The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-12-21

for the encouragement of immigration something, has already been attempted for the better distribution of the an- nual foreign addition to the country's labor supply, but results so far have been meagre.
 Much more may be hoped from the practical interest now shown in the matter by Immigration Commissioner Sargent, who proposes that the govern ment, acting in conjuction with the railroads, shall undertake regularly to direct the stream of immigrants arriv- l ing at our ports to those parts of the country where their labor will be of greatest economic value to the nation and where they themselves may most easily and quickly prosper. At Wash ington Monday MT. Sargent explained his plans to representatives of the rail-
 roads, especially those running into the
 South or having Southern connections, and the latter expressed their entire readiness to cooperate with him. His
 plan is, in brief, to establish a bueau of
 information at Ellis Island, to be used l by persons in this country who are in 1lOCO u 1etUOT dIlQs ny tIlG 51IlllillSTdllS who are seeking suitable locations for ] themselves, which means, in effect, that i tho Government shall to considerable
 extent control the movements of inn
 migrants after they arrive at our I ports.
 The suggestion is of course not new;
 it is only it's taking up by responsible
 officials that call for notice now. It
 does not appear that it requires any
 change in the immigration laws or a
 heavy outlay of public funds. All that
 is necessary is the authorization by Congress of the establishment of the l proposed bureau of information and the
 appropriation of a modest sum for it's
 maintenance. The readiness of. the rail-
 roads to assist in the plan is easily in l telligible. Not only is there prospective
 revenue for them in the transportation
 of the immigrants to the points where it is thought best that they locate, but
 there is a still larger ultimate profit for l them in the consequent building up of new cities and industries, in sections
 now but partly developed and the re-
 sulting enlargement of the transporta- l tion business. With the Government i acting as guide to the newcomers and l with the railroad making as easy as possible the acceptance of the guidance a salutary distribution of each fresh
 supply of alien should present no seri- ous difficulties.
 At the conference in Washington both \ the Commissioner and the railroad
 agents considered especially the pos abilities in the South, subject to I which the Journal has frequently given
 attention in connection with the cotton
 business and the other newer idustries I of that section. There is a real scarcity
 of labor down there, not only on the l plantations but in the manufacturing towns, and it iss a scarcity that can never be fully satisfactorily supplied by #I the negroes. If the thousands of aliens
 who now huddle in the cities of the North and East can be diverted thither
 very desirable economic results can be
 attained. Experiments on a small scale have already shown hat Italian farmers
 for example, are exceedingly we'll adap- #l ted for work in the cotton fields; other l aliens could doubtless besernployed with l equal successs3 iii other Southern ill- # dustries, to their own advantage, to the
 better development of Southern resour-
 ces and to the ultimate increase of the l national wealth. s. Ssss
 No legislation aimed to ensure high l quality of immigration can meet the Isubsequent need of serviceably dis