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Show IS IT A MENACE? American Industries, the manufacturers' manufac-turers' paper, evidently believes that "the vast immigration army" invading tills country is not a menace to the republic. re-public. This is the manufacturers' view. When figures showing that more than a million aliens were admitted ad-mitted to the United States in 1906, arc quoted as "appalling," our con-temporaay con-temporaay declares that no manufacturer manufac-turer should sympathize with that view. It points out that more than half the laborers employed in the manufacturing and mechanical industries indus-tries of the United States arc of foreign for-eign birth or parentage, as Secretary Straus showed the manufacturers in his address at the recent convention of the National Manufacturers' association. as-sociation. Nearly one-third of the workingmen in the mills and factories of the country arc foreign born. The mmanufacturing interests of the entire South are beginning to voice their regret at the conditions that have placed their section outside of the flow of the currents of immigration, and more, resolving that some part of these currents shall be diverted in their direction in the future. Other entire sections of the country are sadly sad-ly in need of labor. The total of the unemployed in this year, 1907, whether wheth-er native or foreign born, is small smaller very certainly than in anj'j other great country in the world. As far as the manufacturig interests are concerned, it might almost be said that the total of the unemployed is very little more than equivalent to the total of the strikers: Manifestly the labor supply is not too large. Manifestly if any great part of the vast immigrant army at any time were to be shut off the manufacturers would soon be in sad straits to keep up the needed scale of production. It might almost be said that there is no "immigration "im-migration problem," at least as far as the manufacturing interests are concerned. The ideal condition for the manufacturers and it should be considered the ideal by the labor clement cle-ment as well would be a constant abundant stream of unskilled labor from the old world, and at the sams time far greater opportunities for the training of young Americans as skilled skil-led laborers. If it were possible in the next decade to double the number of skilled mechanics in the United States, it is had to doubt that the yearly number of immigrants could also be doubled, or more than doubled, doub-led, without harm indeed to the betterment, bet-terment, not only of the manufacturers, manufac-turers, but of the workmen now in this country. There is sometimes difficulty dif-ficulty in the distribution of immigrants, immi-grants, as is pointed out in the report re-port of the immigration committee, but this is a difficulty that may be remedied. There is also the need of preventing the admission of the weak and the vicious as far as may ' be. It is urged and with much force by some of those who thoroughly believe be-lieve in immigration, and in the wel coming of as many honest and healthy heal-thy immigrants as wish to come to America, that it would be very proper to amend the immigration laws to allow al-low the deportation of criminal as well as pauper aliens. Another suggestion sug-gestion is that the standard of citizenship citi-zenship might be raised by prolonging prolong-ing the period of probationary citizenship citi-zenship to ten years and by requiring of candidates for naturalization a guarantee of good conduct and knowledge know-ledge of our institutions. Under the present law, while an immigrant may be sent back to Uic country 'rom which he came if for any reason he becomes a public charge before he becomes be-comes a citizen, there is no provision which gives to us the right to deport de-port him if he commits a crime. We not only go to the expense of punishing punish-ing him, but after he has served his term let him continue to live in this country. The New York authorities report that 132 Italians, not citizens, are serving time in Sing Sing, and similar conditions exist elsewhere, and with regard to immigrants of other nationalities. Italy could have been compelled to take back any of these men before he icommittcd a crime, if he had applied to the authorities author-ities for aid. As to the proposed 'increase in the period of probation before citizenship is conferred on an alien, the National Nation-al Liberal Immigration league says: "The cry for labor in this country is so great that we welcome immigrants immi-grants to pave our streets, build our railroads and dig subways. We welcome wel-come even more willingly the illiterates, il-literates, as they arc more fitted to do hard work. But when it is a question ques-tion not of the admission of aliens, but of conferring on them the rights of citizenship the right to choose our mayors, our governors and the president, pre-sident, the right to vote for judges and to serve as jurymen entrusted with our material interests, with our life and the honor of our women then we are more exacting. The ten-year ten-year requirement for naturalization would also save our government much concern from naturalized citizens citi-zens who raise trouble in foreign lands." The Liberal Immigration league has among its officers President Eliot of Harvard, Andrew Carnegie, Bishop Bish-op Potter, General Tracy, President Woodrow Wilson, R. Fulton Cutting and many other prominent men, and its membership is such that its recommendations re-commendations arc certainly well worthy wor-thy of careful consideration. State Journal. n |