OCR Text |
Show IT IS TIME TO STOP IT. The continued Items which tell of the cuts In steerngo rates from and to Mediterranean ports by tho steamship linos bode no gpod to this country. Hungary's subsidy to tho Cunard lino Is the disturbing faclor, and the other llpea must meet the rates which that company Is enabled to make. Tho effect ef-fect of It all Is to flood the United States with swarms of labor pillagers, who come merely to save up enough money to go back with and llvo in case In their natlvo countries, precisely a3 the Chinese Chi-nese did on tho West Coast In tho early years. It Is evident that theso cut rates will bring to this country the present year a mass of undesirable Immigrants that It will be hard to place. These will come Into direct competition with our own laborers much to their disadvantage, disadvan-tage, and will form a fruitful sourco of trouble and probable damage. Wo hear much from time to tlmo of the unfair competition that is feared from tho Filipinos, and the cheap labor la-bor among them Is constantly urged as a menace to American worklngmen, and as a reason why the tariff between the Philippines and the United States should not be lowered. But the Filipinos are not eager or effective ef-fective workers, and thero Is no reason to apprehend any disturbing Influx from them. They will not come hero In large numbers, nor will their products come Into competition with American products. prod-ucts. On the contrary, there Is not enough labor In the Philippines to do the work required there, and there Is a persistent demand that the restrictions against the Incoming of Chlneso be removed, so that the needed labor may be had. While this baseless outcry Is raised against the Filipinos, and while Congress Con-gress last year completed a now ic-vlslon ic-vlslon of the Immigration laws (that did not touch the real point), wo allow the Irruption. of a million laborers from Europe yearly, who do not come to be citizens, or to take any part or lot In the destinies of the country', but only to wrest a little pot of money from It to take back with them and lord It over the poor devils they know, who couldn't raise the price of the trip to the land of gold. It Is manifest that tho people of this country suffer a double loss in this operation: first, In the disturbance of the labor market, to the disadvantage of the American laborer, and second, In the permanent loss of the money which those foreign laborers take out of tho country when they have accomplished tho purpose for which thoy come. We think that this sort of thing has gone far enough; and that the Immigration Immigra-tion laws should be amended to exclude all that class of would-be Incomers. Tho same theory that was applied to tho Chinamen In their exclusion should be applied to them. The Idea and purpose pur-pose of both In coming to this country was and Is precisely tho same; a systematic sys-tematic plunder of coin, and the same laws should be applied in both casea, They should all bo kept out. |