WITHIN THESE BORDERS.

By John R.Scotford, '11. New York: Friendship Press,1953. 151 PP.

Mr. Scotford has given us in this book a dearcut picture of our Spanish speaking immigrants and fellow citizens. Thoughtful Americans have long been concerned about the problems that beset new groups when they reach our shores and many must have wondered whether our government could not guide them more efficiently in order to spare them some of the misery which we know thousands of them have always faced. Mr. Scotford does not bring up the question of governmental direction or intervention except to point out that the government of Puerto Rico has recently established agencies through which many of the woes suffered by emigrating Puerto Ricans have been greatly decreased. He mentions the splendid opportunities which our churches have in communities where some of these two million Spanish speaking people live, and he gives us a description of the work of Protestant organizations, especially in our western and southwestern states. He does not stress proselytizing but states clearly the shortage of clergymen in the countries of origin and the lack of both clergy and churches in regions where many of these newcomers dwell.

Mr. Scotford tells us of the experiences of the million in Texas who speak Spanish, of the three-quarter million in California, of the Puerto Ricans in New York and other localities, and of other smaller groups in various parts of the country. He tells us how promising young people take advantage of school opportunities and their own talents and rise in the social scale as they find better working conditions, seeking only ordinary justice and a chance to make an honest living.

Mr. Scotford has lived in parishes and regions of our country where there are many Spanish speaking people. "No one," he concludes, "who has come to know our Spanishspeaking Americans has failed to like them. They are a friendly, cordial people, with rather more and better manners than the rest of us." For us North Americans of older stock" who count Hispanic people among our friends such words are a welcome contrast to the travesties of the Spanish character which our public has known for so many years.