INDUSTRIAL EFFECTS. CRISES. SOCIAL STRATIFICATION. POLITICAL EFFECTS
It has been observed already that the great argument for immigration
during the past half century has been the economic one. The main defense
for immigration has rested upon the claim that it has decidedly
increased the industrial efficiency of the American people, and has
facilitated the development of our resources, and the expansion of
industry, at a rate which would not have been possible otherwise. The
facts in regard to the age, sex, and physical soundness of the
immigrants are mustered to establish them as a peculiarly efficient
industrial body.
This contention rests upon two assumptions. First, that our alien
residents constitute a net addition to the total population of the
country; second, that if there had been no immigration, and the
population, particularly that part of it which constitutes the labor
supply, had been smaller, that there would have been no inventions and
improvements in the way of labor-saving machinery which would have
permitted the same amount of work to be accomplished with a smaller
amount of labor.
In the light of what has been said in regard to the relation between
immigration and the growth of population in Chapter XI, the first of
these claims, at the very least, is open to serious question. While the
proposition, as has already been stated, is absolutely incapable of
mathematical proof, there nevertheless is every reason to believe that
our immigrants have not meant a gain in the labor supply, but the
substitution of one labor element for another. Not only have the
immigrants in general displaced the natives, but the newer immigrants
have displaced the older ones in a wide variety of industries and
occupations. This latter process has gone on before our very eyes; it is
manifest and perfectly comprehensible. A careful consideration of it may
make it easier to understand how the same result, in a more subtle way,
has been accomplished in the case of the native-born.
The displacement of the English, Irish, Welsh, and German miners in the
anthracite region of Pennsylvania by Italians and Slavs is a familiar
fact.[307] The Italians are being driven out of the boot-blacking
business, and other of their characteristic trades, by the Greeks. The
Irish laborers on the railroads have been largely supplanted by
Italians, Slavs, and Greeks. The “Bravas,” or black Portuguese, have
forced the Poles, Italians, and, in large measure, the Finns from the
cranberry bogs of Massachusetts.[308] Granite City and Madison,
Illinois, have witnessed a succession of English, Irish, German, Welsh
and Polish, Slovak and Magyar, Roumanian, Greek, and Servian, Bulgarian
and Armenian laborers in their industries.[309]
In these cases it is plain that while some of the displaced individuals
have gone into other, very likely higher, occupations, the real
substitution has been the concomitant of a cessation of immigration from
the older sources. The north Europeans, being unwilling to meet the
competition of races industrially inferior to them, have either ceased
emigrating in large numbers, or else are going elsewhere. At any rate
they do not come here. The diminution of the supply of native labor has
been brought about in an analogous way, though in this case the
restrictive forces operate upon the principles of reproduction instead
of immigration.
Even though it be granted that the numerical supply of labor has been
somewhat increased, there has been an undeniable decrease in the
efficiency of the individual laborer, as is attested by the uniformly
superior earnings received by the native-born as compared with the
foreign-born, or the old immigrant as compared with the new. As Dr.
Peter Roberts has pointed out,[310] there seems to be a sort of
Gresham’s law which operates in the field of labor. The fittest to
survive in an unregulated economic competition of races is the one least
advanced in culture, the one whose demands in respect to comforts and
decencies are lowest, even the one, it sometimes seems, whose industrial
productiveness per individual is lowest. It is this fact which gives so
dark an aspect to the industrial future of the United States under
unregulated immigration.[311]
In regard to the second assumption—that a smaller labor supply would not
have been offset by an increase in invention—we are again confronted
with an impossibility of proof, one way or the other. The economists
tell us that one of the great incentives to invention is a scarcity of
labor, and also that many of the greatest inventions have been made by
men who are working daily with machines, and consequently are in a
position to discover improvements that may be made. There is at least
some reasonable basis for the belief that if the absence of immigration
to this country had resulted in a smaller laboring force, the greater
pressure on employers to secure machinery, and the greater intelligence
of the machine worker, would together have brought about such a
betterment of labor-saving machinery as would have resulted in a total
production equal to what we have actually witnessed.
It is inconceivable that in America, of all countries, any needed work
should have to be neglected because of the lack of a foreign labor
element, or because of a shortage of labor in general.[312] It is hard
to see how in a nation the majority of whose citizens are healthy and
intelligent there can be any real shortage of labor. What there can be,
is a shortage of labor _at a given wage_. In a prosperous community
there may be industries into which a sufficient number of laborers will
not go, at the wages which the promoters are originally willing to pay.
