The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-12

and southern European countries. which
ates. Twenty-three and one-tenth per cent.
or the nliterates In the slums of the cities
named were OF Scandinavia. Great Britain.
France, Germany and Ireland. while more
than twice that number. or 536 per cent,
We're of Austria-Hungary, Russia, Poland
the fact that onIY "a I ner cent was com.
posed of native Americans.
HOME BUILDERS DESIRED.
The more recent immigration is less de-
voted TO home building than the former.
There is q disproportion in the number Of
the males and females which is noticeable.
The arrivals from the United Kingdom,
Germany, Sweden, Norway and Scotland
have been composed of substantially an
equal number of males and females, willis
the equilibrium between the sexes from
other countries is not observed. They send
US IS per cent. of males and only AZ per cent.
OF females. 1t may be stated as automatic
mat nome builders are good citizens, for
the government which rests upon the home
VIII the better resist the shock or foreign
invasion or domestic tumult. The American
nome is indeed the cradle of liberty-it Is
the unit of the Republics strength. There
are taught the lessons which endure. That
immigration which does not seek to build
homes among us is the most Objectionable,
and its exclusion will be no loss.
The decline in arrivals since 1892 is read
ny accounted for and may be regarded as
dsscloses the fact that its lines are parallel
wan those marking our commercial experi-
~ence-that they rise and fall together. The
recent panic checked the fOre'gL. currents.
but had less effect upon tn, undesirable
than upon the desirable elements. With the
1;Gh1iaete resumption OF our industrial ac-
INltlEs. we sPL see history repeated in the
increase of the number of immigrants. with
2 IaigeI and growing demand for workmen.
the newly landed foreigner Will rapidly in
crease to share in the competition.
"A patriotic regard for those to whose in
terests we owe first allegiance REQUIRES US
" see IudI the DerS0nS who nrpCnnf than
serves IN this new competition shall not be
tne most ignorant and impecunious Iaborers
nom abroad. The poorer classes of foreign
lInterates are used to conditions with which.
nappliy, our workmen are unfamiliar. Their
they will readily accept lower comepensa-
ton and harder conditions than our W
Workmen could or should accept. The nat
uIai ana inevitable result of their coming
VIII De TO denress the wages Of labor. A
low wage scale is not consistent with the
most wholesome DEVELOPMENT of the coun-
try and Of its people. The consideration of
the pending measure, as Mr.. Blaine said OF
me chinese exclusion act, connects itself
question"
No statistics are subtle enough to meas
ure the extent of the depression of wages
by the increase of the number of wage
earners in an already redundant labor mar
ket. but that the direct effect is injurious
by numerous specific Instances. The fact
that wages have been higher during periods
or greatest prosperity and largest immi-
grafton does not prove that increased i'm
migration did not iniuriouslv affect them.
HOW much higher would they have risen
without the added alien supply. and how
much longer would the final collapse have
been delayed are questions which can only
be asked.
INJURIOUS TO HOME LABOR.
The special immigration Investigating
commission of 1895 found that wages have
been lower in localities where there has
been congestion of migratory Italians,
Hungarians and Slavs, without trade union
afhliations, brought In to supplant native
labor in Pennsylvania mines. The intro
duction of machinery enabled the unskilled
alien to readily displace native labor. 1t is
estimated that since 1882, 5000 to SO. 900 i'm
migrants were given employment in and
about the mines Of Pennsylvania, thereby
supplantlng domestic miners and laborers,
who were unable to support home and
family on the low wages established by
the newcomers. The wages of miners and
laborers have suffered as a consequence
not only in Pennsylvania, but in Maryland,
West Virginia. Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.
Other trades, notably the shoe and cloth
ing trades, have been similarly invaded.
The padroni of New York stand ready and
anxious to supply foreign labor for many
kinds Of work, in various sections of the
country, at reduced wages.
1t was the opinion Of the special COM
mission that immigration was not response
BILE for the depression of 1884, except in
so far as the arrival of immigrants Just
before it and during its continuance swelled
considerably the number of its victims.
Certainly the industrial state lust then did
not warrant an increase in population, and
that immigrants should have come even in
decreased numbers was unfortunate alike
for them and for the native poor, of whose
scanty relief they had in common humanity
to be given a share"
Not the least of the beneficial effects of
this measure will be the curtailment of the
number of migratory laborers or birds of
passage They come and go without any
intention of gaining a permanent residence. II
They seek work for a season, or a limited
period, live in the meantime in the rudest
manner, contribute absolutely nothing to
the support of the government. and take
their earnings to spend abroad. They are a
continual drain upon the country, and are
unfair and unWelcOme competitors in the
labor markets. The pending measure will
exclude a large per cent. of these very OBJ
| jected, as they should be. but any reduce
ton in the number will be q gain in the
interest of our own countrymen who are
subject to their unfair, temporary inva-
Sions.
The evils of immigration have been aug
mented by improper methods and influences
employed abroad. Many unworthy and to-
tally unit immigrants have been sent or
come of their own ~volition. AT the present
moment the Italian government is Offering
exceptional Inducements to its subjects to
emigrate 10 America. On the cath of last
October II Messaggero, a daily newspaper
published in Rome. contained this announce
ment: The minister of the interior, having
learned that difficulties are encountered in
the concession Of the discount of 30 per
| ccHl. upon the TdliWdy IdTeS 10 immigrants.
has given instructions that the rules gov
erning the above mentioned concession shall
be observed. notifying. however. that the
concession relates only to emigrants for
America who embark in the ports Of Civil
tavecchia, Genoa and Naples"
The means and methods adopted for in
creasing Oriental immigration are repug-
nant to our best interests. The slavery
which is practiced among the poor Orientais
degrades and debauches the Immigration
system. A systematic attempt it made to
evade the sharp scrutiny of the officers at
our ports and render abortive existing
laws Paupers once deported have been as
sisted by Syrian shopkeepers to return and
enter upon lives of abiect slavery. They
have not desired to become raturalized:
their stay IS but temporary. After improv-
ing their fortunes they return whence they
came. In the meantime many Of them are
cared for as charity cases in our hospitals
and almshouses.
A WOMAN'S VIEW.
Harriet NJ. Conner. an intelligent and ex-
perienced Syrian missionary at Pittsburg.
writing under recent date, says: The
really greatest evil. j believe, lies beyond
the seas, where Interested persons. Moham-
medans, Syrians, Armenians and Greeks, as
well as the European agents. are traficking
in this worst Kind Of slavery. . = . Num-
bers of these agents, we are told, are Mos
lens, and are making fortunes by inducing
these poor people to leave their own land
for America, Brazil. Spanish ports and
elsewhere. They charge them exorbitant
| rates. accent kribes. keen secondhand