The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1904-08-03
IMMIGRANTS IN OTHER LANDS.

IMMIGRANTS IN OTHER LANDS.
The abandonment, at least for the present, of the
bill for the exclusion of undesirable immigrants
from Great Britain is a reminder that the alien
problem is not confined to America alone, says the
New York Tribune. We are so accustomed here to
the coming of muttudes of strangers from the ends
of the earth that we might almost think America to
be the only land enjoying-or suffering immigra-
tion That is not the case. The United Kingdom
yearly receives large number of aliens. Most of
these probably do not stay. They visit Great Britain
on their way to America or Australia. But some do
STAY. and. while these are few in number, they are
said to be particularly undesirable in quality Per-
haps not more than from $1,000 to 5000 year
settle in the United Kingdom But if all, or nearly
all, Of these are incapabes, paupers or criminals
their coming may well be regarded with disfavOr
They are said to settle chiefly in London, where
those of them who are able to work come into COM
petition with British laborers and the rest the
jorty have to be dealt with by the police or by the
poor boards
It may be that the United Kingdom will one day
have to take leaf out of some colonial book. The
British colonies in Australia and South Africa have
long been struggling with the immigration problem
and seem to be settling it to their satisfaction
In Australia the influx of Chinese began as early as
184S and in 1855 it was thought necessary to adopt
measure for excluding them, or at least for re-
stricting their numbers. Despite restriction, how
ever there continued to pour into the Australian
colonies considerable stream of Aliens yellow,
brown and black In 1888 there arose a veritable
panic upon this subject, and extreme measures
were arbitrarily applied. At the present time the
tendency is to judge immigrants by quality rather
than by race though the quality tests in some par
ticulars amount practically to race test.
The laws now in force in Australia are chiefly
notifications of the law enacted in Natal in 1879.
That law mentioned no race or color It provided
for the exclusion of paupers, idiots, lunatcs, per-
sons suffering from oathsome or contagious disease
professionally immoral women persons who had
within two years been convicted Of non-politcal
felony and-the most important point of all-a
persons unable to write in some European languagel
an application for admission to the colony The
last provision was, of course intended to bar out
Asatics, and it did so pretty effectively. The Natal
example has been followed in the Australian col
onies though its terms have generally been relaxed
All the colonies retained in a European language
One Of them-New South Wales-was content with
that alone. Another-West Australia adopted all
the Natal prohibitions and even increased the penal
ties provided for their violation It is interesting to
note that the penalties chiefly imposed upon the
owners and masters Of the ships in which the unde-
sirabe immigrants are imported.
1t is, from some points Of view, an unpleasant
thing to shut the doors of nation against any who
seek its hospitality Nevertheless there is logical
ground for doing, and there are practical reasons
for it. as more than one nation is finding out.