The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-06-27


Some Of tho workinemen Of the country
are evidently opposed 10 further foreign I'M
migration as having tendency to increase
competition with themselves. They have re-
Gently shown their animus in this respect very
pointedly in Washington. and are threatening
| Secretary Foster that unless he accedes 10
| their demands they will throw the whole
force Of their influence against Mckinley IN
! Ohio.
The case in which they have so acted comes
under the alien Contract Labor law, and is as
follows: On the 10th of February last two
| Swedish machnists Gibson and Jahnsen.
who had worked in English gun fac
| tories, came 10 Commodore Folger with aletter
| of recommendation from an English official.
! There was no evidence that they were under
any contract, and they were, It seems, only
two skilled mechanics who desired legitimate
employment in America. The Commodore
gave them work and they are still at the
Washington navy-yard. where they have gwen
satisfaction.
The representatives Of the Federation OF
Labor. seeing that permitting mechanics OF
the high qualifications possessed 10y these two
Swedes would tend to diminish their control
Of American labor, attempted at once TO have
them discharged, and made an indignant
protest to the Treasury Department against
their being employed on the ground that
they were contract laborers. The protest was
referred to Commodore Folger who dismissed
it at once on the ground that there was no
violation Of the law. He said he had never
heard Of tho two Swedes until they presented
him with their letters Of recommendation
and as tho department needed such men he
proposed TO keep them.
But the Federation Of Labor still are not
satisfied. and made another protest 10 Secre-
tary Foster. declaring that the immigration
conspiracy has during twenty-five years
derived hundreds Of thousands Of Ameri-
can workingmen and women Of en-
ployment. and reduced the wages OF
hundreds Of thousands Of others TO
mere pittance' They interpret the AlienCon-
tract Labor law as q measure directed against
the employment Of strangers, and they de-
mand that the administration shall set a good
example Of its observance by dismissing the
two Swedes from the Washington nayy-yard.'
What Secretary Foster may do has not vet
appeared The Labor Association threatens
that unless he yields to them they will vote
5000 miners in Ohio against Mckinley,
and this threat may brighten him
into searching for some pretext upon
which to throw these two worthy
laborers upon the cold charity Of the world.
1t is hard to see, however, what excuse he
can find for so doing and it certainly looks
as if the demands of the Federation were IN
lust. tyrannical and unreasonable Unre-
stricted immigration which permits the scum
of tie Old World 10 lie turned loose upon our
shores TO perpetrate like the Ma
fla, high-banded crimes against So
ciety is bad But an immigration which
brings into the country honest, hard
working and thrifty mechanics, as these two
Swedes appear u be, should, by all means be
encouraged. The Federation of Labor is it.
self composed largely of foreigners and if
the rule which they wish applied to these
Swedes had been originally applied to them
selves they would have felt that they had
been most grievously outraged.