The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-04
Pages g to 12.
can live under conditions favorable tt health and ,,,orole

health and morals.
 American wage workers work witt
 their heads as well as their hands
 Moreover, they take keen pride il
 what they are doing; so that, independ
 a perfect job. This is the great secre
 of our success in competition with tn,
 labor of foreign countries.
 The most vital problem with wbicl
 this country, and for that matter thu
 whole civilized world, has to deal, is thu
 problem which has for one side the bet
 torment of social conditions, moral ant
 physical, in large cities, and for anoth
 CT side the effort to deal with that tan
 gle of far-reaching questions which we
 group together when we speak of la
 bor" The chief factor in the success
 of each man--wage- worker, farmer ant
 capitalist alike-must ever be the sun
 total of his own individual qualities an6
 abilities. Second only to this comes the
 power of acting in combination or asso-
 citation with others. Very great gooC
 has been and will be accomplished by
 associations or unions of wage-workers
 when managed with forethought, when l they combine insistence upon their own
 rights with abiding respect for the
 rights of others. The display of these
 qualities in such bodies is dutyto the | Nation no less than to the associations ! themselves. Finally, there must also in
 many cases be action by the Govern
 ment in order to safeguard the rights
 and interests of all. Under our Consti-
 tuition there is much more scope for
 such action by the State and the
 municipality than by the Nation. But on points such as those touched on above the National Government can act.
 When all is said and done, the rule of brotherhood remains as the indispensa- ble prerequisite to success in the kind of national life for which we strive. Each man must work for himself, and unless he so works no outside help can avail him. but each man must remember also that he is indeed bis brothers keeper, and that while no man who refuses to walk can be carried with advantage to himself or anyone else, yet that each at times stumbles or halts, that each at times needs to have the helping hand outstretched to him. To be permanently effective, aid must always take the form of helping man to help himself; and we can all best help ourselves by joining together In the work that is of common interest to all
 Our present immigration laws are un- satisfactory. We need every honest and efficient immigrant fitted to become an American citizen, every immigrant who comes here to stay, who brings here strong body, stout heart, good heart, good head, and resolute purpose to do his duty well in every way and to bring up his children as law-abiding and God-fearing members of the community. But there should be a comprehensive law enacted with the object of working threefold improve ment over our present system. First, we should aim to exclude absolutely not only all persons who are known to be believers in anarchistic societies, but members of anarchistic societies, but also all persons who are of a low moral tendency or of unsavory reputation. This means that we should require more thorough system of inspection abroad and a more rigid system of ex- animation at our immigrat ton ports, the former being especially necessary.
 The second object of proper mmi- grafton law ought to be to secure by careful and not merely perfunctory ed- ucational test some intelligent capacity to appreciate American institutions and act sanely as American citizens. This would not keep out all anarchists, for many of them belong to the intelligent criminal class. But it would do what is also in point, that is. tend to decrease the sum of ignorance, so potent In pro- ducing the envy, suspicion, malignant passion, and hatred of order, out of which anarchistic sentiment inevitably | springs. Finally, all persons should be excluded who are below a certain stand- | ard of economic fitness to enter our in | dustrial field as competitors with Amer l ican labor There should be proper i proof of personal capacity to earn an American living and enough money to insure decent start under American This would stop the influx of cheap labor, and the resulting con- petition which gives rise to so much of bitterness in American industrial life; and 1t would dry up the springs of the pestilential social conditions in our great cities, where anarchistic organi- cations have their greatest possibility of growth.
 Both the educational and economic tests in a wise immigration law should be designed to protect and elevate the general body polite and social. A very close supervision should be exercised over the steamship companies which mainly bring over the immigrants, amid they should be held to strict account ability for any infraction of the law.
 The Tsriff and Reciprocity.
 There is general acquiescence in our present tariff system as a national poll cy. The first requisite to our prosper ty is the continuity and stability of this policy. Nothing could be more lnwise than to disturb the business in- erests of the country by any general ariff change at this time. Doubt, ap- uncertainty are exactly what we most wish to avoid in the in- crest of our commercial and material vell- being. Our experience in the past las shown that sweeping revisions of he tariff are apt to produce conditions loosely approaching panic in the bus less world. Yet it is not only possible. ,ut eminently desirable, to combine