Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1908-02-15
THE VIBRATIONS OF LABOR.
From Tho American Review d Reviews.

NAo hiNoh BOpuAaA hAAbAulAOnb VI Oluol
times. They tear whole generations
out of their native soil. and trans.
plant whole nations in foreign terri.
tory; they annihilate here the cultu.
raj characteristics of a people, and
there they cause new nations and cul.
lures to spring forth" In these
words Herr EIlenbegen, one OF the
Austrian delegates to the recent In.
ternatlonal Socialist congress al
Stuttgart, concluded an eloquent ad.
dress before that gathering.
II any one should regard this as an
exaggeration, his attention may be
called to the following facts, set forth
in a strong article by Friedrich Nau-
mann. in Suddeutsche Monatshefte:
For centuries the negroes have
been transported to America, and
have there become an element of the
population which gave rise to the
North American Civil War, and the
incorporation of which into the
American national body has, by no
means. even yet, been accomplished.
From America. and also to certain
extent directly from Africa, the me-
gro is distributed, in individuals, all
over the great ports and cities of i'm
portance, especially those In warmer
chimes.
From China and Japan flows a
stream Of labor toward all tropical
and sub-tropical colonies, unless
these put up the law as a bar against
IT, as Australia has done. The adj
vent Of the Chinese, and Japanese
have already, in the Far West Of
North America, become a vital ques-
ton to the European elements of the
population, and they are also becom-
ing more and more numerous in the
Eastern cities of the United States.
In the gold and diamond fields OF
South Africa they have a Chinese
question, and London and Hamburg
have already quite number of Chi
nese among their seafaring people.
"Our (German) coal industry mag
mates and agricultural landowners of
prominence are contemplating wheth-
er they should import Chinese"
From Southern and Western Rus
STA, from Poland, Galicia and Rou-
mania, great hosts emigrate, either
to America or to Germany and Eng
land. "our baronial estates are al
ready unable to get along without
these migratory laborers, and in the
German mining regions there have
arisen colonies WITH foreign popula-
tA~ ~
IEny sends to Germany and Aus
tria numerous masons, diggers and
foundry workers. Gust think of the
Lothringian iron industry" In all
large German cities colonies of Ital-
ianB are found. At the same time,
the Italian populates Northern Africa
and South America, and he is gener-
ously represented in North America.
The Irish leave their home country,
and become Americans in large num-
bers. The same applies, in certain
degree, to the Scotch and Norwegians.
The Germans have contributed
largely to the colonization Of North
America, but have also, in earlier
tines, sent considerable numbers of
laborers to France. Nowadays the
great emigration has ceased and has
been replaced by immigration, but
German stragglers are yet to be found
in every country"
Through all these migrations the
racial character of entire nations is
changed. This fact is most apparent
in the United States of North Amer
lea. There the English German race,
togHther with a certain French ele-
ment in formerly French territory,
forms the core of the population.
Language and customs are English
American. But with every year the
foreign element increases and ex-
pands the more, as the number of
children of English stock is decreas-
ing, while the immigrants of other
races, in most instances. come abund-
antly endowed with prolific propen-
stiles. American writer's have, and
not without reason, pointed to the
Transformation process which the Ro-
man Empire, and particularly the city
OF Rome, underwent in the first CEN
turtles after the birth of Christ, when
all old Roman institutions, while yet
remaining as such, were filled with
non-Romans. until a time arrived
when the empire was governed by IL
lyrlans, Spaniards and Africans, and
was no longer a Roman empire.
Among the other theories as to the
causes of the downfall of the Roman
Empire. the contention that the bar
barians destroyed Rome through
their influx and settlement is certain
ly, In a measure, justifable. and may
serve as warning to us moderns.
The historical warning cannot,
however. continues DR.. Naumann,
help us out of the present situation
in the United States. What will free
America, which has founded its pres
ent culture on migration only, do in
this case? Should she, and could
she, close herself up against immi-
grafton? Exclr.si measures have
benn tried aga'Ast the Slavic, as we'll
as against tho Eastern Asiatic, immi-
grafton.
Can a modern State close its
doors? Can It withdraw labor from
its agriculture and industries because
this labor is of foreign origin? Or
should It not have such a strong faith
in the power of assimilation that II
does not question its own ability to
amalgamate all strange elements into
a future unity?
With Germans, says this writer.
further, the immigration question has
not yet become as urgent as 1t is IN
North America, but among all ma
tons we rank next after the Ameri-
cans in regard to immigration inter
ests and immigration troubles.
Our Polish question Is only a part
thereof, although the one which has
been most frequently dealt with, and
which has excited the keenest inter-
est. AS far as one may rely ON the