The Cordova daily times., 1922-07-18

WASHINGTON, July lo. - lnlInl- grafton in America, from the earliest days to the present time, has been called the greatest movement of peo- pie in the history of the world. But changed conditions, not only in our own country but in the world at large, have made the present problem Of handling immigration entirely differ ent from what it was forty years ago, or even ten years ago, and far more difficult.
 thus characterizes one of the great est problems now confronting the United States. we no longer have the unlimited room and opportunities for the millions that used to come to our shores" said Secretary Davis, under whose department the immigra- tion laws are administered. Every dictate of reason compels us to use the utmost care in the selection of our immigrants.
 tAt first sight" he says, "it might seem strange that the Immigration Service of the United States should be under the jurisdiction of the Secre- tary of Labor. A single reminder will serve to correct this impression The overwhelming majority of the aliens who come here to make Amer ica their home have come here to work. Most of them are prepared to start modestly at the very bottom The day of the man who chiefly sought a greater political liberty IS past in the main; the man who comes today is a seeker after economic free dom. He comes to toll, to make place for himself by work.
 CHARACTERIZATION WORK
 And it was no mere accident that placed these people under the dlrec- tion of the Cabinet officer who IS au- thorized by Congress to foster, pro- mote and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working conditions and t0 advance their opportunities TOT profitable employment The same wise proyision placed the naturalization or these new citizens and their proper Americanization under the care Of the Secretary of Labor"
 It is a grave responsibility, Da'lS admits, and he then told Of hls own entry into the country.
 Ut must have been so forty years ago, when I myself came here as an immigrant boy, little dreaming that 9s Secretary of Labor of the United States, I should one day be vested with the duty of caring for the thou sands of other immigrants who come here now" he said.
 "Jim" Davis, as he is affectlonate- lv called by thousands of the work CTS of the country, came from Wales with his parents when only a boy and was a wage earner in the tin mills for many years before he was called by President Harding to De d member of the cabinet
 WORK IS HEAVY
 "For many reasons the duty or au- ,ninistering the immigration law IS heavier than it was when l came oyer," the secretary added. Tn fact" he said, the great complicated and vet burningly human, problem or handling our immigration of the pres ont day is so little understood that l feel moved to explain it, at least ln some part.
 sTn former times it was not alone the hope of bettering their economic conditions that drove citizens of other countries to seek a new life in ours If was more than a new and better home and better wages and a chance to rise and become perhaps rich ana illustrious under our freer institutions that brought these people here. Such considerations undoubtedly counted with our immigrants of those former days, but a great many of them came to us with a far stronger motive than that. They sought political liberty in the shelter of American democracy They believed that we had a better form of government, and they came chiefly for love of it.
 'The war left many of the European countries in a sad economic condition while it at the same time deprived them of some of their best men--thell strong men-so much needed at the present time in the reconstruction ot their national life. The really patrio