But if there is an actual social need for those industries, wages will
rise to a point high enough to attract a sufficient number of workers,
however irksome or disagreeable the employment. No self-respecting
community ought to expect industries to be carried on within its borders
for which it is not willing to pay such a price as will enable the
workers to subsist in reasonable comfort and decency. If there are any
industries carried on in the United States which, in the absence of a
foreign labor supply, would have to be abandoned, because the
native-born laborers or their children would refuse to go into them, it
simply means that society is not yet ready to pay a fit price for the
products of those industries.
This brings us to the question of the effect of immigration on the
amount and distribution of wealth in the United States. It is frequently
pointed out that we receive yearly a net increase of half a million or
so of able-bodied laborers, for whose upbringing and education we, as a
nation, have expended nothing. It is stated that it is cheaper to import
laborers than to raise them. The truth of this assertion depends first
of all on the quality of the laborer. It may be cheaper in the long run
to rear laborers of the American type than to import Portuguese,
Russians, and East Indians. Furthermore, while we do not pay directly
for the laborers, we pay a great deal for their residence in this
country. The estimated amount of money sent abroad by aliens in 1907,
$275,000,000, is probably higher than the total for an average year.
Suppose $200,000,000 be taken as an average amount.[313] These
remittances do not represent commercial payments for imports, but are
savings actually withdrawn from the wealth of this country and sent
abroad to be expended there. So that for each able-bodied alien laborer
who enters the country something like $400 goes out. In a sense a good
deal of this money might be considered as actual payment for the
importation of the laborers, since much of it goes for traveling
expenses, debts incurred to provide for emigration, etc.[314]
Whether immigration has increased either the total or per capita wealth
of the nation may be open to question. One thing, however, is certain—it
has profoundly affected the distribution of wealth in the country. It
has been sufficiently demonstrated that the successive waves of
immigration have represented an ever cheapening labor supply. As the
country has grown in wealth and prosperity the employers of labor have
found that they could secure their workers at relatively, if not
absolutely, lower rates decade after decade. Whenever conditions became
such that the native laboring force, if left to themselves, might have
successfully demanded better conditions or higher remuneration, there
has appeared an inexhaustible supply of foreign laborers, ready and
willing to take what was unsatisfactory to the natives, or less. The
workman already in the country, whether native or foreign, has been
continually robbed of his advantage. Thus the gap between capital and
labor, between the rich and the poor, has grown ever wider. Not only
have wages been kept from rising, but conditions of labor have persisted
and been tolerated which an American laboring force would never have
submitted to. The accounts of terrible accidents in mines and foundries
arouse sincere feelings of sympathy in our breasts for the poor
foreigners who have to suffer so. They would incite a storm of indignant
protest which would not be stilled until remedies were provided, if
those who are subjected to such conditions were our own kin
brothers.[315]
There is still another characteristic feature of our economic life,
between which and the immigration movement a close and peculiar
connection can be traced. This is the frequent recurrence of economic
depressions, or crises. The causal relation between these events and the
variations in the volume of the immigration current has already been
mentioned. There is also a causal relation between these conditions and
the fluctuations in the outgoing stream of aliens. This fact has
received no little attention of late years, and it has been frequently
pointed out that a period of depression in this country is followed by a
large exodus of the foreign-born.
The popular interpretation of this fact is that this emigration movement
serves to mitigate the evils of the crisis by removing a large part of
the surplus laborers, until returning prosperity creates a demand for
them again. The Italian, who displays the greatest mobility in this
regard, has been called the safety valve of our labor market. Thus the
movements of our alien population are supposed to be an alleviating
force as regards crises.
The question arises, however, in this connection, whether there is not a
converse causal relation; in other words, whether the conditions of
immigration are not, partly responsible for the recurrence of these
periods. Professor Commons takes this view of the matter, and in his
book, _Races and Immigrants in America_, demonstrates how immigration,
instead of helping matters, is really one of the causes of crises. His
conclusion is that “immigration intensifies this fatal cycle of ‘booms’
and ‘depressions,’” and “instead of increasing the production of wealth
by a steady, healthful growth, joins with other causes to stimulate the
feverish overproduction, with its inevitable collapse, that has
characterized the industry of America more than that of any other
country.”[316]
The few pages which Professor Commons devotes to this topic are highly
suggestive, and show careful study of the subject. The author, however,
at the time this book was written, was handicapped by the lack of data
regarding the departures of aliens, which, as we have seen, have since
become available. The fact that within the period since the collection
of these figures began, the United States has experienced, and recovered
from, a severe depression, makes the study of this matter at the present
time particularly profitable.
First of all, it will be desirable to see just what the facts of
immigration and emigration during this period are; then we shall be
prepared to attempt their interpretation. The accompanying table (p.
349) gives the number of aliens admitted to and departed from the United
States, and the net increase or decrease of population resulting
therefrom, by months, from January, 1907, to December, 1910 (with the
exception of the figures of departures for the first six months of 1907,
which are not available).
