attend school; they dress well; they are economical, and
attend church regularly as any other class of people, and they
are just as quiet on Sundays. I have a chance to see that,
because I live right amongst them.
Q. Any thing further, Mr. Coolidge, that you desire to
say?
A. I do not know that there is any thing particular. There
has been something said here in regard to strikes amongst the
French people. Now, of course, in my own factory, I have had a great number
of strikes, but I don't think, and I have noticed it during the last three
or four years when I have employed more French, I don't think I have had the
strikes in my factory that there have been in others. Of
course, when there is a strike in the factory, the French must
fall in, necessarily, they could not do any other way and
have peace, but I am satisfied that I have not had the
strikes in my factory that there have been in other factories
the last three years; and I think I have employed a larger
portion of French than most other factories: there is one
exception, perhaps.
Mr.
Dubuque. Mr. Coolidge, you were a representative
for your district, I believe, last year?
Mr. Coolidge. Yes, sir, last year.
Mr. J. H. Guillet, of Lowell, then said: Mr. Chairman,
I have a few statistics which I would like to offer. First, I
will take the population of Lowell. It is 60,000; French
Canadians, 11,000, or 18.3+ per cent of total population;
amount of real estate owned by French Canadians, $275,000;
French Canadians paying taxes on personal property, 83;
amount of personal property owned by French Canadians,
$96,000, which makes the total valuation of property owned
by French Canadians $371,000. The assessors told me that
the property was taxed but two-thirds of the actual value
there in Lowell this year, and that is the amount which they
are taxed on.
Now as to the attendance of children at school:
Total number of children in public schools
... 6,193
Total number in parochial schools ... 1,100
That is to say, the total number of children at school is 7,298,
or 12.1+ per cent of the total population. Of French
Canadian children there are:
Total number in public schools
... 925
Total number in parochial schools ... 253
Or a total of 1,178 now in school. We petitioned the city of
Lowell, two years ago, to provide more schoolrooms for us.
They have given us two rooms where we need ten. The
school committee has been fighting all the time for two years
to have rooms provided. I take the statement of Mr. Smith,
of the school committee, that in one district we have 183
children who cannot attend school for want of room. I am
informed that in other parts of the city there are many who
cannot go to school for the same reason. They use ward
rooms and every place possible for schoolrooms. Now, if we
add this total of 183 French Canadian children who are prevented
from attendance for lack of room to the number
previously obtained, we find the whole number of Canadian
school children to be 1,361, or 12.3+ per cent of the total
French Canadian population.
Consider in this connection that a large part of the French
population is composed of grown-up families recently arrived
in Lowell, together with many young men and women who
have come to make their home here, and who, being unmarried,
consequently have no children to attend school.
There are in Lowell 232 French Canadians who have
become naturalized American citizens, and, besides these,
twenty-seven who have declared their intention to become
naturalized. Please remember that the laws of this country
regarding naturalization are very, strict, and that five years
ago there were not many French Canadian young men here
who were under eighteen years of age.
We have in our city seven French Canadians in official
positions, including two public school teachers, and one
member of the common council. We have a church with
a seating capacity of 2,100, and also two French Canadian
benevolent societies, two literary societies, and two dramatic
societies, These societies give conferences on different topics
every other week, and dramatic representations every month.
We have a French Canadian brass band, and a French
Canadian newspaper.
There are in Lowell 134 French Canadians engaged in
business on their own account in the various branches of
trade; there are ten physicians and seventy-one clerks.
There is also a branch of the Northwestern Mutual Life
Insurance Company of Milwaukee, Wis., in which French
Canadians of Lowell have invested large sums of money.
In regard to the education of our people, the
facts that they have reading-rooms, conferences, and dramatic
representations so often, as I have stated; that we support a newspaper; and
that we have evening classes for those who desire to attend, supported by
the before mentioned associations, are ample proofs that we may be
favorably compared with any other nationality so far as educational taste is
concerned.
As to our habits, I offer as facts: 1st, on every Sunday our
church, which has a seating capacity of 2,100, as I have
stated, is filled three times; 2d, our reading-room, connected
with one of the above named associations, is well attended
every night; 3d, the conferences given under the auspices of
our societies every two weeks are also very well attended,
and so are our dramatic representations and evening schools;
4th, that with a population of 11,000 French Canadians, we
have only one saloon, owned by one of our people, where intoxicating
liquor is sold, and he does not keep it himself; and 5th, that the clerk of the Lowell police court has stated to
me that if the whole population of the city were French and
American there would not be business enough to support the
court.
In regard to the mill operatives I would state that on the
occasion of the 24th of June last, when I interviewed agents
of our cotton manufacturers to obtain permission to let the
French Canadian help out on that day, Mr. Ludlam of the
Merrimack Manufacturing Company told me that he would
do it with pleasure, as he considered the French his best help.
Mr. Cumnock spoke in very severe terms of the Twelfth
Annual Report, and said the French were his best help. Mr.
Shaw of the Tremont and Suffolk Mills, and Mr. Moulton of
the Hamilton Manufacturing Company, both said that the
French compared very favorably with any other nationality
in their respective mills.
I have letters here from overseers. We have about half a
dozen French overseers in Lowell, but I will read no letters
from them, because they are interested.
Mr. Guillet then read the following letters:
Lowell, Oct. 24, 1881.
In the capacity of overseer for the Lawrence Manufacturing Company
I employ about seventy-five French Canadian people, mostly males. I
find them, as a rule, punctual and steady at their work, and not given to
drunkenness. I have not found them desirous of working overtime,
though frequent opportunity has been given them to do so.
(Signed)
S. B. Kitchen.
Office of the Tremont and Suffolk Mills,
Lowell, Mass., Oct. 24, 1881.
To whom it may concern, and regarding the
French Canadian operatives employed in these mills:
It is my opinion, that as regards thrift,
sobriety, and general good behavior and application to their labors,
they compare, as a class, favorably with either of the other classes
viz., American and Irish employed on this corporation.
(Signed) J. S. SHAW, Agent.
Per Chadwick.
Lowell, Mass., Oct. 24, 1881.
We, undersigned, furnishing food and
provisions to over five hundred French families in this city, do certify
that the French Canadians as a class do like and use the best kind of
meats and provisions, and don't live as paupers.
(Signed) GAUDETTE BROS.
Mr.
Guillet (continuing). In the Merrimack Manufacturing Company they
have an establishment called fancy work, where they employ about 175 help;
and I understand 150 are French, and they are putting in looms, and I am
informed that by and by the whole room will be French. They like their help
and their work on this particular kind of work. The statistics I have given
are for the most part taken by myself from the assessors' books; and those
about the schools were given by the superintendent of schools. He is a
little opposed to the French; but still he gave me very kindly these
statistics, and some of the school committee were present, and they helped
me considerably. These are correct; and I made them with the expectation
that the books would be looked over by somebody else.
Mr.
Dubuque. You have been elected president of the convention held in
Fall River the first part of October?
Mr.
Guillet. I have.
Q. This convention was composed of
delegates from Rhode Island and Massachusetts?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Now, how long have you taken part in
these annual conventions?
A. Well, I have about four years.
Q. Now, whether the question of
naturalization has been discussed before these conventions?
A. Yes, sir; it has many and many times.
Q. What has been the universal sentiment
in the conventions with regard to this question of naturalization and
repatriation?
A. Every time there were resolutions
passed favoring the naturalization of the people, and requesting them to use
all efforts, and to do every thing possible to get naturalized; About
repatriation, the last convention decided not to say a word about it, to
let those who desired to be repatriated do it. We found out that the people
were having good homes here; and those who had homes here had better stay
here for the present anyway.
Q. Now, whether you have taken part in
any movement in Lowell or anywhere to secure the naturalization of our
people?
A. Yes, sir; I have every year. Every
year we have friends in Lowell and in Fall River, when I lived there, who
have gotten up clubs, and done all we could to get the people naturalized;
and they have responded pretty well. Just as soon as they understand the
language, just as soon as they are of age to be naturalized, they are ready
to answer, and they get naturalized.
Q. How many years have you been in the
States?
A. I have been about ten years in the
United States.
Q. Now, from your observation, while you
have lived here in the United States, are there not a great many people who
come here at the age of between forty and fifty who do not learn the English
language?
A. Yes, sir; there are a great many. Of
course there are a good many of that age who come here, who have families,
and we don't expect to have those old gentlemen naturalized; they are too
old, they cannot learn the language. It is very exceptional to find an old
man to talk English. He has come here too old; and unless he buys a piece of
land or property he does not get naturalized: he don't understand the ways,
he don't understand the laws, of the people among whom he lives.
Q. Now, whether or not, according to your
experience, the children of those who have come here old, and cannot talk
English, as soon as they get to understand the language and the customs, and
become of age, get naturalized?
A. Yes, sir; they do, especially within
two or three years: we have had a great many applications from people just
as soon as they come of age, and before they come to age, inquiring when
they would be able to get naturalized, and they get naturalized just as soon
as they can.
Mr.
Wright. You are acquainted with the locality called "Little Canada"
in Lowell?
Mr.
Guillet. Yes, sir.
Q. What is the sanitary condition of that
district?
A. Well, according to the report made
last year, and published this year, it is not very good; but last year those
buildings which were referred to in the report published yesterday were not
finished.
Q. What report do you refer to?
A. To the report of the sanitary
commission of Massachusetts, published in the papers yesterday, and it
created quite a breeze in Lowell, it censured the whole schoolhouse
system and Little Canada. About half a dozen of the houses there are owned
by French people; but the most of them are owned by American speculators who
lease the land, and build up tenement houses. The most of them are used by
the French because they work more in the Lawrence and Tremont and Suffolk
Mills.
Mr.
Wright. Do you think the owners, or the tenants, are responsible for
the bad sanitary condition?
A. The owners, undoubtedly.
Q. Who do you say own the buildings?
A. I don't know if I remember all the
names; I could give half a dozen names, Mr. Farrington, Mr. Thompson, Mr.
Lombard, George W. Harris, Harris owns two-thirds of the place, and
four-fifths are owned by Americans. The land used to be old low land, the
Lowell landing they called it formerly. It is filled in with what they got
from excavations when they built the mills, and with dirt from the street.
It was filled with dirt of the streets for several years, but this has been
stopped. I have not noticed for three or four years any filling with refuse
matter.
Mr.
Dubuque. I wish to put in evidence the report of the superintendent
of schools of Fall River for 1881, and I have marked the places and the
pages to which I want to call the attention of the Bureau.
[The extracts from the report are as follows:
"The laws relating to the
schooling of children who are employed in the mills part of each year
are well observed. It is a rare occurrence to find in the manufacturing
establishments of this city a child employed between ten and fourteen
years of age who has not attended school twenty weeks during the year
next preceding the time of his employment. I doubt if any city in the
Commonwealth can show as good a record as Fall River, notwithstanding
the opportunities for the employment of children in this city between
ten and fourteen are more numerous than in any other.
