The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-01-30
TIDE OF IMMIGRATION.
E. e. Clark Says the Standard Of Oul
Wage Farmers Is Threatened.

Edgar E. Clark, chief of the Order Of
Railway Conductors and the labor
member of the coal commission, says
on the immigration question:
I'VE have reached a time in the de-
velopment of this country when there
Is danger to our economic and social
institutions through our inability to as
simulate the hordes Of immigrants that
are coming in here every year. This
nation has dissipated a continent In a
century, and the time has come when
the influx Of the serfs and criminals Of
Europe cannot be distributed over this
vast land. They will not go out in the
wilds and hew new path for them
selves. They become competitors with
American workmen and drag down the
rate of wages.
"These immigrants knock the prop
from under the whole social and eco
nomic structure of this country, and. if
they are not checked the American
workmen will be reduced to the level
of the semislavery existence of the
poorly paid workingmen of Europe.
There are just two classes of work.
men in this country today. They are
the men who work hard at the real
| manual labor and who cannot do more.
They are contented With their lot
which is vastly superior to what is the
existence of the foreign laborers. The
other class Is the artisan. He is a
highly paid mechanic, the finest speci-
| men of manhood this great country
has produced. These two classes get
| along well together. The lower class
does not ,intefere. with the: other. But
here comes your immigrant with his
! low scale of wages. He lines up with
| the laboring men Of the country and
begins to cut the price Of the lower
class. Now, there is one of two things
! for these men to do. They must accept
the low wages established by the pau
per immigrant Or they must begin tc
! cut the price Of those higher up. The
consequence IS a drop in wages all
| around.
| 1.-THE American father wants to edu-
cate his children better than he was
himself, and in order to do it the wages
Of the workingman must be kept up. II
they are reduced the children must be
taken from the schools before they gel
a proper training and be sent out tt
help support the house. In that way
t1lS SOCAd1 Std1iOdlu VI tI1C <2lIlCIlCd1
workman is lowered by immigrants.
II do not favor utter exclusion nor dc
I think it should be unlimited. The ed
vocational test is good as far as it goes
but I would go further than that If ]
had anything to say about the restric,
ticn Of immigration. The trouble lies
with our naturalization laws. They are
entirely too loose. The immigrant car
come over here, and in some states he
can become an American citizen, with
all that pertains to that grand priv.
! lege. He is voter in a few years, and
his voice in the government is as pow
erful as your or mine, although hi
may not know the bacis principles Of
the laws Of the country or even speak
the language. These immigrants are
made citizens while you wait. You,
son and mine are compelled to wait
until they have been in the country
twenty-one years before they can be-
come citizens.
| What should be done is to build up
better citizenship, beginning at thu
very foundation Of the country, thu
schools. More of them should be pro-
vided. The higher ones should b
brought within reach Of the working
mans children, We shall never be able
to do this until the flood of immigrants
is checked"