present than that of distribution. There is a common opinion that if the
proper distribution could be made, the chief evils of the tremendous
influx would disappear. We are told that it is the congestion of aliens
in already crowded centers of population that creates the menace to
civilization; that there is land enough to be cultivated; and that vast
enterprises are under way calling for the unskilled labor that is coming
in. But the puzzling problem is how to get the immigrants where they are
wanted and needed, and can be of value. On this point, Mr. Max Mitchell,
Superintendent of the Federation of Jewish Charities, says:
[Sidenote: An Expert Opinion]
"The problem is that of overcrowding. We must not close our ports to the
people of the Old World who seek a haven and a home in the land of
liberty and plenty, but we must see to it that when they arrive here
they are directed out of the city and into the country places where
ordinary human industry is rewarded abundantly. The inclination of the
immigrants themselves to stick so closely to the great centers of
population must be overcome. If the great crowds of foreigners that
inundate these shores every year could be distributed in a sensible and
logical way over all the vast uncultivated territory in which this
nation is so rich, we should never hear any complaint of too much
immigration. No better farmers can be found anywhere than among the
foreign peoples who seek America."
[Sidenote: Legislation Required]
Very likely, but the trouble is, they do not want to farm and they are
free to prefer the squalor of the slums to the green of the fields. Nor
is there much hope that this singular but strong inclination can be
overcome save by government regulation, which shall settle the matter of
location for those who have no specific destination or occupation. It is
probable that on this point some reasonable legislation could be
secured; especially if the various distribution societies and railroad
companies should fail in their efforts to induce the aliens to go where
they are needed. Commissioner-General Sargent has dealt plainly with
this matter in his Reports for the last three years, and rightly
estimates its importance. He says:[41]
[Sidenote: Distribution of Prime Importance]
"In my judgment the smallest part of the duty to be discharged in
successfully handling aliens, with a view to the protection of the
people and the institutions of this country, is that part now provided
for by law. Its importance, though undeniable, is relatively of
secondary moment. It cannot compare in practical value with, nor can it
take the place of, measures to secure the distribution of the many
thousands who come in ignorance of the industrial needs and
opportunities of this country, and colonize alien communities in our
great cities."
[Sidenote: Information Agencies Proposed]
Suitable legislation is strongly urged to establish agencies through
which, either with or without the coöperation of the states, aliens
shall be made acquainted with the resources of the country at large, and
the industrial needs of the various sections, in both skilled and
unskilled labor, the cost of living, the wages paid, the price and
capabilities of the land, the character of the climates, the duration of
the seasons--in short, all that information furnished by some of the
great railway lines through whose efforts the territory tributary
thereto has been transformed from a wilderness within a few years to the
abiding place of a happy and prosperous population.
[Sidenote: A Growing Evil]
"Again the importance of undertaking to distribute aliens now
congregating in our large cities to those parts of the United States
where they can secure employment without displacing others by working
for a less wage, and where the conditions of existence do not tend to
the fostering of disease, depravity, and resistance to the social and
political security of the country, is urged. The Bureau is convinced
that no feature of the immigration question so insistently demands
public attention and effective action. The evil to be removed is one
that is steadily and rapidly on the increase, and its removal will
strike at the roots of fraudulent elections, poverty, disease, and crime
in our large cities, and on the other hand largely supply that
increasing demand for labor to develop the natural resources of our
country. Too much encouragement cannot be given to the reported efforts
of certain railway companies to divert a portion of the tide of
immigration to the Southern states. It is impossible, in the opinion of
the Bureau, to overestimate the importance of this subject as bearing
upon the effect of immigration on the future welfare of this
country."[42]
[Sidenote: Chart of Distribution]
What are the facts concerning the present location and distribution of
immigrants? The answer involves a most interesting study. Taking the
immigration of 1905, the chart[43] on the next page illustrates the
distribution by states.