"The requirement prohibiting
the employment of children of the above ages who are unable to read and
write, is not, in my opinion, so generally obeyed. What is to be
understood by the ability or the inability of a child to read and write,
is not easily determined. The vagueness of the law leads, perhaps, to
its violation. Does the requirement mean that the child shall be able to
read and write English before he can be lawfully employed? Or, if unable
to perform these acts in English, and can read and write in French,
German, Spanish, or in any other language, will that qualification
answer the requirements of the law? Does it admit of as liberal an
interpretation respecting the qualifications of the children to perform
the acts of reading and of writing as is practised by municipal
authorities in putting voters' names on their voting lists? If so, the
law can hardly be violated. The spirit of the law is good, but it seems
to me that it is practically a dead letter because of its vagueness."
The teachers of the Armory Hall School make
honorable mention of fourteen pupils, of whom four are French Canadians.]
Mr. Dubuque also submitted the report of the City Marshal of Fall River for
the year ending Feb. 28, 1881, from which it appears that but one hundred
and twenty Canadians (either French or born in Canada) were arrested during
the year out of a total of 1,817 arrests.
Mr. J. D.
Montmarquet, of Lewiston, Me., then appeared in behalf of the French.
Q. (By Mr.
Dubuque.) Are you the editor
of a French paper published at Lewiston?
A. Yes, sir, "Le Messager."
Q. Whether or not the French in the State
of Maine have had a national convention?
A, Yes, sir.
Q. And that has been composed of
delegates from what places?
A. From all the different localities of
the State of Maine, where the French reside.
Q. When did that convention meet?
A. On the 21st, 22d, and 23d of June
last.
Q. You are one of the promoters, I
believe, of the movement?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Now, will you please proceed with your
report?
Mr.
Montmarquet. I am going to give first, gentlemen, the most eloquent
part of my statement; that is, the figures. I do not intend to give you a
report of all the localities of Maine. It would simply be a repetition of
the one submitted. I will give, for instance, Lewiston. What is there, is
found in every city, town, and village of Maine, in proportion to their
population. The total population of this city is from nineteen thousand to
twenty thousand. The French Canadians number about five thousand, one
hundred and fifty of whom are voters. Number who have taken their first
papers, fifty.
We have one French Catholic church, which cost,
altars, organ, and ornaments included, about one hundred thousand dollars.
This church is in charge of five Dominican Fathers. We have a convent, but
it has proved insufficient; and a large lot of land has been recently
purchased on which to erect a larger building for school purposes. Besides
this convent we have a day school for children, and two evening schools for
adults. The scholars who attend the convent number about three hundred. I
may not be exact in my figures, but they are very nearly correct, and give
an exact idea of what is in Lewiston; and what is in Lewiston gives an exact
idea of what is in all Maine.
Q. (By Mr.
Dubuque.) Whether or not, Mr.
Montmarquet, you have travelled through Maine, in the various centres or
places where the French are settled?
A. I have, sir.
Q. Whether or not you have been in other
States?
A. Yes, sir: all through the New England
States, and New York.
Q. You have been occupied as editor of
this paper for how long?
A. A little over a year and a half.
Q. Before that time you were employed as
travelling agent for the "Travailleur," of Mr. Gagnon?
A. Yes, sir, for about two years.
Q. And as such travelling agent you have
visited the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. You have lived in New York?
A. I lived in New York about twenty
years; about eight years in the city, and ten or twelve in other parts of
the
State.
Q. I believe you published some reports
from the various centres you visited while you were travelling agent for Mr.
Gagnon's paper?
A. I have made quite a work of them.
Q. You have collected statistics, I
believe, of the various localities?
A. Yes, sir, all of them.
Q. Now proceed, if you please, with your
report.
A. We have two benevolent societies in
Lewiston; each of these have about one hundred and fifty members. And we
have also what we call a National Club; this club is composed of the whole
French population of the city.
Q. What is its object?
A. Its object is the discussion of the
question of general politics, exclusive of party affiliations, in the
interest of the French population especially. The main question is the
naturalization of the French Canadians. That was the idea of the club when
we established it.
Q. In that club I suppose you speak the
French language?
A. Yes, sir, always.
Q. As in all the French societies?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. These benevolent societies you have
spoken of are mutual relief societies?
A, Yes, sir.
Q. For the relief of sick members?
A. Yes, sir. We have a brass band, and
two dramatic clubs. We have one French paper, two doctors, one lawyer, two
druggists, two dry goods merchants, two boot and shoe merchants, one
stationer, nine grocers, one furniture dealer, three printers, twelve
carpenters, twelve shoemakers, seven blacksmiths, two masons, eight
painters, and fifty, or about that number, French Canadian clerks in
American stores. We have twenty-five real estate owners, and a larger number
who have built houses on leased land. We have two representatives in the
city council, and one French policeman. Now, if we call criminals those who
get locked up for one night, we have had about ten during the last year. I
can't tell you the whole number of arrests made in the city during the year,
but out of the whole number only ten were French Canadians. But if you call
criminals only those who have received sentence we haven't a single one in
the whole French Canadian population of the city. I remember at the last
criminal court the judge made the remark: not even a single Frenchman was
there as a witness.
And now, gentlemen, I wish to make this
statement, that what we have done for our church, costing about one hundred
thousand dollars, eighty thousand dollars of which has been
paid, for the organization of these societies and schools, we have done in
the space of about ten years. Before that time there were but very few
French Canadians in Lewiston, and no organization whatever.
Now, gentlemen, I have the reports here of
several other places, but I think it unnecessary to give them: it would be
occupying valuable time for nothing.
Mr.
Dubuque. I think you had better give them.
Mr.
Wright. I think so; make your statement as full as your facts will
allow.
Mr.
Montmarquet (resuming). Let us take Biddeford, then. The total
population of Biddeford is 12,200. The French Canadians number 6,500;
voters, 475. There is one splendid Catholic church there, and two French
Catholic priests. There are four schools, a national society, the French
Canadian Institute, a society for young men, and a mutual benefit society.
There are thirty-five merchants, two lawyers, and two holding public office.
There are French Canadian clerks in every store there, and there are about
fifteen in different kinds of business not mentioned here. Now, to give you
an idea of what their benevolent societies are, they give us a statement of
their finances. The Society of St. John the Baptist since its organization
has received $6,443.96; the expenses have been $2,503.38. They have donated
to the church, $300; they have given as charities for different objects,
$250; the current expenses have been $2,590.58; they have in bank $800, and
$1,200 in real estate, making $2,000 in the Society fund. That gives an idea
of the state of our societies in Maine. This is one among many of them.
Here is Waterville. The population is 4,859;
French Canadians, 1,635, with 100 voters. They have one Catholic church, one
benevolent society, four grocers, three wheelwrights, six painters, four
blacksmiths, one doctor, one barber, three shoemakers, three engineers, and
eighteen teamsters. The ten-hour system is in force there.
Now, there is another part of Maine, Madawaska,
the most isolated part of the State. It is not exactly in case here, but
allow me to just refer to it, please. It is a part of Maine once belonging
to Canada, but to the United States since 1842. All I have to say about that
district is that the French people there are all naturalized, and all real
estate owners. They have their churches and schools mostly taught by French
Canadians.
Now, as I stated before, I have visited all the
New England States, and have made a regular census of this part of the
country, and also of New York. I published the result of my labors in Mr.
Gagnon's paper. I can say that I found French Canadians everywhere in all of
the liberal professions and in all branches of business. I will add that
they desire to educate their children, and, besides helping to support the
general institutions of learning, have their own schools taught by their own
teachers. And I have found in every family, with a very few exceptions, from
one to five who could read and write either French or English. And, in
regard to the morals and religion of the people, I say, and I am proud to
declare it, that the French Canadian people are superior to any other
nationality in the United States. As proof of this I offer the Canadians of
New England. If you question the statement, go and study the proof which
lies in every French Canadian family in New England. As to the system of ten
hours' work per day, I can only repeat what has been said by the gentlemen
preceding me, viz., that the law is not in force in every State. The French
Canadians desire this system, but will not endeavor to obtain it by unlawful
means, such as strikes, riots, etc. I have talked with this people in their
own houses, and I know them; I have studied them: I know it is because they
could not obtain the system without committing acts condemned by law. That
is, they could not obtain it except through strikes and all the disorders
inseparable from this evil, and this is forbidden by order of the priests,
and we generally obey our priests because we know that they always guide us
in the right path. And on that account we have not that system, and you will
never find a French Canadian who will use forcible means to obtain it. That
is, they never go to a shop, and try to drive people out who are willing to
work, or use any violent means whatever to accomplish this object. If that
is the only way to obtain it, you cannot expect the French Canadians to
assist in its enforcement.
Mr.
Wright. You think the French people, as a people, are in favor of the
system?
Mr.
Montmarquet. That is so, certainly, but they won't strike for it.
That we can prove at any time. We are prepared to prove it here. If I could
talk better English, I would translate these resolutions that we passed in
our national convention in Waterville. You would see by them what is the
spirit of the French population, what they make out, what they want done,
and what they work for, for we stand by what is contained in those
resolutions. We are for them in Maine, in New Hampshire, in all the United
States. The convention is the echo of our wishes everywhere.
[At this point the noon recess was taken.]
At the afternoon session, Mr. Montmarquet
resumed his statement.
Q. (By Mr.
Wright.) You have travelled
through the New England States?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And especially among the French
Canadians?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Have you travelled among the French in
Connecticut?
A. Yes, sir, but not so often as among
the French in other places; but I have made a tour of Connecticut.
Q. State whether the Canadians in
Connecticut have any large centres of population, or whether, they are more
in scattered communities?
A. In the places visited by me, a very
large proportion of the population is French.
Q. What is the condition of the French
Canadians in Connecticut compared with the condition of the French in
Massachusetts?
A. I don't see any difference, except
that they are not proprietors so much in Connecticut as in Massachusetts,
but from what I have noticed I think there are more French schools. In small
villages there are one or two French schools where they teach French and
English, what we call private schools. I think there is a larger
proportion in Connecticut than in other places I visited. In one small
village there are two schools, and they are prosperous.
Q. How would their habits and general
living compare?
A. The very habits they brought from
Canada; they will be out doors talking and singing between themselves. They
are just like the French in Canadian villages. They like to sing, and they
are a little noisy, but always friendly; and I
think their morals are just as pure as in Canada.
Q. They have not the organization which
the French in Canada have?
A. I don't think they have so many
societies as in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Q. I notice that Connecticut is rarely
represented in your conventions; I don't know that I ever noticed where it
has been represented.
