AMERICA: THE MELTING POT

[Music] The immigrants of old turn their eyes toward America's gateway, Ellis Island, with its bleak 27 acres of buildings and grounds. Here they will be examined and their papers checked. Here they will take their first steps toward American citizenship. The men, women, and children who come are continuing a flow of foreignb born that be the first English settlers at Jamestown in 167. They are part of the largest migration of people in world history. They are the human ingredients that make America the melting pot. America, the nation of immigrants. Persons of all races, all nations, all conditions of life, have sought and have found refuge in the United States. And every American, with the possible exception of the Indians, was either an immigrant himself or the descendant of an immigrant. This is the heritage upon which a nation was born and has grown great. On Ellis Island, as they wait, the immigrants study English and read books about America. For most, it is their first time away from home. They have come with little but their clothes on their backs. And if they are poor in material things, they are rich in dreams. And America is the land of dreams. [Music] One by one, check out of a new life, leaving their pasts behind, seeking their futures ahead. Soon they will discover that America's streets are not really paved with gold. And yet there is for everyone the opportunity to go as far and as high as talent and energy allow. America [Music] offers much to its immigrants and its immigrants give back much in return. [Music] Seeking a first job in the promised land, many a newcomer finds language a barrier. But a man does not have to know how to speak English to dig a ditch. And thousands upon thousands of immigrants dig their way and gladly toward their distant dreams. At night, they go to school to learn the English that will help them to get better jobs. The teacher says, "I open the door." acts out the sentence and writes it on the blackboard. The students repeat the sentence and with a few halting words, the key is turned. A new world opened. [Music] In the cities to which they come and settle, many of the nationalities gather together in settlements of their own. There are little Italies and Irish towns, little Polands and China towns, blending traditions of the old world and the new. Streets are crowded with push carts and peddlers, sellers and buyers. The free enterprise system in operation on the sidewalks of the city. In this America of not so long ago, bargains are plentiful and service is personal. delivered right to the door. Cantaloupes are three for 10 cents and bananas seven for a dime. >> Banana [Applause] bananas canop. >> Life is not easy in the tenementss of the city. Still the immigrant families make do and carry on spending only as much as necessary, saving as much as possible. Not every first generation American finds the better life he seeks. But parents know that the dreams they have failed to find can still be passed on to their children. This belief brought them to the United States. This faith sustains them. Now, as the years go by and a nation grows, the immigrants and their sons find better jobs at higher pay. They bring their training to every American industry. Their contributions enrich and strengthen every fabric of American life. [Music] When family needs require it, women go to work in factories and in plants, determined to help make life easier and better for their families and their children. In post offices and other civil service jobs, immigrants struggle up the economic ladder rung by rung, year by year. [Music] The children of these early immigrants must find their own fun. The East River is the biggest saltwater pool in old New York, and swimming is free for all. From the sidewalks in the cities will come mayors and civic officials, business leaders and professional men sharing an immigrants heritage, witnessing to the world the workings of democracy in America, the melting pot. Playing together, living together, the children are growing up with their country. The sights they see, the sounds they hear are long since gone. >> Come on. >> I see the big one. Come on. [Music] >> Some street peddlers will become one day store owners, and customers will come to markets that display far more goods than any wagon can carry. Others will open fish stores and in some cases tailor shops. The immigrants imprint is found all across America in every industry in every section of the country. From the farm countries of Europe come the families that settle in the rural areas of America. earning a living, raising a family, living with new neighbors. They are in the process helping to build a nation. It is hard work and everyone must share the burden. [Music] At the same time, the rewards are greater than any the old world can offer. The land is cheap and in some cases even free. It will support the family and leave something extra to sell at a profit. More than 10 million Europeans come to America to settle on farms to work the soil and from humblest beginnings to make their adopted land the greatest agricultural country in the history of the world. [Music] The hardships of early immigrant life, whether on farms or in cities, forge a society that becomes a beacon land of freedom. In just over 350 years, a nation of 200 million people grows up and is populated almost completely by immigrants or their descendants. [Music] In the words of Walt Whitman, these states are the amplest poem. Here is not merely a nation, but a teeming nation of nations. America's strength is the diversity of our heritage. [Music] Most all of these immigrant Americans are beginning life a new on an equal footing. They are turning their backs on old traditions. They are daring to explore new frontiers, eager to build lives for themselves in a sprawling society that gives them freedom of choice and of action. [Music] In every industry, every endeavor, the immigrants give their strength and skills to build a nation. To coal mines and steel industries come settlers from Wales and Poland. If the hours are long and the work hard, it is better, far better than the life they left behind. And more and more they share the fruits of the industrial society that American immigrants build. All told, more than 42 million immigrants have come to America since the beginning of our history as a nation. Why they came, what they did is the story of the United States. They came for many reasons. From many foreign lands, immigrants of almost every race, almost every religion, almost every creed. [Music] [Applause] The ingenuity, the industry, the imagination of America's immigrants created out of a wilderness a great and prosperous nation. And through their dedication to freedom and liberty, they helped mold and maintain a way of life that remains today, the living symbol of man's most cherished ideals. The immigrant story that began with the first settlers at Jamestown is a story without end. For still they come, the immigrants in search of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Not all will find fame, success, wealth. But there is still the hope, the opportunity, the example of the immigrants in whose footsteps they follow. [Music] Andrew Carnegi from Scotland. [Music] Albert Einstein, Germany. Kenut Rottney, an immigrant boy from Norway. Senator Robert Wagner, father of New York's mayor from Germany. Enrico Caruso, Italy. [Music] Samuel Gumpers, England. Arturo Tuscanini, Italy. Igor Sikorski, Russia, and Fiorelia from Italy. [Music] From her beacon hand glows worldwide welcome. Her mild eyes command the airbridged harbor that twin cities. Keep ancient lands, your storyried pomp, cries she with silent lips. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refues of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless tempest tossed, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door. For a better understanding of the world you live in, for a greater knowledge of the world around you, the Evening and Sunday Bulletin has presented the Screen News Digest, living history in your classroom. You'll follow current events better. You'll know the meaning of the news. You'll keep up with the world you live in by reading the evening and Sunday bulletin. In Philadelphia, nearly everybody reads the bulletin.