St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-04-18
VIEWS OF THE REVIEWS.


greater ease of getting here, which the
economic changes in transportation
have wrought within the quarter CEN
fury In the DAYS when rates Of mas
sage were high, when tn. ocean voyage
consumed as many weeks as il now
does days; before railroads here and
abroad had made possible rapid and
comparatively cheap movement over
long distances; before the triple
expansion engine had come to
drive the great steamships across
the ocean at the minimum of
time and cost, and their competition
had reduced steerage rates 20 nominal
sum, the elnlgrant must have more
means, greater courage, more force of
character. than is now required. As
the trouble. danger and expense have
diminished so has the quality of the
people who have come. The presence
of the greater issues with their absorb
ing interest, incident to the approach
of presidential campaign. has sub
merged the attention which the ques-
ton Of immigration attracted last year,
but, as it Is steadily continuing
quantity. its discussion must be ever
liltIClJs CbCl II IL w liOb lCEClNO IilE dl-
tention now that il should.
Under the title ''Our National Dump
ing Ground" title which assumes too
much by far, the North American this
month presents two ''Studies in lmmi-
grafton" one by Hon. John B. Weber,
who was appointed commissioner of
immigration, and sent abroad 10 study
It's phases there sand one by Presd ent
Smith, of the New York chamber Of
commerce. Mr.. Weber is an AlsatIan
by Birth. and has some claim to distine-
ton as having been the candidate for
sheriff whom ex-President Cleveland
defeated in 1870. AS the result OF his in
yestigaiions abroad lie finds that ''ntith-
er foreign governments nor societies d.
rectiy or Systematically transport their
paupers. criminals or detectives to- this
country" III the absence of such aid
the slum element Will not move from
home. Ii is tied there as firmly by the
qualities which put 1t in the Sums as
by want OF means to get away with. Its
habits, as well as its environment. pre-
vent the accumulation of means. Sixty
per cent OF the immigrants come on pre-
paid tickets sent them by relatives who
have preceded them, and this he re-
CARDS as a guarantee that these are as
desirable material for citizens as are
those who send for them, While they
add to the overcrowding of the
cities, still not to the eX-
tent generally supposed. as 1.-TWO
thirds of them 90 West, mostly
to the farms" He regards it as the Sc
curlty of this country that our immi-
grants come from SO many different
countries with their distinct racial char
acteristics to be here blended by inter
marriage in time into that distinct type
which shall constitute the American of
the future. He may be optimistic in his
opinion that in this blending the best
traits of each race are retained, con
clusion which varied experiments III the
animal kingdom does not fully justify.
designedly withheld from settle
ment by the progressive races
until racial growth in Europe had
developed marked characteristics,
in order that at the proper time. it might
be made great mixing trough of all
these characters, is pleasant refuge in
those moments when some action OF the
Malta, some outbreak of the anarchists
or some bloody riot of hungarian min
ers. give impetus to the feeling that it
is time the bars should he put up against
the indiscriminate influx of the for
eigner.
AS to the remedies the commissioner
is clear that consular certificatiUn Will
be impracticable. He would perfect ex-
istlng laws; maintain rigid inspection
at ports of entry; guard the frontiers
also; and make the steamship
companies bear the cost of
sending back immigrants who are
within the limits of prescription. Fur
Their, up to the time the Immigrant ac-
quires citizenship lie would make him
Liable to compulsory return for crime
committed abroad, if discovered, for
crime convicted of here, after eXpira-
ton of sentence, aud for pauperism
when that stage is reached. Why the
limit of this action should be put at the
voluntary act of assuming citizenship
here is not clear, unless it is based on
the idea that somehow one acquires a
vested right of residence by going
through that formula, but it is a lin
il our states do not recognize even
as to those to the manor born,
who are decitiZeniZed by convic-
ton of an infamous crime. There
is no reason why revocation of citizen
ship aud sentence Of deportation might
night be added to the punishment in
flicted for the crime, nor why that
might not be the proper penalty Of vag-
ab0ndage. Another remedy which the
commissioner avoids, if it occurred to
him, is return to the requirement of Il
much longer residence in this country
before citizenship, with any of its priv
ileee5, can be assumed. One cause of
the rise of this feeling favoring severe
ri IF ,ifr,a 10. bn s,ior
of so many foreigners of recent ar
rival, ignorant even of our Ian
guage and incapable of intelligent
exercise of the power of citizen
ship, taking part in our elections,
aiding in the decision as TO poll
Icies, national, state and municipal, of
which they know nothing. and being, as
practical factor in elections, only an
addition of so many more votes to that
Of the man or interest under whose
control and direction they necessarily
fall. The laws admitting to the fran
chiSe OH declaration OF intention to be-
come citizens should be repealed. They
exist only as products of political greed
of power careless of other results, and
it is only the same greed for votes and
the cOwardice of politicians which re-
tain them on onr statutes.
President Smith contents himself
more with statistical statements of i'm
migration and its character as shown by
the returns of crime and pauperism, than
with suggestion of remedies for what
evils may exist or be thought to exist.
Fifty per cent of the total immigration
has come in since 1881, of which 21.5 per
cent were under fifteen years of age; IS
per cent between fifteen and forty, and
los per cent over forty. One-third of
the conYicts in the penitentiaries were
foreign-born, and three-ffths OF the
paupers in the almsheuses came from
the same source. In the city of New
York the foreign-born contributed to
the inmates OF the penitentiary 80 per
cent; of the TombS "a per cent, and of
the WorkEouse SO per cent. The only
remedy Mr.. Smith suggests in addition
to existing laws is to require consular
certificate that the immigrant can read
and write in his native language, a sug-
gestion which would have more value
had he accompanied his other statistics
with a statement of what percentage of
foreign-born conyicts and paupers were
unable to read and write their mother
tongue. 80
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