The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-01-25
TEST IS TOO SIMPLE
BILL TO RESTRICT IMMIGRATION
NEARLY ANNULLED BY AMEND
MENTs.
WILL EXCLUDE BUT FEW.
SOUTHERN STATES IN EARNEST I'M
OPPOSITION TO THE
MEASURE.
THEIR DOORS ARE WIDE OPEN.
Encouraging nm Influx OF Europeans
Defects in the Bali as 1t
Stands.
WILL EXCLUDE BUT FEW.
HEIR DOORS ARE WIDE OPEN.
WASHINGTON BUREAU ST. PAUL GLOBE, J
C0RCORAN Bull DING,

Special to the Globe.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24-It is clear
that the final passage of the pending
immigration restriction bill. commonly
known as the educational test" will
by no means settle the immigration
question. 1t is likely to be but intro
ductory to a larger discussion. The
earnest advocates Of restriction will not
be satisfied with this measure when
it gets into operation, because 1t has
been so Whitfield down as to have little
excluding force. When this Is fully
realized and the evils Of too great in
f1uX Of immigrants becomes glaring
again, the demand will undoubtedly
arise for some more positive measures.
and this sentiment is sure to be met by
very determined opposition. Through
out most Of the Southern states today
efforts are being made to encourage
European immigration rather than dis
courage 1t, and this perhaps accounts
for the fact that nearly all the South
ern senators have steadily voted against
the Lodge-McCall bill. In Maryland
for instance, commission was created
by the assembly Of 1896 for the purpose
of inducing immigration to the state
The superintendent IS allowed q salary
of $4,000 year, and the commissioners
were empowered to appoint secretary
at salary Of $1,000, who should be
"cognizant with the English, German
and French languages" According to
the terms of the act, the superintendent
must visit Europe once every year to
solicit immigration to Maryland, re-
naming abroad at least four months on
each trip and visiting different coun-
tries In the prosecution Of his duties
The board Is empowered to make con-
tracts with railroads and steamship
lines for the distribution Of immigrants
on arrival at Baltimore, and to provide
for their reception in that city. 1t is
obvious that the general assembly,
which passed this act, either was very
DESTROYS of creating a few more places
for office seekers, or else felt that Mary
land could be improved by an increase
Of population. To be sure, the Mary
land superintendent does not on his
annual trips solicit the class Of immi-
grants whom the educational test bill
aims to exclude, and so the two things
are not at present in conflict. But such
efforts as these Of Maryland. repeated
in different forms in many other states,
would come into conflict with almost
any other measure Of restriction, which
might henceforth be undertaken. That
something else will be called for, If gen.
uine restriction Is desired, seems evident
from the published statement that dur
ing the last year the number Of Hitter
ates who arrived here was only 1850
of whom, 1874 could read but not write
and so would be eligible to admission
under the Spooner amendment. The re-
mainder would be further decreased by
the provision of the pending bill ex-
cepting llliterate wives, parents, grand
parents, etc. Of immigrants previously
admitted. The excluding force Of the
measure is likely to be further dimin-
ished by the ability of intending immi-
grants to prepare themselves for the
examination by taking special course
In the art of reading in sthelr own Ian
guage. 1t is obvious that the Ellis ISL
and requirements will not be severely
applied; one bright young man in q
family might be selected to acquire
"book-learning" for the household, and
when once he passed muster. his par
ents grandparents, ETC., could como
along on a later ship.
The relation of immigration restric-
ton to treaty rights is another inter
esting question. No doubt our treaty
Of 1892 with Russia, for example
grants to the people Of the two coun-
tries the reciprocal right of living In
either; and, though the courts are not
likely to oVerrule an explicit act OF
congress because of its conflict with
the provisions OF a treaty, the United
States are under moral obligations to
serve notice on foreign countries that
they desire so much of these treaties
annulled, and perhaps in this way to
prepare for reciprocal restrictions OF
immigration. OF the prompt passage
of the pending bill in the house there
is no doubt, and the president has long
been pronounced in its support
Some courageous reformer should
advocate the appointment Of a COM
mission to investigate the comprehen-
sive subject of Congressional tips
The textbooks say that members OF
congress receive a salary of five thou
sand dollars year, but the perQuisites
that go with the office, of which moth
ing Is said, are such as constantly to
arouse antagoniSm Of some sort Last
week 1t was the seedsmen of the coun-
try who were trying to break UP the
government practice Of giving each
congressman thousands of packages of
seeds for him in turn to scatter as
"chromos" through his district. This
week the florists Of Washington are
up in arms against the practice Of dis
tributing flowers among the con-
gressmen from the botanical and
propagating gardens maintained
by the government. The florists
have banded together for the
purpose of shutting off this tip; they
allege that not only are they deprived
Of so much trade which might other
wise come to them. but that in certain
instances they actually have to com
pete" with flowers which are grown at
public expense. In a recent contribu-
ton to one Of the local newspapers a
responsible florist says over his sig
nature: "If few affldavits sworn to
before q notary public would aid In
your conviction, am ready to furnish
several showing that orders, ranging
from SIS upwards were actually taken
out of my hands, through the inter
ference of head of a government es-
Enlistment, and have no doubt
other florists could do the same"
The implication here is that some
government functfonaries are selling
the tips" which the government fur
nishes in addition to their regular
salaries. But this would be nothing
remarkable. Secretary Morton, it will
be recalled, found that a certain men,
Der of congress from a city district
was regularly selling his quota of gov
eminent seeds to a wholesale dealer.
This Is not much worse than having
the seeds go to waste by sending then,
where they would be Of no use, as Is