Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-10-11
THE REFLUx OF EmraRarIoN.

Emigration is presenting new feature just
at the present time. Until recently, the num-
Der of emigrants who returned to Europe was
too Insignificant to attract attention, and it was
composed almost entirely of persons who came
to America without the intention of making it a
permanent home. Butitis now estimated that
since the beginning of August, about six thou
sand emigrants have left New York for Europe
The New York Herald publishes a statement
OF the numbers which have been sent back by
three shipping firms of that city from the first
of August to the tenth of October, and they
amount, in the aggregate, to three thousand
1--we hundred and seyenty-fve. The same Jour-
nal states that several vessels are preparing to
SAIL during the present month, and that their
passenger lists are already full The move
ment is, therefore, still going on.
Several reasons have been given for this re.
inx of emigration. Some attribute il to the
fears excited by the Know-nothing organization.
A few timid persons may have been frightened
back to Europe by the recent efforts to array
the native against the foreign population, but
we do not believe that many emigrants have
returned to the old world on that account. It
is more probable that the new movement is to
be attributed to the disproportion between the
rates of wages and the cost of living in the
Northern States. For the last few years the
emigration TO the United States has been enor-
nous and it is enormous even now. Most Of
the emigrants land at New York on their way
| TO the Northern States They all seek employ
ment and their numbers may have exceeded
the demand for labor along the lines Of travel
and created local depression in wages until
they can scatter through the country and en-
gage in productive industry. This may be the
reason Of the present refux in the tide of emf
grafton and ifso il win be partial and temporary.
IL it proceeds from general and pervading
cause, labor must be badly organized in the
North. If there i5a general disproportion be-
| tween the wages Of labor and the cost OF liy-
| ing, the laborer must be hardly dealt with in
the non-slaseholding States. We have not as
yet u redundant population. As yet the CONT
nent is but partially settled, and its resources
but partially developed. There is general
need for labor, and if emigrants have to return
to Europe because Of the general disproportion
between their wages and the expense of liv-
ing, there must be something wrong in the on
ganization Of labor in the non-slayeholdng
States. The cost Of living is great, because
prices and profits are high. Under such cir
cumstances, labor cannot suffer permanently,
unless it is oppressed by capital. II labor
obtains its due share Of the national pro-
duetion, it receives the same advantages as
capital, from the high prices and profits
caused by period Of general prosperity.
In the Southern States labor is enormously
high. and it has been made so by the high
prices of produce, and the large profits which
those prices yield. The same cause ought to
exert the same effect in the North, for whilst
land is cheap and produce finds profitable
markets. emigration ought not to disturb the
wages Of labor, except in tie partial manner
we have stated. We, therefore, believe that
the reHux Of emigration will be partial, and
will not make any serious impression on the
great tide which is setting toward the United
States. That tide may be diminished by causes
beyond the Atlantic; but it will be sometime
yet before the forests Of America viii be cleared
and cultivated, or before a secret organization
viii be able to drive from our shores that labor
which is necessary TO aid in developing the re-
sources Of the continent