A. They were represented once in
Worcester, but I don't think they were active there.
Q. Generally they have not been
represented?
A. I think that was the only time. They
have no French newspaper there, and that is a great drawback; and the fact
is, I think, if they had one, it would be one too many, although those that
are published manage to live; but that State is so near Massachusetts that
they all subscribe for the Massachusetts papers.
Q. (By Mr.
Dubuque.) Now, I want to know
if the French are as numerous in Connecticut, for instance, as they
are in Massachusetts, comparatively? Have you any particular statistics, or
a general idea?
A. Take the whole State together, of
course there are more French in Massachusetts than in Connecticut; but take
a town in Massachusetts that has, let us say, twenty thousand inhabitants,
and one in Connecticut that has only twelve thousand, and in proportion, I
think, you will find more Canadians in Connecticut than in Massachusetts,
the proportion is larger.
Q. If you have noticed, as a chronicler
of events, can you tell us how long since the French people have gone into
Connecticut to settle?
A. I cannot tell you. When I went there.
I took the number of the population, the different manufactories, the prices
of labor in the different places, their condition, the number of voters,
etc.; but I can't go any further than that.
Professor
N. Cyr, of Boston, next appeared, and said:
Mr. Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, I would
say that it is mostly as chairman of a committee that was formed within a
few days in Boston, that I appear at this audience. In Boston we do not feel
personally insulted, as our brethren have been in other places; but we have
felt that belonging to the same race, to the same nationality, we, could not
let this opportunity pass without taking some interest in this hearing; and
the Canadian Institute, which is the main organization of French Canadians
here, invited me to attend a meeting, and there we organized a committee.
This committee immediately went to work, and we sent, not knowing what Mr.
Gagnon had done on his own responsibility, we sent to various places as we
happened to know the names of individuals. And, considering that we had such
a short time to do the work, we have received quite a number of answers; and
I will, before proceeding further, give a few of the particulars which we
have been able to gather. Several have told us verbally, since coming here,
that, inasmuch as they tad already sent their statistics to Mr. Gagnon, they
did not feel the necessity of sending them to us. I have a report here from
Clinton County, which I will leave with the Bureau. There is one fact in it
that strikes me, that in that county there are 6,000 French Canadians that
have been naturalized; in Clinton County alone, New York. There are 6,000
who have been naturalized, there are 1,850 owners of real estate, and the
report in other respects is equally very interesting. There are 2,500
children attending the public schools. I have received also from Winooski,
Vt., a letter containing statistics, and there are a few facts in it to
which I will call your attention. Under the head, "Canadians naturalized,
how many?" we find "almost all;" almost all that is a pretty good showing.
I think these gentlemen, these Canadians, do not expect to go back to
Canada, very soon, at any rate. Here is another point with regard to the
Canadians, about criminals; but I would just read the blank that we sent.
Title: "Canadian statistics," giving the place; first, "Number of
Canadians;" second, "Number of Canadian churches" (because, of course, if
they establish churches it shows that they expect to remain there. They
would not build expensive churches, as they do, unless they intended to
remain; and in that respect, gentlemen, they are very different from the
Chinese, because we have not yet the privilege of having a Chinese temple in
Boston, so far as I know.) In the third place, "Number of Canadian pupils in
the parish schools." We respect the liberty of conscience; and as we respect
conscience we say that if people find fault with the public schools, for one
reason or another, they have the right of building their own schools
provided they support them. Then: "How many in the public schools?" Sixth,
"Canadians naturalized?" Seventh, "How many who have made their
declaration?" I think it would not look very well on the part of any
officers of the State of Massachusetts, or anywhere else in this great
country, to find fault with the French Canadians because they did not get
naturalized the first year they come to the country. I know some people who
come from Europe and are naturalized the first year; but we don't work on
that plan. We don't believe in love at first sight; we want to get
acquainted a little with the country, and see how things look here, before
we really, to use a common expression, "pop the question;" and I think it
speaks very well for the French people that they wait a little while before
they even make their declaration. And, of course, they must understand
English first. That is one thing that is absolutely necessary.
There is another thing here, and just allow me
to speak of it. I think I am a thorough American citizen, and I have been so
for many years; and I must say that it was a blessed day when I was able to
exchange my condition of a British subject, which was only a thing of
accident, not of my own choice, for that of the position and the privileges
of
an American citizen. I think it was one of the brightest days of my life
when I was able to thus become, not a subject, but a citizen. For, according
to the theory of our government in this country, which I think is the
highest, and
the most philosophical, and the most humane, every man is both a citizen and
a king, a king to govern himself and to govern the country; and, because he
is not able to attend to the affairs of the country, then he appoints a
president to whom he delegates his authority; but he is still a king, every
American citizen is a king, and he only delegates his authority to the
president. Now, I think it speaks well for a nation to have patriotism; that
is, to feel the love of its native country. I think it is one of the highest
sentiments that we can find in the human heart, the love of the native land;
and therefore, if the Canadians do not immediately become American citizens,
and wait a little while out of love for their native country, it shows, I
think, that, when they become American citizens, they will be better
citizens.
Another point was, how many societies of St.
John the Baptist. Now, Americans probably would not understand what these
societies are. They are most useful societies; they are mutual aid
associations, and therefore destined to do an excellent work. Instead of
going to the town to get charity, the members of that society have a claim
upon it. Then there are what we call literary clubs, and societies of
various kinds. There are quite a number of dramatic societies which show
that the French are true to their origin, that is, they like the drama;
and these societies, so far as I know, have always presented to the public
the most moral pieces that have ever been published in French.
Now, in Winooski, Vt., a small place where there
are only a few mills, there is one Society of St. John the Baptist, there is
one of those clubs, and, with regard to criminals, they say that there are
not any. It seems to me that it speaks very well for a locality to be able
to make this showing. But I will not dwell any longer on this, because most
of these points have been presented.
I have also been requested to represent Boston. In Boston we have but very
few French Canadians, comparatively. In fact, we have very few people of the
French race altogether. The French race, taking the French born in France
and in Canada, altogether make only a small community here; but still,
taking the French Canadians, I will give you just a few statistics which I
have noted down, and then with a few remarks I will close. Now, in Boston we
have three physicians, three dentists, two teachers of French, and, I think,
nearly a hundred clerks. I will say here that these clerks are found in the
largest stores, at Jordan, Marsh, & Co.'s, at White's; and their services
are very much appreciated, because they have something which is peculiar to
them, peculiar to their race, they are exceedingly polite, and they do not
do exactly as some nationalities do, who sometimes think they are really
rendering you a service by showing you goods. The French clerks are
exceedingly polite, and otherwise they show that they are ready to do any
thing that they can. Then, I might say, we have men in Boston who have
written a good deal of French, and some French that will compare with the
French of France. There is a very strange idea among even educated Americans
in Boston and elsewhere, that the French of Canada is altogether different
from the French of France, so different that a Frenchman could not
understand it. That is a great mistake. The French of the educated people of
Montreal and Quebec will compare very favorably with the French of Lyons or
of Bordeaux and of other large cities of France. Of course Paris is the
greatest literary centre, and a man from Lyons or Bordeaux will go to Paris
to finish his French; and so a man from Montreal or Quebec will go to Paris
to improve his French. "We have one man in Boston who is a real poet. There
is one church composed mostly of French Canadians. There is one mutual aid
society. There is a literary society composed of eighty members, called the
"Canadian Institute," having a library and reading-room, and there are
lectures and political discussions there every week; and certainly, when I
see these young men, these clerks, who are willing to pay from six to ten
dollars a year in order to sustain a society, and when I see the American
clerks who for one dollar can be members of the Christian Association or the
Christian Union, and there have almost every thing except board and lodging,
I think it speaks very well for the French Canadians that they are willing
to contribute so largely to sustain this institution. I may state also that
there is a French newspaper called "Le Rιpublicain," which I have founded
with the view of presenting American institutions under their true light.
And so, here in Boston, though the French are not numerous, yet they can
make a pretty fair showing. I must say that I never heard of any being
brought before a court of justice. There may be some; I should not be
surprised if there were, a dozen or more; but I never heard of any.
Now, with these remarks, I will say that my
impression has been, and I have travelled somewhat through New England,
and have lectured both in French and in English in a good many places,
that I have found the French everywhere a docile people, a kind-hearted
people, and the only fault I find is that they are almost too humble. That
is about the only fault I find with them, that they have not come yet to
that feeling of independence which all Americans have, and, when the French
operative goes to offer his services, he looks too much like a beggar,
whilst he should feel like a man who has a treasure to offer. He goes to the
capitalist, and what can be the capitalist do without the sturdy hand of the
laborer? What is the use of having all this machinery unless there are men
to run it? And I think that on the part of
those capitalists, those manufacturers, who have spoken disparagingly of the
French, it is showing very little humanity. Though we do not believe in
strikes or in revolutions, or in setting up labor against capital, we live
in an age of progress, when every man feels his responsibility and his
worth; and there is no place better fitted than the United States of America
to develop personal resources and personal worth; and I say that, unless
capital will do what is just, labor will right it some time. It would be a
great deal better for capital, at the present time, to do what is right,
what is humane, what is honest, what is Christian, in order to prevent this
overturning that may happen here as it has in the Old World. And in
conclusion I may say that I am very glad that this hearing has taken place,
for I think it will be for the benefit of both Americans and French
Canadians, and when we all become American citizens, and all feel that they
are under the same flag, oh, how natural it is for the French Canadian to
be under the United States flag! Have you not noticed that the colors are
the same? The tri-color, the colors are the same, and only the stars here
are added. I suppose the stars mean a little more light. Very well: we will
accept a little
more light, and profit by it.
Mr.
Wright. I should like to ask Mr. Cyr if he has travelled much in
Connecticut, or is much acquainted with the condition of the French
Canadians in that State?
Mr. Cyr.
A few years ago I was in Baltic, for instance. I saw there a very large
population and a very thriving population, before the failure of the owners
of the mills. I have seen also in Vermont, I have been through there, and
seen the Canadians in Burlington, who occupy a very important position
there. I have seen the French Canadians also in the marble quarries of
Rutland, Vt. I have seen them in Whitehall and Cohoes and in Troy and in
Albany; and in all these places I have noticed the same characteristics, the
same earnestness to work. They have come here to work. They are not
adventurers like some people of other nationalities, but they have come here
to work, and to find what have been well styled " the three important
things, space, bread, and liberty."
Mr.
Wright. You have heard the statements made in the hearing with regard
to repatriation: what have you to say of your own experience and knowledge
on that subject?
Mr. Cyr.