[Illustration: PROPORTION OF IMMIGRATION AND NUMBER OF IMMIGRANTS
GOING TO EACH STATE DURING THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1905
BY PERMISSION OF THE BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION]
[Sidenote: Where the Masses Stay]
The enormous proportion going to New York, Pennsylvania, and the North
Atlantic section shows prominently. They got ninety per cent. of the
whole, while the South received but four per cent. of the total, and
only one per cent. of that went to the South Central States. The Great
West had only four per cent. as against five the year preceding; showing
conclusively how few of the million went where it would have been far
better for the entire million to have gone. It is safe to say that there
was little or no legitimate demand in New York, Pennsylvania, or New
England for any of them. At the same time, there is some encouragement
in the fact that the distribution of the past fourteen years shows that
smaller proportions are now remaining in the states in which are located
the principal ports of entry. For example, the percentage of New York
State has steadily decreased from forty-two per cent. in 1892 to thirty
per cent. in 1905. Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio have gained
proportionately.
[Sidenote: Diagrams to be Studied]
A series of diagrams which show the distribution of the foreign-born
living in the United States in 1900, was prepared by Mr. F. W. Hewes,
for the _World's Work_, and published in October, 1903. By the courtesy
of Doubleday, Page and Company, publishers, they are reproduced. Each
dot in them represents a thousand persons. They show at a glance where
the immigrants were in 1900, and the totals by race or nationality. By
adding to these totals the remarkable figures of the last five years,
one can appreciate the great increase in the Italian and Slavic totals,
and an idea of the present situation may be obtained, for as to locality
the percentages have not materially changed.
[Sidenote: Protective Societies]
[Illustration: Born in Sweden, Norway, Denmark--Resident in the United
States 1900
Reproduced by special permission from "The World's Work" Copyright,
1903.]
[Illustration: Born in Canada, England, Scotland, Wales--Resident in the
United States 1900
Reproduced by special permission from "The World's Work." Copyright,
1903.]
The further point to be considered as to distribution is the effort now
being made to accomplish desired results. In lieu of legislation or
government provision, these are (1) Societies organized by
individuals, and (2) Railway companies. The Bureau of Information[44]
proposed by the bill now in Congress would, if established, closely
coöperate with the state agencies and all other bodies promoting
distribution.
[Sidenote: Italian Society]
One of the most active and efficient of these organizations, which will
serve as an illustration, is the Society for Italian Immigrants, with
headquarters in New York, near the Battery. The Society thus states its
purpose and methods:
"About 200,000 Italian immigrants are now landing at this port during
every twelve months. These immigrants are almost entirely poor peasants
who cannot speak our language. In order that these people may get a fair
start in this new and, to them, strange country, and that they may
become familiar as soon as possible with our laws, habits, and customs,
help and instruction of various kinds must be given them. To furnish
these either freely or at the lowest possible cost, is the object of The
Society for Italian Immigrants.
[Sidenote: A Real Service]
"Accordingly, in its work the Society employs agents to look after the
needs of the immigrants at Ellis Island; it runs an escort service, by
which competent persons are furnished, at nominal cost, to take
immigrants to their destination; it conducts an employment agency; it
maintains an information bureau; it coöperates with the United States
authorities to enforce the Immigration Laws; it manages labor camps for
contractors; it wages war on all persons engaged in swindling
immigrants; it is engaged in breaking up the padrone system in all its
forms; and lastly and generally, it does all it can to help immigrants,
so that as soon as possible they may become self-supporting and
self-respecting citizens, a benefit and not a detriment to this
country."
[Sidenote: Grants from Italian Government]
The Society is supported by voluntary contributions, and by grants to
the amount of about $7,000 a year from the Italian government. The
Society has met with the approval of the police department of the city,
the United States authorities at Ellis Island, and the Italian Royal
Department of Emigration, and of all individuals who have made
themselves familiar with what it is doing. There is also a Boston
Italian Society, organized in 1902, to protect newcomers from sharpers,
thieves, and fraudulent persons; also from the frauds of bankers and
padrones. The Italian government has given $1,000 a year to this
Society.
