The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-11-07
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC =. HAsKnN. DarcceSr.
WsaEingt0n, d. o.
IMMIGRATION PROBLEM LOOMS

IMMIGRATION PROBLEM LOOMS
UP
Washington, D.. c., Nov. 4.-Will
congress pass a new immigration law
at the approaching session? Will it
be made more difficult for foreigners
to enter the land of the free, ana the
home of prohibition, or will existing
restrictions be so modified as to bring
in larger and steadier supply OF the
labor that is needed in certain indus
tries.
These are questions of widespread
interest and Importance concerning
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 a foregone conclusion, and at this
time is evident that their fate will
not he determined without memoir
able fight.
Certain interests want immigration
made easier. First of all there are
the foreigners themselves who are
anxious to get away from distressing
conditions in their native countries
and establish themselves in the new
world of opportunity and peace. Sec
ond, there are the steamship COM
panies that find a great Souree of rev.
enue in carrying immigrants to these
shores. They would find it greatly to
their advantage if the limitations i'm
posed by the present law were re-
moved 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. Not
\able among them Is the steel indus
try which is being seriously handi-
capped by a shortage OF common Ia
Dor.
The turnover among the unskil1ed
workers employed in the steel mills
has always been exceptionally large
1t is the sort of a job that man does
not stick at very long after he can
find another at equally as good or
even approximately as good wages.
The hours are long and the work is
gruelling, involving perhaps the
greatest physical strain necessitated
in any kind of labor.
Europe a Reservoir.
For years Europe was a reservoir
which supplied a steady stream of
this common labor for the steel in
dustry of the United States. There
were practically no restrictions upon
immigration and the immigrants from
the Old World were accustomed to
arduous toll that earned them but a
bare existence. They found that they
could go into the steel mills imme-
diately upon their arrival, that their
ignorance 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 welcomed the chance.
In time this stream of foreign Ia
Dor was checked by immigration laws
and then came the World war which
cut it off entirely. After the war it
was as if the dam forming the reser-
voir had burst and there was pros
psct of this country's being overrun
with cheap European labor. This led
to the more drastic law limiting the
number of immigrants who may come
from any one country to the United
States in one year to per cent OF
resident 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 100000 to something
under 100000 in the course of one
twelve-month, and almost Immediate
" the steel industry encountered diff
ficulties in securing a normal supply
of commoh labor.
When wages of steel workers were
voluntarily raised just at the time
wages in other industries were gen.
orally being reduced and when the
railroad labor board was slashing the
pay of railway employees there were
many expressions of surprise and not
a few of criticism. Employers in
other lines who subscribed to the idea
that labor must be Debated felt that
the controlling factors in the steel in
dustry were upsetting the APPLICANT
How can we get wages back to
normal they asked, ''if the steel peo-
pie grant increases that are not even
demanded of them? 20
The truth of the situation was that
the steel interests were bidding for
labor which they had to have. Amer
lean horn workers will not take those
jobs at wage rates which they can
command elsewhere. the foreigners
already here move steadily from the
steel mills to other industries, and the
reduced labor supply from Europe
will not meet the demand.
Situation Actually Acute.
Only q few days ago it was re-
ported from Pittsburgh that another
increase of 10 per cent would be CIV
en- common labor. So acute was the
situation resulting from the shortage
that mills were operating at only IS
per cent capacity when they would be
working at 80 per cent if sufficient
labor could be obtained.
In view of all this it is apparent that
congress will be pressed with demands
toAease up on immigration restrictions.
On the other hand, it has been
made equally clear that all such pro-
posals will be opposed vigorously. La
Dor leaders are girding themselves for
the fight ana rallying their forces for
an onslaught on congress such as
gives promise of a lively winter.
President Gompers, of the Amerf-
can Federation of Labor, IN what he
termed "a Bugle Call to Duty" has
served notice of the militant inten-
tons of the interests he represents.
He undertook to speak for American
labor when he said that if congress
gives way TO the demands of power
full employing interests" in the mat
ter OF new immigration legislation"
the tide of aliens will be beyond 'esti-
mate and American labor will be
driven back before an avalanche of
newcomers whose standards are too
low for American workers"
1t is admitted that the per cent
law was essentially a measure to
check this tide of aliens arbitrarily