The figures for arrivals given in this table include both immigrant and
nonimmigrant aliens, a distinction which has been observed with some
care since 1906. The column of departures also includes emigrant and
nonemigrant aliens.[317]
TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF ALIENS ADMITTED TO AND DEPARTED FROM THE
UNITED STATES, AND THE NET GAIN OR LOSS IN POPULATION RESULTING
THEREFROM BY MONTHS, FROM 1907 TO 1910
═════════╤═════════════════════════════╤═════════════════════════════
MONTH │ 1907 │ 1908
─────────┼─────────┬─────────┬─────────┼─────────┬─────────┬─────────
„ │Admitted │Departed │Gain (+) │Admitted │Departed │Gain (+)
│ │ │ or Loss │ │ │ or Loss
│ │ │ (−) │ │ │ (-)
─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────
January │ 54,417│ │ │ 33,058│ 60,233│ − 27,175
February │ 65,541│ │ │ 30,266│ 50,688│ − 20,422
March │ 139,118│ │ │ 43,537│ 43,506│ + 31
April │ 145,256│ │ │ 55,220│ 65,721│ − 10,501
May │ 184,886│ │ │ 48,245│ 61,251│ − 13,006
June │ 154,734│ │ │ 41,094│ 60,482│ − 19,388
July │ 107,535│ 46,198│ + 61,337│ 37,133│ 51,508│ − 14,375
August │ 111,135│ 44,317│ + 66,818│ 39,606│ 47,569│ − 7,963
September│ 115,287│ 43,734│ + 71,553│ 56,635│ 43,884│ + 12,751
October │ 129,564│ 55,826│ + 73,738│ 60,715│ 41,916│ + 18,799
November │ 132,647│ 94,440│ + 38,207│ 50,965│ 38,609│ + 12,356
December │ 77,107│ 88,432│ − 11,325│ 61,111│ 33,416│ + 27,695
─────────┼─────────┴─────────┴─────────┼─────────┴─────────┴─────────
│ 1909 │ 1910
─────────┼─────────┬─────────┬─────────┼─────────┬─────────┬─────────
January │ 54,975│ 18,061│+ 36,914│ 57,472│ 20,256│+ 37,216
February │ 81,992│ 15,100│+ 66,892│ 66,072│ 17,672│+ 48,400
March │ 135,040│ 22,550│+ 112,490│ 152,020│ 30,894│+ 121,126
April │ 138,382│ 24,315│+ 114,067│ 153,915│ 40,886│+ 113,029
May │ 127,139│ 31,190│+ 95,949│ 148,822│ 38,740│+ 110,082
June │ 100,542│ 32,274│+ 68,268│ 115,793│ 36,119│+ 79,674
July │ 77,944│ 27,940│+ 50,004│ 82,191│ 39,056│+ 43,135
August │ 71,992│ 28,450│+ 43,542│ 91,460│ 37,206│+ 54,254
September│ 85,088│ 29,950│+ 55,138│ 100,456│ 43,023│+ 57,433
October │ 92,372│ 30,838│+ 61,534│ 100,334│ 39,189│+ 61,145
November │ 98,020│ 39,134│+ 58,886│ 86,144│ 54,700│+ 31,444
December │ 78,527│ 39,539│+ 38,988│ 68,794│ 61,814│+ 6,980
═════════╧═════════╧═════════╧═════════╧═════════╧═════════╧═════════
It is not necessary to take account of these discriminations for the
purposes of the present study.
Turning then to the table, we observe that the monthly average of
arrivals during the first six months of 1907 was a high one. Following a
large immigration during the last six months of the preceding year, this
made the fiscal year ending June 30, 1907, the record year for
immigration in the history of the country. For the next four months the
stream of immigration continued high, considering the season, and the
number of departures was moderate. Early in October, however, there were
signs of disturbance in the New York Stock Exchange. On the sixteenth
there was a crash in the market, and within a week the panic had become
general. It reached its height on October 24, and continued for many
weeks after.[318] The response of the alien population to this
disturbance was almost immediate, and manifested itself first in the
emigration movement. In November the number of departures almost
doubled. But the immigrants who were on the way could not be stopped,
and in spite of the large exodus, there was a net gain of 38,207 during
the month. The next month, December, however, saw a marked decrease in
the stream of arrivals, which, accompanied by a departure of aliens
almost as great as in November, resulted in a net decrease in population
of 11,325 for the month. During the first six months of 1908 the number
of arrivals was small, and the departures numerous, so that, with the
exception of March, each month shows a net loss in population. During
July the number of departures began to approach the normal (compare the
months in 1908 with 1907 and 1910), but the arrivals were so few that
there was still a decrease for the months of July and August. In
September, 1908, the balance swung the other way, and from that time to
the present every month with the exception of December, 1911, has shown
a substantial increase in population through the movement of aliens.
