The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1909-08-11
The Influence
on Europe Of
Returning
Emigrants;


who have come hither from Europe
during the last sixty years is SUBJ
ject of endless discussion, but very
little attention has been given to the
retroactive effect produced on their
housekeeping countrymen by emf
grants returning from America to
their native lands, says the New York
Sun. With 100000 of these in 1907
the influence must have been consid-
cradle. An independent investigation
of the question has been undertaken
by Mr.. Edward A. Steiner in Italy,
Austria-Hungary and Russian Po-
land, and we find the outcome of his
observations set forth in the June
number of the American Review of
Reviews.
To appreciate what these return
ing emigrants have done we should
recall the fact that previously to the
beginning of emigration to America
the Slavic peasants both in hungary
and Poland we're gradually losing
allotments of land and were deterior-
ating physically and socially. Intem-
perance and Incidence were driving
them into the hands of usurers, and
they were fast dropping into the land
less class and into dependence upon
casual labor The returning emigrant
from the United States set a very
different example. He evinced an
eagerness to buy the land which the
dearth of labor and the resultant rise
of wages often forced large land own
ers to sell. MIR. Steiner says that
during the years between 1899 and
1905 the land owned by peasants in
creased in some districts as much as
40S per cent. and even If all the emf
grant furnishing districts in Austria
Hungary and Russian Poland are talk
en- together, the increase in four
years reached the remarkable figure
of 173 per cent. The deduction from
these facts is that not only was money
brought back from the United States
and invested in land, hut the home
keeping peasant also was led by en-
ample to become more Industrious and
thrifty. Mr.. Steiner has been told,
he says, by unbiased landowners and
manufacturers that while wages have
risen in the countries named nearly
60 per cent. since the emigration to
the United States began, the efficiency
of the workers in almost all depart
ments has been increased correspond
ingly.
1t seems, too, that the change in
the standard of living among laborers
in Austria Hungary and Russian Po-
land has been SO great as to be al
most incredible. Usurers to- very
large extent have been driven out OF
business, and the peasants house has
ceased TO be a mud hut with a straw
matched roof; indeed this type Of
dwelling has been, according to Mr..
Steiner, condemned by law at the
initiative of returned emigrants. The
rural shopkeepers report that they
have been obliged to augment their
stock by many varieties of goods and
that the peasant now wants the best
there is in the market. Noteworthy is
the demand for American clothes.
The returned emigrant from the Unit
ed States can be recognized by his
necktie and collar, and especially by
his shoes and the gold filling in his
teeth Mr.. Steiner recalls that he
asked Pastor Holubek of Bosacz in
Hungary what effect the returned emf
grant had produced upon his parish.
The reply was: THE returned emf
grant is a new man. He carries him.
self differently; he commands the
respect of his fellows; he treats his
wife better, and he keeps the windows
of his house open" 1t is well known
that Europeans of the lower classes
we might almost say of all classes
are averse to fresh air in sleeping
rooms, especially at night.
Mr.. Steiner says that there is not
a town or village OF any notable size
within the field of his inquiries, al
though this extended from Naples TO
Warsaw, TO which larger or smaller
group of emigrants had not returned.
IL StftuleN W ullll luil ut Ioulu uOtO
among them a quickening of the NOR
al sense, especially among the men
who had come in contact with the
better class of American mechanics.
He was particularly struck with the
respectful way in which these men
spoke to their wives, which was in
striking contrast to the conduct OF
the housekeeping peasants, among
whom a woman is still an inferior be-
ing. On the whole Mr.. Steiner's OBJ
servations have convinced him that
emigration to the United States has
been of material value to the three
monarchies now chiefly concerned in
the outflow, namely, Italy, Austria
Hungary and Russia. 1t has. with
drawn inefficient labor and has re-
turned some of it capable of more
and better work. 1t has through the
influence of the returning emigrant
lifted the status Of the peasantry to
a degree which could hardly have
been achieved by a revolution.