My impression is, so far as I have been able to observe, that there are
farmers, who, owing to bad crops or to various other things, get a little
involved: they are obliged to borrow money; and they mortgage their
property, and then they come here with a view of earning enough money
to go back, and take up the mortgage, and settle down again. Now, they are
farmers; they seem to be more inclined to farming. We want farmers just as
much as we need operatives in the mills; and these persons not only have a
perfect right, after they have earned their money honestly, to go back to
Canada, and take up their mortgages, and then have a better position: I
think some do that. But I have noticed another fact, that, when a person
has been here for a year or more, Canada does not seem to be exactly the
same thing. A man's ideas change. Of course we judge of things by
comparison. I remember, before I went to Europe, when I was a student, there
used to be a hill in the locality where I was. I thought it was a very nice
hill, quite a hill; but when I had been in the Alps, and ascended as far as
9,200 feet, and came back, I said, "Where is the hill?" The hill seemed to
be gone; my ideas had changed. And so, when people have been in this country
any time, a certain number, when they go back, they do not find the hill,
and are not satisfied, and a great many of them will come back here. Their
children will certainly come. If the old people will not come back, their
children will come, or a great many of them, so that the proportion of those
who have been here a year or more, who go back to Canada, and settle down, I
think, must be very small.
Mr.
Wright. Briefly, your idea is, that the tendency to permanency has
gained strength?
Mr. Cyr.
I think it is gaining all the time.
Mr.
Gagnon. Many come with the idea of earning money to pay off their
mortgages. With the aid of a confrθre in Worcester I have written
some papers for them, and I am quite sure that others could testify as I do
that many of them come with this idea; but we write more papers for those
who are in Canada, buying from those who are here and hold property there,
than for those who want to return. They come with this idea of going back,
but their ideas change, and they sell their property to land owners in
Canada. You seem, Mr. Wright, to speak of Connecticut more than of other
States.
Mr.
Wright. Before you came in I called the attention of gentlemen to the
fact that I had noticed Connecticut had
not been represented in conventions as much as the other States: in fact, I
see Connecticut mentioned very seldom.
Mr.
Gagnon. They have been represented in 1879 in Worcester, and in Rhode
Island in 1880. And there is a movement on foot now to have a convention in
Connecticut. I have here a number of statements.
Mr.
Dubuque. We will now present to you some evidence from a man who has
been employed by manufacturers in Massachusetts to go into Connecticut, New
Hampshire, and Maine, to get families to come to work in Massachusetts. He
has visited the French families, has talked with them, and they have
expressed the desire to come to live in Massachusetts, where the hours of
labor are shorter.
Statement of Mr.
Edward J. L'Hιrault:
Question. (By Mr.
Dubuque.) Your occupation is
that of a constable of Fall River?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How long have you lived in this State?
A. Twelve years in the State of
Massachusetts. I lived prior to that in the State of Rhode Island, and three
years in the State of New Hampshire.
Q. You were about nine years old when you
came to this country?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Please state what experience you have
had with the manufacturers of Fall River with regard to getting families
from other States, and your observations concerning the French people in
this and other States.
A. My experience with the laboring people
has not been confined to Fall River only; for I have been employed as much,
if not more, by New York and Connecticut parties to get help for them, as
for Fall River. I have always found that wherever I went to a place to get
help for the factories, brickyards, or any other employment, that the French
people were very anxious to find out whether I wanted to take them where
they were working more than ten hours a day. Several of them remarked that
where they had such long hours it confined their children in the mill,
depriving them of all the privileges of getting an education in the day or
night schools. Where they worked only ten hours it would leave them an hour
or two, but in Connecticut they worked twelve hours per day. That seemed to
be the greatest objection to their remaining there. Last week I visited
Grosvenordale, Conn.
Q. In whose interest were you working
then?
A. In the interest of a Fall River
corporation, the Border City Manufacturing Company, who had just erected a
new mill; and I found there a large number of people who were ready and
willing to go to Fall River to work. As the wages are a little higher, that
was some inducement; but that in
itself did not seem to be enough to decide them to leave the place where
they first came to the States; because I might mention here that the French
people in Connecticut, in general, have not lived in the States long. I
found in places such as Grosvenordale, some parts of Baltic, and in the
manufacturing districts along the Connecticut River, where there were
Canadians (not so much in Willimantic as in Baltic and in other places owned
by the Spragues), that the majority of the help were people from Canada,
brought there at the expense of the manufacturers; and, in order to work out
the cost which the company had been put to, they had to be submitted to long
hours of toil. And, as a rule, just as soon as they can pay off the company
(and it takes them a long time: the company furnishes them all the
necessaries of life at their own price), as soon as they can get clear, as
they term it, "get square with the corporation," they seek employment
elsewhere for the reasons I have stated, in order to give their children a
longer time to go to school, and not keep them at work so long. In
Grosvenordale, for instance, the mill owners have brought, during the last
year, more than twenty families, of which about five have left the place.
They have left there to go to other parts of the State, not to return to
Canada, but to go to other parts of the State, and to Massachusetts. I have
always found them working, or seeking employment where they were working no
more than ten hours a day, from Grosvenordale and other places in
Connecticut and Rhode Island also.
Q. How many families have you brought to
Fall River within the last year?
A. I don't know as I could state with any
accuracy. A great deal of the help we brought there was single help. There
were probably twenty-five or thirty families.
Q. What arrangements have the
manufacturers made in Fall River with those French families?
A. The arrangement varies with different
corporations. The corporations furnish a tenement, of course, and if the
family are in need they will pay their expenses to Fall River; and, if they
are so in need that they cannot buy the necessaries of life, they get some
provision dealer to furnish them, and take it out of their pay.
Q. Now, have you noticed any thing about
the French people, about literary or benevolent societies and schools?
whether in Connecticut or Massachusetts, or other places where you have
lived or visited?
A. I scarcely visited a place for the
last five years where I have not found parochial schools among the French,
evening schools and day schools; and, as a rule, the children always attend
the public schools when they haven't another school of their choice.
Q. Whether or not the French are so
permanently located in those places where there is no French church as they
are where there is one?
A. No, sir: the French people like to
cluster around the old church, and where there is not a church they
generally build one, if they are strong enough: if not they will go where
there are enough of their kind to help them to build a church. If near a
church they are by far more stationary.
Q. Now, whether or not any manufacturers
in Fall River have made statements to you with regard to French help, either
coming from Canada or other places, as compared with the other
nationalities?
A. If I should report the statements made
many times by our manufacturers, I should be afraid to hurt the feelings of
some one. But I would say that in every case where I have been sent out,
they wanted me to do all in my power to get some French help for them. They
say, first, they like them because the day after pay-day they are sure of
having a Frenchman at work; whereas the others are generally getting on the
way an introduction to some magistrate for having drank too much the day
before. I see that in Fall River by actual observation this is true. And
then they are not so apt to rebel as the others. For instance, the
manufacturers always object to getting the people from Lancashire, who
recently have come from there. They are good help, good workers; but they
are apt to rebel, and lead others to do so. The French help are always found
at work, and are not miserly of an hour if it was necessary to benefit their
employer. I have always found them ready to work. They are quiet; they
don't raise much disturbance around the factory village; they scarcely ever
fight among themselves; whereas that is a thing which is very often the case
with other help, they have a great deal more fighting and rowdying around
the corporations than in other places.
Q. As to their social customs, herding
together and meeting together to chat?
A. They are quiet. During the hours of
rest in the week you will find them sitting together in a circle in each
other's houses, and they will there discuss one topic and another; they will
gather round about those who have the most interesting newspaper, and one
will read while the others will listen, and pass the time in that way. They
very seldom have any great feast. They sometimes get together, and have a
pretty good time; but there is scarcely ever any disturbance that would
amount to any disturbance of the peace.
Q. What about their habits as to
temperance?
A. For some eight years past I have been
employed by the courts of Bristol County as French interpreter, and I have
seen as much as two months without having one single Frenchman brought
before the district court. I consulted the return of our chief of police for
the last six years. In
1875 there were 2,441 people arrested by the police, 65 of whom were French
or born in Canada. The French population of Fall River was about one-sixth
of the entire population. In 1876 there were 2,301 arrested, of whom there
were 63 born in Canada. The population then was about the same as the year
before. It has not much increased, although it has increased somewhat. In
1877 the total number of arrests was 2,419; Canadians, 119. In 1878, 1,945;
Canadians, 106. In 1879, 1,664; Canadians, 89. In 1880, 1,881; Canadians,
120. The number for the six years was 12,651, of whom 562 were of Canadian
birth, or about 4.5 per cent. Of those who have been arrested and reported
as of Canadian birth, there are a large number who are not recognized as
Canadians, but who are cute enough to give their place of birth as Canada;
but when we see them the next day we know that they were not born there.
Those that are arrested are, as a rule, the same ones every year or every
month. I don't believe there were twenty-five different Canadians arrested
in Fall River last year. The French population now is close on to eleven
thousand, making the percentage of crime among the French very small. Of
course there is a certain number of our population which is never mentioned
in the courts, and so, taking it among the operatives, they are about the
only ones, comparatively, the mechanics, who are brought before the court,
and, taking it in that way, there are certainly eight or ten of the others
compared with one of them.
Rev. Father
Millet, of Nashua, N.H., then
said: In the beginning of my statement I will say that I corroborate, as far
as I can remember, much of the remarks which have been made in general by my
friend Mr. Gagnon on the general statement which is the subject matter of
this investigation. At a meeting I, together with one other, was chosen to
come and present our cause before this hearing. They could have chosen heavy
business men, but they chose a workingman, possibly because they were most
interested in the case. We have not had time, having received these
questions only Saturday; and, being very busy in a very numerous parish, I
cannot express myself on every question and go into detail upon the subject
matter of the investigation, but still I will give such figures as I have
been able to collect. The total population of our city is about 13,307 by
the last census. I hare not made any census for some three or four years
past, but still the French population amounts to over 3,000, nearer 4,000
than otherwise, having more than doubled in the ten years that I have been
there. Since that time this population has built one church and one
parochial residence, and the debts on these two institutions are very small
comparatively. I find that amongst our parishioners there are fifty-one or
thereabouts real estate owners. Some of them are owners not only of one
house, but of three or even four houses. As to a statement of their
financial condition I have not gone to the banks to collect that, but I
remember that ten years ago, in one of the banks where I was doing business,
one of the directors told me that at that time or thereabouts the French had
over fifty thousand dollars in that one savings bank. Of those who went away
during the space of ten years, the number is very small. Of those who went
away to
stay, it is very small indeed. I could not give you the exact figures, but I
don't know as I could find ten or twenty who
went to remain. Some have gone to Montana to settle on farms, and some of
them have returned; others have remained, feeling they are better off there.
