Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-01-09
immigration and War
By Frederic ]. Haskin

ter the war. viii the scarcity of labor
continue or will the United States be
overrun with Europeans sick of strife
and poverty?
In support of the latter opinion the
most important facts to be cited are
that the burden of taxation will be ire
mendously heavy in Europe after the
war. and THAT there will be many rest
less souls, filed with a new sense OF
freedom by their life in camp and
trench. who will be unwilling to settle
down to the humdrum life Of the Euro
pean peasant Then, too, the United
States will almost certainly be very
prosperous, will offer high wages and
abundant opportunity. Undoubtedly
these causes will bring new immi-
grant movement across the Atlantic.
But the offsetting causes are for
midable Foremost of these is the fact
that the war is destroying men be-
tween the ages of twenty and forty at
the rate of from three to five million
wear. These are the men of strength
and adventurous propensity, the men
who would seek a new land. Their
numbers will be terribly reduced. and
the United States cannot afford to adj
nit a horde of aged. crippled, and
women and children.
Then, too, the European nations will
doubtless do what they can to discour-
age emigration. Some can do more
in this line than others. At any rate.
the necessity for keeping the people
at home to pay the war debt will be
potent influence in restricting immigra.
ton to the United States.
The really deciding factor. however,
will be industrial conditions in Europe
after the war. The tax burden will be
very heavy, of course, but Europe will
undoubtedly enter upon a great era OF
reconstruction. Labor will be scarce
and much in demand. Wages will al
most certainly rise. The dearth of men
will create opportunities in all direc-
tions. Another important fact in this
connection is that the land-ownins no
bility in Austria. Poland and England
has been terribly decimated. Many
ancient family names have passed out
of existence 1t is quite possible that
many of these great estates will be
broken up into peasant farms and that
the soldier will have an opportunity to
become an independent land owner.
How effectively these forces will
operate must depend, of course, upon
how quickly Europe RECEIVERS from the
exhaustion of war and sets about her
immense task of reconstruction. 1t is
primarily problem in finance. and
very difficult one. But there is
strong probability that Europe will Of
fer Industrial conditions after the war
which will tend strongly to keep her
people at home More than that, it is
quite possible that the time of immi-
grafton may be turned There are thir-
teen million aliens in the United
States and a large proportion of them
came with the hope of sometime re-
turning to their native lands. About
quarter of a million return every year.
If Europe offers high wages and cheap
land. this reverse movement might be
multiplied many times.
Should the ebb tide Of immigration
continue for three or four years. as
there is good reason to believe 1t may.
what will be the effect in the United
States? New prosperity and strength
for labor, and increased use of labor
saving machinery we have already not
ed. But the scarcity of farm labor can
hardly fail to react upon the price of
land, which has been inflated in this
country for many years. This Will be
a salutary effect tending to bring
many families back to the land and the
possession of their own homes, and to
place more acres under cultivation. In
the cities it is the crowded tenement
districts that will be depleted and the
tendency will be to lower rents and
improve housing conditions. On the
whole, few years of restricted immi-
grafton seem TO promise more benefits
than difficulties.