RHODE ISLAND HISTORY - Rhode Island Historical Society

59 PROVID ENCE VISITOR1issues such as Americarueancn. The church wasdoubtless sensitive that attacks on Am~ricanizationwould appear to be attacks on attempts to instillAm~rican values and culture into recentimmigrants. leaving Catholicism open to severecriticism from the Protestant majority.The restriction issue con tinued to draw the paper'.fire. The Visitor expeeseed shock ever Secretaryof Labor James]. Davis's article on the"social detriments' o f the Icreign-bom that firstappeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1923.Three months later the Visitor was still attacking"circulation geners" and " 'patriotic' outpourings"against immigrants. "T he so-called 'Alien'can give a pretty good account of himself duringthe past decade of years without pointing to hiswar record or recalling the names of disringutshedmen of any race." When the RestrictionAct of 1924 passed Congress in April. the Visitordenounced it as "a sop to labor. balm to the prejudiced.and the first practical measure proclaimingan ascendancy of the Anglo-Saxon race" and castit in terms of light versus datkness. The new law,however. did not receive thorough evaluation untilSeptember. when figures compiled by Catholiceditor and historian Dr. E. C. McGuire appearedto de monstrate how drasticall y immigration fromCatholic countri es had been restricted. The law indeedhad " fan gs," but it took the paper nearly fivemonths to discover their dimensions. Because restrictionwas such an im portant issue, and becausethe Visitor had shown such concern over it. todayit is difficult to understand why the paper did notfully analyze t his crucial legislation much earlier."Immigration restriction provided only onemanifestation of ferocious bigotry that marredthe early 19208. Catholics, often the target of hatredin the past, maintained a vigil against developinghate campaigns such as those led by the KuKlux Klan. Like the Catholic press in general. theVisit or had long been concerned with prejudiceand vigilante activities. always aware that an attackon other groups could expand into anti-CathoJicismas well. During the war the paperdemanded removal of anti-Semitic passages fromTh. F.tr.!me~,«f~f'ftmderxw...d ....,them Euro­P-II pwu fmm Jill J 10 11134. Above. ,_ F.tr. • • MnMi~ .tSUI'. PI« II.