Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-08-29
The Immigrant
Finds A Backcr
by Frederic J. Iiaskin

by Frederic J. IIaskin
New York, Aug. 20. The wide
spread prevalence of unemployment In
this country is proving no check 10
the Incoming tide Of aliens. The Erecn
Goddess Of Liberty continues 10
beckon with her torch. although the
mo More Help WHnted' signs oc-
surs with dismal frequency through
out the land. Every liner brings n
It's hundreds of immigrants who have
fled the industrial depression Of their
respective countries only 70 encounter
similar. II Iess desperate depression
here.
While most of them are destined 20
Join friends or relatives. the great
majority have no definite assurances
that they viii be able 70 obtain work.
The absence Of any such prospect
however, does not seem 70 bother
them. They are more than willing to
/ take their chances with the 5.700.Ooo
Americans nov out Of jobs. Their
immigration. they feel. Is by no means
case Of jumping from the frying
pan into the FIRE.
! Talk with some of these self-eon-
/ hdent aliens at Ellis Island, and you
/ will better understand the tspirit Of
/ grim hopefuInesa which inspires them.
A good many are OF much higher
/ type than that which demanded en-
4 trance to this country before the war.
/ A surprising number Of Norwegians
/ have been coming In, for instance, as
we'll as Firms, Danes, and Dutch
/ farmers. but. Of course, they do not
/ begin 70 match numbers with the
/ Italians. Russians. and CzechO-
/ sIovaks. All Of the immigrants mani
I fest a great eaKerness To abtain work.
but they are particular as to the kind.
i Scarcely any will consider going on
farms They want to stay in the big
cities and 90 into the factories and
/ shops.
Wandering about Ellis Island, the
1 reporter observed a group Of tall.
4 husky Norweginns who were headed
for the lumber camps of the North
west. several Germans who had been
promised work in bakeries and deli
catessen shops In New York silent
patient group Of Dutch peasants who
we're going TO be taken care of by the
Dutch immigration headquarters, and
a few Czecho-SIovaks who were
destined for shop work in Chicago
As far as could be ascertained. the
great mass OF others had nothing in
further view than a welcome from
!. friends and relatives.
Some Typical Cases.
one or the Czecho-slovaks said that
his brother had found factory jot
for him in Chicago. He spoke enthu.
siasticaIiy in giant Slavic syllables
whoch an interpreter neatly convert
cd into plain English. In the Oh
country the man explained, he hat
made only forty cents day, but tina
had been on a farm. He laughed
scornfuily when 1t was suggested tha
ne might find farming more con
genial than factory work In tni
country.
No: the new immigrants know wha
they wnnt in the way Of work. and
as matter Of fact, they stand a fair
/ ~ good chance Of getting II. The-
have all the advantages on their sid
when IL comes to competing Will
American-born workmen. The i'm
migrant may not be able 70 speal
English and he may not be acquainted
. with American customs. but thes'
things are scarcely necessary. Upor
arriving in this country. he is me
by friends or relatives who speak hi
own language and who immediatei.
! escort him to a colony which speak
Il also. He can read the signs on Il
stores and he can read Its newspaper
There he finds people from his owl
province. perhaps his own little tow
people even who know his family
They cluster around him and pay hin
extravagant compliments while n
gives them the latest news fron
/ home. There is (alas. Mr.. Volstead
| wine. as a rule, and food OF the pc
/ | cuHar. native kind 70 which he ha
been accustomed.
4 Somewhere in. the district, more
/ over, there IS almost always a relativ
: who stands in with one Of its promi
. rent men-a man who controls man,
! Jobs and knows the location Of man
others. This important parsonage
> frequently an American-born mem
ber OF the race who.. resisting assimi
lation, has remained in his native col
/. ony because It yielded him abundan
r Profits. IL the Immigrant fails
obtain employment through MN
there IL always the foreign employ
!. | rnent agency to which he may Apply
: Thus it may be seen that the phsh
Of the newly-arrived Immigrant IS .
1 no means as narrowing as some az
want to depict il. Compare It, indeed
with the lot of the average unenl
e ,iovea American workman, who, lack
: i,,e hi. racial clannishness. is a
: isolated unit in the community an
I its superior advantages VIII De az
! parent.
In the past, perhaps heioIe lal :
/ colonies were built up in all OF ou
ITO cities the immigrants struggl
= Is ,,d,,Iv arduous, but since III
e 49, Conditions have improved fc
: him. For one thing, he IS no lonse
d cast off like deadwood from ms ha