Peter Roberts

Peter Roberts (1859–1932) was a Congregationalist pastor and the author of several books on immigrants. The following viewpoint is excerpted from The New Immigration, a study of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe first published in 1912. Roberts argues that these immigrants have been beneficial to the United States. He maintains that more legislation restricting immigration is unnecessary and calls for Americans to accept these new immigrants.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. In the author’s opinion, how are commonly accepted stereotypes of immigrants incorrect?
2. According to the author, how do immigrants affect jobs and wages?
3. What does the United States suffer from, according to Roberts"

All students of immigration should try to do two things: first, get the facts, argue from them, and discard popular prejudices and antipathies—we want to...