Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-30
When the republic was forming, and after

When the republic was forming, and after
ward when ID was developing into sturdy man
hood, il was important, not to say necessary,
that there should be the greatest stmulant af-
forded to the influx Of people from abroad.
The United States needed population. The
population acquired at that time mainly OF
the old stock of kin beyond sea-" The Eng
hsh. WEIGH. Scotch and Irish came and with
them the Dutch and Scandinavian cousins and
the Huguenot neighbors. This large increment
was wholesome, and the elements composing il.
measurably homogeneous. Time healed any
little differences Of race or religion All the
conditions Of immigration, in the light of sta
tistics and of published facts other than statis-
teal. appear to be undergoing change. DIR.
Hamiltons report, commented upon by The
STAR presented some facts and suggestions
worthy of national consideration. crop of
newspaper and magazine articles speedily fol-
lowed. In the January North American Recle,o
Mr. Henry Cabot Lodge writes a thoughtful
paper on The Restriction of immigration" in
which he draws upon the consular and other
oficial reports of the government for support
of his position. Mr.. Lodge finds that the immi-
grafton from 1874 to 1889, inclusive, has
amounted to 6,41S,6S3 persons, and that the
average annual immigration has been 401 ,164.
In these sixteen years there has been
q decrease Of 19.4 per cent of I'M
migration from France, but every other
country of Europe shows an increase. Norway
has the lowest rate, CT sos, while Hungary
makes the highest with 1854 The nations that
contributed chiefly 70 the GpbuildinS of the
original thirteen states of the Union and which
have heretofore supplied the bulk of our
cruits are thrown into the background during
the last ten years, and while the mass of the
immigrants still come from the United Kingdom
OF Great Britain and Ireland and the empire of
Germany. the figures show a steady gain by
the Slavic countries, Hungary and Bohemia.
Not to speak of the ultra socialist, anarchistic
and yagabond elements thus derived, it is well
to note that all the sources of supply that show
a steady increase. are unskiled elements inferior
in the essentials of citizenship to the elements
heretofore incorporated The typical man of
the new immigration is the SIovack, who soaks
himself in whisky, works cheap and crowds out
better hborers- In many parts of the country,
as Mr.. Lodge shows. the struggle for existence
in large cities has become as fierce as in the old
world. The overstocking of the labor market
means tendency toward decline of wages
which implies peril socially and politically. In
q SONHSAr SNSAS man Las Il NOte anu
where government is for and by the people it
is essential that the rate of wages and the aver
age of intelligence should be high. Hence the
necessity for additional legislation by Congress
imposing safeguards on immigration that were
not dreamed Of or indeed not necessary in the
days of the fathers Of the republic. Then the
nation was furnishing for population. 1t was
all bones and no flesh 1t could digest thing.
Now its hunger is largely satisfied. Its appe-
tite is more fastidious, and the more objection
able food thrust upon it. undigested and unas-
simulated, threatens blood poisoning.