[Sidenote: Hebrew and Other Societies]
A similar work is done by the United Hebrew Charities, and the Removal
Bureau established by the Jews in New York in 1901. Through this agency
in the past three years over 10,000 of the Russian or Roumanian Jews
have been kept from increasing the overcrowded population of the ghetto
and swelling the sum of sweat-shop misery. While the number distributed
is small compared with the steady inflow (5,525 sent out in 1903, while
43,000 settled in New York), the work bids fair to make itself felt, and
shows an appreciation by the Jews already here of the situation and the
necessity of changing it, for the sake both of the immigrants and the
country. Industrial removal is now known wherever Jews are found, and
all that is possible is being done to stimulate artificial distribution
as the remedy for the worst evils of unassimilated and congested
immigration.[45] There are also German, Scandinavian and other
societies, benevolent and protective, which aid in distribution.
[Sidenote: A Chief Obstacle]
The principal difficulty with the distribution scheme, so far as most of
the present-day immigrants are concerned, is that with the exception of
the Italians they are not fitted for agriculture, while it is the farms
that most need workers. Another difficulty[46] is that the authorities
of the various states object to receiving shipments of immigrants from
the city tenement districts, regarding them as decidedly undesirable
additions to the population. The United States Immigration
Investigating Commission asked the governors of the different states
what nationalities of immigrants they desired, and in only two cases was
any desire expressed for Slavs, Latins, Jews, or Asiatics, and these two
related to Italian farmers with money, intending to become permanent
settlers. The officials protest against the shipment of southern and
eastern Europeans from the city slums into the states. Care must be
taken, too, that the immigrants do not settle in country colonies, which
would render them almost as difficult of Americanization as though they
were colonized in the city.
[Sidenote: What the South is Doing]
The New South is already giving object lessons to the country at large
in the successful attraction and utilization of the alien influx. The
Four States Immigration League, composed of representatives of business
organizations in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, was
organized in 1903 to secure desirable immigrants for those states. "It
was keenly realized," observed the Chattanooga Times, "that of the
enormous inflow from the old country, the number seeking homes in the
South was ridiculously small and out of all proportion to the importance
of the country and the inducements our productive fields hold out to
home seekers." An Immigration Bureau has been established in
Chattanooga, and South Carolina and other states have organized active
departments of agriculture and immigration.
[Illustration: Born in Ireland--Resident in the United States 1900
The small dots grouped about N.Y. City, include, also, the totals of
Conn. and N.J.--Chart Boston: of Mass. and R.I.
Reproduced by special permission of "The World's Work." Copyright
1909.]
[Illustration: Born in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium,
Luxembourg. Resident in the U.S. 1900
Reproduced by special permission from "The World's Work." Copyright
1903.]
The leading railway lines promise active coöperation, as their interests
lie positively in this direction. Some, indeed, have actively engaged in
the work of securing distribution.
[Sidenote: New Zealand Plan]
The suggestion is a good one that we might study with profit, in this
connection, the methods of New Zealand.[47] There the established
Department of Labor has regarded as "its vital duty the practical task
of finding where labor was wanted and depositing there the labor running
elsewhere to waste." To this end a widely extended system of agencies is
maintained for bringing workers and work together, the unemployed are
scattered through the colony, and charity is refused. The experience
there shows that city people and men of trades have been successful as
farmers and farm workers. Mr. Lord says: "It may be a novel function of
government to undertake the distributing of labor, but it is none the
less more rational than an edict of exclusion would be, or the tolerance
of congestion and slums now is."
[Sidenote: Information Before Embarking]
One thing that government can do is to make sure that intending
immigrants are fully informed, in their own countries, before they
start, concerning the laws of the United States, the conditions of the
various sections, the advantages and drawbacks, the demand for labor and
of what kind. An official bureau of correspondence and information would
help check undesirable immigrants from coming, and distribute desirable
ones when they do come.
