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Show I THE IMMIGRATION PROBLEM. Popular Science has an interesting article, by Dr. A len McLaughlin, on "The Immigrant." Some 01 the statistics are as folclws: t From 1783 to 1 1 1810 150,000 immigrants landed on our shores, ' mostly from the British Isles, with a few from t s , Germany, France and Scandinavia. Then there d' ' was a lull, but 20,000 came in 1817. After 1830 li ' immigiation took on larger proportions. Between jl ! 1841 and 1850 the Irish immigrants were 46 per J cent of the whole. In the early eighties the German immigrants numbered 30 per cent of the t ,t whole. New the Irish immigration Is but 4 per ' cent of the whole. The German is only 10 per I ' cent. In 1880 the Scandinavians numbered 10 per ! ,''' ' tant, but the proportion has fallen off greatly. But t i 'YhT.o in 1875 only 3.U31 came from Italy, 7,658 ' , from Austria-Hungary and 8,981 from Russia, the f, figures last year from the same countries were ij I j respectively 280,022; 206,001 and 136.093. I The change from Northern to Southern Europe I is not a good omen for this country. pi But with the natural increase in population and 1 If f all th3se hordes coming from abroad, what of our f m j own country? It has assimilated the millions a H 4 of the past, but the western ocean wa reached I f'lli by railroad thirty-five years ago, and the vacant ims f lands are almost all appropriated. Then on every 'j pti New Year's day there are of our own people 2.- 000,000 more oung men and women seeking , homes, than on the previous New Year's day. i f Then the half-artificial cities have outgrown the 5 ' country and places to work in them are more and more difficult to obtain Then, because of the i added wealth that has. come thousands and tens cf thousands of the class which thirty years ago depended wholly upon work are determined not to work now. For Instance, a thousand gii wanted to do house work in this city today at fair wages; there are thousands of pocr girls who ought to be doing housework, but they will not. This state of affairs is a mighty menace to thi morals of this country.1 The German immigration has been greatly reduced re-duced because it has been turned to southern Brazil. A young German empire or republic is swiftly expanding there and our belief is that the Government should get behind American capital to begin pushing railroads into that country. coun-try. They would be followed by young Americans Ameri-cans wanting homes, and because of them the vast hordes which are streaming in from southern Europe would be deflected that way. With that work begun in earnest in twenty years the American element In those countries would be as dominant as it is today in Mexico.' It would supply sup-ply an ever expanding safety valve for our Re public and it would within ten years remove every apprehension of trouble on account of the Monroe Mon-roe doctrine, which would make a great navy for the United States altogether unnecessary. Great Britain gets behind her citizens in their enterprises in foreign lands. She extends cables that keep them in touch with the parent country and sends steamers, to all Important foreign ports with the regularity of .the stars, and makes a market mar-ket for whatever they may be trading in. To guarantee low interest on railroads for fifty years would be taking no risk and by the time the fifty years came around Scuth America would be North Americanized. It is a question worthy the solicitude solici-tude and careful consideration of all American statesmen and editors. |
