Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-04-25
new ADMINISTRATION TO help
IMMIGRANTS OWN LAND, SAYS
HEAD OF Immigration BUREAU
w. w. Husband Outlines Plan for Taking
Care of Foreigners Who Flock to the U. S.,
Will Create New Farms, Thereby lncreas-
ing the Resources of the Nation.
sprcIAII CoRRFspoNDENCE TO MORNING JoURNAID

ESPECIAL CORRESPONDING
New York, April 24.-"The ma
jority OF our immigrants are peas
ant and essentially farmers" said
w. w. Husband, the new commits
sioner general of immigration, re-
Gently in discussing the problems OF
Arnericanizing foreign~born rest
dents of the United States. Amer
Jean labor, under present condl-
tions, never would take up in large
tracts the land now idle; but oy
cutting them up into small farms
and offering them to the immigrant
we will offer him a chance to re-
alize his life's drean-to own land.
AT the same time, we will be dolng
an economic service to the coun-
try ..
"Our plan Is not to replace
American farmers with foreigners,
but to create new farms and make
new farmers, thereby increasing the
resources of the nation.
1.-The farm, with the advantages
we can offer, will be the best sort of
AInericaniZation school"
This view of the Americanization
question exactly comedies with the
conclusions reached by a sociologist
himself formerly an immigrant in
America, who has just completed
a special investigation into the life
of Immigrant farmers and their
difficulties in settling on the land.
The investigator is Dr. Peter A..
Speek, now chief of the Slavic sec
ton of the Library of Congress in
Washington, d. c. His report
newly issued in book form as the
forth of the series of! Americaniza-
ton studies directed by Allen T.
Burns under the auspices OF the
Carnegie corporation of New York,
and published for them By Harper
& Brothers, is entitled A Stake III
the Land. - .
r-~ Radical Agftatars.
Speaking from the point of view
of the intimate knowledge and sym
patty of a former immigrant who
has attained fun unity with the life
Of America, Doctor Speek says of
the foreigners attitude toward the
United States and his relation 20
the nation:
when an Immigrant has sue
eeeded in establishing a home in
America, he invariably answers
when questioned as to whether he
considers America or the land OF
his birth to be his country, that
America is his country. And he
goes on to explain that America
is free country, with better
chances for everybody; that he has
made his home here; that his chill
dren have been born here; that theS
have better schooling and much
brighter hope for the future. There
is no other tie that binds man SC
closely to a country as his home
In direct distinction, the worC
homeless has implications of drift
ing, of restitution and misery, ani
of the Indifference of a homeless
man to his country"
Radical agitators realizing thu
vital appeal to be made through
playing upon the desire for home
frequently utilize the general!
homeless condition of Immigrant
in America TO stir up disconten
with the country and antagonist
TO its institutions, Doctor Speek in
dicates. Furthermore, he show
the waste of allowing good peasan
farmers who desire to make ;
place for themselves in America OF
the land, to become discontentec
city workers:
"a large number of Immigrant
who come to our shores with the in
tenuon Of remaining here desire tt
establish q home, to acquire land
and to become land cultivators il
America he says Most Of then
have had farming experience IL
Europe. But what actually ha
happened and is happening yea
after year is that these immigrants
saturated with farm fife and ex
perience, drift to the cities, and L
work in mines and factories and a
pick-and shovel Jobs.
Driven TO Congcsted Cities.
THE transformation of Europea1
peasants into min hands and miner
in America Is TO be ascribed partial
~ to the fact that land was no
available to them when they arrive
in this country. Their occupations
change has resulted in eConomi
loss to this country The expert
ence in agriculture Of these larg
numbers of men, coupled Wit
their ability for the hard Inanua
labor required in truck GARDENING
in intensive farming. and especial
in the opening up OF new land, ha
been wastefuily cast aside TIL
significance OF such loss is clean il
view of the fundamental import
ance of agriculture in the nation
life. About two-thirds of the are
of our country il uncuitivated a
yet, and the one third that Is cul
tivated is worked extensively rattle
than intensively."
Americans have practically mad
for themselves, through their short
sighted treatment of the imml
N4 grants, Doctor Speek demonstrate
s the foreign colonies" by whose eX
L., istence they are now so much dis
E# turbed and which they regard as
NEE menace to national unity.
e aside from economic loss, Their
has been loss in social Values h
continues. THE desire of a larg
n number of immigrants to establis
@s- permanent rural homes and to be
come citizens has gone to the winds
Nlf Instead of scattering over the coun
ss@ try and mingling with the nativ
Asa population, they have been drive
TO the congested cities and hav
~ formed there Little Polands, Littl
ss Italics, and ghettos, remaining al
"a most untouched w American in
fluences."
WI No Consistent Policy.
III The trouble, according to d
~ Speek, has been in the lack of an
clear-sighted and consistent pull
He policy.
AZ Both the economic and the 81
~ cial loss might have been avoidc
~ to a considerable degree" he a.
81 CUES, IF the nation had had an e
~ fertive land policy and il 1t ha
e. come to the aid Of the immigran
~ in distributing and settling the
on the land.
Ms THE certainty in the mind of q
80 immigrant that there is a, stake