The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-12-11
IMMIGRATION PROBLEM
 CROWS IN SERIOUSNESS
OTHER QUESTIONS OF PUBLI0 ECONOMY SHRINK INTO IN-
 SIGNIFICANCE.

Gravity of the Situation Pointed Out in
 Annual Report of the Commmissioner
 of ImInigratiOn-DifHcu of inc TEss-s
 fOrcement of the Contract Labor Law
 Erroneous Impression That 1t Was
 Wrung from Congress Against Its
 VIII by the Power of Organized
 Labor.
 Washington, Dec. 1O.-In presenting the annual report of the bureau of in- migration, Commissioner General sar- gent refers to the magnitude and grav- ity of the problem presented by the growth of the alien population of the United States. These problems, he declares, loom so largely in the pros pect of our country that it may be said, without giving Just cause to charge exaggeration, that all other questions of public economy. relating to things rather than human beings, shrink into comparative insignih- cance.''
 In his annuel message to congress, President Roosevelt discussed the inn migration question at length, so that those features of Commissioner Sar- gents report bearing on the class of immigrants desired, the Inducements offered by the immigration companies to immigrants to come to America, laws to be enacted, and the attitude toward the Chinese have been substan- tially covered and made known through the press. There are many de- tails, however, which will prove Of in- terest. The total alien arrivals report ed for the year of 1.O26. 499 represents an increase over the preceding year of 213,629, of which the continental ports of the United States report 1SS,940, as compared with the arrivals thereat last year, and the Canadian ports 1S.S4o. At the insular ports the increase was 2,489, although the arrivals at Porto Rico were less by 94 than in 1904. There also was a large increase in arrivals at Southern ports, while a decrease is accounted for in some measure by the Russian-J Japanese war.
 Of the increased arrivals above re- ferred to Austria-H Hungary sent 98,587 over it's quota of 1904 Russia Ss, 756; !; Italy 2s1sS, and the United Kingdom, 4S, 544. This increase from the last mem toned country, says the commissioner. is somewhat offset by the decrease from Germany, Switzerland and Swed- en. Notwithstanding the increase from Italy, that country, says the commis- sioner, may be regarded as having reached the high water mark. From I this showing, Commissioner Sargent ventures the prediction that the chief sources of future increases in immigra- tion are those two in Europe which have the greatest resources in popula-l ton probably to dispense with, Russia and Autria- Hungary.
 with these facts in view" he said, I lit will be possible to calculate with reasonable certainty on the character of immigration, in its greater bulk. for ] some years to come--at least of Eu- ropea immigration. Commissioner Sargent does not lose sight of the i'm creased number of immigrants from European Turkey, a field, which all though practically inexhausttible, he says, is but a virgin to the activities of the transportation agent. The irn- portance of a proper understanding of the contract labor law is dwelt upon in the report. No feature of the immigra- ton law, he declares, has proved so difficult of enforcement as that which \ was passed for the protection of labor l in this country from unfair competi- ton by aliens. The chief obstacle in the way of such enforcement, he attrip- utes to the erroneous impression that it is measure wrung from congress against it's will by the power of organ 1 ized labor. "exacting all it could ob- 1 tain farther than seeking simple jus- I tice." The impression is so widely prevalent, he says, that it produces at least an indifference to the enforcement of the law, if not a hostile bias against 1t, and credits the lac making branch of the government with no worthier motive for enacting it than selfish fear.