The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1905-10-18
coNGREssMAN ! M GRIGGs, OF DAWSON
be ten from each state.

be ten from each state.
! The committee in charge of the con-
ference is composed of August Bel
mont, Samuel Gompers of Indianapolis,
president of the American Federation
of Labor; Oscar NJ Straus, member of
| the court of arbitration at The Hague;
John Mitchell, president of the United
Mine Workers of America; Archbishop
| John Ireland Of st. Paul; William ID.
| Mahon, president of the Amalgamated
! Association of Street Railway EN-
| ployees of America with headquarters
! in Detroit; Charles A. Moore Of New
| York, merchant; Warren S. Stone,
! grand chief of the International Broth
| erhood of Locomotive Engineers, of
Cleveland; Ralph NJ. Easley chairman
Of the executive council of the Ma
tional Civic Federation; Bishop Henry
| C. Potter and Samuel B. DOnnelly, sec
rotary Of the federation.
! Commenting on the conference, Mr..
Easley said: This meeting will be one
! of the most important in the history of
the country. 1t will be the first of the
| kind since the earliest cOlonists set foot
upon this land. The response to the
call reveals an expert appreciation of
| the growing Importance of the immi-
| grafton problem and a confident ex-
pectation that the conference will make
T.! intelligent progress toward the solu-
| ton Of It, The letters from the gov
h., s,,4O Op nv
Of them to attend personally. The rec
concentrations to be made to congress
cannot fail to have great weight. If
there is any solution to the immigra-
ton problem it will undoubtedly be
found at this gathering"
At the meeting at which the con-
! ference was suggested the statement
was made by several speakers that the
impression that the tide of immigration
to the United States is choked with
1.-The social debris of Europe" was err
! roneous.
| 1t was stated that, on the contrary,
the majority Of the immigrants are sup
piled with funds and turn out to be
thrifty and industrious. Others dis
puted this. Among the speakers was
Emil L. Boas, general manager of the
Hamburg American Steamship line,
who declared that while the general
impression is that the number of i'm
migrants each year greatly exceeds the
number Of those who leave the country,
the difference is not so great as the
! public thinks. He said that while in
New York last year $1,000 foreigners
arrived by steerage, there wSRe 3Z3,ooO
! to leave the country.
The number going from the coun-
| try from other ports than New York is
proportionate to that" he said. In all
the north Atlantic ports there were
693 600 arrivals and 800 1000 departures.
| Those who come here work hard, as
rule, during their stay and actually
earn whatever they take home with
them. AS to the idea that those who
come over are the poverty stricken
hordes Of the foreign countries, l Will
| say the commissioner of immigra-
TONS figures for last year show that
these supposedly bankrupt immigrants
| brought with them no less than $2O,-
OOOO 900. and that was 100000 greater
than the amount brought over the year
! before.
"The commissioner report states
that the immigrants showed only SO
per head, but even if that We're all that
they possessed upon arrival it must
not be forgotten that it costs them
! something to break up their homes,
that they have to pay the railroad fare
to the port of departure-Hamburg
Bremen, Antwerp, Rotterdam, etc.-and
steamship fare from the continental
port to the American port, which is at
present at least $3G per head, 50 that,
| adding up all the travelling expenses
alone. they must have between $50 and
$40 for each person, which, with the
S25 shswn upon arrival, makes $50 to
sos each. A family of six must, there
fore. have had before starting over
$500. Now. do you call man in this
country who has put away over 5000
( for a rainy day as belonging to the
scum and to poverty stricken hordesF
Commissioner OF immigration Robert
Watchorn of Ellis island, who viii at