The daily Nome industrial worker., 1916-04-29
THE IMMIGRATION BILL.

The immigration bill is very frankly supported by the leaders of organized labor. They have been backing the measure rinco it's first introduction, and they have met op- position in it's passage into the statute books of the land by several interests.
 First of all are the powerful cor porate interests. The great factories mines and mills of the country have needed constant renewal of labor available and only through an un- hampored influx Of immigrants could that, they think, be secured.
 The Catholic hierachy also has opposed the bill fer tho reason that the vast majority of the ill,teratos are co-religiouists and the more CO., relgionists come to America the bet ter and stronger will the church be-
 Last of all, and in a small minor ity are interests which object to the measure on broad general grounds pie to an unjust discrimination, obliterates the right of asylum to political refugees and places the lat ter at the mercy of those powers of tyranny which they fought against in the older countries, and which they would be punished by had they no chance to mako a1 escape.
 Tho opposition of the capitalist In- interests to the measure needs hard ly an explanation. It is from their standpoint reasonable enough. They kill maim and victimizC so many from occupational diseases and ac- cidents that life muGt be cheap for them for an unk2mpercd continu' ance. of the system. Safety first only becomes a slogan when labor power has to be conserved, and whCn the failure to provide safety appliances reacts upon thoic success ful enterprise. Unrestricted imml- grafton has helped that very great ly. It has given them cn unlimited fold to draw upon and they certainly mako the most of thoir opportunity. In fact so general has this immi- grafton been made usc of that it is quite correctly stated that tho labor of American industry ig bccming T foreign south European labor while the Americans or North Europeans who approach most closely American standards of living arc driven by the incoming south Europeans far afield
 Because the capitalist interests support this unrestricted immigra- tion is the very reason why tho La hor Leaders oppose it. They have felt the effect of this unwieldy mass of immigration upon their standard of living and. can sec no wey out of the difficulty than by putting up barriers which ere distinctly of Il deabtful nature.
 The support of tho immigration bill is practical confession of or gau;zation bankruptcy upon the part of thoso labor leaders end thoso or. ganizations which support it. They have found that they cannot other wise handle the proposition and this immigration restriction is last re- sort
 Now practically speaking the more mon in the labor market, the lower wilt be wages. They gro in direct competition and as commodity called labor. This is instinctively re- cognized by everyone. And it is be- cause the problem of controlling the dispooal of that commodity is even now a difficult one to labor leaders. they do support tho immigration bill
 Yet even a restriction of immi- grafton will not moke more easy their problems In the first place they will limit tho productive capa- city of the nation Gg 2. whole and in doing so they practically remove the American industrial world from competition in the markets of the world. That would not be a very regrettable thing in itself, does it not show also that it eventually means that the home market will thereupon soon become unable to