San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-05-05
IMMIGRATION INIQUITIEs.

The demand OF the great masses
of the people OF this country for .
radical change in the management
Of the Immigration Bureau OF the
country, passes year after year I'M
needed. One would think from
the exceeding delicacy with which
congress handles this incursion
of supernumersry laborers, that
the old world paupers had claim
on the workshops and fields and
construction lines Of this country.
Congress certainly acts as though
they had vested right to come to
this country, knock at the doors Of
labor, cut down the prices Of
American workers, disturb the
balances between labor and
the demand for such labor, and in
every way work injury to the
workmen of the nation. All this
is a direct result of that disregard
OF the rights of the individual as
against the rights of the corpora
tion that has been growing evil
in the mind of this government
since the close of the war. Such
was not the idea Of the martyr
president, whose voice was always
for the masses as against the class
es and who believed alb owe all else
in the divine right Of the people.
The rich and the brainy and those
in good positions and those
with family influence and a
political pull can care for them
selves, but the body Of the people
look to government-the power
supported by their. earnings and
taxes in time Of peace and defend
ed by their arms in time Of war
to legislate fairly for them and
protect them against the aggres.
sions of capital at home and pau
per labor abroad. The voice Of the
people of these United States is
heard loudly calling upon William
Mckinley, Of Ohio to lead them to
a victory over the hosts of free
trade and a deprecated currency.
Why? Because the Ohio man is
accepted as the best exponent of
the American principle that the
list of public men at present az
fords. The people recognize that
protection to American production
necessarily involves protection to
the American producer, and that
it is as foolish as it is illogical to
protect the results of labor and
leave that labor unprotected
against the assaults Of foreign COM
petition. The wealth of this coun-
try, the capital that employs labor,
is opposed to any serious restric'
ton of immigration, because this
would tend to stiffen the spinal
column of labor to demand a
proper equivalent for itself. So
long as foreign products are shut
out and pauper and other foreign
labor let in, 30 long has the
capital of the country that EN-.
ploys labor both ends Of the lever.
1t is the opposition OF this capital
and those who employ large labor
that prevents congress from legis-
lating as it promises upon this
question of immigration. The po-
litical parties put this restriction
Of immigration into their plat
forms, but they are mighty careful
to exclude it from their measures
when in congress. AS mere mat
ter of justice to the men who pay
the expenses of this country, who
create its wealth, who defend it in
case Of war, there should at once
be such restriction placed on i'm
migration as will virtually exclude
all unemployed from other lands
coming upon this soil until an
other century is we'll ushered in.
South American professionals com:
plain that their appeals to the