Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-09-01
War Creates
Much Violence

war OICdLcS oA o
Much Violence. was disn,a,ad 49,,
terly at variance to the American spirit
In any other time. In some parts of the
country it was many years before public
law was restored to the place usurped
by private revenge.
Immediately after the close of the Bal
kan wars there was a great increase in
the immigration from that section of
Europe. 1t was notable that great ma
jority of the men coming in were vet
| Grams of those turbulent armies that
drove the Turk to the very edge of Eu-
| rope before they turned on each other
| in fratricidal frenzy. These Balkan vet
Grams have since been heard from in
many parts of the country-and in them.
as in our own Americans, the loosened
| morals of war had produced tendency
| toward violence.
When this war is over there is no
question but that the United States will
| receive very flood of immigration-refu-
gees from the various armies of the van
| quished and adventures from the ranks
of the victors. They will bring with
| them, no doubt, wholesome hatred OF
| war in the abstract, but they will not
| be free of its communicating and demor-
| alizing influences.
| Whether It will be wise in the interim
| for the restriction of immigration in Or
| der that We may hold of this flood; or
whether we shall maintain our ancient
| character as a tower of refuge from OPP
preston and need. that is a question for
| our statesmen to ponder we'll.
In the fiscal year which ended June 30
| the total immigration to this country was
| 1.21S. $50. In the same time about 10000
aliens departed from our ports.
1t is interesting at this time to review
the origin of this million people. OF the
| total of 21S $50 immigrants received, no
directly engaged in the European war
Perhaps another hundred thousand were
| also from the war zone. The difficulty OF
precise statement arises in the fact that
| immigration statistics are kept by racial
division rather than by nationalities.
| Thus the Jews mostly come from Russia,
| but many may hail from Roumania
which. at this writing, is still neutral.
| Italy is still out of the war. and last
| year the Italian government alone
amounted to more than $4,000. Should
| Italy become involved. and the immigra-
| ton stop it would leave a remainder of
only about a hundred thousand pros
pective immigrants.
Of course the war will not utterly stop
all immigration from affected countries.
but it will practically do SO. For In
stance, Germany Is now sealed up. NO
country at war. except England. would
| think of permitting able-bodied men to
leave. and few families would set out
without their men. Even England doubt
| less would restrict emigration IL there
| were any considerable movement.
In addition to the restriction imposed
| by the actual service of men in the
armies, the ocean lines are broken and
even If ships are restored 20 accustomed
routes they will have other things to do
| than drum up steerage passenger trade.
| -
Even the local administration of the
immigration laws has felt the disturb
| ance. Many aliens
Undesirables Are who came here in
Allowed to Stay. laws and who
would have been deported under ordinary
conditions are still here. The Department
of Labor is loath to deport them into
danger, and none are being sent back now
except on the request of the alien him.
self. made after the dangers have been
fully explained to him.
AS for the exodus of alien army re-
| servists that was made SO much of dur
ing the first week of the war, it has been
| stopped by the war itself. German and
Austrian reservists who started were
| mostly captured by the British. There
| are few British reservists, and only the
French got through. But it has trans
pired that a great many reservists are
perfectly willing to stay here I'm the
| United States and take it out in demon
strating in front of bulletin boards. In
| one instance a man in Washington ar
| ranged all his affairs. left his lawyer
with full instructions what to do in case
| he should be killed. and left for New
| York to take the ship for Europe. Two
weeks later his lawyer. on a visit to
Pittsburgh, met the man on the street
He confessed that he was not brave
enough either to go to the war or to
boldly refuse to go, SO he had hid him.
self in Pittsburgh. There are probably
| others
Although it is too early to give positive
figures. it is already apparent that the
wsr will dry up the sources of immigra-
| tion. and that our industry will have a
shortage Of a million in the labor supply
for the year. The rest of the story Will
be told by time.