The St. Johns herald., 1891-11-05
Immigration.


 tie in this country are many and oh
 vious. They feel about us yer,
 much as we felt about California il
 1919. We were told that if we cOult
 once work our passage to the Paci
 fic coast we should find huge chunks
 of gold as thick as stones on New
 Hampshire farm. Our imagination became excited and we took tre
 mendous risks in order to get to the Western Fl Dorado. The Euro pean workman hears the same sto- ries and they produce the same re- suit. The dream of his life is to save money enough to pay for a passage across the Atlantic. In many cases they bring with them nothing but their poverty, and very soon become a burden on the pub lie charity. Such people are very undesirable. We don't men or wO- men of that sort. At present there isn't work enough to employ the willing laborers who were born on our soil. More than a million men are always in enforced idleness, searching in vain for something to do and living on the edge of hun ger. It is therefore very serious question whether we ought not to enact such restrictive measures as will stop this tidal influx of for eiguers who cut down wages and literally take the food out of our own citizens mouths. In our judg- ment eur duty is plain. We ought. in the name of self protection, to make immigration far less easy than 1t Is, and we have strong hopes that the commission in it's forthcoming report will emphasize the necessity for that course on the part of Con- gress. As to these foreigners, We don wonder that they wartto come here. They can never materially better their condition where they are, and this country is their only hope. We can scarcely imagine the longing of the Russian peasants, for example, who are suffering from famine, or of the poor and wretch ed Italians, thousands of them, who just keep body and soul together and no more, to pull up stakes and reach a land which is a miracle of plenty. and in which such thing as starvation is unknown. They gre suffering from expressions which grind them as millstones grind kernels of corn. The best years of their early life must be de- voted t0 military service for q Gov ernnIent which gives them nothing in return. They subsist on the low est p"ssible wages, pay the heaviest possible taxes. and can see nothing ahead but a still worse fate. Why shonldn't they wish to come to America, where We try to give every man an opportunity to give a good living? Of course they are willing to make any sacrifice in order to share our benefits with us. No one can blame them for filling the steer age of every incoming vessel. But we have ourselves to look after and our own interests to protect. Ger tain parts of this country are al- ready congested. Our broad acres, which We had in plenty thirty years ago, are mostly taken up by set tiers. We have very little land left and we have a population rapidly increasing by natural means to care for. IL is full time, therefore. that Congress stepped into the breach to ward off impending danger by se- verely stringent laws on this sub- ject. We want no more immigrants who have no means of support. We have enough now too many Tn fact. Indeed, We are confronted with the serious problem of idle laborers, and to allow Europe to send over hundreds of thousands more is rank folly. Emigration from the hungry and overpopulated quarters of the Continent must be checked.