The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-11-03

gress pass q new immigration Law
at the approaching session? will it
be made more di1ncult for foreign
/ ers to enter the land of the free
and the home Of prohibition, or will
existing restrictions be 90 modified
as to bring in larger and steadief
supply Of the labor that is needed
In certain industries?
These are questions OF wide
spread interest and importance con-
corning which much will be heard
when the national law-making body
is back on the job That there will
be numerous new immigration
measures proposed is . foregone
conclusion, and at this time it is
evident that their fate will not be
determined without q memorable
fight.
Certain interests want immigra-
ton made easier. First Of all. there
are the foreigners themselves who
are anxious TO get away from dis
tressing conditions in their native
countriesyand establish themselves
in the new world Of opportunity
and peace. Second, there are the
steamship companies that find a
great source of revenue in carry
ing immigrants to these shores.
They would find it greatly to their
advantage if the limitations impos-
ed by the present law were remov-
ed or so changed that practically
every foreigner who could pass the
mental and physical tests would be
assured OF a welcome when he ap-
preached the Statue of Liberty.
Various industries in the United
States are also interested in more
liberal immigration regulations.
Notable among them is the steel
industry which is being seriously
handicapped by a shortage of COM
mon labor.
The turnover among the unskill-
ed workers employed in the steel
mills has always been exception
ally large. 1t is the sort Of job
that man does not stick at very
long after he can find another at
equally as good or even approx
mately as good wages. The hours
are long and the work is gruelling,
involving perhaps the greatest ply
steal strain necessitaated in any
kind of labor
Europe . Reservoir.
| For years Europe was a reser-
voir which supplied a steady stream
Of this common labor for the steel
industry Of the United States.
There we're practically no restric-
tons upon immigration and the i'm
migrants from the old world were
accustomed to arduous toll that
earned them but a bare existence.
They found that they could get
into the steel mills Immediately
upon their arrival, that their ignor-
ance of our language or of the
work was little or no handicap to
them, and that they could earn
wages that were to them almost
unbelievably large. They welcom-
ed the chance.
In time this stream OF foreign
labor was checked by immigration
laws and then came the world war
which cut it of entirely. After the
war it was as if the dam forming
the reservoir had burst and there
was a prospect Of this country's
being overrun with cheap European
labor. This led to the more dras-
tic law limiting the number of i'm
migrants who may come from any
one country to the United States in
one year to 3 per cent of the for
eign born of that nationality resi-
dent in this country in 1910.
| Under the strict enforcement OF
that law the number Of foreigners
given the glad hand by Uncle Sam
dropped from 1.000,O 900 to some
thing under 300 900 in the course OF
one 12-month. and almost immedi.
lately the steel industry encounter
ed difficulties in securing a normal
supply Of common labor.
When wages of steel workers
were voluntarily raised just at the
time wages in other industries
were generally being reduced anG
when the railroad labor board was