The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-11-15
SHALL WE RESTRICT IMMIGRA-
TION1

American Government and people has
always been the cordial hospitality ex-
tended to all strangers seeking homes
in our midst. The theory of our gov
ernment, the spirit of our people, and
the hitherto existing industrial con-
ditions of the country have each con-
tributed powerfully TO make such hos
pitality guiding principle, policy and
practice Of the American people. The
boast that our land offers an asylum
for the down -trodden and oppressed of
all other lands has been no idle one,
but truth amply verified in the ex-
perience of every one of the millions
that have sought refuge, liberty and
enjoyable homes under our flag. To
this policy and practice of open-armed
welcome to strangers is traceable an
important part of that unparalleled
progress development and pro ,perity
which render this country the wonder
and admiration of the whole world
In every department of solid, substan-
tial state building, people of foreign
birth and their children have been i'm
pOrtant factors, and they are entitled
to LIBERAL share of the honor and
glory that rightfully attaches to what
ever has been accomplished in or by
this country. The time has no owever,
arrived when Intelligent men of foreign
birth, or extraction, no less than those
of native birth and ancestry, begin to
seriously question whether the old
policy of unre 5tricted immigration can
safely be continued any longer. Con
ditions in this country have under
gone marked change in several inn
portant particulars, one of which is an
immense increase of competition in
1okN
of fertile public lands invited he en-
terprise of the industrious, ambitious
poor, the great body of immigrants
were absorbed by the country without
appreclable effect upon the labor mar
ket. The situation is widely different
now. The remaining unoccupied lands
of desirable character are insufficient
to supply the needs that will )on arise
from the natural increase of the popu-
latiOn now iu the country and con
tinued immigration will strongly in
tensify the struggle for homes which
the,next adult generation and its sue
cessors must meet. In truth, this
stTug gle has already become much
harder than formerly, as every parent
of moderate means who is looking
about for a comfortable settlement OF
his children can testify This pressure
bears upon agricultural workers, and,
as always must be the case. it evens
out upon all othors with equal force.
1t is not claimed that population asyet
begins to crowd upon resources III this
country, but that the natural increase
of the people already here will in two
or three generations resuc6 in popu-
lation as great as will be consistent with
the most favorable conditions of a peo-
pie, and therefore, we need no more
immigrants This contention, of cOpase.
leaves out of calculation all higher de-
velopment of the present productive
resources of the country, which, being
only cOnjeCtural, cannot be satistac
torlly estimated.
1t is not at all probably, however ad
vantageous 1t may come to appear, that
public sentimt MT in this country will
ever declare in favor of closing our
gates against all classes of immigrants,
irrespective of their character and an
tecedents Such a course is contrary
to the spirit of the age and still more
strongly opposed to the spirit and tenn
per of the American people. But there
Is a strong and growing sentiment in
favor of restricting immigration In the
interest of the common welfare and
safety, A rapidly increasing percent
age of the immigrants into this country
are from Southern and Western
Europe. The typical immigrant from
those quarters is a peasant whose
horizon has been exceedingly narrow;
his moral and religious training most
meagre, and his ideas and standards
of life dangerously low. The stimulus
to this character of immigration has
been supplied by certain powerful cor
nfcJb
this country whose greed of gain has
prompted them to seek cheaper labor
than could be supplied by either native
working nen or the better class OF
European immigrants The same in
t1uences were charge able with the bulk
of the Chinese immigration. The fact
that these East and Sou h European
i'm migrants supplant and drive out,
through low wages, the native and
other Worklngmen, Is proof OF the pur
pose for which they were brought to
this country. These ignorant. brutal
lied people are incapable of being
Americanized or of being other than
constant menace to civil order and
social morality, and their children will
probably be but slight improvement
upon their parents.
Statistics showing the extent to
which these degraded laborers have
already crowded out all other work
ingmen would probably be a great sur
prise to the average citizen, as would
also be the figures showing the mum
bers of such immigrants still arriving.
They work for wages upon which an
American or an Americanized labOrer
could not subsist without greatly low
ering his present standard of living.
They subsist upon food, wear cl 0thing,
live In foul quarters, neglect wives
and children and ignore social ambition
In a way that Is /, tolerable to th7
minds OF the workingnlen whose places
they have taken, and in this fact lies
the peril of this and kindred classes of