Thus we see that the period during which the number of alien laborers in
the United States was decreasing was confined to the months December,
1907, to August, 1908, inclusive.[319] By the end of July, 1908, the
effects of the crisis were practically over as far as departures are
concerned. It is evident, then, that the effects of the crisis on
emigration were immediate, but not of very long duration. During the
months of November and December, 1907, when the distress was the
keenest, there were still large numbers of aliens arriving. But when the
stream of immigration was once checked, it remained low for some time,
and it was not until about January, 1909, that it returned to what may
be considered a normal figure. The reasons for this are obvious. The
stream of immigration is a long one, and its sources are remote. It
takes a long time for retarding influences in America to be thoroughly
felt on the other side. The principal agency in checking immigration at
its source is the returning immigrant himself, who brings personal
information of the unfortunate conditions in the United States. This
takes some time. But when the potential immigrants are once discouraged
as to the outlook across the ocean, they require some positive assurance
of better times before they will start out again.
Now what catches the public eye in such an epoch as this is the large
number of departures. We are accustomed to immense numbers of arrivals
and we think little about that side of it. But heavy emigration is a
phenomenon, and accordingly we hear much about how acceptably our alien
population serves to accommodate the supply of labor to the demand. But
if we stop to add up the monthly figures, we find that for the entire
period after the crisis of 1907, when emigration exceeded immigration,
the total decrease in alien population was only 124,124—scarcely equal
to the immigration of a single month during a fairly busy season. This
figure is almost infinitesimal compared to the total mass of the
American working people, or to the amount of unemployment at a normal
time, to say nothing of a crisis.[320] It is thus evident that the
importance of our alien population as an alleviating force at the time
of a crisis has been vastly exaggerated. The most that can be said for
it is that it has a very trifling palliative effect.
The really important relation between immigration and crises is much
less conspicuous but much more far-reaching. It rests upon the nature
and underlying causes of crises in this country. These are fairly well
understood at the present time. A typical crisis may be said to be
caused by speculative overproduction, or overspeculative production.
Some prefer to call the trouble underconsumption, which is much the same
thing looked at from another point of view. Professor Irving Fisher has
furnished a convenient and logical outline of the ordinary course of
affairs.[321] In a normal business period some slight disturbance, such
as an increase in the quantity of gold, causes prices to rise. A rise in
prices is accompanied by increased profits for business men, because the
rate of interest on the borrowed capital which they use in their
business fails to increase at a corresponding ratio. If prices are
rising at the rate of two per cent annually, a nominal rate of interest
of six per cent is equivalent to an actual rate of only about four per
cent. Hence, doing business on borrowed capital becomes very profitable,
and there is an increased demand for loans.
This results in an increase of the deposit currency, which is
accompanied by a further rise in prices. The nominal rate of interest
rises somewhat, but not sufficiently, and prices tend to outstrip it
still further. Thus the process is repeated, until the large profits of
business lead to a disproportionate production of goods for anticipated
future demand, and a vast overextension of credit. But this cycle cannot
repeat itself indefinitely. Though the rate of interest rises tardily,
it rises progressively, and eventually catches up with the rise in
prices, owing to the necessity which banks feel of maintaining a
reasonable ratio between loans and reserves. Other causes operate with
this to produce the same result. The consequence is that business men
find themselves unable to renew their loans at the old rate, and hence
some of them are unable to meet their obligations, and fail. The failure
of a few firms dispels the atmosphere of public confidence which is
essential to extended credit. Creditors begin to demand cash payment for
their loans; there is a growing demand for currency; the rate of
interest soars; and the old familiar symptoms of a panic appear. In this
entire process the blame falls, according to Professor Fisher, primarily
upon the failure of the rate of interest to rise promptly in proportion
to the rise in prices. If the forces which give inertia to the rate of
interest were removed, so that the rate of interest would fluctuate
readily with prices, the great temptation to expand business unduly
during a period of rising prices would be removed. It may well be
conceived that there are other factors, besides the discrepancy between
the nominal and real rates of interest, that give to business a
temporary or specious profitableness, and tend to encourage speculative
overproduction. But the influence of the rate of interest resembles so
closely that resulting from immigration, that Professor Fisher’s
explanation is of especial service in the present discussion.