[Sidenote: Looking on the Bright Side]
While the question of distribution has only recently been taken up in
earnest, its importance is now realized, and there is every reason to
believe that it will receive henceforth large attention, and that wise
measures will be vigorously pushed. Remedied congestion will mean
increased assimilation and decreased danger. As we review the situation,
while there is much in it that requires serious consideration and wise
action, we agree heartily with these words of Dr. Charles L. Thompson:
[Sidenote: Not Bars but Guides]
"There is no need of becoming pessimistic. Above all we should not go
back on the history of our Country. We have grown great by assimilation.
Let us have a dignified confidence in the power of our institutions and
of our Christianity to continue the process which has developed the
strength of the Republic. If we are true to our principles we will be
equal to any strain that may be put upon them. Only let us see to it
that our principles--both civic and religious--are at work in full vigor
on the questions which the floodtide of immigration raises. What we need
is not more bars to keep foreigners out but more laborers to work with
them and teach them how to gather the harvest of American and Christian
liberty."[48]
QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER III
AIM: TO STUDY THE PROBLEMS OF LEGISLATION AND DISTRIBUTION REGARDING
ALIENS
I. _The Opinions of Capable Observers Regarding Legislation_.
1. Give the names and opinions of some who favor restriction of
immigration. Of some who are opposed. With which do you agree?
2. The Immigration Conference of 1905: What was it? What did it
recommend?
3. As to free admission: What are the rights of the government? Of
the individual?
4. What does President Roosevelt recommend?
II. _Proposed Legislation_.
5. What abuses specially need to be corrected?
6. Name the chief provisions of the "Gardner Bill," before Congress
in 1906.
7. * Give reasons for and against a reading test. Would you have
voted for it or against?
8. Describe and give your opinion of other proposed methods of
restricting immigration.
9. Would it be possible to sift immigrants before they leave
Europe?
III. _Distribution._
10. How much can be done toward a wider distribution of the stream
of immigrants?
11. Where do the larger numbers now settle? In what cities? What
states?
12. What Societies are helping them to find better locations?
13. What special efforts are being made by some Southern states?
14. How does New Zealand deal with this question? Can we copy that
plan?
15. * What spirit is needed in dealing with the whole problem?
16. Can you tell of any special endeavors to bring about better
control or direction of immigration?
REFERENCES FOR ADVANCED STUDY.--CHAPTER III
I. _Further Study of Opinions of United States Immigration
Officials._
See Commissioner-General's Annual Report, furnished free from
Washington upon application to the "Commissioner of Immigration."
Report of 1902, pp. 59, 60. Report of 1904, pp. 37-47, 123-136.
Report of 1904, pp. 61-70. Report of 1905, pp. 58, 75-78.
II. _Provisions and Fate of Legislation of 1906 Proposed in
Congress._
Text of "Gardner Bill" and Journal of the House for June 25, 1906,
can be secured by writing to Washington.
III. _Evils of Undistributed Immigration._
Warne: The Slav Invasion, IV, V.
Hunter: Poverty, VI.
Lord, et al: The Italian in America, IV, X.
IV. _Efforts to Secure Wider Distribution of Immigrants._
Hall: Immigration, XIII.
Lord, et al: The Italian in America, VII, IX.
_To know anything about the actual character of recent and present
immigration, we must distinguish the many and very diverse elements
of which it is composed._--Samuel McLanahan.
IV
THE NEW IMMIGRATION
The world never before saw anything comparable to this tremendous
movement of people in so short a space of time. The population Europe
has lost in a hundred years is greater than the total number of
inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland in 1860, and only a little less
than that of the United States in the same year. It is equal to three
fifths of the total population of Europe in the time of Augustus Cæsar.
If the ships carried five hundred passengers on the average, about fifty
thousand trips have been made in the transfer.
