Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-16


of governmental activities.
The scrutiny of corporations.
the regulation of immigra-
ton and naturalization, the gathering
of census statistics, the regulation Of
standards of measures. propagation and
distribution of fishes, the maintenance
Of lighthouses. the supervision of navi-
gable waters, the coast and geodetic sur
vey work and the steamboat inspection
service are among the affairs with which
the department deals. Among the most
interesting phases of its activities are
the census and the maintenance of stand
ards of measure. which are treated in
separate chapters.
The bureau Of immigration and nat
uralization has charge Of the work Of re-
ceiving aliens into the United States and
OF the enforcement Of the laws by which
they may become American citizens. One
person out Of every three in the United
States is an immigrant or the child of
an Immigrant Frequently more than
5000 immigrants arrive in one day at
the port Of New York. and on some &C.
casions the average is 5000 q day for
full month. This gives the inspectors
only two minutes to each immigrant. and
question must be asked and answered
nearly every second. Only one immigrant
out OF thousand is excluded, although
une RESTRICTIONS are being multiplied eacn
year. The head tax Of 81 collected from
each Immigrant more than supports the
immigration and naturalization service
OF the country.
immigrants coming to the United States
of themselves for a sufficient time to ner-
init them to secure employment. Dur
ing recent year the incoming tide OF
humanity exhibited to the officials of the
iilihisratlon service more tnan so, 600. 900,
an average OF more than $27 per person
FULLY SO per cent of these had less than
900 When they came in. The bulk of the
Immigration into the United States to-
day comes from southern Europe.
1t has been proposed in Congress that
all male aliens between the ages Of six-
teen and fifty shall be required to stand
a physical test equal to that undergone
by recruits for the army and navy; this
test. OF course, to be applied to manual
laoorers only. Approximately four out
Of five of the immigrants who come into
the United States come through the port
of New York. OF the 1,O41, $40 immi-
grants arriving in 1910, 7S6,OO4 came
through that port.
One of the greatest difficulties which
the immigration authorities has to face
Is that of distributing this flood of hui
mainly over the entire country rather
than allowing 1t to concentrate around the
port OF entry. There is a provision in the
immigration law which provides that con-
tract laborers shall not be brought into
the United States A striking illustration
OF the ease with which constituencies per-
sons or corporations can violate the spirit
OF this law without putting themselves
within reach of it's letter is the case of
a large concern which made arrange
ments with interested parties to keep it
supplied with common manual laborers,
Offering fair wage. The wages offered
would usually be paid for the first week.
and then the aliens are placed on piece
work at wage and under conditions
barely affording an existence This would
result in their leaving the concern as
soon as. by starving economy or other
wise. they could raise a sufficient sum to
take them to some other place. Then
their places would be filled with other
unskilled and ignorant men piloted by the
society. Thus the concern maintained a
constant supply of cheap foreign labor,
the supposedly philanthropic organization
earned a rich financial reward, and the
aliens were outrageously exploited.
The heavy immigration from southern
Europe is accredited mainly to the pro-
motion methods of steamship agencies
and professional money lenders. They
make large profits out of the immigrant
business, and even If they have to carry
some of the immigrants back it still
leaves enough profit to make the business
very much worth while.
The hardest problem which the immi-
grafton service has to solve is that of