For 1880, I find from the school report that there were in the schools 2,526
children, and in the evening schools 347; the average attendance
during the year was 1,630. The school report does not make a classification
by nationalities, but to the best of my knowledge I should say that in that
attendance there were between 450 and 500 in the day schools, and in the
evening school I should almost be certain a very large majority were French
Canadians; and not only was that the number in the schools,
but the want of schoolrooms was such that in this year they
have built a new schoolhouse, and that schoolhouse is
rapidly filling up. We have of naturalized citizens about 175
or 200. We have two political clubs, one for each party, who
are very busy in pressing people to become naturalized. We
have also three physicians, graduates of medical schools, with
regular university diplomas. We generally have in the city
council one representative, besides now and then, I could
not say it was every year, but I remember having some on
the selectmen's board. Generally there is always one regular
police officer besides a number of specials, generally between
three and four. In the way of business men we have
about seventeen of them in business, of whom about fourteen
are in the grocery business; thirty-two or so are clerks, one is
a baker; and there are a number of carpenters, which I have
not taken the pains to count. We have a parochial library, a
benevolent society under the name of St. John the Baptist,
and generally, through the winters, one, and very often two,
dramatic clubs who give representations for the amusement of
the people. We also had, as representative of a large corporation,
the general passenger agent of the Vermont Central,
and also one for the Passumpsic; but things have now
become changed to Lowell.
The criminal statistics for 1880, those for 1881 have not
been published, but I went to the police office, and collected
from the records, hastily, these statistics; I give you these
figures as taken hastily; I would not take my oath on them
all, but still they are pretty correct, I find that out of
1,221 arrested, 61 people belong to our nationality, French
Canadians; but I find also, and I so represented to the city
marshal, that there were some names there that were not
French, and I don't see how they could have got there; but still I took them
down. And amongst those arrested I find two for playing marbles on Sunday,
two for unlawful fishing, one for assault. I find also amongst them 12 lodgers, one
disobedient child, and I find 23 for drunkenness. And of
these 23 drunks, unhappily, the same name very often occurs.
As far as relates to their being a burden on the community,
I have been for a time attending the county farm in Wilton
for our county of Hillsborough, I have not attended there
lately, but in the time I did attend to it every other month,
together with another confrθre, I very, very seldom found any
French Canadian there: I did now and then, but it was very,
very seldom.
As to their morals generally, I must state, I will not
pretend by any means that they are all perfect, by no means;
but still I will say that to us they are very satisfactory, seeing
the large number of young men, and the immense seduction
of city life, the temptations to those people who are
unaccustomed to it, that their morals are satisfactory. As
to smoking, I confess that they do smoke, and I myself do.
I don't blame them for it; it is one of their faults, but I cannot
correct them on that item, because I do it myself.
As to their living beggarly, it is not often. Not only myself,
but many other pastors can make the same showing. One of
the great reproaches we make is, that they spend too much,
they live too high, and they dress too fine. That is the great
evil that we put on them. They live too high, they spend
too much. This is about all I can say concerning Nashua.
The reverend pastor of Manchester, who I learned yesterday
was unable to attend himself, requested me to give also a
few figures which have been taken very hastily, and are incomplete.
In a population approaching 9,000 they have two
churches, two parochial residences, and the debts are very
small, comparatively, for the length of time. There is now
building a parochial school which is now under way. They
have there 1,000 children in the schools, according to the
report of 1881, and in the parochial school there are 460.
They have a brass band. If that can be considered a civilizing
agency, they have that. They have two dramatic clubs,
a large number of merchants, heavy business men in different
kinds of business, dry goods merchants, shoe shops, a large
number of clerks, the number of which I could not exactly
state; and their criminal cases amount to about fifty or sixty
for the time expired. They have there 200, or about that,
naturalized citizens, besides a number who have made their
applications, and a political club who are urging the matter
on. They have two benevolent societies, and a library, the
same as Nashua. That is about all I can state concerning
Manchester.
Concerning Rochester, N.H., I state, according to Mr.
Gagnon, that the population amounts to about 5,500, of which
about 600 are French. There are amongst those about nine
real estate owners, and there are 650 children in the schools:
of these about ninety are French Canadians who have an
evening school besides. They have about twenty-five naturalized
citizens and men in business, grocers, bakers,
butchers, etc., and men in the liberal professions.
Mr. Boudreau, of Manchester, N.H., editor of "L'Echo
des Canadiens," then said:
I am a French Canadian citizen of the United States. My
statement is very much like that of Rev. Father Millet. We
who appear from Manchester were delegated to represent our
compatriots living there at this hearing. I will be short in
my observations, which are the following:
The entire population of the city by the last census is
33,000, and of that number 9,000 are French Canadians.
Consequently, you see that we form nearly one-third of the
population. Among our business men and establishments
we have nine grocers, four bakeries and ten bakers, three
dry goods stores, 150 French clerks, who work mostly for
American goods dealers, second hands in the several manufacturing
companies, and 100 third hands. We have a jeweller,
300 mechanics and carpenters, and five boot and shoe
stores. Besides this we have a drug store, five physicians
(graduates), two lawyers, 225 voters, including men who
have taken out their applications, two churches (St. Augustine
and St. Mary), three priests, a convent attended by 460
pupils: the remaining French female children attend the
public schools. This represents only one parish. The remaining
French boys also attend the public schools. We
have two benevolent societies, two dramatic clubs, who give
representations from time to time. We have a readingroom
and library, two livery stables, two policemen, two
constables, one justice of the peace, a French brass band,
and one temperance society.
I must now say that I have resided in this country for the
last fifteen years, and that I have travelled much through
the different States of New England. I have been in Manchester
for five years only; but, having canvassed through
many cities, and sought at every place for information, I can
give you about the right number of Canadian French qualified
for voting. Here are the figures I have obtained from
men who, by their social position in the following cities, were
enabled to give me exact ones: Manchester, 225; Nashua,
200; Claremont, 45; Great Falls, 40; Salmon Falls, 20; Concord, 50; Fisherville, 55; Franklin, 40, Lebanon, 50; Hooksett,
8; and, to the best of my knowledge, we would be able
to reach 200 more in the small places throughout New Hampshire;
that is, 933 voters in New Hampshire. The nearest
we can get at the small places, we are inclined to say that
there are pretty near 35,000 French people in New Hampshire.
Now I want to pass these figures to my partner, because
he can explain better than I can in English. So, if you
please, he will make some remarks about the figures of the
French who come here, and get some money, and go back to
Canada.
Mr. F. C. Miville, of Manchester, N.H., then said: I must
remark, first, that our proportion of naturalized citizens is
rather small for the population we have in Manchester, but
two years ago we formed what we call a naturalization club.
I speak of that because it is of a great deal of importance in
this question. During the two years, about 200 have been
naturalized, and we expect that in another year or two the
average will be 200 more per annum. We expect this increase
because no serious thought had been given to the subject
till we found that the smaller places had gone ahead of
us, Winooski Falls, Vt., for example, where they have 300
French voters in a population of less than 4,000, and have
elected a representative to the legislature who is a French
Canadian. Five years ago another French Canadian was
elected to the same office.
We have two French papers; and we have also had two
dry goods stores opened in the last two years, owned by quite
heavy firms; and other stores are opening all the time. In
reference to the remark made in the last report, that the
French did not spend much money, I must say that the
French, according to my observation I have lived in Manchester
ten years and, according to the reports of the dry
goods merchants, our French Canadian population has spent
more money, and used more domestic goods, than any other
class of people. The rich class of American people will buy more
to a certain extent, and pay more, but will buy more
foreign goods; therefore we give more benefit to the country
because we use altogether American goods, I mean domestic
goods. I don't believe this accusation in the report is perfectly
true. The entire French population of New Hampshire
is believed to be 35,000.
Now, let us make a comparison between the money that
is taken back to Canada by Canadians who return and the
money brought into the United States by French immigration.
Let us say that in Manchester twenty French families
per year return to Canada having $1,000 each in their possession.
Then think of the French population of 9,000 and
what they spend, and of course they must expend a great
deal more than $20,000 in a year. If they take away only
$1,000 each, it makes $20,000 a year. The most that any
Canadian takes is about $1,000. I think it is below that
figure. I don't believe it will average that. Now, when a
man goes back to Canada with $2,000, he will generally leave
children enough to benefit the States more than that amount
during the ten years following his departure. I don't believe
in the idea of trying to check immigration when all other
countries are trying to aid it. I think the American people
should try, instead of discouraging and slandering the French
Canadians, to encourage them in order to make them a part
of the country. I think we have quite a good average of
brain among the French people, if they were only encouraged
to cultivate it a little more.
Now, let us examine the reports of the agents of the railroad
companies. They consider that there is not less than
$35,000 spent by the Canadian French in excursions to
Canada from the city of Manchester alone.
Take another comparison. Suppose the French Canadians
arrive in this country with $2 each, the 600,000 Canadians
in the United States will have brought altogether $1,200,000.
Now, put the number of Canadians who have returned to
Canada during the last ten years from the United States at
25,000 (the maximum), each person taking $25, and you will
immediately conclude that the Canadian French have left
some money in this country, since they brought $1,200,000,
and those who returned took $625,000 only.
We must say, before concluding, that for the last fifteen
years that we have been living in this country, we never
have known that the Canadian French were an obstacle to
the ten-hour law. l am sure that they are not. I have consulted
many of them before I came here, although all the
notice I had was one day. I could have had many witnesses
here it I had had time, who would testify bank men and
merchants of all classes as to moral character; but I may
say for the French in our city that they are very much like
those of Nashua in morality, as it is only a few miles distant.
Mr. Joseph
Bouvier, of Woonsocket, R.I., then appeared
in behalf of the French.
Q. (By Mr.
Dubuque.) You are a councilman of the
town of Woonsocket, Rhode Island?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How long have you lived in Rhode Island?
A. I have lived in Rhode Island for nineteen years.
Q. What is your business?
A. l am a grocer.
Q. You also keep a drug store, I believe?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Now, what is the inclination of the French people relative
to naturalization: what is their disposition, their feeling
about it?
A. As you all know, in Rhode Island the property qualification
is quite an obstacle to the naturalization of our
people; that puts them back considerably all through the
State, but as soon as they get enough property they are very
ready and willing to become citizens of the United States.
Q. (By Mr.
Wright.) How much is that property
qualification?
A. It is $134.
Q. (By Mr. Dubuque.) Do you know a French Canadian
in Woonsocket, who owns real estate, who is not a naturalized
American citizen?
A. There are a few of the older men who own real estate
and have not become citizens of the United States, being so
old that they did riot care.
Q. Can they speak English?
A. They cannot speak nor read English; that is the
great objection. We cannot make them citizens on that
account; they are too old to begin the study of the language.
Q. Now, as to their disposition about the schools, sending
their children to school; I believe you have a church there
in Woonsocket?
A. We have just dedicated a church that cost the citizens
of Woonsocket over $ 80,000, the church property; that is a
great deal of sacrifice, but we always find them ready and
very willing to spend money for that purpose, because the
most of our people come there to stay, come there to live.