Emphatically too many people are now coming over here; too many of an
undesirable sort. In 1902 over seven tenths were from races who do not
rapidly assimilate with the customs and institutions of this
country.--_Prescott F. Hall._
There are two classes who would pass upon the immigration question. One
says, "Close the doors and let in nobody;" and the other says, "Open
wide the doors and let in everybody." I am in sympathy with neither of
these classes. There is a happy middle path--a path of discernment and
judgment.--_Commissioner Robert Watchorn of New York._
Just as a body cannot with safety accept nourishment any faster than it
is capable of assimilating it, so a state cannot accept an excessive
influx of people without serious injury.--_H. H. Boyesen._
It seems to me our only concern about immigration should be as to its
character. We do not want Europe's criminals or paupers. The time to
make selection is in Europe, prior to embarkation.--_United States
Senator Hansbrough._
IV
THE NEW IMMIGRATION
_I. New Peoples and New Problems_
[Sidenote: Change of Racial Type]
So great has been the change in the racial character of immigration
within the last ten years that the term "new immigration" has been used
to distinguish the present prevailing type from that of former years. By
new immigration we mean broadly all the aliens from southeastern
Europe--the Italians, Hungarians, Slavs, Hebrews, Greeks, and
Syrians--as distinguished from the northwestern Europeans--the English,
Scotch, Welsh, Irish, French, Germans, and Scandinavians. The ethnic
authorities at Washington make the following racial division, which is
used in the official reports:
[Sidenote: Race Classification]
"Ninety-five per cent. of the immigration to this country comes from
Europe. Most of these different races or peoples, or more properly
subdivisions of race, coming from Europe have been grouped into four
grand divisions, as follows:
"Teutonic division, from northern Europe: German, Scandinavian,
English, Dutch, Flemish, and Finnish.
"Iberic division, from southern Europe: South Italian, Greek,
Portuguese, and Spanish: also Syrian from Turkey in Asia.
"Celtic division, from western Europe; Irish, Welsh, Scotch,
French, and North Italian.
"Slavic division, from eastern Europe: Bohemian, Moravian,
Bulgarian, Servian, Montenegrin, Croatian, Slovenian, Dalmatian,
Bosnian, Herzegovinian, Hebrew, Lithuanian, Polish, Roumanian,
Russian, Ruthenian, and Slovak.
"The Mongolic division has also been added, to include Chinese,
Japanese, Korean, East Indian, Pacific Islander, and Filipino.
"Under 'all others' have been included Magyar, Turkish, Armenian,
African (black), and subdivisions native to the Western
Hemisphere."
[Sidenote: The New Immigration]
This new immigration has been commonly regarded as either decidedly
undesirable or at least distinctly less desirable than the Teutonic and
Celtic, which for so many years practically had the field of America to
itself. It has not been uncommon to group the Italians and Slavs, and
denominate them as the "offscouring and refuse of Europe," now dumped
into America, which is described as a sort of world "garbage bin."
Extremists have drawn in gloomy colors the effects of this inrush of the
worst and most illiterate and unassimilable elements of the Old World. A
distinct prejudice has undoubtedly been created against these later
comers.
[Sidenote: Reasons for Adverse Opinion]
[Illustration: CHANGES IN SOURCES OF IMMIGRATION WHICH HAVE CAUSED HEAVY
INCREASE OF ILLITERACY
This chart shows what a mass of illiteracy is coming in from Italy,
Austria-Hungary, and Russia. Only those above the age of fourteen are
counted as illiterates. The change in the source of immigration from
northern and western Europe to southern and eastern Europe is
responsible for this radical change in the number of those who cannot
read or write. Of the southern Italians who came in 1905, 56 per cent.
were illiterate; and of the Ruthenians, 63 per cent. Most of these
illiterates will never learn to read, as they are beyond the school
age.]
There is unquestionably some ground for the feeling that the new
immigration is in many respects less desirable than the older type.
These peoples come out of conditions of oppression and depression,
illiteracy and poverty. Far more important than this, they have had no
contact with Anglo-Saxon ideas or government. They are consequently
almost wholly ignorant of American ideals and standards. There is a vast
difference between the common ideas of these immigrants and those from
the more enlightened and progressive northern nations. So there is in
the type of character and the customs and manners.
[Sidenote: The Older Type of Immigration]