The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-12-05
IMMIGRATION THAT NEEDS RE-
ssTRTCTfNG.


In view Of the iacs tha, some of the
newspapers ana public speakers In COM
menting on the recent election, have In
timateu that tue foreign vote Influenced
the result OF that election, the lmmigra-
tion Restriction Lsague that has head
quarters st Boston, and OF which Mr..
JOHN FisKE is president AMI Mr. PRss-
ooTT +. HALL, secretary, invites public
attention to a few facts to correct any
impression that the claims OF the election
may have created that immigration re-
stri.iion is not so necessary as has been
thought.
What most Of tho advocates of further
restriction want, and what the Lodge.
Corliss Bill, shortly to come before the
senate, aims to accomplish, is not the
exclusion of foreigners generally, but of
those who are ignorant alike OF their
own language, of an occupation and OF
the standards OF living and character
which distinguish the American people.
In regard to the recent election two
things may be said First, the way man
will vote in a particular election Is not
test OF his desirability in other re-
| spects. Seconds bill like the one propose d
would have kept out q very small pro
portion or the foreign horn who voted in
the recent election either for gold or for
| silver, for MCKINLEY or for BRYAN.
1t hss been shown in the various pub.
| Iications of the immigration Restric-
tion League, and elsewhere that
| illiteracy and general undesirabil
ity go together. The illitersts are
the Slav, Latin and Asistic races. During
the last fiscal year the average illiteracy
OF immigrants from tria-Hungsry,
| Italy, Poland and Russia was 40 par cent.
while OF those from the United Kingdom,
France, Germany, and Scandinavia, 1t
was only o.i peI ceht'
Now what part did the Siav, Latin and
| Asiatic vote play in the recent election?
| According to the census of $780, (part 1,
| up. cxl, clxxvii), IL all the males OF
| voting age of those races mad been
| naturalized ond had voted in the
last election, the percentage which
| their vote would have been of the total
| vote would be as follows: United States
| 2.6l; North Atlantic States sos; South
| Atlantic States 0. 30; North Central States
2.54; south Central States 0.s1; Western
| States s. 90. But not all thesa could have
voted. BY the census of 1890. tpsrt III,
| DID. 600. 6ss) of the Slav, Latin and Asiatic
foreign horn in the United States $40 per
| cent. were aliens, while OF the British,
| German and Scandinavian only 80 per
| cent. were aliens. The vote of the Siav,
Latin and Asiailc elements OF our pop
ulstion was, therefore, not over 1a' per
| cent. OF the total vote In the last elec-
ten, aad probably much less. It 10 true
that there has been large immigration
OF the slav and Latin peoples during the
last six years, and that last year they
formed So per cent. of the total imni-
grafton. But il has been shown both by
census and by the testimony OF the i'm
1 migrants themselves that they do not 60
into the States which were pivotal dur
| ing the last election, except to the city
Of Chicago, but congregate on the At
lsn,ic sea board.
tits therefore misleading to say that
the illiterate foreign torn vote ia the re-
cent election has any material bearing
uuon the question OF excluding the IL
literate immigrants who are now pre-
senting themselves for admission. In
1880 the Slav and Latin immigration was
about one-tenth of the total immigra'
ton; today 1t Is more than half. The
peop;e who built up the North and West
were the British, Irish, Germans and
Scandinavian. These would be prae,i
calIv unaffected -hx- reading and writ.
ing test.
ONE thing is plain: After his long