Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-07
IMMIGRANT PROBLEM
Great Britain's New Exclusion
Alien Bill.
A POWER OF EXPULSION
How the Exclusion Act is to Be Ad-
ministered.
ITS EFFECT RIGA
It is Expected That the Measure Will
Remove Some Undoubted
Evils.
POWER OF EXPULSION
ITS EFFECT AMERICA
BY GODFREY BURCHETT.

Csecretary of the immigration Reform Associaton.)
That there have been, at irregular inter-
walls since the Norman conquest, waves of
immigration into England from the con-
tinent is known to all who have any knowl-
edge of English history. 1t is unquestion-
able that these infiuxes profoundly changed
the social and industrial conditions of the
country and, till the end of the seven
teenth century at least, changed them, ON
the whole, for the better. Between the
commencement of the eighteenth and the
last quarter of the nineteenth century the
only inflow OF magnitude was that of the
French emigres, who left little mark in
the land of their exile.
The modern immigration question dates
roughly speaking, from the year 1880. and
the immigration to which objection has
been taken falls into two classes-O that
of criminals and other persons of bad char
acter and of diseased aliens; ca that of
section of the proletariat from eastern Eu-
rope. chiefly Russian and Polish Jews.
The first class may be dealt with quite
briefly 1t is, of course probable that there
had always been some infltration OF foreign
fugftives from justice and other undesir-
able persons into England, and 1t is GER
tain that this was the case during and
after the eighteenth century. But until re-
"
been large enough to arouse demand for
special measures. For some little time,
however before the close of the last CEN
fury the influx of criminal and vicious
aliens had become formidable. Magistrates,
especially the London stipendiaries, grand
juries, common juries and judges In the
criminal courts had all drawn attention to
the matter.
When the late royal commission on alien
immigra tion--a most influential body, con-
sisting of seven members. under the presi-
dency of Lord James of Hereford, lib
eral and one of the ablest lawyers in
Britan-investigated the subject, it was
shown that these representations were COM
pletely justified; the proportion Of foreign
ers convicted to the total foreign popula-
ton in the country was inordinately high,
and the taxpayers were put to really seri-
Gus expense in carrying out the sentences
on these persons. Moreover, II was es-
tablished that in London from one-han to
on by aliens, who were also chiefly respen-
sibie for the worst features of 1t. Prac-
tically, there has never been any dispute
to the desirabilfty of freeing the c0un-
try from the presence of foreigners of this
class: the only points at Issue were wheth-
er they could be enectually excluded or ex-s
PEELED, and. II so, whether 1t was worth
while to undertake the trouble. and ex-
pense of dealing with them The royal
commission recommended that measures
for this purpose should be adopted.
rope. but, pre-emiuentiy. the events which
followed the assassination OF the Emperor
Alexander II OF Russia. gave rise to the
modern immigration OF Industrial aiienB.
1t IL q feature OF their immigration, alike
In America and England, that they crowd