South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1920-12-12
Newcomers Know Destinations
in Advance With
Jobs IN Sight.

Few immigrants arriving in Am
erica are without fixed destinations
Emissaries Of agencies that supply
immigrant labor find this true. as
10 the hacknen who cater 10 inn
migrant trade ana who thrive most
on those newcomers having no par
ocular place 10 go TO and no friends
10 meet them.
since the revival OF immigration
last spring, il is estimated, 81 per
cent OF the admitted Immigrants
come here 10 join friends or rela-
lives and to settle in localities deter
mined upon before leaving their
hOmelands.
Inc distribution OF immigrants is
largely directed 10y Immigrants OF
-Jrmer days. Even the nuUw from
ocrOss the seas, according 10 the
4Ater-racIaI council, may be attriD-
uted TO the influence OIL these former
immigrants who write back TO their
nOmelands, inviting relatives anu
friends 10 JOIN them in America anu
posting them about the JObs avail
able and about shop conditions.
Letters Passed Around.
1t has Deen frequently stated that
letters from America are passed
from hand 10 hand in villages
abroad until friends and former
ueIgnDOrS are familiar with their
contents. Arrival OF correspon-
oence from America IS an event in
many towns abroad. Letters are
compared; the separate items OF in
formation pile up, and eventually
me town knows the complete story
OF American industrial conditions
as seen by their kinspeOple here.
In periods OF great industrial ac-
tivity these letters contain Optimis
nc references to wages and oppOr-
tunities of employment, but the re
verse is true during periods of Re
preston when intending immigrants
are told it would be inadyisable to
make the trip across.
When a large electrical plant in
a town near Pittsburg went into the
hands of a receiver in the fall OF
1907, Greeks. CrOats, Hungarians
and other nationalities stopped 60
ing TO that town although before
chat time they had been ARRIVING
almost every week.
The failure of the electrical CON
Germ was attended by a condition of
Industrial depression in many parts
of the country. From July l, 1906
10 July /, 1907, the immigration
had been larger than ever before.
When the period OF depression
struck the country the inflow began
TO fall off rapidly. For the sue
ceeding year the figures dropped
from. 800, 900 TO $4,000. The news
Of bad times" had been carried
home by returning immigrants and
by letters from countrymen in ra-
cial communities In the United
States.
Make Careful Preparations for Trip.
The average immigrant no more
thinks of going 10 America these
days without making certain ar
engagements in advance and consult
ing his kinspeople already here
than does the average vacauOnist
think of going 10 the mountains
without engaging hotel accOmmO-
dations in advance.
For this reason the farmers and
industrial managers writing TO inn
migration officials and suggesting
that immigrants he directed TO their
localities. are invariably disappOint-
ed. Similarly. optimistic representa-
tives of immigrant labor agencies
who have hundreds of Jobs to fill,
chord with their offers Of jobs. II
is significant also that the commits
sioner of immigration at Ellis Is
land has been trying without avail
to find a young immigrant girl 20
do general homework in his home
and "A young man TO clip the hedges
at the home OF q friend.
From March until July OF this
wear many immigrants were going
west. especially 10 Oregon where
there was urgent need OF men in
the fields. Then followed the move
ment 10 industrial centers In the
middle wcst-tO Detroit. Cleveland,
Pittsburg Akron and other cities
With August came the movement
20 the east. newcomers having heard
Of high wages prevailing in shops
and factories there and I'm the mines
in pennsylvania, West Virginia and
elsewhere.
Many Women and Children.
Women and children and aged
persons form q very conspicuous
mart Of the present influx, though