The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1915-02-06

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THE CATHOLIC FEDERATION AND
THE IMMIGRATION PROBLEM.
WHY THERE SHOULD.
BE A CONFERENCE.
The question of immigration is one
that vitality concerns the Catholic
people, as it does every other sec.
ton of our population.
The immigration Restriction bill,
over which there has been so much
agitation, especially on the part of the
American Federation of Labor, has
just been vetoed by the President
and will be passed upon once more by
Congress this week, either sustaining
or repudiating the Presidents veto.
To our mind the policy of restrict
ing immigration appears reasonable
and just, but we were not certain that
the literacy test was the most proper
one.
The arguments for the literacy test
are not thoroughly convincing, though
the advocates thereof quite properly
challenge the opponents to bring for
ward a better and more reasonable
test.
| An added impetus is given the
question by the European war and the
effect it will have eventually upon
immigration.
In view of these facts, and having
regard also to the problem of the
distribution OF immigrants and the
safeguarding of the standards of life
and labor, religious needs, etc., it has
seemed opportune to the Social Ser
vice Commission to make overtures
for Catholic immigration Conference
in the near future.
The Federation of Labor and Immi-
grafton.
! The American Federation of Labor
has been the force behind the agi-
tation for the restriction of immigra-
ton. Mr. Frank Morrison, secretary
of the A. F. of L. in his plea before
President Wilson, prior to the veto
among various arguments properly
emphasized the following:
Two Men for Every Job.
'The great industrial companies Of
this country have more men today
than they can employ, but they want
the present conditions of unemploy-
ment TO obtain. They want two men
for every job. They know that un-
employed men must work to live and
their necessities will force them to
accept any wage set by the companies.
Hence the workers. wages are literal
ly held below living wage by the
hunger, misery and distress of the
unemployed.
The organized wage workers have
declared in favor Of restriction of
| immigration to maintain unlow-
cred the American standard of
life. Those who oppose restric-
ton are representatives of compan-
les and associations composed of
employers of labor whose dominant
interest is the dollar, and associations
that depend for their existence upon
contributions from the employing
class.
Tariff for Capital, Why not for Labor?
II wish to call your attention to
the fact that industry is protected by
a tariff, but labor is not; that the
products Of labor are protected, but We
have a free flow of labor coming to
our shores all the time; that the
manufacturers have protection against
products manufactured by cheap la
Dor in foreign countries, but labor has
no protection against the importation
of cheap labor.
The opponents of this measure say
that if the products Of labor are pro-
tected, then labor itself must be
benefited, because the manufacturer
can sell the products at much
higher price than can be obtained in
other countries and will be in a posi-
ton to pay higher wages to his en-
ployes. The protected manufacturer,
does receive higher price than the
products can be sold for in other
countries, and the second contention
that they are thus made able to
pay higher wages to their employees
is also true, but the fact is they do
not pay higher wages. They pay
lower wages.
We find that the most highly pro-
tected industries, particularly the in.
dustries that are now controlled by
trusts, such as the steel trust, rub
Der trust, sugar trust, packing houses
and textile industry, pay to their en-
ployes the lowest wage in the country
and some Of them less than living
wage for q family. A high tariff has
nothing to do with the wages paid in
these industries.
Restriction Protects Standards Of
Of Living.
1.-THE wage earners believe in an ef-
| fectivo regulation of Enumeration no.