OCR Text |
Show Assimilation of the Immigrant Simple if Immigration Is Distributed By F. A. WALLIS, N. Y. Commissioner of Immigration Assimilation of the immigrant -rovild be a simple matter if immigration immigra-tion was distributed. Take a piece of rock candy and immerse it in water; wa-ter; it will take a long time to melt. But break np that lump and it will melt quickly and without trouble. Thst is my idea of Americanization. Distribute the immigrants; give them good wages and good homes; give their children good schools; treat thorn weil, and they will become good Americans. But what happens at the present time? The immigrant always follows fol-lows in the wake of his countrymen. He settles into masses, indigestible, with almost no chance for American influences even for knowledge of America to touch him. He increases food prices, he raises the tax on courts and public institutions, he increases rents, spreads disease and lowers the wage rate. But if immigration was evenly distributed, with the immigrant living where his labor is needed, most of these evils would be eliminated automatically auto-matically and most of the immigrs tion problem would simply disappear. |