Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-10-17
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Editor Courier:

| <~~~~~~~~~~s~~~~~~~~s
Editor Courier:
The democratic orators from Wilson
down are this year dwelling weightily
upon the ancient and oft exploded
argument that protection protects
against everything except against
foreign labor, having reference, OF
course to the tide of immigration that
comes to our shores. This phase OF
tariff discussion becomes q veritable
boomerang to our free trade friends
and when properly viewed IN all us
bearings develops into one OF me
strongest arguments thinkable Tor
continued protection.
The boomerang proclivities manifest
themselves as soon as the unfortunate
orator begins to specify as to which
elements of our immigration he
principally objects to, or states which
he would and which he would not
| tolerate.
Mr.. Wilson's view as expressed IN
his works giving the Chinese prefer
ence over most Of our European lmml.
grants would certainly prove dismal
failure as a vote-getter In a presl-
Dental campaign.
The facts are, that aside from 10,
the poor Indian. who Of course cuts no
figure in the problem, we are all
foreign. If we did not happen to imml-
crate to this country ourselves, most
| of us do not have to delve far
back into our family histories to locate
the fellow that did, and the humor OF
the situation is, that we hear this
threadbare immigration argument IN
voices still rich with brogue. In TACT
have had it put to me on one &C.
casion by an individual whose gar
ments were still redolent with the
effluvia of the steerage.
If it could be demonstrated that I'M
migration acts depressingly upon our
wage scale the point would be well
taken, but fortunately this can not be
done. The time may come when such
NAV be the case. but up to this, II mas
not only not done so, 1t has on the
contrary actually increased the re-
muneration of labor, as the following
will make clear to any fair minded IN
vestigator.
If Mr.. Wilson was mechanic seek
! ing employment, where would be look
for it?
! Would he go to some quiet New
( England village that has not received
an immigrant family in twenty-five
years? Assuredly not. Would he go
south to look for it? Not at all likely.
| He would stay right on what might
be called the highway Of immigration,
right on the line Of one OF our great
] trunk railways that run from the sea-
board to the great west, fetching up,
more than likely, in the great city OF
Chicago. which is perennially about
on ,-half foreign born.
! So far from lodging the immigrant
when we are looking for work or busl'
ness. we, as a matter of fact, instinct
lively 20 right there, where he Is most
numerous.
The reason for this Is obvious These
people must have house to live IN,
| and the house must be furnished.
! These people become, not very long
after coming among us prompted
thereto by the power of example, and
by their environment), Of American
consuming power, which must be sus'
tanned by American earning power.
| AS a case in point: Mrs. Litchinsky
wants every bit as good baby buggy
as Mrs. Kuuchznitzky has got and IN
the little community In Poland thai
both of the good women hailed from
the luxury was entirely out of ques
ton for either. .aa :,
Under these circumstances theil
competition in the American labor
market becomes an entirely differen,
proposition, than had they been lef
under European environment, sur
rounded by European consuming
power, and permitting the fruits O.
their labor produced under European
conditions, to enter our ports duty
free, as Mr.. Wilson and his party pro
nose to do in the event of Mr.. Wilson's
4 election.
The last vestige of doubt on this
point should, however, dissolve at once
when we contemplate that in spite o.
the fact that we have received more
of European emigration than all othe1
Icountries on earth combined, we are
Still paying the highest wages OF any
Mr.. Wilson and his orators Nigh
wonderfully facilitate their compre
hension of the true effects of pro
tective tariff if they will but read, ant
carefully digest, the following 1mmi
grafton table:
! immigration into the United States
for the two decades from 1890 to 1910
/ 1891 .,........ 5UU,3l9