Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-01-15
EDITORIAL DIGEST

the part of wisdom for the leaders
of the nation to make some other
provisions since, as the Florida
Times-Union Jacksonville predicts
the need of unskilled labor will
soon be felt much more keenly than
it is felt now" AS the Jacksonville
paper sees it, "a continuation of the
present laws would halt the develop
ment of the SOUTH" since 1.-The south
under present conditions must sup
ply the common labor that under
more Intelligent management would
come from Europe" even though
nowhere in the country is labor as
greatly needed as it is in the south"
On the other hand, another southern
paper, the Nashville Banner, is skep-
letting down immigration bars, for
cheap labor has inevitably drifted
TO industrial centers. AS general
thing. cheap labor is worth no more
than the name would indicate and
has cost heavily in other ways than
wages"
That cheap labor is the objective
of the organized manufacturers is
the view held by many editors THE
importation of cheap goods from
abroad may shock Them the Lincoln
(Neb.) State Journal suggests; 1.-The
transportation of cheap labor does
not shock them bit. They are ask
ing for it," and the Aberdeen Is. d.
World agrees that 1.-THE real point is
that the farmers and the manufac-
turers regard the present wage scale
as too high. What they want is a
surplus of workers SO that wages can
be reduced"
Another almost incredibly short
sighted" proposal of the National As
ISOLATION of Manufacturers, which the
New Haven Register points out, is
that whereby any industry short of
unskilled labor can provide itself
from the European reservoir by
merely laying the situation before
the Secretary of Labor re-
CARELESS of quotas" What is this,
the paper asks, but a return to the
old and perniciouS contract system
of importing labor under the seduc-
tive guise of new name?" Such a
system, combined with the super
vision" idea. would result in a con-
dition in which the alien would be
registered, classified, told where to
go and where to stay, educated and
moral impurities" a program which
the st. Paul Pioneer-Press regards
as "alluring." lacking only uniforms
and serial numbers to make the poor
pilgrim in search of American lib
erty perfectly miserable"
There is some support for the
abrogation of the literacy test which
the Manufacturers Association sug-
gests. The Newark News, for one,
declares that "literacy tests are utter
failures as determinants of character.
They weed out potentially good citi-
Zens because of their lack of early
opportunities and frequently let the
cunning and the crooked slip
through" Moreover, the New York
Herald holds, when the immigrant
alien comes to apply for citizenship
it is time enough to insist that he
read and write. We do not want for
scholars and voters. We need labor
men who will do the work that our
own people refuse to do"
Nevertheless, this country, the
Oregon journal (Port1and) contends
should admit for permanent resi-
dence only those who purpose to be-
come citizens" and who can become
voters, and the Ohio State Journal
(Columbus) agrees that citizenship
is the only goal" In advocating the
admission of "a laboring class" that
is fit for rough labor" but not eft
for naturalization" or citizenship, the
manufacturers are seeking to estab-
manufacturing. one of the
raw materials of industry which
should be put on free-trade basis, "
thereby creating in the United
States a class of proletarian robots
who are to be registered, distributed
educated and otherwise supervised
by the government" Congress has
not, the paper believes, wandered
quite so far into the jungle Of class
governmeHt as to adopt any such
principle.