Omaha daily bee., 1920-02-12
Problems of the Immigrant
From the New York Times.

If Secretary Lansing errs at all in his re
quest for funds to regulate immigration, it is on
the side of moderation. Great as are our present
problems with regard to the alien within our
gates; they bid fair in the near future to become
much greater During the fiscal years OF 1918
and 1919 the totals Of of~immigration were only
1l06lS and l4l, 1872, respectively. With the in
crease of Atlantic shipping the total rose to ap-
proximately $4,000 a month, or $4,000 year
AS our commerce expands there is every pros
pect that immigration will keep pace with it
American wages, at all times fabulous from the
European point OF view, have increased in pro-
portion to the rise in our exchange. Before the
war immigration passed the million mark in only
six years-l914, 1913, 1910, 1907, 1906 and 1905
Already it has reached half of this maximum
and if strict measures are not applied it is very
soon likely to exceed it. Secretary Lansing asks
the house OF representatives for $450OO0 to en-
force the wartime restrictions, and in doing so
he points out that the governments receipts for
the wise of passports are more than double this
sum. The charge is 81 for each immigrant, AT
the present rate of immigration this amounts to
more than $l,000000 yearly.
Supervision at the port of entry touches
only single detail, and relatively small one,
in the problem as whole. This has been lurni-
selection and scientific distribution" Qualita-
tive selection is already under way in Italy. TAX
ing advantage of the fact that the demand for
passports greatly exceeds the capacity of out
going ships, our consuls in Italian cities are re-
ported to be thoroughly scrutinizing each ap-
pllcant. Italians who have been to Russia or
who are known to be social agitators are barred
as are also all who have been arrested on any
charge. In addition the applicant is obliged to
establish good character and prove himself
thoroughly literate. This involves much added
labor; but as in the case of the enforcement of
restrictions at the port of entry, the expense
is amply covered by passport fees The Naples
copsulate alone stands to clear 100000 this
year above all expenses. With such system in
general use abroad, the labor and expense of
surveillance on this side would be very sensib1y
reduced.
A bill which Senator Kenyon has introduced
covers the problem as it presents itself locally
in America. 1t is called an Amercankation
bill, and it provides for the first time for the
Capitalization of our activities, state and federal
in the elimination Of illiteracy. 1t contemplates
a campaign among the native as we'll as the for
eign born, not only in mills and mining or
lumber camps, but on the farm and it provides
not only for the teaching of terates, but for the
training of the teachers in the technique of their
task. Among the printed matter to be used are
pamphlets in the chief foreign languages de-
signed to correct the mlsstatements in radical
propaganda and to open up the realities of
American life and institutions Rather tardilv
we are waking up to the fact that, if we had
been half as eager and industrious in dissent
mating thetruth as agitators have been eager and
major portion of our industrial unrest would
have been forestalled.
Thus far our efforts have been mainly ten
tatve; but they are in the right direction and are
apparently backed by intelligent goodwill. As
yet they leave the problem of scientific distri-
button" untouched. During Senator Kenyon's
Investigations of the steel strike he was scandal
ized to find that in a group of $50 strikers very
few could speak English and only three were
citizens. The great vice of our immigration
hitherto has been that it tended to segregate
men of the same race in communities sealed
against outside nflueQce. Nothing can touch
this evil except aid and influence which shall ex-
tend beyond the port of entry to the ultimate
job and home. There should be machinery for
diverting the newcomer to the field where he is
most needed and best paid and for insurihg that
he is adequately housed in a community open to
the American spirit. Such supervision would,
in the end, render needless the process Of
Authorization by set instruction, which is at
once the most costly and least effective. What
man learns he easily loses, but what he lives
strikes in