The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-06-06
Week-End Gossip from London
BY W. HAMILTON RHoDEs.

BY ". HAMILTON RHODES. London, June 5.---Never in the his- tory of emigration within the British Empire has there been such a situa- tfon, affecting Great Britain in partic- ular, as obtains at the present hour. The character of emigration has been practically revolutionized. It Is no longer possible for a strong part of | the empire to help a weak part by means of emigration. The unvarnished truth Is that the system which has gradually been developed within the last ten years ensures that the strong shall be stronger and the weak weaker. f A recent survey of the work of the emigration agencies in London com | firms the force of the general stateL ment. There is a mighty slump la emigration, especially with. that EI- dorado of the booking agents. Canada. England has poured half a million of her population onto its broad acres during the last five years, good. bad and indifferent human material but in the making of Its nationhood Canada has less cause of complaint in this rec spect than America had in the early days when 1t was all the rage to go l there. At the worst, Canada has had British blood. It has not had to con- tend, as did the States and many of the colonies. with the vile effects of shtploads of British scum and the scum of continental nations. Then, on account of internal and external cir- cumstances, Canada is no longer pre-. pared to receive emigrants that are 1 indiscriminatefy selected The rapid, ejaculation of money, and | the daring enterprise of its business l houses, were checked by -Americaf, financial panic of two years ago. The l effects of that panic are still felt in Canada. Then, again, the compara- lively poor wheat harvests have upset It's calculations, and for the first time in its progress Canada has had an l acute unemployed problem of It's own ] Hence, Canada has had to prevent the | supply of Europeans, and has done so Hy, HAiinesttb dterallg adoptlng. and in | some respects improving upon, the re- strictit6 elauses of the, American emi- grafton laws.
 Further a certain political party in the States has succeededfin preventing an influx of British mechanic blood, Their policy Is to ring fence the cities for Comedians only. and 1t must be admitted that, by the methods of pri- vate competitive emigration here, Eng land has almost forced them to this action, Thousands of emigrants sent out ostensibly to situations on the land were utterly unable to combat the Loneliness of the prairie, and adapt themselves to the methods and condi- tions of Canadian farming; and accord ingly, at the end of harvest season, the emigrants migrated to the cities, where industries were being crippled by the causes Already specified.
 This 5maxemsRt19f lll.regulated emi- grafton must stopI' cried the labor party. "Henceforth we win only take men who win.-remaln- -on-t the land, do- mestic servants, and people with capi- tai to create new or strengthen old
 New ,RestrsetIons.
 Without admitting that they have been influenced by this agitation. as a matter of fact the government has not only enlarged the scope of restric- tive measures. but introduced a bill, which Is now under discussion, for ex- tending the period from two to three years. during which an emigrant sent from England can be deported if. within the meaning of the law, that emigrant Is undesirable. or has be- come, or Is likely to become, a charge on the rates. This fact, together with the deportations, have given hundreds of intending emigrants in England and Scotland--especially of the poorer classes-a fright" and. as a conse- quence, the work of some of the
 
 brought almost to a standstill. The Central Emigration Board will not send fifty men and women to Canada this season. The London Central Unemployed Body, with all its enor- nous financial resources, are not send ing a quarter of the people to Canada that they did two years ago. They are engaged In alternating outlets in other parts of the British empire. The Church Army is practically doing nothing. The Salvation Army--the largest of non-offlcial emigration agencIes--has only sent 1900 men, wo- men and children to Canada this sea- son.
 The British Empire Is almost limit less in extent, and 1t ought to be pos- sible to absorb its surplus" in some of it's distant lands. But where? Me chanios out of work are not wanted in a single city of the British Empire out side this country--not one.
 Pauper Returns.
 The returns of pauperism in England and WLlss for the first quarter of this year have been issued by the Local Government Board, and are cal culated to make the most optimistic uneasy. At the end of March the to- tai number of paupers in receipt of re- lief was in. the proportion of 2S.s to every thousand of the population, a ra- tio considerably higher than that of last year, while In London the ratio rose to 27,1, the highest in any year since 1896. These figures are. of course affected very largely by changes in the administrative policy of tho Boards of Guardians, and 1t would be reasonable to suppose that the im- mense sums of money which have been spent this winter upon relief works would have tended to reduce the to- tai A better figure for comparative purposes Is that of the indoor pauper- ism Is less immediately affected by changes of policy, and here the rise is still greater. The number of per- sons being relieved with warehouses and workhouse institutions was 17.3 per 1000 in London, a figure which has never been reached in any pre- vious year. representing total of S2,- 900 persons. the whole of whom. ex- cept the children. may be considered permanently papuerized. for the exist ing system gives no ladder by which the pauper may climb back to indspen- dence.