194 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
comers, and, second, the facility of absorption, with the loss of the distinctive character of their national origin.
When the Italian may be utilized in the development of the country's mines, the culture of its lands, and the embellishment of its cities, his grammatical attainments in his own language may well be a negligible quantity. A country in its period of development has need of brawn as well as brain, and the vigor of the Italian as a laborer cannot be placed in doubt ; and, therefore, considered in the light of the first criterion for judgment, the Italian immigration cannot be held to be undesirable.
In regard to the facility of absorption, illiteracy should be an advantage in the work of Americanizing newcomers. The indi- vidual who cannot read brings fewer impressions and ideas from his native country than one who has been able through education to observe the movements in which he was born and bred. The illiterate man, in some respects, and especially if he comes from the rural regions, is more like a child. While deficient in past impressions, he has an intellectual freshness and curiosity. His adaptability to a new environment, therefore, will be accomplished more rapidly and with greater ease, like that of a child's. More- over, instruction does not necessarily include the idea of intelli- gence, and when the observations made upon the physical force and vigor of the Italians are joined to those made upon their intellectual brightness (Italians of southern Italy are noted for their quickness of perception and other strong mental qualities), one is forced to the conclusion that the percentage of illiteracy among the Italians cannot constitute a peril for the United States, and, further, that this defect may even become an aid to the work of assimilation.
Instead of meditating exclusion for the illiterate immigrant, it would be much more logical and just to add to the conditions demanded for obtaining citizenship the obligation, not only of stammering a few English words, but of speaking and writing English. In such manner the intellectual youth of the illiterate immigrant would come to be exploited effectively for the advance- ment of his Americanization. Apart from this, however, it is use-
