The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-11
REPORT OF SARGENT
COMPREHENSIVE DISCUSSION OF
 IMMIGRATION.
Contract Labor Laws and the Busy Transpertation Agent Are DweIt Upon--Ftknres as to Num-
 her of Aliens.

Washington. Dec l0.--In presenting the annual report of the Bureau of immigration. Commissioner General Sargent refers to the magnitude and gravity of the problems presented by the growth of the. alien population of the United States.
 These problems" he declares. loom so largely in prospect that 1t may be said. without giving just cause to charge exaggeration. that all other problems Of public economy, relating to things rather than human bein ga, shrink into comparative insignifi- cance." st
 In his annna1 message to Congress. President Roosevelt discussed the aues- tion at length 90 that those features of Commissioner Sargent's report bear ing on the class of immigrants desired. the fnducelnent offered by transpor- tation conpanjos 10 immigrants to come to America, laws to be enacted and the attitude toward the Chinese have been substantially covered and made known through the press. There are many details, however, which will prove of interest
 The total alien arrivals reported for the year of 1,026,499, represents an in- crease over the preceding year of 213.- 629. of which increase the continental ports of the United States report 196.- $40. as compared with arrivals there at last year and the Canadian ports 1s,S40. At the insuiar ports the in- crease was 2,S49. There also was n large increase in arrivals at Southern ports, while a decrease Is shown for tho Pacific ports. which is accounted for in some measures by the Russian Japanese war. Of the increased arriv- als Austria Hungary sent 99,537 over its quota of is0l: Russia 19.7be; Italy 2S.13S and the United Kingdom 49,544
 This increase from the last men, tioned country, says the commissioner, Is somewhat offset by tho decrease from Germany. Switzerland and Sws- den. Notwithstanding the increase from Italy. that country. says the com missioner. may be regarded as having probably reached the high water mark
 From this showing Commissioner Sargent ventures the prediction that the sources of future increase in i'm migration are those two countries in Europe which have the greatest re- sources in population, Russia and Aus tria Hungary.
 With the facts in view" he says. '1t will be possible to calculate with reasonable certainty on the character of immigration in it's greater bulk for some years to come--at least of Euro pean immigration"
 Commissioner Sargent does not lose sight of the increasd number of in- migrants from European Turkey. Q field which although practically mex haustible he says, Is yet virgin to the activities of the transportation agent.
 The importance of proper under standing of the contract labor law is dwelt upon In he report. No feature of the immigration law. he declares. has proved So difficult of enforcement as that which was passed for the pro- lection of the labor In this country froT unfair competition by aliens. The chief obstacle in the way of such en- forcement, he attributes to the errone- ous impression that 1t is a measure wrong from Congress against it's will by the power of organized labor. 'ex- acting all 1t could obtain rather than seeking simple justice"
 The impression Is so widely preva- lent" he says that 1t produces at least an indifference to the enforcement of and credits the law making branch of the government with no worthler mo- tive for enacting 1t than selfish fear"
 Because of such impression. ho de- clares. The bureau finds it's efforts to enforce the law either reluctantly sub mitted to or resisted. actively or pas siVely, and Itself. viewed as in some
 
 cd labor, sensitive to that bodys inter. est. responsive to its wishes and thus es sentially different from other parts of the executive government of the United States.
 Perhaps labor itself" he adds. Ifs not altogether free from blame for this false public impression and thus un- consciously has played into the hands of those interests which find 1t to their account to alienate public sympathy by encouraging such a view"
 As an Illustration he cites an occa- sion during the past year when a branch of organized miners urged the bureau that an offending company, upon which 1t originally had been &C., tive in fixing the responsibility for vio- lation of the law. should not be prose- cuted because the miners and the com- pany had reached settlement nf their Commissioner Sargent re- marks. however. that despite these Ob- stacies, the bureau has never relaxed us efforts to make the law effective.
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