The rate of interest represents the payment which the entrepreneur makes
for one of the great factors of production—capital. The failure of this
remuneration to keep pace with the price of commodities in general leads
to excessive profits and overproduction. The payment which the
entrepreneur makes for one of the other factors of production—labor—is
represented by wages. If wages fail to rise along with prices, the
effect on business, while not strictly analogous, is very similar to
that produced by the slowly rising rate of interest. The entrepreneur is
relieved of the necessity of sharing any of his excessive profits with
labor, just as in the other case he is relieved from sharing them with
capital. It would probably be hard to prove that the increased demand
for labor results in further raising prices in general, as an increased
demand for capital results in raising prices by increasing the deposit
currency. But if the demand for labor results in increasing the number
of laborers in the country, thereby increasing the demand for
commodities, it may very well result in raising the prices of
commodities as distinguished from labor, which is just as satisfactory
to the entrepreneur. This is exactly what is accomplished when unlimited
immigration is allowed. As soon as the conditions of business produce an
increased demand for labor, this demand is met by an increased number of
laborers, produced by immigration.
In the preceding paragraph it has been assumed that wages do not rise
with prices. The great question is, is this true? This is a question
very difficult of answer. There is a very general impression that during
the last few years prices have seriously outstripped wages. Thus
Professor Ely says, “Wages do not usually rise as rapidly as prices in
periods of business expansion.”[322] R. B. Brinsmade stated in a
discussion at a recent meeting of the American Economic Association that
“our recent great rise of prices is acknowledged to be equivalent to a
marked reduction in general wages.”[323] Whether this idea is correct,
and if correct, whether this effect had transpired in the years
immediately previous to 1907, cannot be definitely stated. The index
numbers of wages and prices given in the _Statistical Abstract of the
United States_, for 1909 (p. 249), seem to show that during the years
1895 to 1907 money wages increased about _pari passu_ with the retail
prices of food, so that the purchasing power of the full-time weekly
earnings remained nearly constant.
But whether or not money wages rose as fast as prices in the years from
1900 to 1907, one thing is certain, they did not rise any faster. That
is to say, if real wages did not actually fall, they assuredly did not
rise. But the welfare of the country requires that, in the years when
business is moving toward a crisis, wages should rise; not only money
wages, but real wages. What is needed is some check on the unwarranted
activity of the entrepreneurs, which will make them stop and consider
whether the apparently bright business outlook rests on sound and
permanent conditions, or is illusory and transient. If their large
profits are legitimate and enduring, they should be forced to share a
part of them with the laborer. If not, the fact should be impressed upon
them. We have seen that the rate of interest fails to act as an
efficient check. Then the rate of wages should do it. And if the
entrepreneurs were compelled to rely on the existing labor supply in
their own country, the rate of wages would do it. Business expands by
increasing the amount of labor utilized, as well as the amount of
capital. If the increased labor supply could be secured only from the
people already resident in the country, the increased demand would have
to express itself in an increased wage, and the entrepreneur would be
forced to pause and reflect. But in the United States we have adopted
the opposite policy. In the vast peasant population of Europe there is
an inexhaustible reservoir of labor, only waiting a signal from this
side to enter the labor market—to enter it, not with a demand for the
high wage that the business situation justifies, but ready to take any
wage that will be offered, just so it is a little higher than the
pittance to which they are accustomed at home. And we allow them to
come, without any restrictions whatever as to numbers. Thus wages are
kept from rising, and immigration becomes a powerful factor, tending to
intensify and augment the unhealthy, oscillatory character of our
industrial life. It was not by mere chance that the panic year of 1907
was the record year in immigration.
Against this point of view it may be argued that the legitimate
expansion of business in this country requires the presence of the
immigrant. But if business expansion is legitimate and permanent,
resting on lasting favorable conditions, it will express itself in a
high wage scale, persisting over a long period of time. And the demand
so expressed will be met by an increase of native offspring, whose
parents are reaping the benefit of the high standard of living. A
permanent shortage of the labor supply is as abhorrent to nature as a
vacuum. Expansion of any other kind than this ought to be hampered, not
gratified.
There is one other way in which immigration, as it exists at present,
influences crises. In considering this, it will be well to regard the
crisis from the other point of view—as a phenomenon of underconsumption.
Practically all production at the present day is to supply an
anticipated future demand. There can be no overproduction unless the
actual demand fails to equal that anticipated. This is underconsumption.
