Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1907-11-08
mel som lTlOjlN
united State Senator'S
Interesting and Valuable
Article

Interesting and Valuable
! Article
Senator knute Nelson has written
for the Min1esp lis Daily News q
thoughtful and valuable article on the
immigration question. part cf which
is here given:
Aside from the question pert .iniug
to oriental immigation, I don {
believe that at present there is any
u,geut demand for any radical or
important change in oar immigration
laws It may bs that in respect to
some of the administrative details
some slight changes and improvements
may be required. If 50. it is matter
that will undoubtedly be brought to
the notice OF the immigration depart
ment. and that depal tment will pro-
badly cali the attention of compress to
the matter. Tee immigration Law of
1913, az amended by tae act of 1907.
&c ems to co7er most Of the mcoted and
important questions pertaining to our
Immigration system. The head tax
of 80 was doubled, and many other
restrictions imposed which tended to
make it more comprehensive and
drastic.
There is only one question that was
not dispo sed If by our last immigra-
ton law. and that is the question of
illiteracy. whether there ought to be
literary test fer tie admission OF i'm
migI ants; that is. whether We ought
to require immigrants to be able to
read and write either the English
language or their own language
before being admitted.
The argument in favor of the
proportion in its early stages, was
this: that the immigrant from
northern Europe, Great Britain,
Germany, Holland and the Scandi-
navian countries, was desirable
immigration. and that all these I'M
migrants could read ard write. while
the immigration from southern
Europe, especially Italy, was undesir-
able, and that lnasmuch as large
proportion Of these people could
neither read 70! write, such law
that is law making literary test
would exclade these undesirable
immigrants.
But later events. to my mind. have
tended to show that these immigrants
who for some years wee considered
undesirable. are not altogether SO. It is
possible that portion of the Jewish
immigration from southern Russia
may not be as desirable as it ought to
be because Of the fact that these people
are disposed to huddls in our great
cities. but as to the Italian immigra-
tion, I think there is q change of
sentiment in this country. We have
seen that these immigrants, after
coming here and becoming &C.
customed to our ways. have taken up
higher spheres of labor than those
they entered when they first arrived.
We find in a great many fields of
labor, such as coal mining. iron min
ing, copper mining. and in all our
street and tunnel work, and in all our
railroad work. that it is difficult to
get the necessary labor among our
own people from northern Europe. and
were it net for the tact that quite
recently large number OF immigrants
have been coming from Italy and
southern Europe, we would be sadly
in need of labor to perform this kind
OF work.
i And these Italians who are coming
here year after year are flling q
vacuum in our labor market that has
arisen from the evolution transpiring
among our own laborers. These
laborers, from southern Europe. who
are engaged in railroad work, mining
, and various other Kinds of WORK, seem
! on the whole to be- thrifty ana we'll
paid and it has come to nv oberva-
ton that their children, if given an
opportunity, are as swift to learn the
English and to become Americanized
as any other Of our population, and
have every reason to believe that
they will make as coed citizens.
There is no discountlng the fact
that there is a good deal Of energy
and mental vigor in these people OF
southern Europe. They come here
oppressed and depressed with the
environments under which they labored
at home. and under our s,etem Of
government and under the environ,
met they come to in this country
they manifest disposition to respond
to the requirements ard needs Ct
this country.
An-tner thing I have noticed in
recent years. especially tere IN thu
west, has been the fact that although
We are getting immigrants at thu
rate of million year, there is q
continued scarcity of labor. Among
the farmers of the northwest it il
getting yer by year more difficult
to get help. Where all our i'm
migrants go and what becomes Of
them, the Lord only knows I know
that in spite of the large immigra
ton there is still a great scarcity oil
labor; and as long as We need sucl
labor for the development of the
country, do not see the need fol
restricting immigration,