Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-12

No more important or far-reaching
question confronts the American people
today than the problem Of our present
immigration. Each year approximately
million alfens-aliens in speech, aliens
in customs, aliens in ileals though kim
dred in desire for opportunity to better
their conditions. kindred in craving for
freedom, and kindred in the possession of
the spirit OF ambition-swarm to our
shores Guided into proper channels, sur
rounded by proper influences, this alien
horde may be transformed into good
American citizens and made to constitute
great political and economic asset to
the nation. Fused into our national life
in the melting pot of Americanization,
and in the process of leaving behind the
dross Of old world ways, it may become
part and parcel Of our body polite. de-
voted to American traditions. espousing
our ideals and filled with our own best
aspirations.
On the other hand. left to form itself
into colonies which come into contact
only with the worst element of our native
population, removed from the better in
huences of our national life, never learn
ing our language, never adopting our Gus
toms, never sensing our ideals and never
H.,
might become permanent source of
danger to our political well-being and
a menace to the very life of the nation.
me character of our immigration has
changed. Formerly it came from north
western Europe. and readily fused itself
into our national life; today it comes
largely from southern and eastern Europe
and 1t holds itself aloof preferring to
coionize rather than to be assimilated
How to overcome this tendency toward
permanent separation is the great prob
lem of American immi-
Great Problem gration.~-It is largely
r.:l, this phase of the ques-
ton which occupied the
attention of the United States immigra-
ton commission during it's four years of
1t will probably constitute
the subject of important legislation DUR
ing the Wilson administration.
Only sixty of the ninety three millions
Of our population can boast of native
The remainder are foreigners
or the children Of foreigners. The immi-
grant army is received at the rate of a
million a year. and assuming, as Congress
has assumed, that it requires five years
to convert a foreigner into an American,
there being sixty million native Amer
leans. ii follows that every twelve natives
must convert one foreigner into an Amer
lean. 1t is easy for twelve native Amer
lean people to exert the Americanizing
influence on one foreigner if they can get
at him, but when he lives in a colony
alOOf from them it becomes difficult
task.
And under such conditions American
ization is not taking place as rapidly
as was hoped. so far as the immigrant
from southern and eastern Europe is con-
cerned. Uncle Sam long ago said that the
alien might become a citizen in five
years, and the immigrant from north
western Europe usually goes after his
papers as soon as the time
limit has expired. But not SO with the
Immigrant from southern and eastern
Europe. Precious little he cares about
naturalization laws. To begin with, he
does not come to America to stay He
wants to make money, and then go back
home to live in comparative aff1uence.
And tWo-fifths of those who come do go
back home. They barely exist while here,
and when they return home they have
money enough to make them Morgans
and Rockefelers in their native villages.
But of those who stay a surprisingly
large number care nothing for citizenship.
Statistics show that fully a third of those
who have been here the necessary five
years fail to take out citizenship papers.
But, although the immigrant constitutes
the great American problem, he is also a
great American as
STATUS OF set The inquiries
the Immigrant. oa,' ,me Immigration
what tremendous factor he is and has
been in our industrial life. In the iron
and steel industries he and his children
contribute seven-tenths of labor. In the
and meat-packing industry
they give three-fourths of the labor re-
quired. They do 20 per cent of the work
in the bituminous coal mines and nearly
three-fifths of that of the glass fac
tories. Seven-eights of the labor in wooden
and worsted manufacturing is contributed
by the Immigrant and his children, and
they produce nearly four-fifths of our silk
goods. early nine-tenths of the cotton
goods and nearly nineteen-twentieths of
the mems and women's clothing # the
country. They make more than half of
Americas shoes, and nearly four-fifths of
its furniture.
AAoAA VA eAO IoOOi III A1dhlu6 Jul COIIdFS,
cuffs and shirts is contributed by them,
and fve-sixths of the work In the leather
industry Is placed to their credit. They
make half of our gloves. refine nearly
nine-tenths Of our oil and nearly nine
teen-twentieths of our sugar Also they
manufacture nearly half of our tobacco
and cigars.
There is room for considerable specula-
ton as to what the effect Of the war be-
tween the Balkan states and Turkey will
be on the immigration of the immediate
future. During the last decade We re-
ceived nearly half a million immigrants
from the countries affected. 216.OOO COM
ing from Greece alone. Will the decima-
ton of the population through the pres
emit war and the expansion of the terri
tory of the several countries through the
conquest Of the allies result in a shifting
of the tide Of immigration from southern
Europe to this new field? One may dis
cover in the immigration figures for the
years following the conclusion Of the
several European wars of the last half
century falling Off Of immigration in
general and of that from affected terri
tory In particular.
But changes in America have been
even more influential than European
of economic and other con-
ditions upon the tide Of immigration. We
may read the story of our panics and
our wars, Of our hard times and our pros
porous eras In the rise and fall of the
tide. AS sunshine recorder
tells of the hours of sunshine and the
hours of a clouded sky. SO the immigra-
ton figures tell the story of the bright