Now the great mass of consumers in the United States is composed of wage
earners. Their consuming power depends upon their wages. In so far as
immigration lowers wages in the United States, or prevents them from
rising, it reduces consuming power, and hence is favorable to the
recurrence of periods of underconsumption. It is not probable, to be
sure, that a high wage scale in itself could prevent crises, as the
entrepreneurs would base their calculations on the corresponding
consuming power, just as they do at present. But a high wage scale
carries with it the possibility of saving, and an increase of
accumulations among the common people. It is estimated at the present
time that half of the industrial people of the United States are unable
to save anything.[324] This increase in saving would almost inevitably
have some effect upon the results of crises, though it must be confessed
that it is very difficult to predict just what this effect would be. One
result that might naturally be expected to follow would be that the
laboring classes would take the opportunity of the period of low prices
immediately following the crisis to invest some of their savings in
luxuries which hitherto they had not felt able to afford. This would
increase the demand for the goods which manufacturers are eager to
dispose of at almost any price, and would thereby mitigate the evils of
the depressed market. It is probably true that the immigrant, under the
same conditions, will save more out of a given wage than the native, so
that it might seem that an alien laboring body would have more surplus
available for use at the time of a crisis than a native class. But the
immigrant sends a very large proportion of his savings to friends and
relatives in the old country, or deposits it in foreign institutions, so
that it is not available at such a time. Moreover, our laboring class is
not as yet wholly foreign, and the native has to share approximately the
same wage as the alien. Without the immense body of alien labor, we
should have a class of native workers with a considerably higher wage
scale, and a large amount of savings accumulated in this country, and
available when needed.
On the other hand, it may be argued that if the desire to purchase goods
in a depressed market should lead to a large withdrawal of cash from
savings banks and similar institutions, it might tend to augment rather
than alleviate the evils of a money stringency. There seems to be much
force to this argument. Yet Mr. Streightoff tells us that in a period of
hard times the tendency is for the poorer classes to increase their
deposits, rather than diminish them.[325] On the whole, it seems
probable that a large amount of accumulated savings in the hands of the
poorer classes would tend to have a steadying influence on conditions at
the time of a crisis, and that by preventing this, as well as in other
ways, immigration tends to increase the evils of crises.
In closing this discussion, it may be interesting to note what are the
elements in our alien population which respond most readily to economic
influences in this country, and hence are mainly accountable for the
influences we have been considering. As stated above, the annual reports
of the Commissioner General of Immigration give very complete data as to
the make-up of the incoming and outgoing streams by years. Thus in the
fiscal year 1908 there were 782,870 immigrant aliens and 141,825
nonimmigrant aliens admitted. Of the nonimmigrant aliens, 86,570 were
individuals whose country of last permanent residence and of intended
future residence were both the United States; that is, they were alien
residents of this country who had been abroad for a brief visit. These
are the birds of passage in the strictest sense, in which we shall use
the term hereafter. In the same year there was a total exodus of 714,828
aliens, of whom 395,073 were emigrants and 319,755 nonemigrants. The
former class includes those who have made their fortune in this country
and are going home to spend it, and those who have failed, and are going
home broken and discouraged—a very large number in this panic year. The
latter class includes aliens who have had a permanent residence in the
United States, but who are going abroad to wait till the storm blows
over, with the expectation of returning again—true birds of passage
outward bound. There were 133,251 of these. The balance were aliens in
transit, and aliens who had been in this country on a visit, or only for
a short time. In 1909 there were 751,786 immigrant aliens and 192,449
nonimmigrant aliens. Of the nonimmigrants 138,680 were true birds of
passage according to the above distinction—a large number and almost
exactly equal to the number of departing birds of passage in the
previous year. The storm is over, and they have come back. The
departures in that year numbered 225,802 emigrant and 174,590
nonemigrant aliens. These numbers are considerably smaller than in the
previous year, but are still large, showing that the effects of the
crisis were still felt in the early part of this fiscal year. The number
of birds of passage among the nonemigrant aliens, 80,151, is much
smaller than in the previous year. In 1910 there were 1,041,570
immigrant aliens and 156,467 nonimmigrant aliens. In the latter class,
the number of birds of passage, 94,075, again approximated the
corresponding class among the departures of the previous year. The
departures in 1910 were 202,436 emigrant aliens and 177,982 nonemigrant
aliens, of whom 89,754 were birds of passage. This probably comes near
to representing the normal number of this class. A careful study of
these figures confirms the conclusion reached above. While a crisis in
this country does undoubtedly increase the number of departing aliens,
both emigrant and nonemigrant, and eventually cuts down the number of
arrivals, the total effect is much smaller than is usually supposed, and
taken in connection with the fact that the stream of arrivals is never
wholly checked, the influence of emigration in easing the labor market
is absolutely trifling.
Comparing the different races in regard to their readiness to respond to
changes in economic conditions, it appears that the Italians stand
easily at the head, and the Slavs come second. In 1908, in the traffic
between the United States and Italy, there was a net loss in the
population of this country of 79,966; in 1909 a net gain of 94,806. In
the traffic between this country and Austria-Hungary there was a loss in
1908 of 5463; in 1909 a gain of 48,763. In the traffic with the Russian
Empire and Finland there was a gain of 104,641 in 1908 and a gain of
94,806 in 1909. This shows how unique are the motives and conditions
which control the emigration from the two latter countries. The
emigrants from there, particularly the Jews, come to this country to
escape intolerable conditions on the other side, not merely for the sake
of economic betterment. They prefer to endure anything in this country,
rather than to return to their old home, even if they could.