Q. Whether or not you have occasion to come in contact
with the manufacturers of Woonsocket, and speak with them
as to the French help, as to their opinion or feeling about
them?
A. I heard with interest the report of the citizens of
Marlborough; I think they have done it very properly. I
wish I had thought any thing about it, I should have brought
a good many of our manufacturers to give you the proofs,
I should have been much pleased to do so.
Mr. Wright. You can send them to us: we should be
very glad to receive them. And I would say to any of the
gentlemen that they may have the same privilege to send
any thing from any of their towns.
Mr. Bouvier. I see that the gentlemen from Marlborough
have represented their town in just the right way,
because they brought the citizens to furnish the proof themselves.
If I had thought, our town would have done the
same thing with a great deal of pleasure, for I very often
meet them, and they always tell me they had rather have the
French help than any other nation.
Q. (By Mr.
Dubuque.) Now, Mr. Bouvier, I believe in
your business you are also .ticket agent, sell tickets from
Woonsocket to Canada?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Can you tell us what is the disposition of the French
people about going back to Canada to live?
A. We don't have many that go back, and those that do
go we most always see them back here again.
Q. Whether the French population of Woonsocket has
decreased during the last ten years?
A. It has increased very largely; it is now between 6,500
and 7,000.
Q. Whether the majority of the residents who lived there
ten years ago are still there now?
A. The majority are there; we have quite a good many
becoming citizens from birth now; they are beginning now
to become citizens by birth. Woonsocket is a place where
the French began to come some twenty odd years ago.
Q. I believe you have a grocery store also in Manville,
R.I.?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. There are some French people there, are there not?
A. Yes, sir; there are over 2,000 people there; more than
half the population is French.
Q. What is the disposition of the French people of Manville,
whether it is different from that of the people of Woonsocket
about going back to Canada?
A. They are about the same all through. There are not
so many there who are proprietors; there are not so many
voters in proportion to the population in Manville as there
are in Woonsocket.
Q. Now, about the schools, what is the disposition of
the French people about the schools, whether public or
private?
A. In Woonsocket we have five French schools supported
by the French people, besides the report we have got to make
about the public schools where the French children go, also.
There are about 450 children going to the French schools,
and there are about 150 going to the public schools, the English
schools.
Q. Whether or not the English language is taught in
these French schools?
A. Yes, sir; the children all talk English, both French
and English.
Q. The children that go to the French schools go there
to learn French?
A. They go there to learn French, but they talk English
a good deal, I suppose, and talk French, also. We have in
Woonsocket two justices of the peace and a councilman
elected by the American people, I should say. They were
elected by the Republican party; that is the reason I say
they were elected by the American people. You can see by
that what they think of them. They would put them aside,
I think, if what was published about them in the report was
true. We have a police officer, we have a constable, and we
have three doctors, regular graduate physicians, and if any
of the American doctors have to call in anybody to consult,
nine cases out of ten they will call on one or the other of
the French doctors. We have many butchers and grocers,
and there is hardly a store started there, but what they
must have a French speaking clerk, or else they can't do
hardly any business. The population there is about 16,000,
I believe, by the last census, and of that number pretty near
7,000 are French, so you can see what the wants of the
French speaking people are. The biggest crime we can
accuse the French people of is that they can't all talk English. If they could, they would be all right; they would be
on an equality with the other nationalities.
Mr. J. M.
Authier, of Cohoes, N.Y., editor of "La Nouvelle Patrie," offered the following statistics:
Cohoes, N.Y.
Population ... 19,900
French Canadians ... 6,000
French Canadian real estate owners ... 176
Value of real estate owned by French Canadians (church and
school property included) ... $477,000
Children (French Canadian) in public schools ... 300
Attending French schools ... 644
French Canadians naturalized ... 800
Number who have declared their intention to become naturalized
... 65
Number holding municipal office ... 7
Number in the liberal professions ... 8
Merchants ... 40
Bakers ... 2
Butchers ... 8
Clerks ... 20
Churches ...1
Societies, literary associations, etc.... 6
The French Canadians have a large amount of money
deposited in the Savings Institution at Cohoes.
Troy, N.Y.
Population ... 56,873
French Canadians ... 3,992
French Canadian real estate owners ... 167
Value of real estate owned by French Canadians ... $582,623
Children (French Canadian) attending school ... 508
Number of French schools ... 2
Number of French Canadians naturalized (1865) ... 293
Number of French Canadians naturalized (1880) ... 484
Number of professional men and merchants ... 96
A French Canadian is also the general passenger ticket
agent of the Troy and Boston Railroad Company. The
French Canadians of Troy have built a splendid church at a
cost of $56,620, and a new one is now being erected, which
will cost, when completed, the handsome amount of $30,000.
[Mr. Authier filed a statement to the effect that the French
Canadians are, with very few exceptions, honest, peaceful, and industrious citizens; they are ambitious to secure
homes among us, and some of the most attractive and comfortable residences in Cohoes are owned by them. The
majority of those who have settled or intend to settle permanently in the place have become naturalized, and vote at
every election for their party. Their children attend public
schools, and they support at their own expense four French
schools. The standing of their children as to ability and
scholarship is fully up to the average of other nationalities.
As far as their modes of amusement are concerned, their
frequent dramatic representations and picnics, their annual
balls, and the recent establishment of a literary association,
are sufficient evidence that they can also, in that respect,
compare favorably with other nationalities.
This was signed by William E. Thorn, mayor of Cohoes;
W. E. Thorn, president, and D. J. Johnson, superintendent,
Harmony Mills; Le Roy & Lamb, Globe Knitting Mill; H.
S. Bogue, Riverside Mill; Gregorys & Hiller, American Hosiery Mill; William Nuttall & Co., Empire Knitting Mills;
North & Doyle, Anchor Hosiery Mills; John Wakeman;
John V. S. Lansing, treasurer Troy Manufacturing Company; Chadwick Company; Ontario Knitting Mill; and
J.
H. Parsons & Co., manufacturers of knit goods, all of
Cohoes, N.Y.
The latter firm says,
"We do not sign as advocating ten hours, as few of our people work
that now, and it is unnecessary; but we do it in justice to this valuable
portion of our community."]
Mr. J. E.
Marier, of Lawrence, Mass., then said:
Mr. Chairman, although my friend Mr. Gagnon has made a
very elaborate report of the situation of our French Canadians
in the State of Massachusetts, I would indulge upon your
patience to give you as detailed a report as possible of Lawrence,
which is one of the very important centres of the State.
And accordingly I have set down a few figures here to give
you an idea of the position of our French Canadians there.
The population of Lawrence is 39,178. Out. of that the
French population is 4,500. We possess one church school,
which contains 350 pupils. In the public schools there are
3,973 scholars, of whom 150 are French. The number of our
owners of real estate are 33, representing a value of $115,000.
The number of our merchants are ten; bakers and those in
other business number 30. We have two physicians; we have
also two apothecaries, one dramatic club, one brass band, two
benevolent societies, one of which represents a capital in
personal property of about $3,000. Amongst our merchants,
I must remark, we have a grocer who represents a business
of about $100,000 a. year so far as retail business is concerned,
which is a very important item, and the others are comparatively successful in their business. The Canadians naturalized
amount to about 130, and the declarations of intentions are
140. Taking the report of the clerk of the police court
dating from October, 1880, to October, 1881, I find the
following: 1,800 criminals, of whom 25 are French, comprising
petty offences like truancy and so on.
I should like to make a few remarks about the ten-hour
system. I have been in contact with many of our French
Canadians, operatives in the mills at Lawrence, and I have
somewhat seen their disposition on this subject. They all
feel favorably to the ten-hour system in every respect, and if
they were supported by their comrade operatives they would
certainly put it through. I see last fall they made an attempt
to have it adopted, but, unfortunately, they were left behind
by their fellow operatives. Although a certain movement of
repatriation has been going on since two years, we have no
statistics or means of showing how great it is. My companion
here, who is the sole agent for the Passumpsic road and Vermont Central,
according to their report of tickets sold to those who went to Canada, it is
comparatively small, as far as those who have staid in Canada; most of them who went
to Canada by excursions or otherwise came back a few days
or a few weeks afterwards.
The condition of our French Americans is very favorable,
and now we have a naturalization movement which has every
prospect of success, and I think will put our countrymen in
a better position for the future. I hope my confrθres will
conclude the hearing in a very favorable manner. To show
the spirit, the interest which our clergy have towards naturalization,
our worthy pastor, Father Bushee of Lawrence, has
taken the initiative, and he is pushing the movement strongly,
and contributing to it as much as possible, and I think it will
prove a success.
Dr. N. Fontaine, of Spencer, Mass., made the following
statement:
Q. (By Mr.
Dubuque.) Will you please state to the
officers of the Bureau what you know about Canadian immigration
or repatriation?
A. There is not much of it done in Spencer.
Q. How long have you lived in Spencer?
A. For the last ten years. When I went there the French
population was 1,600, ten years ago. The last census gave
us 3,450. Now, as to immigration and travelling, you can
say that it don't pay over there to be a railroad agent. I was
agent there for the Vermont Central, and I had to give it up,
could not make it pay. Last, year I was agent, and I sold
only ten tickets for Canadians going to Canada. In Spencer
the Canadians are building and settling there. We have
somewhere about 140 real estate owners, and some of them
own from three to four houses. The number of voters is 135,
and 100 have declared their intention. The public schools
are attended by 1,200 children, and of that number we have
550. The whole population of Spencer being 7,460, and the
French population not being half of it, we are having more
than half of the scholars. It seems to me that that shows
pretty well. We have two French schools and a French
church. But all this you will see in the general report.
Mr. Charles Lalime, of Worcester, Mass., then said:
Mr. Chairman, you have shown so much patience this afternoon
in listening to all these reports, that I am induced to say a few words more also, under the circumstances. I must
say that I have been living in the United States since 1869;
from that date till 1874 I have been the general New England
agent for the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company,
formerly of Boston, now of Portland. In 1874 I was appointed
the New England passenger agent of the Central
Vermont road. And you understand that under the circumstances
I have been in contact continually with our French
population all through New England. I will say, gentlemen,
that ten years ago we heard nothing about and we saw no
organizations of any kind among the French Canadian population
in the New England States. There were hundreds of
families scattered right and left, but there was no organization.
The fact is, there was no head, no leaders whatever.
When I look at that time, and see what progress has been
made, I cannot but say that I see no other nationality here in
New England which has shown so much progress as the
French Canadians. Just look at it, gentlemen. For instance,
I will mention Worcester, which is my home. In 1869 we
had nothing to speak of. Presently we have a French convent
and a French church, the expense of both of which was
over $80,000. We have a benevolent society, called St. John
the Baptist, numbering very near 600 members; they have
about $8,000 in the bank, helping widows and orphans and one
another. The fact is, it is a body which has more importance
than what you might think. Besides that we have a naturalization
club which has been in existence for the last two years.
