The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-09-09

causes. dangers and available remedies.
The address In part Is as follows: y
National wealth and power cannot be
measured In terms Of population. There
is a period and "a condition when in
crease in numbers marks g. decrease
In the effective power and greatness
of a people. China, the most populous
national unit on the earth. has long
been the helpless spoil and dependent
ward Of the lesser trading nations, and
now escapes dismemberment and vas
salage only by loading her bulk onto
the friendly and triumphant shoulders
Of little Japan.
It Is not numbers, but the quality
OF men that counts, as the decisive fac
tor In the high contest of the races
and the nations. Not population, but
higher civilization, is the deep purpose
OF the ages.
Today, not only In our own self
pride, but by the common consent of the
world, our American citizenship marks
the zenith of civilization. We have
heritage, goodly and fair, a spectacle
of confusion to envious royalty, Of hope
and promise to humanity.
Hitherto our broad domain and un-
developed resources have prompted us
to extend our almost universal invita-
ton to humanity to share with us the
national bounty. We have now reached
point in our development when the
food Of immigration becomes menace,
and we must modify and check it, or
suffer loss and impairment of the her1-
tage we cherish.
THE PAST CENTURY OF lMMIGRA-
TON.
The grand total of immigration into
this country is, In round numbers,
$4,000, 600. This includes an approximate
estimate only Of the unreported migra-
This immigration, up to three years
ago, has come In a gradually tncreas-
ing volume. Taking advantage of each
Is years, the average immigration was
as follows:
Per Year.
First quarter NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. $4,000
Second. sQuarter ....................10o 100000
Third quarter .....................26 O, 600
Fourth quarter ....................4OO 400, 600
From 1900 to 1903. the average was
665000 per year.
The next year the volume rose to
$4,000, and during the last year there
arrived 1,027 ,421. If to this we add a
moderate estimate Of the unrecorded
immigration the volume last year was
about 1,20O, 000-over 5000 each day.
Concurrent with this recent remark
able increase in volume marked
change in the sources of this im1nigra-
ton has taken place. The earlier i'm
migration, and until recently the great
er bulk Of 1t. has been from nothern
Europe-Germany, Norway and Sweden,
England, Ireland and Scotland-.that in
the past have furnished more than so
per cent of our immigrants, have, dur
ing the past five years, sent scarcely Is
per cent. The recent immigration and
the enormous increase has come chief
ly from Italy, Russia and Austria Hun
gary. Prior to 1895 the migration from
these countries formed scarcely 12h per
cent of our total immigration. Since
that time it has risen to 68 per cent
of the whole.
The enormous immigration Of the past
five years, IL continued In like progress
csion, will before the next census throw
the native born citizens Of the republic
into hopeless minority.
immigration is drawn by the differ
ence in economic level between 1.-The
over-populated and depressed condition
of Europe and the wider, better oppor-
tunities here. It is process Of human
drainage.
CAUSES OF INCREASED AND
CHANGED IMMIGRATION.
This unprecedented migration and it's
startling increase beyond all inagin-
alton cannot be accounted for upon
any natural grounds.
Every intelligent observer of the sit
uation has assigned as the principal
and direct cause the competition and
enterprise Of the steamship companies.
agents have been flooding the longest
ed districts Of southern Europe with
their alluring literature, and in their
zeal transportation rates have been cut
even below SO for steerage passage.
Another cause is the desire for cheap
labor and confederation to that end Of
the great amalgamated and trust inter-
ests of this country allied with the
steamship and transportation COM
panies.
The acknowledged object of the great
mergers is to stifle competition in their
selling markets and to open it wide
into the markets where they buy. High
prices for their products, low prices for
supplies and cheap labor are the con-
ditions they seek.
The only other discernible causes for
the recent immigration are the oppres-
sion of the Jews and the Poles, deser-
lions frovn milf a ~ aervioo and uororol