Hand in hand with the economic disparity caused by immigration has come
an increasing social stratification.[326] This is based partly on
wealth, partly on race. Already certain occupations are regarded as the
special province of certain nationalities, and native parents recoil
from the prospect of having their children enter them to work side by
side with the aliens. Only the beginnings of these changes are as yet
manifest, and no one can foretell what the outcome will be. But even the
beginnings must give us pause. There can be no more pernicious social
classification in a nation than one based on race. Distinctions resting
on wealth, religion, or education can be overcome, potentially at least.
Distinctions of birth affect only a small proportion of a society, and
exist only in nations long habituated to them. But distinctions of race
affect the entire population are fundamental, and can never be
obliterated except as assimilation is so perfect that race is forgotten.
No effort of the individual can blot out his racial identification. The
most familiar example yet developed in the United States is that of the
Hebrews. However sincerely we may admire their fine racial traits,
however closely we may associate with individuals of the race, we cannot
deny that they constitute a separate body in our population in many
respects.[327] Summer hotels are closed to them, or else other people
avoid those resorts. Americans move out of the sections of cities where
they are moving in. Select clubs are closed to them. It is an indictment
against the American people that these things are so. We, who pose as
the friends of all races, however downtrodden and despised, should be
ready to take them into equality with us when they seek refuge on our
shores. Both Hebrews and Americans may resent the bald statement of such
facts. Can we deny their truth?
Nor is it only in high society, nor only among Americans, that this
friction is felt. In the slums of our cities bitter feeling exists
between the Italians and the Jews.[328] Nor is racial antagonism
confined to any two or three races.[329] Employers of labor find it
wholly expedient to arrange their workers in groups of the same
nationality.[330] Austria-Hungary is an example of the conditions that
may result when too many jarring nationalities are included within a
national territory. But the racial groups in Austria-Hungary do not
compare in diversity with those which are gradually forming in the
United States.
In the political aspects of the immigration situation there has been a
peculiar reversal of public opinion in the last three quarters of a
century. In the days of the Native Americans and the Know nothings, the
uneasiness was mainly due to the fear that too many aliens would acquire
the rights of citizenship. Then it was the naturalized foreigner who was
the undesirable. Nowadays, the fear is that the foreigners will ignore
the privileges of citizenship, and a high percentage of naturalization
is a test of desirability in any foreign group. This change may be
attributed to a change in the situation of the United States, and to a
difference in the character and causes of immigration. During the first
half of the nineteenth century the United States was essentially a new
country. Political questions were predominant, and the memory of the men
who fell in the fight for freedom was still fresh in the minds of their
sons. The immigrants of the period, on the other hand, were actuated to
a large extent by the desire for political freedom, and were keen to
secure all the power possible in this country. At the present time, the
predominating interests are wholly economic, and even the political
questions of the day have an economic flavor. At the same time, the
motives of the immigrants are almost wholly economic. So the jealousy
between native and foreigner now concerns itself mainly with the
industrial relations, and anything which indicates an inclination on the
part of the alien to ally himself permanently with the interests of the
country is welcomed. The temporary immigrant was an almost unknown
quantity in the old days.
The naturalization laws of the United States have undergone only slight
modifications in the past hundred years.[331] The main provisions of the
present laws are as follows: In order to become a citizen of the United
States an alien must follow out the following method of procedure: At
least two years before he is admitted he must file a preliminary
declaration of intention. To do this he must be at least eighteen years
old. This declaration shall state that it is his bona-fide intention to
become a citizen of the United States, and to renounce all other
allegiance to a foreign power, and shall set forth his name, age,
occupation, personal description, place of birth, last foreign residence
and allegiance, date of arrival in the United States, name of the
vessel, if any, by which he came, and present place of residence in the
United States. Not less than two years nor more than seven years after
he has made application, he shall present a petition in writing, signed
in his own handwriting, stating the essential facts about himself,
including his declaration of allegiance to the United States, and
disclaiming belief in anarchy, or belief in or practice of polygamy.
This petition shall be verified by at least two credible witnesses, who
are citizens of the United States, who shall state that they have known
the applicant to be a resident of the United States for a period of at
least five years continuously, and of the state or territory at least
one year immediately preceding, and that they have personal knowledge of
his good moral character and general fitness to become a citizen of the
United States.
With this petition is filed a certificate from the Department of
Commerce and Labor, stating the date, place, and manner of his arrival,
and also his declaration of intention. He shall swear in open court his
allegiance to the United States and renounce all other allegiance.
