Omaha daily bee., 1892-12-18
IMMIGRATION.
Farmers U-eejiy

Hdlpcrs WccilU
Many earnest and patriotic men have Of
late expressed their alarm at the constantly
swelling stream Of foreign immigration flow.
ing toward our shores, and the newspapers
are teeming with articles and the debating
clubs rosomding with speeches on this topic
IL Is argued that our country has in the
course of time become too well settled to
require many more foreigners for its devcl-
ment; that almost in the same measure as
our need of immigration diminishes, the
number OF immigrants landing upon our soil
Increases; that as immigration grows in
quantity, IL detcrioratcs in quality: that
while formerly large majority of the immi-
grants consisted of desirable clements, such
as the Germanic races and the Irish.
now the number of Slavs, Hun
garians, Russians and Italians pour
ing in grows in alarming proportion,
that we arc receiving in large masses a kind
OF population which other countries are aux-
ious TO get rid of; that. in short, the old
world is dumping its refuse upon our soil ;
That many of the immigrants are so ignorant
ana degraded as TO permit no hope of their
becoming assimilatcd with the native popu-
lation and being made good American citi-
zons; that with them they bring not only a
ruinous competition to our laboring people,
but also a seed of anarchism and other subvcr-
sivc tendencies and outlandish notions dan
gcrous to our political system and social
order; and that i'll view of all this it Is nCCCs-
sarily greatly to restrict, if not entirely to
prohibit, immigration in order to save this
republic from serious trouble
III Will be admitted by every fair-inindcd
man, whether or not he accepts all these
allegations as true, that the great strain of
recent immigration has brought us Il large
number of persons whose presence among us
does not appear desirable on account of their
mental and moral condition. What kind of
people are they! Most of them belong to the
class of unskilled laborers doing the rough
work which requires the least intellectual
ability or preparation. And why do they
come in such numbcrs' This is a question
which has not received in the discussion of
the general subject the consideration it de.
serves. The great mass of unskilled labor
ers come to the United States because some
body wants to employ them here. And when
we look mt the matter closely, we find that
the whole community wants them for a ser
vice which cannot be dispensed with
III Is matter of common observation that
| in our days the number of native Americans
who are willing to earn their daily bread by
| hard work with their hands is constantly de-
crcasing. The farmers son, who, instead of
| staying upon his fathers acres or of acqur.
| ing Il farm for himself TO walk behind the
| in some occupation which will not harden his
| hands and tan his skin, is no longer an eX.
| ccption, but is fast becoming the rule. The
| native American no longer likes to dig
bitches, or to work on the highways, or to
| throw up railroad embankmcntS or to do the
| rough work in coal mines. But this class oi
| work has to be done, and somebody has to be
| found to do it; if not the native American
| then somebody else. 1t is idle to say that
| the native American is crowded out of such
| m ny Inv hng ntat ftpt, Of l,n fnts
| eign immigrant who is willing to work for
| lower wages; for the number of Americans
who would perform that sort of work, were
| the wages ever so high, is entirely INSULT
cient. and constantly growing less. Here is
| therefore, an indispensable service for which
| the foreigner is needed.
Neither can the laborerS for this indispenS.
| able service be drawn from every class OF
foreign immigrants. The bulk of the immi.
! grafton from Germany. generally regarded
as not only an unobjectionable but as a de-
| sirable class go to the new states in the
| west to devote themselves to agricultural
| pursuits. Those who do not come here tC
cultivate the soil mostly settle down in towns
as merchants or mechanics or small trades
men. But few Germans are willing to jor
| the lowest ranks of labor-not as il
| they Stunned hard work, but because il
| is their ambition as soon as possible to be
| come independent, to found permanent
| homes and to improve their condition in ;
methodical way. The same may be said o
the Norwegians and Swedes. The Irish i'm
migrants, too, very many of whom were
| formerly found among the worker:
with pick and shovel, are gradu
ally withdrawing from that kind o
employment to go to farms or to engage il
other occupations. The upshot of all this is
that the labor here mentioned has to re
cruit itself very largely, if not altogether
from that class of foreign immigrants which
is considered the most undesirable. and that
however Objectionable that class may be il
| other respects, it is put to a use which can
not be dispensed with
In dealing with the question of immigra
tion we have, therefore, to deal at the sam,
time with n social condition which will b
found practically to stand in the wa,
of all sweeping measures of restriction
Although there is at present very stronI
and widespread feeling among our peop
favoring such sweeping measures, vet ii i
not probable that this feeling will find ex
preston in legislation equally sweeping
While readily admitting that in point o
numbers we are receiving much more immi
grafton than we need, yet we cannot clos
our eyes to the fact that it is eXtremel,
difficult, if not impossible to devise n plai
of restriction, the practical execution o
which would not in a large measure
exclude the desirable immigration
together with the undesirable. The en
actment of such plans into law would newt
ably result i'll conspiracy of very importan
| and powerful interests to evade them. Fo
the same reason the enactment of such law
will turn out TO be politically impracticable
The probability is that we shall have h
|