Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-21


because they could not make decent liv-
ing at home.
The other ship was inward bound from
Hamburg with 700 Russian and Polish
Jews all of them reduced by persecution
to a terrible state of poverty and degra-
dation.
There you have Englands immigra ton
problem, in nutshell! 1t is infinitely
worse than Americas, because immigra-
ton into England is absolutely unre-
stricted. Hungry. destitute, criminal and
diseased aliens are at full liberty to flock
to the shores of Albion and reduce the
standard of wages and living in the big
cities to such serious extent that native
Britishers are obliged to seek their for
tunes over the sea. Good wine is being
drained out Of the barrel all the time and
bad wine poured in.
The Only Place for the Scum.
Great Britain Is the only country in Eu-
rope save Portugal, which makes abso-
luteIy no provision for preventing the en-
trance of undesirable aliens into its ter
ritory. Consequently, it has become the
last refuge of tens of thousands of peo-
pie who have been obliged to leave their
native land, and who can find admittance
to no other country save England. Portu-
gal, OF course, is out of the question az a
home for any considerable number of i'm
migrants EEen the British colonies bar
out undesirable aliens
America is the first thought of the Jew
of eastern Europe, of the Slav. of the
Italian. But if Americas doors shut to
him, as they are in so many cases. he nat
Urally turns to Great Britain, thinking that
tight little island is the next best place
for him TO go. Thus the seriousness of the
English immigration problem has been
gravely accentuated in recent years by the
rigid enforcement of the immigration law
in this country.
More than 80 per cent of the undesir-
ables you turn back drift TO England" said
Sir Howard Vincent, NJ. p, to the writer
during a recent visit which he paid to this
country.
Sir Howard Vincent is one of the leaders
of that party in the house of commons
which has fought for years to obtain re-
strictive legislation against aliens on the
lines of the immigration law in the United
States.
Up to the present all attempts to secure
such legislation have failed. because the
majority of British members of parliament
have prided themselves on keeping their
country wide open as refuge for the poor
and oppressed of all nations. But the situa
ton has grown much worse during the
past year or two that bill to restrict alien
immigration is almost sure to be passed
during the next session of parliament. AT
the least a desperate fight will be made
Cor II.
The average Briton, once heartily in favor
Of admitting any and everybody to his
country, is now inclined TO agree with
Major Evans-Gordon. one of the members
of the royal commission on alien immigra-
ton, which reported in favor of restrictive
legislation a short time ago.
1t is not fair to pit our sympathy with
the prosecuted in Russia against our sense
of duty to our own people" said the major,
summing up the evidence given before the
commission. " Charity begins at home.
sounds a selfish maxim. But when altrusm
toward aliens leaves some of our poorest
folk without homes and without work it is
time to say that the burden of solving the
"a &c M tn he
laid upon them.
Not New Problem
England's immigration problem is not a
new one, although its gravity has increased
nightly in recent years. Generations ago
George Cruikshank drew a famous car
toon showing a map of England with a
notice tagged on to it. Rubbish may be
shot (dumped) here" DIR. Johnson, who
was in the habit of keeping his eyes open
when he took walk along Fleet street"
wrote the following lines in imitation Of
Juvenal:
London, the needy villains general home,
The common sewer of Paris and Of Rome.
Condemned by fortitnde and resistless fate,
Sucks in the dregs of each corrupted state"
The chief point to which the alien imml-
grants flock Is, of course, London. 1t has
been we'll said that nowadays London east
of Aldgate is foreign city. 1t is a Jewish
ghetto. All the signs on the houses and
shops are in Yiddish; a large proportion of
the people still wear the clothes they wore
in Russia, Poland and Roumania, and you
may pass through whole streets ands not
meet with soul who can speak English,
except in the most broken fashion.
Major Evans-Gordon made tour through
the districts in eastern Europe from which
the bulk OF the immigrants come. when
visiting the towns in western Russia with
in the Jewish pale" he said, 81 was sur
prised to find myself in the familiar sur
roundings of the east end. The life, the
language, the people, the shops and their
contents were all the same"
Other cities to which immigrants flock in
great numbers are Leeds. Manchester,
Liverpool and Glasgow. The problem of
Leeds is extremely serious one. The i'm
migrants have monopolized the trade of
making cheap boots and clothing. and
whole districts of the city are just as for
eign the east end Of London has become.
In one district the alien Jews are so nu-
merous that the Roman Catholic and Wes-
leyan churches have had to go out of bust
ness and sell their buildings to Jews for
use as factories. In the east end of Lon
don. notably in Spitalhelds. this kind of
thing has become quite common. Dozens
of churches chapels and mission halls have
had to be given up and are now used as
synagogues. workshops or foreign clubs.
No AntiSemitism In the Matter.
There Is. however, no trace of anti-Semi-
tism In the agitation against unrestricted
allen immigration: 1t Is commonly said
that some popular trade union leaders like
John Burns and Ben Tillett, could raise n
'Judenhetz" in the east end tomorrow
that might rival the horrors of Kishineff.
but they do not care to do so. There is no
feeling against the immigrants because they
are in the main. Russian Polish and Rou-
manian Jews. You may search through al
the speeches and writings OF the agitators
for restrictions. and wade through the vo.
luminous tones of evidence given before
various government commissions, and you
Will not find the slightest expression of bit
terness against the allen Jew as Jew
Indeed, many of the most prominent and
representative English Jews favor restric
i've legislation heartily Lord Rothschid
was member Of the last commission which
reported In favor of stopping the flow oil
'undesirabes."
Is plainly not religious, but ar
economic. question. The wealthy and be.
neyotent English Jews spend their money
IKE water 10 relieve the suffering of theil
co-relgionists I'm the slums OF the great
cities. but they are the first to admit thai
IL Is almost hopeless task They openly
express their doubt whether the immi
grants are any better off under the thumb
OF the sweater In England than they were
under the cruel governments of Russia anc
Roumania
Here is case in point which tends t.
Cohnrm mat doubt. 1t was reported il