In accordance with a recent law, no alien can now be naturalized without
an ability to speak the English language, unless he has made entry upon
the public lands of the United States. No person may be naturalized
within thirty days preceding the holding of a general election in the
territorial jurisdiction of the court. Chinese are not admissible to
citizenship.
A woman who is married to a citizen of the United States is herself a
citizen, provided she herself might be legally naturalized. This
provision has been the subject of considerable attention lately on
account of the practice of women engaged in the white slave traffic
marrying a citizen in order to avoid deportation. The Commissioner
General in his report for 1910 recommended that a more definite
statement be made of this clause, admitting of no doubt as to its
interpretation.
Children of naturalized citizens who were under the age of twenty-one at
the time of the naturalization of their parents, if dwelling in the
United States, are considered citizens, as are children of citizens,
born outside of the United States.
If any alien who has received a certificate of citizenship shall, within
five years thereafter, go to the land of his nativity or to any other
foreign country, and take up permanent residence therein, it shall be
deemed evidence of his lack of intention to become a permanent citizen
of the United States at the time of filing his application, and warrants
the canceling of his certificate.
According to the regulations of September 15, 1910, clerks of courts are
instructed not to receive declarations of intention or file petitions
for naturalization from other aliens than white persons, and persons of
African nativity or of African descent.
Jurisdiction to naturalize aliens is conferred on the following courts:
United States circuit and district courts in any state, United States
district courts for the territories, the supreme court of the District
of Columbia, and the United States courts for the Indian territory; also
all courts of record in any state or territory, having a seal, a clerk,
and jurisdiction in actions at law or equity, or law and equity, in
which the amount in controversy is unlimited.
Since the establishment of the division of naturalization by the act of
June 29, 1906, the business of naturalization has been in the hands of
the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization.
The statistics of naturalization for the five years 1908–1912 are as
follows:
════╤════════════════════╤════════════════════╤════════════════════
YEAR│ DECLARATIONS FILED │ PETITIONS FILED │CERTIFICATES GRANTED
────┼────────────────────┼────────────────────┼────────────────────
1908│ 137,229│ 44,029│ 25,963
1909│ 145,794│ 43,161│ 38,372
1910│ 167,226│ 55,038│ 39,206[332]
1911│ 186,157│ 73,644│ 55,329
1912│ 169,142│ 95,627│ 69,965
════╧════════════════════╧════════════════════╧════════════════════
Footnote 332:
Repts. Comm. Gen. of Imm.
In addition to the certificates granted there were, in 1912, 9635
certificates denied. These were for a variety of causes, the most
important of which was failure of the petitioners to prosecute them, so
that they were stricken from the docket. Of those which were actually
refused the largest single cause was incompetent witnesses.
There has been a large amount of fraud and trickery in connection with
naturalization, and presumably it has not wholly ceased. This has been
due partly to a lax attitude on the part of some of the court officials,
and partly to the physical impossibility of giving proper attention to
the number of candidates who apply, with the existing machinery. There
is a story of one judge in New York City who issued nearly seven
thousand papers in October, 1891, at the rate of two a minute.[333] Many
states have been very lax in their requirements for voting. In some
states aliens have been allowed to vote in both state and federal
elections, sometimes after a residence of only six months.[334]
Even where naturalization is desired by recent immigrants, it is not
always for the most commendable reasons. Sometimes the motive is the
desire for a better chance of securing employment,[335] sometimes the
facilitating of entrance into the United States after a trip abroad.
Natives of some foreign countries, particularly Turkey, have come to the
United States with the express intention of securing citizenship, in
order to return to their native land, and carry on business under the
protection of the American flag, which carries with it greater
guarantees than their own. A special law, passed to put a stop to such
practices as these, provides that when a naturalized alien has resided
two years in the foreign state from which he came, or five years in any
other foreign state, he forfeits his citizenship.[336]
Of all foreign races, the Irish have taken by far the largest place in
politics in this country. According to Professor Commons, the “ward
boss” is the logical product of the mixture of nationalities in the
various divisions of a city, and the Irishman is the logical man for the
work.[337] “The Irishman has above all races the mixture of ingenuity,
firmness, human sympathy, comradeship, and daring that makes him the
amalgamator of races.”[338] Possibly a sense of humor ought to be added
to these qualifications. In the eyes of Professor Commons, such a system
makes it the merest chance if the best man is elected, and subverts our
whole system of representative government.[339] It seems beyond question
that the existence of separate racial groups in a community, each with
its own prejudices and group loyalty, must have a very disturbing
influence on the course of elections. Measures become of much less
import than men in the minds of the voters, and in the choice of men
race rather than fitness is often the determining element.