THE CONQUEST OF A CONTINENT
By Madison Grant
As the author, some twenty years ago, of The Passing of the Great Race, Mr. Madison Grant may claim to be the father of the later Nordic school of American sociologists, tutor of the Lothrop Stoddards and their kind. His new book (Scribners, 12s. 6d.) -is described as the first history of any nation " in terms of race." It is at any rate the first account in those terms of the settlement and development of North America, and as such is serviceable for its statement in summary form of the racial composition of the several regions, together with an analysis of the census during the past generation and of the U.S. immigration laws. These chapters are full of good material, clearly set forth. It is when Mr. Grant turns to the application of his great-race theory that he displays the quaintnesses of his mind and method. He notes the familiar truth that for thousands of years Europe has been an arena of racial mixtures, and 'yet holds that the mixture of Nordic and Mediterranean in the British Isles may be " one of the few " advantageous racial crossings. But In England, strangely enough, the Nordic had the field to himself " before the industrial revolution created a demand for little brunette Mediterraneans to drive spindles." Happy England, to be able to produce its needed multitude of small and dark aliens without an immigrant flood ! The Grant (cum Hitler ?) doctrine involves the belief that all greatness and civilization inhere in the Nordics, who alone can rule. And yet these wondrous creatures have always been defeated and swept away (Caesar in Gaul destroyed a million men, " chiefly Nordic "), and they cannot keep up their numbers : " in most of the Nordic nations the population does not now replace itself." Mr. Grant finds no difficulty in his rule of thumb. Those Gerinan-Americans whom he dislikes he simply puts into the inferior column— as in the case of the Pennsylvania Dutch, whom he calls Alpine. The existing immigration laws, naturally, do not satisfy Mr. Grant. He demands complete exclusion, including a stiff barrier against all Latin America. And as for a world race policy, Nazi-Germany being out of it, he urges a joint control by Britain and America for the preservation of the Nordic heritage. In this, obviously, the United States must be the dominant partner, since Britain's old imperial instinct is coming to an end." How any great Power can adopt a policy of exclusion and self-containment, and at the same time inherit and uphold a great imperialist tradition, Mr. Grant does not explain.
Previous page
