The San Francisco call., 1898-01-12
The Evils of Admitting Paupers From Abroad Shown by
 Statistics.
VEN NEZUELA BOU NDARY
Resolution for Information Regarding the Amount Spent by the
 Commission.
Special Dispatch to The Call.
Call Office, Riggs House.

Washington. Jan. II.
 The Senate to-day briefly discussed an adverse report by the Pensions Committee on a bill to pension General Meade's two daughters at s100 month each, Chairman Allinger saying the committee did not wish to enter on the pensioning of the daughters of veter- ans. Allen of Nebraska thought that General Meade's services justified such Hberality, but no action was taken, and after Wolcott of Colorado announced a speech on the money question for next Monday, Senator Fairbanks ad- dressed the Senate on immigration.
 Fairbanks began by referring to the importance of guarding and preserving the high standard of the country pop ulation and citizenship. The pending bill, he said, by imposing moderate, reasonable educational test upon all immigrants over 16 years of age, throws an additional safeguard around our population and citizenship.
 Prior to 1S75," he continued, there were no restrictive laws, except those prohibiting coolie trade. In that year more drastic measures were enacted to suppress this reprehensible traffic, and conVicts and women imported for inn moral purposes were excluded. Subse- quently, further restrictive acts were passed aiming to reduce the flow of the morally and physically diseased. The presence of these restrictive acts upon the statute books has been bene- ficial, though the number who present. ed themselves at our ports and were excluded is comparatively small. But doubtless many were deterred from starting by knowledge of the laws in force
 Beginning with the last decade a change occurred in both the national ity and quality of our immigration. Those immigrants who were chiefly of the Slavonic countries began to come in great and increasing numbers. Among them were many very desir- able acquisitions; many from the bet ter portions of Italy, Austria Hungary and other Eastern and Southern coun- tries were educated, enterprising and brave, but the larger portion were ill., fitted to become a part of our popula- tion or to assume the privileges and re- responsibilities of American citizens. They possessed low order of intelli- gence and a degraded standard of life, and had no adequate conception of the marvellous significance of our inStitu- tions.
 "A rise in the ratio of immigration from Eastern and Southern countries rom 6.0 IO 0l. per cent Tn seventeen years and a fall in the ratio from the Western and Northern countries from 64.5 to 36.7 per cent in the same period may well lead us to pause and inquire whether the change is in the national interest.
 The decrease in immigration has been from countries which have hith- erto sent us but small per cent of H. literates, and the increase is from countries where the ignorance is greatest. Thirty-nine and nine-tenths per cent of those above 14 years of age coming from Austria Hungary, Italy, Poland and Russia last year could nei- ther read nor write, while only 3.6 per cent of those from the United King dom, France, Germany and Scandina- via were illiterate. When we witness this increased ilIiterate accession to our population we may well recall the warning of George William Curtis: Let us beware how we water our life blood"
 In conclusion Fairbanks quoted at length statistics tending to show the excessive contribution of the country s foreign population to the number of in- mates of almshouSes, penitentiaries, in- sane asylums and reformatory institu- tions. He insisted that the educational test, as applied to immigrants, would have a very direct effect in reducing OI 10 the IOre- going unfortunate objectionable classes ] The gravitation of undesirable emi- grants into the large cities and their endorsements of the slum districts was another of the evils to be in a measure overcome. In this connection the speaker declared that a patriotic regard for those to whose interests we owe first allegiance requires us to see that the persons who present them selves for competition in the industrial field shall not be the degraded paupel 1 laborers from abroad. A low wage scale, he added, is not consistent with the most wholesome development of the country and its people.
 | Allen introduced and secured the adoption of a resolution calling upor l the President for information in his ] possession relative to the boundary line between Venezuela and British Guiana and to inform the Senate whether the l United States now has any clerks ol other employees at work on the Vene. Zuelan boundary question, and also what part of the s1O0.000 appropriated | for the Venezuelan Commission ha. ! been expended.
 At 3:35 D. m. the Senate adjourned.