Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-06-25

WASHINGTON. June 24-Immisra-
ton into the United States has been
cut down to about I per cent Of what,
for several years. we have considered
the normal annual addition To oar pop
u!ation from that source. If the num-
Der Of aliens who left the United states
in 1911 be sub,ractcd from those who
came in. about 100000 viii remain rs
the net addition to our population from
overseas In 1915 the net gain was
Scant $4,000
For the United States this immense
falling off In immigration Is one Of the
most important present and future Of
fects of the war. There has always
been strong. though minority. do
nand in this country for the rigid re-
striction of immigration. America for
Americans has been their motto Now
they have IT, An experiment in re-
stricted immigration has been forced
unon us The hordcs Of men from
Europe who for years have been
digging our coal, building our railroads.
harvesting our crops, have ceased to
move in this direction. Furthermore.
IN Europe they are dying like plague
smittcn sheep and when the war is
over, conditions will lac altogether
changed
How Will those changed conditions
affect Immigration? VIII the horde
begin to stream through Ellis Island
again. or vii! these men stay a. home
perts there arc two opinions. Some
believe that immigration will not only
,cmain mt low cbh after the war hut
that II VIII be positively reversed. that
many OF 100000 foreign born
citizens Will return TO their native
lands. These prophets forescc "A new
era of prosperity and power for labor,
with Europe and America competing
for its services, and wages steadily
rising. They also foresee "A wonderful
IEN ..l..tN l..
power of each man may he multiplied
thousand times Others believe that
after the war there will be a new rush
of Immigration toward this country,
and that more rigid exclusion laws
Will be made necessary.
If IL is impossible to reconcile these
two opinions. we can nevertheless shed
n. good deal of light on the subject by
considering both present effects and
future tendencies.
Country Feels Labor Loss.
There is no doubt at all but that
the United states is already feeling
the loss of it's supply Of cheap labor.
Wages have risen; labor has won n
series OF easy victories in its strikes:
is already showing sense Of the
Quickening power which may work ire
mendous changes in the near future.
Industry, however, is pretty well
manned IT is always the less re-
munerative and less desirable classes
of employment that feel the pinch %
scarce labor first These arc sspeciallv
d0ncstic service and farm labor For
over n year there has existed In the
United States vcritnble dcarth ri
servants. Not only arc buffers and
Wallets and French maids hard to OBJ
tain, but the girl OF all work. who has
place in millions of families is be-
coming far too rare for the demand
Many women are forced to DO their
own homework because they cannot
find servant to accep. n place At
good wages.
Farm labor In many sections Is al
most unobtainable, and is nowhere
abundant The West is calling for an
army Of men to harvest its wheat crop,
and they are nowhere to be found The
Federal Employment Bureau has de-
mands many times rs great as il is
able to fill. These. then. are the eff
fects Of the labor shortage in the Unit
ed states so far: higher wages and
shorter hours for labor. easy victories
for strikers. serious shortage of la,
bor for domestic service and the farm.
| TO this might he added a constantly in
: creasing use Of labor saving machin-
! cry; steam shovcls AND electric cranes
| are working to-day with one or two
men. where few years ago great
| gangs Of laborers would have been
| seen. Ships are being loaded by great
| steel Srahhcrs that pick up ten to fif-
ic'H TOMS III u TIME ana place them in
haf n minute. Inventors and makers
| of machinery face new prosperity
| Trend After the War.
Now, as 10 the course OF events after
| the war. Will this scarcity Of labor
| continue. or will the United States be
| ovcrrun with Europeans sick of strife
! and poverty?
In support of the latter opinion. tho
! most important facts 10 he cited are
| that the burden of taxation will he
| tremendously heavy in Europe after the
| war, and that there will he many rest
| less souls, filled with a new sense of
| freedom by their life in camp and tho
trench. who will he unwilling to settle
| down to the humdrum life of the Flu
| rnpean peasant. Then. too. the United
States will almost certainly be very
| prosperous. Will offer high wages and
| abundant opportunity. Undoubtedly,
these causes will bring a new immi-
| grant movement across the Atlantic
But the offsettiny causes arc formid-
| able. Foremost Of these Is the fact
| that the war Is destroying men between
the ages OF twenty and forty ut the ra tie
| Of from 100000 to 5000. 600 n year.
| Theae are the men Of strength and ad-
| vcnturous propensity, the men who
| wond seek new land Their num-
l bers will be terribly reduced, and the