The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-12-31
WARNS Of INFLUX Of
UNFIT AFTER WAR

New York, Dec. 30.-Vaster hordes
of immigrants will enter the United
States as soon as the war ends than
ever before in our history, Professor
Robert De G. Ward, of Harvard Uni
versity, told the American Genetic
Association, meeting in connection
with the American Association for the
Advancement of Science.
These immigrants, he continued,
will be of a distinctly lower type on
the average than the newcomers of
before the war. For that reason the
immigration laws must be strictly en-
forced. The unfit must be barred out,
he warned, or the American race will
deteriorate
Professor Ward said:
The decentralization of industry,
the breaking up Of homes, the greatly
increased burdens OF. taxation, the de-
sire to fly from future wars, the geo.
graphical and political readjustments
following the war, which may easily
lead to widespread discomfort and
even hardship: the desire of the
foreign born already In the United
States to bring to America relatives
and friends who are still left abroad
these and other causes will operate
to bring us an increase in immigra-
ton which is likely to surpass any
thing that we have ever known.
Fly from the horrors of war; es-
cape your taxes: go to a country
where there are no wars: whore there
is no standing army: where wages
are high and work Is plenty; go to
America That Is what steamship
agents and runners will be saying all
over Europe.
ION the other hand, OF course.
there will be tendencies which may
operate to cut down emigration from
certain European countries Thous-
ands OF men will have been killed in
action and will have died of wounds
or disease. An enormous amount of
constructive work will have to be
done, in rebuilding and repairing what
the war will have damaged or de-
stroyed. Immense numbers of work
men will be needed for these enter
prtses
Owing to the thinning of the ranks
OF most efficient laborers. by death
or by injury, during the war. wages
may perhaps rise, but whether the i'm
poverished nations of Europe viii be
able to compete with our American
wages, and thus keep their people
at home, vet remains to be seen.
That there will he any consider
able emigration from the United
States of aliens going home 10 re-
hablitate their native countries is ex-
tremely unlikely. American wages
will keep them here.
The work of reconstruction after
the war will go on most actively in
northern and western Europe. It Is
in These countries that there will In
evitably he the most immediate and
best-paid opportunities for the largest
number of laborers. And IL is. there
fore. from these same countries that
we are likely to see the greatest fall
ing off in immigration.
'On the other hand. IN southern
and eastern Europe and western Asia.
there will not be the same organized
reconstructiye work. From these
countries, therefore. so largely in the
more primitive condition o. agricul-
tnre, the forces tending to promote
emigration will be operative TO A
much greater degree than ever be-
fore.
Balancing the reasons for n pos
sihle decrease in our immigration af-
ter the war against those which will
bring about an increase. the weight
of proha hility is strongly on the side
of a marked increase.
The ffttest. mentally and physical
ly; those who in the past have had
the initiative and the courage TO emf
crate, will be dead. at the prime %
life. or will he needed at home 20
carry on the work of rebuilding and
reorganization. These are the men
whom Europe will do It's utmost TO
keep at home. The least At are most
likely to emigrate
War, as DIR. David STAR Jordan
strikingly puts II. 'impoverishes the
breed The strongest and best men
are the ones who are killed or In
jured, and who leave few or no chill
dreu. The weddings live. marry ana
continue the race. The French and
German babies OF 1s7o-'7I who came
to be mustered as soldiers twenty
years later. were found 10 be an in
ferior lot OF men. The Japanese chill
dren born at the time of the war be-
tween China and Japan, twenty years
ago became conscr,pts In 1918. A
lowering IN the quality OF the new
soldiers was distinctly observable"
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