United labor bulletin., 1911-03-16
RESTRICTION OF IMMIGRATION
DISCUSSED BY JOHN MITCHELL
Continued from page -


and Withstand the struggles and the
hardships incident to the development of
new and ofttimes dangerous country.
He expected to carve out career for
himself, to build his home, and to find
employment on ground and in field upon
which no other hand had claim. The
avenues and the opportunities of en-
ployment and home building of early
times have largely passed away. Today
the alien has not the chance, even
though he has the inclination, to be a
constructive factor in the development
of new and high civilization. Large
numbers of the Immigrants of recent
years regard our country simply as a
foraging ground, in which they expect to
make stake and when they have
done so, to return to their own countries
and spend the remainder of their lives
there: and this stake" is too often &C.
cumulated by eating and living in a man
ner destructive of physical and social
health. An immigration of this character
is of absolutely no benefit to us. The
alien who enjoys the advantages and pro-
lection of our Government and after
wards takes or sends his accumulated
savings back to the country of his birth
is not unlike our butterflies of fashion,
whose parents invest American millions
in the purchase of foreign titles.
ents a real problem, which is rapidly ap-
preaching a crisis, is evidenced by many
circumstances, all of which point in the
same direction-not the least of these
being the act of Congress creating
commission to make an exhaustive in
vestigation into the effects of immigra
ton upon our national life. From public
and private Institutions of charity comes
the ominous warning that the means at
La: - r-1,
of distress; the bread line, that standing
indictment against society which has
been duplicated in other cities and in
other sections of the city of New York
proclaims louder than words that some
thing is radically wrong. Trade unions,
ever jealous of their prestige and of the
dignity and self-respect of their mem
bers, who can not find work to do. And
all this time, during which able-bodsed
men anxious and willing to work are
tramping the streets and the highways
in idleness, hundreds of thousands of i'm
migrants are pouring in upon us-some
to make the struggle of the American
worker more difficult to bear, and others
to be recruited into that army of unem-
pleyed which threatens to become per-
manent institution of our national life.
1t is not sufficient to say that these
are abnormal conditions, the result of
a temporary Industrial depression, or
that the evils will vanish with the re-
turn of good times" While there can
be no doubt that a revival of Industrial
activity will relieve. in a measure. the
strain of the situation, and perhaps the
cry of want and the mutterings of dis
content will be less frequently heard,
nevertheless a cure will not be effected
and the problem will remain unsolved.
The world does not owe a living to an
able-bodied man, but society does owe its
workmen the opportunity to earn a liv-
ing under fair and reasonable conditions.
The first duty of community is to give
its own members the opportunity of
being employed at decent wages; then,
and not until then, it's arms should be
held wide open to welcome the less
favored of every nation and of every
cline
The American wage Garner, be he
native or immigrant, entertains no pre-
judice against his fellow from other
lands; but, as self-preservation is the
first law of nature, our workmen believe
and contend that their labor should be
protected against the competition of an
induced immigration comprised largely
of men who standards and ideals are
lower than our own. The demand for
the exclusion of Asiatics, especially the
Chinese and Hindus, is based solely upon
the fact that as a race. their standard or
living is extremely low and their as
similation by Americans impossible. The
American wage-earner is not an advocate
of the principle of indiscriminate ex-
clusion which finds favor in some quart
ers, and he is not likely to become an
advocate of such policy unless he is
driven to this extreme as a matter OF
self-preservation. He fails. however, to
see the consistency of a legislative pro-
tective policy which does not, at the
same time that it protects industry, give
equal protection to American labor. III
the products of our mills and factories
are to be protected by tariff on articles
manufactured abroad. then by the same
token labor should be protected against
an unreasonable competition from
stimulated and excessive immigration.
And it is highly important to the peace
and harmony of our population, whether
1t be native or alien, that discrimlna-
ton against Americans shall not be per-
mitted. Every good citizen will view win
regret and foreboding the publication OF
advertisements, such as the following
which appeared in the Pittsburg papers
a few days ago:
Men wanted Timers, catchers, and
helpers to work in open shops. Syrlans'
Poles, and Roumanians preferred. STEADY
employment and good wages to men
willing to work. Fare paid and no ices
charged"
The suggestion that American labor
is not wanted is likely to arouse senti-
ment of hostility against the foreign
workers whose labor is preferred by the
companies responsible for advertisements
of this character. Nothing but evil can
come from discord and racial antagon-
ism. AT the same time that the Ameri-
can workman recognizes the necessity OF
reasonable restriction upon the admis-
sion of future migrants, he realizes tnat
his own welfare depends upon being abie
to work and to live in harmony and fel-
Iowship with those who have been adj
mitted and are now part OF our In
dustrial and social life.
There is perhaps no group In America
so free from radical or religious pre1udlce