FRENCH CANADIANS – GOOD AMERICANS – (PIP #44)

By Raoul H. Beaudreau

     L’Etoile published in French from 1886 to 1957 with English popping up occasionally, in advertisements for example. The following reader’s letter appeared in English and was later reprinted all over New England. Here is the original, with its 100-year-old wording.

– Louise Peloquin

L’Etoile, September 9, 1924

FRENCH CANADIANS – GOOD AMERICANS

      To the Editor of the Herald

      In your issue of Friday Aug. 8 there appeared an article entitled “French Canadians in New England,” reprinted from the Montreal Star. In view of the fact that you printed this article, which is none too complimentary to the Americans of French extraction, I assume that in the same spirit of fairness you always displayed, you will extend to me the courtesy of a reply. Were it not for the fact that the writer of that article states that the official report of the Massachusetts bureau of labor statistics remarks pleasantly, “With some exception the Canadian French are the Chinese of the eastern States,” (1) I would not attempt to dignify that article with a reply, but I am extremely reluctant to allow such an insult to be hurled at the Americans of French descent in New England without a protest.

     This race, of which I am proud to say that I am a descendant, needs no encomium from me. Its history and traditions speak for themselves. Beginning in 1850, when our forefathers began to cross the border and settle in New England up to the present day, I challenge one single example of lack of patriotism, industry, thrift and devotion to American ideals on their part, or on the part of their descendants.

     When President Lincoln issued the call to arms in ’61, there were but few of them there but history records that they answered the call. When President McKinley issued the call in ’98, they did likewise; when President Wilson issued the call in 1917, the enthusiasm displayed by the American boys of French descent in New England was surpassed by no other nationality, and the first boy to lay down his life as a member of the Yankee division was a young man by the name of Moussette, from Quincy. During this span of years, our forefathers have labored in the industrial centres of New England, they have been thrifty, they have helped to build their own communities, and while it is true that they have endeavored to retain their traditions, such as the preservation of the French language and their religion, in respect, they did not differ from other nationalities migrating to our shores. Their loyalty and devotion to the American flag has never been surrendered. Scan the records of your criminal courts and show me a nationality having less criminals in its ranks! How many of them desert their families and then are a burden on the community? How many examples were there of refusal to serve the colors of the country in time of war? How many sacrificed their lives in the field of France? The answer to these questions is the refutation to this ignominious article entitled “Fifty-Fifty Americans.”

     Now what is the explanation of the remark, alleged to be inserted in the official report of the bureau of labor and statistics which says, “That the French-Canadians are the Chinese of the eastern states?” Do these people violate our immigration laws? Is their labor in the industrial centres of our commonwealth below par with other nationalities? Are they trouble makers? Do they work less for less wages than other people! Wherein do they resemble the Chinese? Is this not the venom of a bigoted mind bringing its stupidity to light?

     We Americans of French descent in this commonwealth will resent that insult – if it is inserted in the records of this state. We owe it to the memories of our forefathers and of those boys who made the supreme sacrifice. I call for a retraction of this insult, if such a remark has been made, and if no satisfactory explanation and retraction is made, I shall call upon the Governor of this commonwealth, who has always proven himself a liberal, to cause that insult to be expunged from the records of this commonwealth.

Raoul H. Beaudreau.

Boston, Aug. 26.

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1. Click on the link below – “The Chinese of the eastern states,” communication given in Boston on November 19, 1924 at a Société Historique Franco-Américaine convention by Arthur J. Favreau and published in 1925 by L’Avenir National Publishing Company of Manchester, N.H.

The publication contains Favreau’s communication and other protests against the epithet “Chinese of the east” first bestowed upon the French Canadians in the “Twelfth annual report of the Massachusetts Bureau of statistics and labor” published in 1881.

https://archive.org/details/chineseofeastern00favr