Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-02-08
BOOK REVIEWS.
IMMIGRATION AND LABOR; the Eco
nomic Aspects OF European immi-
grafton TO the United states. by
Isaac ~ Hourwich, IN j.. We"

-HE superb quality Of this STUDY.
coupled with the Importance or
its subject, makes ii a matter
of special concern as wei as
one of general interest In
substance. this is a scientific demonstra-
iion of the principles underlying iinni-
grafton as it bears solely ON the business
and Industries of the United States. BY
this exclusive view the author makes "A
practical following mp of the decision of
the immigration commission to base Its
policy primarily upon economic or bus1-
ness considerations alone"
The material for this investigation is
the fun body of official report on the
economic aspects of immigration. The
method is that of mathematical demon
stration in which no cross cuts. no short
divisions, no skipping of steps in the
process. are allowed. On the contrary.
the long way around is chosen for the
sake. not only of proving the answer. but
Of enabling one. also. to test the validity
Of the sequences by which the answer
is obtained.
Labor is the subject which, naturally,
becomes the center of consideration from
this viewpoint of economies. In the large
body of commonly accepted notions about
Immigration in it's bearing upon labor,
what are the facts? Does immigration,
as is popularity assumed, overstock the
labor market. lowering wages. deSrad-
ing the common standard of living, pro-
ducing unemployment with its train of
pauperism and crime? From long prac-
tice we all say Yes" in answer to these
questions. But out from this expert Off
cial report itself the author draws the
fact that immigration. in the long run,
adjusts itself to the demand for labor.
That it merely follows opportunities for
employment. That in this respect it is a
natural movement and a self-reguating
one, expanding automatically, SO to say,
when opportunities increase, shrinking
when they decrease. Again. from this
bulk of material he takes for study the
subject of unemployment. Now, the COM
mon theory of unemployment is that
every new Immigrant. in order to live,
must take away the job of some one al
ready here. Nevertheless, the evidence
here adduced is that there is no causal
connection between immigration and I'M
= employment. Rather does employment
spring from the modern organization of
businesS-from the lOcaliZation of certain
industries from the shifting areas and
periods of demand, for seasonal activity
from the lack of provision for mobiliZinS
labor. from a labor reserve, as necessary
To our industrial system as is the regu-
lar force. These are but few of the
vital questions considered here. The whole
spreads to an exhaustion of this economic
aspect of immigration Its most obvious
effect is to refutc many of our easily
accepted, wholly INFESTED notions of the
effect of immigration upon the industrial,
situation of the United States. Its most
significant practical effect is to suggest
a pause in the invention of immigration
tests that in their effects have no bear
ing upon the immigration problem.
AS textbook for lawmakers this
study is necessity. AS a textbook for
the plain student. classified or otherwise,
1t Is admirable. For the mere intelligent
reader, concerned about the vital things
OF his own country. it is an incomparably
clear and absorbing exposition.
THE MASTERS OF MODERN FRENCH
CRITICISM. BY Irving Babbitt, pro-
fessor of French literature in Har-
ward University. Boston: Hough-
ton Miffiin Company.
The aim of this rich and learned study
is a modest one. II is, in effect, no more
than to come at some tolerable way of
criticism. some vital and constructive
way of estimating the work of an author.
the literature of country or period.
II is the desperate quest for some way
out of the present small talk about books
the most of which, stillborn. ought
not, in common respect for the dead. to
he mentioned at aIl-for some way apart
from the tittIe-tattle of gossip now i'm
pressed so generally to serve criticism.
The book itself is the authors search
for this new criticism Ii is penetrat-
ing and eXacting scrutiny of the great
French critics of the last hundred years.
with an appreciation of Goethe and
Emerson added for special illustrative
uses in the exposition of this subject. AT
about its middle the book rises to its full
est height in an analysis of Sainte-Beuve.
Leading up to him are Nine. de Stael
Joubert, thateaubriand. declining from
him on the other side, are Taine. Renan
and Brunetiere. The authors norm, his
rule of measurement for each. is the de-
gree in which he uses the classic tradi-
tion-but a classic tradition. vital, for
ward-moving. adaptive. the adequate in
strument of every age. of every new out
look-as discipline. as school of eX
perience, out of which he approaches the
present In manner this study does not
Weld to the average reader 1t is the
students book But its mastery is well
worth the while of both student and in
telhgent average reader.
Wy LITTLE SISTER. BY Elizabeth
Robins. author of Under His
Roof etc New York: Dodd. Mead
x Co
Mrs. Wharton at her worst never did
worse than Mrs. Robins has done here.
Neither at her best did she ever do bet
ter. terrible thing told with con-
summate art. Mrs. Wharton over again.
For almost its full length the story reads
like pure pastoral-sunny, pleasant. I'M
eventful. So vivid, too. and natural that
It's affairs might be those of any one.
anywhere. Then, suddenly. we'll within
its last hundred pages. one is swept into
a terrible and pitiful tragedy out OF which
ne comes in terror and anguish. Mrs.
Robins has merely taken what every one
knows to be true about the traffic in
Young girls. and out of this has woven a