Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-26
WHERE MONEY GOES
Fifty Million American Dol
lars Sent Abroad
TO THE FOLKS AT HOME
PLAYS BIG PARTS IN NATIONAL
ECONOMICS.
Has an Important Bearing on the
Principal of Emigration
Problems.
TO THE FOLKS AT HOME

friends in Europe. This vast sum was
expended solely in the fulilment of real or
assumed personal Obligations, and does not
include the exchange of trade and COM
merce.
Fifty million dollars is a conservative es-
innate for the most recent figures show
that $40, GOO, 600 went to Italy and $15,000,O00
to Austria Hungary. To say that the re-
| naming $15,000,000 covers the amount sent
to Russia, Germany, Scandinavia, Great
| Britain and other countries from which
emigration to the United States is consider
able, is probably an underestimate.
| Realizing the enormous economic inn
| portance and value of this inflow of money
| to his country the Austrian minister of
finance recently called upon the leading
bankers of Austria Hungary to assist him
| in making an approximately correct es-
| innate to the amount of money received
| from the United States From these con-
| servative and calculating sources the ac-
| tual figures have been gathered and the
| total in the money of this country is about
| $4,000, 100000 crowns, or something over
| $15,O00,000.
| The government officials and bankers of
| Italy have made similar calculation and
! estimate the gross amount received by the
| Italian people from relatives or friends in
the United States at 100 100000 lire, or APP
| proximately $20,000,0Oo.
| All estimates heretofore made in the
| United States as to the amount of money
thus sent abroad have been based upon the
| remittances made through the post office.
| Two million dollars to Italy and more than
| half that amount to Austria Hungary, as
| recorded in a single year in the issue OF
| money orders, has excited wonder and COM
| ment. In view of the later figures, how
| ever this is but a small percentage of the
| outflow, and it is evident that the vast
| bulk of exchange is through the banks or
| carried in person by returning emigrants.
| Nearly two hundred thousand Italians
| emigrate to the United States each year,
and about 40 per cent of these return with
| in the twelvemonth, bringing with them the
! boarded savings of season of labor. Many
! of them return merely to take their wives
| and children to America and others but for
! a visit to their native land. After a taste
| of prosperity and freedom in the United
States it is rather difficult for the Italian,
| especially If he comes from southern Italy,
| to settle down again contentedly to the
| meager fare and poor accommodations
| which, through contrast, found to be
even less endurable than when they first
| drove him to foreign shore.
| The part played in the domestic econo-
| mics of Italy and Austria Hungary by this
great influx of American money Is recog-
| nized in all branches of business, many in
situations being devoted solely to the COM
| merce derived therefrom. The Bank of
| Naples, for instance, maintains forty-four
| branches in the United States, which are
designated as repositories for the money
which immigrants wish to send home.
| Through this bank 81, 600, 600 was col
| lected last year and sent to Italy.
The amount of money received from the
| United States in Austria-Hungary from
| emigrant sons and daughters is nearly
| equal to one-twentieth of the total govern
| ment revenue. It is 60 per cent more than
| the value of the merchandise sold to that
country by the United States. 1t is 90 per
cent more than the value of goods bought
| by the people of the United States from the
| people OF Austria-Hungary. In Italy the
| amount of money received in this manner
| without equivalent being given is nearly
| tWo-thirds as great as the amount ex-
| changed Tor Italian exports, and bears the
same relation to the imports of Italy from
Every dollar sent to Italy by Italians
| abroad for the relief of distress at home is
| a clear economic gain to the country, and
the same, of course, may be said of Ans
tria-HInsary and the other countries Its
talue is heightened in Italy and Austria
hungary, however, by scarcity of funds
among the lower classes in those couu-
tries and the immense purchasing power
wnlch money possesses there as compared
| with Its possibilities in America No equiv
alent is rendered for this income, and il is
scattered broadcast in minute sums among
tnose who have the least. 1t benefits tbe
people, therefore, far more than an equal
amount represented In commerce. for the
me- gain In commerce is but the margin of |
| profit, and even this rests in few hands
| the great mass of the people receiving Little
| or no benefit therefrom |
Tie, ne BENEFITS sI derived by the people of the
United States by this outward movement
| OF currency are of doubtful value Mucn
| of 1t Is used to swell the tide of immigrn
| .lon, ana While it is true that labor
e1GlFa!ent mas been given for it, its re-
| moVal from the country depletes the money
| supply, and 1t Is Withdrawn from the field
OF nome activities. Fifty millions dollars
| earned by American citizens and kent a
home is expended 20 the benefit of local
| markets and industries, deposited in Ameri
can savings banks or invested in American
| enterprises. When sent abroad without lis
| equivalent in merchandise being returned
| II is practically lost.
| 1t is still held by many statesmen of ItaIv
| and Austria Hungary that emigration of
| surplus population is desirable even neces-
| sary to the peace and prosperity of the
| peoples of those countries With the
growth and development which has come
| IN recent years even to southern Europe
| has also come a reaction in this opinion
| Emigration Is now looked upon as more of
an evil, and Italian government officials
nave gone SO far as to suggest that the
| United States should adopt an iliteracy les;
| on the theory that it would reduce emiera-
ton from, Italy by fully 90 per cent. In
government report made by an Italian hip
| in official life much space is devoted to
| Justfying and condoning the tremendous
| exodus of native population, but in the same
| report this official contradicts himself by
| expressing the hope that it will soon de-
| crease, and setting forth measures which
| in his opinion, would bring about such a
| result
| In Hungary the same situation exists as
| in southern Italy. The country is being
| drained of it's effective labor and material
for military service, and the government
has been forced to intervene with paternal-
istic schemes for the betterment of the
peasantry and the industrial workers In
| Austria conditions different While TIM,
| emigration to the United States is prac-
ttcally as large as 1t is from Hungary being
| about 100000 each year, the emigrants are
from the province of Galicia, which is
merely an overflow of population from
| Russia, and where the people are largely
of the Jewish faith, hence considered here
as undesirable from a political and social
point of view.
None of these facts tend to improve the
| character of emigration from Italy or
| Austria Hungary to the United States. and
| In the opinion of many authorities one of
the principal evils attending the sending
| abroad of so much money by Immigrants
| In America is the fact that it creates a
| large class of assisted immigrants who.
| while not coming technically under the
prohibition of the American law, are Just
as much assisted as those whose fare is
paid in such manner as to cause deporta-
| ton. If it is discovered at Ellis island
that an immigrant is a pauper who has
been sent TO the United States from DEN
mark at public expense under Danish