That has been progressing and is progressing rapidly now.
Then we have also another club, Montcalm, as we call it in
French, with over a hundred members. In Worcester we
have no cotton manufacturing, the same as what we find in
the other parts of New England; it is more iron than cotton.
I don't know if the French Canadians are not the same in
Worcester as somewhere else, but I can assure you we are
very far from being what we are represented in that report.
There is no difference in Worcester between the French or
the American or the German. We are all on an equality.
We have two French local papers in Worcester, one of which
has a circulation, if I am not mistaken, of about 1,400 or
1,500. A great many of our French families are subscribing
to the American newspapers, and I must say that to-day, no
matter into what family you go, you will find that our children
can talk French and English just the same. They are
brought up in our public schools talking English, and at
home they talk French. These children, gentlemen, can
talk both languages equally.
Mr. Gagnon. Speaking of French newspapers in Worcester,
there is one that has a circulation of 3,000.
Mr. Lalime. Our population is stationary: it does not
move. A great part of our Frenchmen are real estate owners,
and I must say that the railroad ticket sales in Worcester do
not amount, on an average, to $100 a month, out of a population
of over 5,000. We stay at home, we mean to become
citizens, we are using all the means that we can to have all
get naturalized, and we do all that is in our power to place
ourselves on an equal footing with the American population,
and we are known to be so; we meet our American friends,
and there is no difference between the two nationalities. As
for business men, we have grocers, I don't know how
many, but we have French grocers on every street, and
three French doctors; and as for French clerks, gentlemen,
to show what is the worth of the French Canadian population,
we have them in every first-class store.
Now, gentlemen, as I was saying a minute ago, in looking
at the past ten years, not only in Worcester but in Woonsocket,
Fall River, Lawrence, Lowell, Biddeford, Lewiston,
Manchester, and Nashua, why, ten years ago there was not
a single organization, and when you come to find out that we
now have our French schools in all these places, that we
have our business houses everywhere, it seems to me that we
have been progressing, and that we ought not to be compared
with the Chinese of the East. That expression, gentlemen,
has hurt me somewhat, and I must say that I was one of the
first in our city to come up and say, we must meet Mr.
Wright, and show him that we are a white people, and that
we have been well brought up, that is, as well as American
gentlemen are brought up. Let us go and meet Mr. Wright,
and show him that here, though we are not in what we
might call our mother country, we have made the United
States our second mother country. If sometimes we speak
of Canada, do not forget that we have just arrived here in
the New England States. Twelve years ago three-fourths
of us had not arrived. We are only seven or eight hours' ride
from our friends in the mother country, at home where we
came from. We are situated quite differently from what the
German and the Irish immigrants are. They have come from
across the ocean. We can go to Montreal for four dollars,
and three or four weeks ago we could go to Montreal for two
dollars. There we have left friends, we have left many of our
relatives, and there is nothing strange if we go there once in a
while to meet them. Of course you will hear everywhere, in
all places, Frenchmen saying they will return to Canada, but
you must not forget that experience shows us that only a few
will go there to stay. Every one of our fathers and mothers
who came here from Canada always came here to stay two
or three years. The children take the customs of New England,
of the United States, and after three or four years' residence
when the father says, we will go home, the children
say, we will not. Gentlemen, I could give you lots and lots
of examples where father and mother have gone back to
Canada, but the children are here. They have settled, they
are American citizens, and they will never go back to
Canada. Immigration has a good deal to do with the railroad
business. Let me state to you that the monthly
railroad receipts of ticket sales from here to Canada for one
line, and that is the one I represent, the Vermont Central,
are about $9,000. These are the sales to the French population
from New England to Canada. That amount may seem
to be quite large, but let me tell you that our sales to return
average at least $18,000 to $20,000 a month, that is, from
Canada to the New England States. The reason also, gentlemen,
why the sales are so high, when I speak of $9,000
from here to Canada, is that through two months the railroad
men always make excursion rates. We can go to Canada for
almost nothing, as I was saying, we have been to Canada
during two months for two dollars. There is nothing
strange, then, if the Canadians will travel and will go there.
More than one-third of the business is done by people buying
tickets here and sending them to Canada. You take the
French Canadian centres, Salem, for instance, the population
in Salem comes from Rimouski, about a hundred and
twenty miles below Quebec. They all come from that neighborhood.
What has brought that population to Salem? I
should say that two men in Salem have done all the business.
They came here and settled, and every month they
send for five, six, ten, fifteen families, and we see them coming.
Some will go back, but three-fourths of them remain
here. And it is just the same in other places. A gentleman
comes and settles in a certain place, and he will get so many
others to come there; that is the way it is done, and we are
selling tickets that way all the time.
Mr. Guillet. The other month I went to Fall River, and
on the street a young man came to me and shook hands, and
said, "Don't you recognize me?" I said, "No." " Well,"
he says, "I am such a one." It reminded me that nine years
ago when I came to Fall River I made the acquaintance of a
family there, and this family was going back to Canada next
spring, they said. I said to the young man, "Aren't you
going back to Canada?" He said "No." "Why," said I,
" when I was here you said you were going back next spring."
He said, "We have been going back to Canada next spring
for nine years, but we are settled here, and are going to
stick." And that is what a great many do. About this
epithet, "Chinese of the East," our French operatives in
the mills at Lowell have been opposed by the other help
and abused on account of this name. For two or three
weeks they were on the fire for the people calling them
"Chinese." They heard nothing but "Chinese" all the
time. Some had to lose their places, and go off; they could
not stand it. But now it is a good deal better. After we
had indignation meetings it was a little better. The ordinary
help don't know the meaning of it, but they took advantage
of this report to abuse our friends very much with this
epithet.
Mr. L'Hιrault (of Fall River.) It needs no argument to
prove what our friend from Worcester has said, because we
can all look back ten or fifteen years. Did we then have any
French in Boston or vicinity? Very, very few, no real
estate owners. To-day we can count the French Canadians
in New England by thousands, and many of them are real
estate owners. Now, in the report it is said that voting,
with all that it implies, we care nothing about; that we don't
get naturalized. Mr. Chief, there is one thing, if they have
not been getting naturalized as fast as some others have been,
instead of being a stigma on the nation it is an honor to
them. It is because they understand too well, they have
been too well brought up, and know too well the meaning of
an oath, to become naturalized without having the right so
to do. Others get naturalized a great deal faster, as we know.
A great many men who landed in New York last year will
vote this, although they had not seen the country before.
Then they will say, "Why don't the French get naturalized?"
Mr. Chief, it is because the men who came here were all over
the age of eighteen years, with few exceptions. They were
educated in French, they could speak French, but they could
not speak English. They may in time become naturalized, but
when a man has reached twenty-five or thirty or forty years
of age, and has never learned but one language, he can hardly
learn another. I will ask you, if you were placed in a country
where you had to learn to read and write French to be allowed
to vote, whether there would be a great many of you
who would vote? I say that the French, considering the difference
in the language, are doing marvellously well. They
have done better than the American citizens could fairly expect
them to do. The assertions in the report were made by
interested parties, trying to injure the French people of this
Commonwealth. I do not blame the Chief in particular. He
had to rely on agents, and these agents probably have to
rely on others who make statements; but I do blame him in
one sense for having written this in this way, as this seems
to be a conclusion of what they have heard. " With a few
exceptions the French Canadians are the Chinese of the
East." The gentlemen of the Bureau seem to be well enough
posted, and it seems to me that a simple glance over the field
would have shown them different from that. Why, it is easy
to see! We have them right here among us, you have them
living right beside you. Are they not the same as other
citizens? You see them in Lowell, Lawrence, Fall River,
Manchester, and Worcester. They occupy some of the highest
positions, that is, considering the time they have lived
here. In our reports, some of the gentlemen have mentioned
second hands and mechanics; they are too many to enumerate.
For a Frenchman to be a second hand is a very ordinary
thing in Fall River, and several are overseers. The
reasons I have stated in regard to naturalization are the only
ones, as I think my friends will bear me out in saying, that
prevent them being naturalized. But you see the new crop
is coming in, and, be it said with pride, the French are very
prolific. The young people are taking out their papers,
and getting initiated into the manners, customs, and institutions
of this country. They take an interest in politics.
Fifteen years ago we could not get a French paper printed
in New England; to-day we have several, and they are well
patronized. I think that this hearing, on the whole, Mr.
Chief, will prove to the satisfaction of the Bureau that the
statements made in the report were erroneous.
Mr.
Dubuque (in closing for the French.) Now, gentlemen
of the Bureau, I think the hearing is about closed. We
have nothing further to present. I feel before closing, however,
that it is my duty for the delegates who are here present,
to tender to this Bureau our grateful thanks for having
given us this opportunity to be heard, as well as for the kind
attention that you have shown throughout the whole hearing,
and the disposition to do justice on the subject matter which
is now before us. Of course, as we said in the beginning,
this hearing has been informal, but however informal it may
have been, I think we have proved to your satisfaction, that
the statements which have been brought to this Bureau by
either interested or prejudiced parties are entirely erroneous.
Were it necessary to corroborate what we have stated here
we could furnish the affidavits of manufacturers and considerable
more evidence which would only be cumulative and could
not prove any more than we have proved now. I would refer
the honorable gentlemen of this Board to a very high
authority in this Commonwealth, Mr. Goodell, who edits the
Province Laws in Massachusetts, who has been kind enough
to come up here and say to me that any information that the
Bureau wanted to get from him in regard to the French people
of Salem, he would kindly give it to them. He said he is
president of a railroad company which employs a hundred
French people, and that as a whole he has found them better
than any other class of workmen. I will not detain you further to tell you
what he said to me about them, but I will refer you to him, and that is
enough.
But before I close, I would say that I think we
have proved by overwhelming evidence that the statements contained in this report are groundless. We have not proved
that they are malicious, but we deduce from the fact that
they are false, that they have been presented to you from a
malicious spirit or in a spirit which is just as sordid and
despicable, undoubtedly by interested parties. Now, of
course, the greatest objection which we have against the
report is this, gentlemen of this Bureau, that it singles out
the French people in preference to the Irish or the English.
What is contained on page 469 and page 470 of this report,
gentlemen of this Bureau, could be said of the English element,
could be said of the Irish element, could be said of the
Portuguese element, could be said of all the elements of society,
even of the native Americans, some of them. What
you have said here might apply to a very few exceptions, but
it does not apply to the French people as a whole. It does
not apply to the majority of the French people, the vast majority
of them. It does not apply to the men who have come
before you, and it does not apply, I say, to the vast majority
of the French people not only of Massachusetts, but of New
England. I think you are satisfied now, after this hearing,
gentlemen, that all we want here to-day, all we ask, is simple
justice. We think we have had it, and we thank you for
granting us an impartial hearing. We think that you have
shown a disposition to be fair, and to give us what is called in
common parlance "fair play," and that is all we asked, gentlemen,
and for that we are thankful to you.
