The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-10-03

t;on Of the AHlelleoi ivy -
1onor thus obtaining from the discus
lians direct information on i've LABOR
smoh}ams has opportunity for hear
70 r., frst-hand testimony as to some OIL
tha ~far-reaching eftectS OH
immigration.
This subject, he may observe, on
.anta1ly looking back over the de-
halas when the convention is ended,
ba. been treated BY the delegated as
frct of all a W~age-earnerS question.
A. the present time the incoming mil
lions from Europe do not pS any
maans enter at once into the various
n.aIs nf the American industries and
Nrnfncsinns. Their America is our Ia
tar market. in fact almost invariably
an nnskilIed labor market. They Go
MT start in buying a business, taxing
mn a farm, or selecting a location
where they may practlce as IdWyei,
doctor, minister, or writer. FROM the
ncH.y arrived immigrants, therefore,
The managers of affairs, the leaders
IN commercial life, the politicians and
1~avrn9kprs. the editorial fraternity,
thn all are in no mmedi
ats danger of petition. Hence
these classes but remotely feel any OF
tba effects Of immigration other than
slch as are apparently beneflclai 70
themselves through the cheapneSS OIL
labor and the submissiveness or the
aborers. 1t is otherwise with the
worker. The sole avenue OF en-
trance to America for perhaps inety
nine Der cent. of the immigrants be-
inc through the unSkilled labor mar
ket. this. to W~age-earners, IS the fact
of all facts relative to immigration.
This truth sets aside as irrelevant and
misleading the mere statisticians con
sideration that in proportion to popu-
-. n nd n IL ROY r n -
migrants in 1910 is less than 427,00O
Of 1854. Sixty years ago, fifty, forty
yes. thirty-years ago the main vol
ume Of Immigration poured westward.
In that direction lay the open and
opportunity. Moreover. only once III
the succeeding twenty years was the
tide Of 1854 equaled. At one time 1t
fell to one-sixth of that year, and US
ualIy it was less than one-half. But
for nearly a decade now the gross ar
rivals yearly have averaged a million.
Ihe Wage-Worke rs Of America know
full we'll that "opportunity' in the old
sense of the public lands no longer
exists in this country. They know
that the immigrants now coming are
not on arrival SO fully qualified to be
Americans, to be independent wage
earnerS, to be 500 candidates Tor
every walk of our national life, as
were the Immigrants generally even
SO late as twenty years ago. They are
less qualified through their i~lliteracy,
thelr speaking languages not AKIN 10
English, their undeVelOpement in the
skilled trades, their traditions of de-
pendence upon masters ana paternal
institutions, through even their meth
DDS Of work. They must begin build
ing themselves up as citizens With lit
tie more foundation than their bodily
strength. If the true definition OF IAN
American is "one who is the product
OF American Institutions our old
tme Immigrants were generally Ia
milIar in their home countries with a
soodiy part OF those institutions, es-
peclally their spirit, while the present
Gay immigrants have usually toward
them merely the position of untaught
chlldren handicapped by the Temporal
~ deafness and dumbness Of not I'M
outstanding the English language
me spectator MAJ learn from MS
seat in the gallery the attitude Of the
delegates or the immigration question.
IL is a logical attitude with reference
70 events. 1t is shown, not so much
IN the discussions of immigration IN
itself. as in statements made regard
iIg the pressure Of the freshly arrived
immigrants into the fields Of competl-
boh IN the various occupations. A
point 10 be noticed is the absence OF
prejudice against the immigrants; the
oUNefSe judgment pronounced IS upon
1"e men who bring them here. The
note that is sounded most frequently
IA the words. of the speakers is sym
pdthy with the immigrants in their
poverty and helplessness.
y majority of the delegates, if not
themselves foreign born. are the sons
y Srandsons Of men who crossed the
sc" 10 get to this country. Most num-
IIoua and active are those having
r1iah names. Next come Germans.
iHeh men of other northern Euro
f9"n ha~tlonalities, Delegates Of the
a"u't races are making their appear-
"Ne IN recent wears. The English
n'H1es common to that part of the
nnterlcan population which predomi-
lied IN this country to so great an
fAeEat prior to 1850 are rare. These
St9' IA themselves. reveal certain So
developments. The old families
we" England, the Middle and the