Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-01-09

washington, ID. g., Jan. 6--immlSra-
ton into the United States has been
cut down to about seven per cent OF
what. for several years, we have con-
sidered the normal annual addition to
our population from that source. 1t
the number of aliens who left the
United States in 1914 be subtracted
from those who came in, about 100000
will remain as the net addition to our
population from overseas. In 1915,
the net gain was a scant $4,000
For the United States, this immense
falling off in immigration is one OF the
most important present and future Ell
fects of the war. There has always
been a strong though minority. de-
mand in this country for the rigid re-
striction of immigration. America for
Americans has been their motto. Now
they have it. An experiment in restrict
ed immigration has been forced upon
us. The hordes 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 smitten sheep;
and when the war is over, conditions
Will DP dltOSplutl CiduStu
How will those changed conditions
affect immigration? Will the horde
begin TO stream through Ellis island
again or will these men stay at home to
rebuild their countries? Among ex-
perts there are two opinions Some
believe that immigration will not only
remain at low ebb after the war. but
that it will be positively reversed. that
many of our thirteen million foreign
born citizens Will return TO their ma
tive lands. These prophets foresee a
new area Of prosperity and power for
labor, with Europe and America COM
peting for its services and wages
steadily rising. They also foresee a
wonderful development of machinery.
so that the power of each man may be
multiplied. Others believe that after
the war there will be a new rush of i'm
migrate toward this country, and that
more rigid exclusion laws will be
made necessary
If it is impossible to reconcile these
two opinions, we can nevertheless shed
good deal of light on the subject by
considering both present effects and flu
ture tendencies.
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 series OF
easy victories in its strikes: is already
showing a sense of the Guickening
power which may work tremendous
changes in the near future. Industry,
| however, is pretty well manned. 1t is
always the less remunerative and less
desirable classes of employment that
feel the pinch of scarce labor first.
These are especially domestic service
and farm labor For over year there
has existed in the United States a
veritable dearth of servants. Not only
are buffers and Wallets and French
maids hard to obtain, but the girl OF
all work. who has place in millions
of families. is becoming far too rare
for the demand. Many women are
forced to do their own homework be.
cause they cannot find a servant to ac'
cept a place at good wages.
The federal employment bureau has
demands many times as great as it is
able to fill These. then, are the eff
fects of the labor shortage in the
United States so far: Higher wages
and shorter hours, for labor, easy vic
tories for strikers. a serious shortage
of labor for domestic service and the
farm To this might be added con-
stantly increasing use Of labor-saving
machinery: Steam shovels and cleo
trio cranes are working today with one
or two men where a few years ago
great gangs of laborers would have
been seen. Ships are being loaded by
great steel grabbers that pick up ten
| to fifteen tons at a time and place
them in half a minute. Inventors and
makers of machinery face new pros
perity.
Now, as to the course of events af-