Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-08-11
IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION.

name.
IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION
T. v Powderly contributes to the North
Amcrioan Reuiep for August paper upon
immigration to the United States, that in
most respects is creditable to his patriot
ism and his intelligence. For very many
it will possess significant Importance be-
cause of the position he fillsin the Knights
of Labor organization, and the supposition
that he voices the policy of that body;
but the essay should be considered only
upon the merits of its text and the reasons
advanced in support of its claims.
He holds that the immigration that
came to US prior to 1860, was helpful, nee
essary, and of an assimilative character,
injecting into our system bone, brain and
muscle, that were then needed. But he
AYERS that for most part the immigration
of laboring people since 1860 has been un-
profitable and inimical to the best in
terests OF the Republic. The proofs he
cites are, the deplorable condition of the
contract imported workers in forest, mill
and mine who are, in most cases, scarcely
more than half civilized, and in their
methods of living, their manners and
intelligence, the very opposite Of what we
demand and expect in the citizen of the
United States. These people are thrown
into direct competition with American
laborers, who must, to hold their own with
them, descend to the level of their wage
and hence to their grossly economic meth
ods of existing.
1t is not necessary to pass the evidences
in review through the avenues of which
he reaches this conclusion. They are
sufficiently well known TO the intelligent
reader, and for most part, it must be con-
fessed, that they are forcible. The con-
tract imported laborers of mature age,
where habits of life are fixed, where ma
turity has been attained under systems
that crush out independence in manhood
in the "lower classes" and reduce them to
almost slavish conditions are unlikely to
be absorbed into and become part of the
Independent and self-respecting wage
Garner class, to which we look to found
homes and raise up children to the Re-
public, and from which we have right
to expect strong, reliable and progressive
citizenship. Mr.. Powderly looks upon
these undesirable elements as "a club
striking down American labor"
Thoughtful citizens have long reflected
that with or without protection of labor
by tariff adjustment, the incoming of the
semi-enslaved and debased classes of Eu-
rope who have no adequate conception of
the American system, places in our midst
an element that will certainly prove the
source Of such grave discomfort in the
near future that it will amount to a menace
to free institutions. Very largely the
pauper immigrants and debased laborers
are, as Mr.. Powderly points out, misled by
deceptive promises and alluring pictures
of prosperity without great exertion; but
early realizing the falsity of their antici-
pations, they become embittered and fall
into the ranks of the discontented and
dangerous under the guidance of unscrupu-
lous ard malicious leaders. The esSayist
with more force than eloquence declares
that such as have been describe are
mostly brought here mot to become citizens,
but slaves" an exasgeration in expression
with a substratum of truth. He adds,
they dc not come up to the requirements
ofcitizenship, and cannot be called freemen,
but are simply baneful influences to de-
press the labor market and reduce the
condition Of American workmen to paral-
ell with their own'
There is good deal of error in Mr..
Powierly's exolamations against capitalized
enterprise, and they 80 not fit into the
consideration of the question with which
ne starts out, and TO which he presently
returns. They may therefore be passed
over as irrelevant, and return made to his
reassertion Of the falsity of the doctrine
that this is the land of the oppressed and
downtrodden of all nations and to which
they have the right of free entry.
1t IS scarcely necessary to debate
that guestion-it is the settled
sentiment of the American people,
that whatever acquiesence may have been
given TO such doctrine in the past, it is no
longer tolerable. The right of entry does
not exist except in the nature of grant;
We have the right to exclude whom we
may, and to open the gates of privilege
only TO whom and when we please. The
great and all absorbing question for
Americans to-day is, not the extension of
charity 10 others, but the preservation and
development of the individuality, indie
pendence and helpfulness of our own.
1t is the prime motive of American
civilization to promote intelligence
and extirpate ignorance, TO encourage
independence aud stamp out slavishness,
since our institutions can be maintained
only by intelligence. self-respeeting inde-
pendence, and devoted attachment to and
comprehension Of the principles and obliga-
Eions Of free government. Ignorance is