But another great objection we had against this report was
this. We would not have been so much touched by the report
if it had been contained simply in a newspaper, because
there we could answer it. If it had been in "The Boston
Herald," if it had been in "The Boston Journal," or in any
of the great newspapers of this country, we could have answered
it. But here how could we answer it? Here is a
document which will remain forever, as long as the State
House stands, in the archives of this Commonwealth. It
will be out of this material, as I said in the beginning, that
the history of the French people or of this Commonwealth
will be written. When the social student will come here to
study the social progress of the people, of this Commonwealth,
and of the New England States, he will come to this
Source of information, he will see these statistics collected
here, and, moreover, he will see that no other nationality is
mentioned here but the French Canadians. He will see that
they are brought out, as it were, as the great opposition to
the advancement of the working classes. He will think, at
first, by reading this, that they were a great obstacle to the
social and moral progress of the people of this, Commonwealth.
But I hope, gentlemen of this Bureau, that in the
next report there will be such an overwhelming refutation
such a satisfactory refutation, based upon the facts as we
have presented them to you, that, even if an injustice has
been done to us, justice at last will prevail.
Mr. Wright. Gentlemen, I want to thank you most
heartily for your kind attendance to-day, and for the intelligence
which you have brought to bear upon the question
before us. I wish to say a few words, however, with reference
to the report. All the evidence taken by the Bureau
was taken in the course of an investigation conducted under
the law of the Commonwealth. The statement of every man
cannot be given as a specific piece of evidence. Every party
is interested, of course, just as every party here to-day is
interested. I do not think statements were made in malice;
they may have been made in ignorance, but certainly not in
malice. The words "Chinese of the East" are simply an
expression used by economists to-day everywhere, to denote
the kind of labor that is migratory. That is all I understand
is meant by the term "Chinese" here as applied to the Canadians. It is not a stigma at all.
It is one of the dearest privileges of the American to be
heard. I am not here in any judicial capacity whatever. If
I was I should have great difficulty in making up my judgment.
But my duty is more allied to that of a master in chancery. The statements
made to our agents a year ago were reported. If they had been made against
the English or the Irish, they would have been reported; and if you will
look back to the report of a year and a half ago, you will find
worse things said about the English than ever were said
about the French Canadians, and if the English had complained
about these statements, as you had the patriotism to
complain about the statements made with regard to the
French Canadians, they would hare been given a hearing is
just this same way. No one has been singled out. These
statements were made to us, as I said in the opening of this
hearing, and we had no other duty to perform than to report
them. It is your privilege to complain of these statements,
it is your privilege to protest against these statements, and it
is my bounden duty, as an honorable man, so far as my position
is concerned, and the Bureau of Statistics is concerned, to give
you the fullest and the fairest opportunity to be heard. That
has not only been a duty, but it has been a pleasure, I assure
you. The day has been exceedingly pleasant to me, because
of the spirit of fairness in which you have given your evidence,
the intelligence you have brought to bear upon the questions
considered, and the very little advantage you have
taken of the opportunity to make me uncomfortable; these
have all been very pleasant features of the day's work,
I assure you. As I told you in the beginning, I do not
blame you for being exasperated, but I am not responsible
for the statements made to the Bureau. Now the question I
want to find out by my agents is whether they were made in
malice or not. That work I have already undertaken. I
am quite well satisfied that the reports made to the Bureau
were made from localities where the French Canadians are
not organized, where they are living, as a good many of our
own Americans are living, in a way which you would not
approve. If these things are true, all I have got to do is to
report them with the material parts of the testimony given
here to-day, with such a review of it as shall be just to you;
and whatever is just to you will be honorable to the Bureau.
There is no disposition other than to give you justice and
fair play, which is an American principle, and I wish to thank
you heartily for giving me the opportunity to show it.
The hearing then closed.
[Resume of the statistics presented by Messrs. Gagnon, Authier, and
Gillet, are brought together in a table]
But little need be said in addition to the remarks made at
the hearing. We have presented the evidence in full, except
where condensed by the authors in the revision of their respective
statements. We have taken pains to learn if any malice
existed in the minds of the informants of the Bureau against
the French, and are perfectly satisfied that no malice entered
into the case; our informants thought, and still think, they
were speaking the truth generally, but freely admit that their
statements were too sweeping. It is evident, however, that
some prejudice existed in their minds, for they but echoed the
impressions existing in the minds of the people; and these
impressions were the legitimate results of the policy and actions
of certain classes of the French, as will be seen, but
which were allowed to apply to the race.
The reports made to the Bureau came from localities where
the French Canadians are not well organized, where they too
often live in a way that subjects them to severe criticisms, and
where, from a variety of causes, they have been accustomed
to change their residence with a frequency which usually led
people to think of them as a roving race. It has been with
them as with all peoples of strongly marked characteristics:
the worst and lowest specimens have been taken as representatives
of the race.
Before and since the hearing we have received a great many
written and verbal statements to the effect that the parts of
the Twelfth Annual Report relating to the French were perfectly
true. In fact, we have not met a single Canadian gentleman
who has denied the truth of the report, if it were
made the exception and not the rule, and if the term "Chinese
of the East" be left out. It is only fair, however, to state
briefly how the whole question appears to us.
Ten years ago but few French Canadians had come to our
factory towns. Prior to that, the brickmaker, the woodchopper,
and the border farmer gave whatever impression the
public mind received. When immigration began in earnest,
and thousands of operatives came over the line, they came, as
a rule, with not only the exhortation of the French Catholic
priest of Canada to return when they had acquired some
means, but with their own promises to the priest that they
would return. The whole influence of the Church in Canada
was, and is, exerted in favor of return to Canada. Later on,
the Canadian government established paid agencies in the
United States, to aid in returning Canadians to their old
homes.
This movement was fostered by the leading French Canadians
living here, and has been advocated by the French
press of New England, except "Le Rιpublicain," even since
the last report of the Bureau was published.
Many, however, came here from Canada with faint
or little desire to return. Such settled at once to the business of life,
and have become not only interested in our institutions, but have taken part
in maintaining them. The idea of the newcomers being migratory arose not
from them, but from the class which came with the promise and the
determination to return, and from their reiterated statements that they
should return. And the great number who did actually return convinced many
persons that they came simply to gain what they could, but not to become
part of the American people.
Soon another influence began to be felt. The French Canadian
loves his church, and is loyal to it. If living in a small
out-of-the-way place, he would soon remove with his compatriots,
and when sufficient numbers had gathered, the church
was organized, and became the central power, or influence,
The priest coming from Canada, it may be on missionary work,
to take charge of the growing parish, soon found himself permanently
established in New England, and his natural desire
was to see his flock grow and prosper. Thus repatriation
stood in the way of the growth of the French Catholic Church
in New England, and one or the other must be abandoned.
Many Canadians returned, and are returning, to Canada;
but they find themselves more attached to the new than to
the old; for, as Professor Cyr remarked in his evidence,
things do not look as they did when they were young. So
they again turn their faces this way, and seek permanent
abodes.
The efforts of the Canadian government have been almost
without success, and with strong French churches established
in New England repatriation is a failure; but still very recently,
it has been loudly advocated in very many quarters as
the best expression of patriotism. The doctrine has done
much, and the most, in fact, towards fixing the impression in
the minds of New England people that the French cared nothing whatever for the welfare of the country, but only sought
personal gain at the expense of home industry.
The employers of labor have done much to stimulate French
immigration; almost without exception, the mill managers,
whatever they have to say about the traits of the Canadians,
prefer them in their mills; for they are industrious in
the extreme, do not grumble about pay, are docile, and have
nothing to do with labor agitations. While in these directions
they have won the regard of employers, they have incurred
the animosity of labor reformers.
Another source of the prevailing impression that the French
were unfriendly to New England ideas is found in the establishment
of parochial schools. However much the effort of
the French to educate their children in these institutions
may be applauded, the parochial school will always excite
hostility on the part of the native. Whether they are foreign
to our ways, or inimical to our institutions, are not questions
for discussion at this time. We only state the fact that their
establishment by members of any race will always raise suspicion
in the American mind as to the sincerity of professions
of loyalty to our government on the part of the founders.
The fact should be recorded that our French population
is being schooled in our public and their parochial schools to
an extent not realized a very short time ago, and to a much
greater degree than the public is, even now, aware of.
Besides these causes there exist localities of French population
that make the intelligent French Canadian blush, and
that are disgraceful to the cities which permit the prevailing
conditions.
The same might be said, with equal truth, of other races.
These localities are heard of more frequently than those of
good order and good conditions.
All these things are clearly indicated and shown by the
evidence given at the hearing, and are fully substantiated by
all with whom we have consulted, whether Canadians or
Americans.
With regard to naturalization, while the French are not
naturalizing as rapidly as some other foreign elements, yet,
considering the obstacle of language, they are now doing
well. The nationality of our voting population is discussed
elsewhere. The statistics given at the hearing give evidence
of increasing interest in this direction. The fact that the
French Canadian population has increased so rapidly only
proves that more come than return, while the statistics of
property show that permanency is becoming the rule. This,
of course, is strongly shown in the building of churches, the
establishment of schools, societies, literary associations, etc.
Now, while it would have been very easy to have combated
the evidence given at the hearing, and to have introduced
much testimony to support the statements contained in the
report of last year, and while we see no reason to strike out
the statements therein made when read in the light of the
present report, it is very gratifying to know that a wide and
rapidly growing movement has arisen among the French Canadians
within the past few years, towards becoming citizens,
fully identified with us as a permanent and honorable part of
our people; and in their every endeavor in this direction Americans can but wish them God-speed. Partly as a result
of this movement efforts for repatriation have been abandoned,
and it is now the settled policy of the Canadian French, who
come among us, to come as permanent residents, and to be
Americans. Although this movement is recent, yet it is
accompanied by such laudable endeavors to acquire a knowledge
of our institutions, and to take active and intelligent
part in our national life, that doubtless our best wishes concerning
them will be realized. The action of every French
Canadian convention which we have noted leans strongly in
this direction. With such aspirations and purposes as were
manifested at the hearing, complete assimilation with the
American people is but a question of time. It was the desire
to make known these aspirations and purposes, and a disposition
to treat all parties fairly, which induced the Bureau to
give the hearing; the same reasons warranted the use of so much of the space of this report. The prosperity of New
England demands the rapid progress of all her industrial
forces, and of these the French Canadian element is certainly
one of the most important.
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