Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-12
NO NEW RESTRICTIONS
Nathan BLUR Opposes Hinder
ance of immigration.
PRAISES FOR NEW CITIZENS
Declares Arrival Of Foreigners Does
Not Depress Wages.
AGAINST COMPROMISE BILL
Says Opposition to Incoming Of Aliens
IL Uneconomic and Unamerican
Presents Statistics.
PRAISES FOR NEW CITIZENS
AGAINST COMPROMISE BILL

| BOSTON, January 12-Nathan BLUR OF
| New York, who was a guest last evening
OF the Massachusetts, Reform Club at din
| ner at Youngs Hotel, addressed the club
on the subject Shall Alien immigration be
| Further Restricted?' Mr.. Blur spoke in
| part as follows:
| 1T would be extremely unfortunate II
| the interest that has been aroused on the
| subject of immigration by the debates and
| controversies of the last few years should
| terminate, as is now threatened in a So
| called compromise BILL the chief features
of which would be: First, the addition to
the excluded classes of persons who might
| be certified by the examining surgeons
not to be possessed of sufficient physical
abiiity dn the opinion of these surgeons)
| to earn a livelihood Second, the other
provision of this compromise is the inspec-
| ton OF immigrants abroad. The wisdom
| Of such course is surely open to grave
| question. The ability to properly organize
| ana supervise the work of men scattered
| at different parts in foreign countries, the
| temptation to abuse and corruption the
grave inconvenience. the possibility of ar
Dltrariness and oppression, are sufficient
10 aHrlght every friend of humanity.
The Proposed Compromise.
And of what is this compromise; On
the one hand stand the restrictionsts.
| who have endeavored to secure the enact
ment of a monetary requirement ranging
as high as $50, to entitle an immigrant to
admission; who have favored a literacy
test and an increase of the head tax On
the other hand have stood the men who
oppose further restriction of immigra-
tion, pointing out that the immigrant has
oeen OF lnestimabie benefit to it.
ovi0 ~ri,
mas come from two sources, from part of
the labor unions, which express the view
that the immigrant depresses the rate Of
wages. and from the immigration Restric-
ton League, to which l shall advert at
greater length.
THE notion that the immigrant by offer
ing undue competition to labor now present
in the country, depresses the rate of wages
is analogous to the obsolete contention that
machinery would displace the workingman
The fact is that every branch of industry in
thls country is suffering for want of labor;
that the rate of wages has been constantly
growing. Moreover, the argument com
pletely omits the consideration that the i'm
migrant is consumer well as a pro-
Queer.
An Ungracious Spectacle.
Moreover, it is a peculiarly ungracious
spectacle to find the men who have but just
recently landed to enjoy the benefits of our
political, social and economical system
door of opportunity in the very faces of the
men who are following in their footsteps.
The point of view of the Immigration
restriction League can be best ascertained
by an examination of its publications. run
ming from Nos. 1 to 46 and covering pe-
Rod from 1895 until about the fall of last
year. They began with enumerating sta
ust1cs and arguments derogatory to the
status and influence of the foreign element
in the community. The history of our
country and its present condition bear irref-
utapie evidence to the important part which |
the Immigrant has played in the develop
ment of what is best in our life.
They have even appealed to the writings |
Of the fathers of the Constitution to prove |
that these We're opposed to immigration.
but. unfortunately, Washington was fonnd
come to this country
THE leagues publication No. 46 opens
with set Of figures the conclusion from |
which Is stated to be that foreign whites |
of voting age are nearly one and one-half !
times as criminal as the native whites |
of native parentage. and that the second |
as criminal as the native; also that the |
foreign white Juveniles are nearly three |
times as criminal the native whites of |
native parents, and the second generation |
three and one-half times as criminal as /
the native.
Subjected to Temptation
I'm the first place, the foreigner is gen.
Ci any Pooi anu 10 seeking III l0lS country |
to better his condition. The native is rich. |
1t requires no argument to demonstrate |
that the poor man is more subject to temp
tation toward crime than the rich man.
In the next place, as shown by the
figures in Prof. Commons article and taken
from the census, only 10 per cent of the
entire native population lives in large cities,
while considerably over 33 per cent of the
foreign population of the first and second
generation reside there. Crime and con-
vtction for crime are unfortunately more
prevalent in the cities than in the country
districts.
las to insanity, Bulletin No. 46 contents
itself with the statement that the foreign
porn porn population, which is 10 per cent of the
total population, furnishes 1872 per cent of
the insane, but the report of the bureau of
the census on the insane just published
contains on page p this sentence:
1t is significant that insanity is ap-
parentiy most prevalent in the rationale
ties who We're among the earliest imml.
grants to this country and contributed the
sturdiest of their people,
Question of Disease.
'1n reference to the liability of the for
eigner to disease the leagues publication
has nothing to say, except that a very
large proportion of the patients in the
Presbyterian Hospital in New York city
and of the Lying-In Hospital in the same
place is composed of foreigners. It is suf-
ficient to point out in reply that an analy-
Sis of the report of these institutions will
show that the greater number of patients
and the greater burden of expense, re-
spectively. is derived from the so-called
desirable immigrants.
And now, as II to cap the Climax a
special report of the bureau of the census
on Paupers in Almshouses, 1904 on page
q, after referring to the number of Irish,
Germans, English, Canadians and Scandi-
navians in the almshouses, says:
OF the remaining countries, the re-
turns yield distinctly favorable percent
ages for Italy, Hungary and Bohemia and
Russia and Poland; that is, the proportion
which these countries contributed to the
foreign-born white pauper population is
considerably less thar their representation
In the foreign born population
Our free institutions have shown their
ability to bring about the assimilation of
men of all nations into a concrete whole
Of greater virtue, higher ideals and more
effective accomplishment than any other
nation on earth. The opposition to the
present immigration is uneconomic, illog-
ical and unamerican. II Is hound To nro=