| Show ANDREW CARNEGIE ON TION andrew carnegie has been ing himself to the subject of immigration in pursuance we suppose ot his recent continuous attempt to solve the great problems of the world by meang of public speeches to sir carnegie the immigration problem presents no difficulties whatever he says that it america belonged to him and there are some discontented people who say that america docs belong to mr car negle and to bia class he would ask of an immigrant no other qualifications than an ambition to become an american cluzen the possession of sober and frugal habits and the skill to earn a living and a little over he assumes that tree fauman beings are today worth as much as slaves wore worth fifty beare ago and it at once becomes a matter for easy mental arithmetic to determine the cash value of americas new arrivals there is a fatal and facility in this method of argument that is liable to hade the false premises the false and tho false conclusions with the exception 0 the contract labor law america k already anxious to secure the very people possessing tho qualifications cited by mr carnegie it is easy to andere tand that very large employers ot labor auch aa mr carnegie ones was arc not entirely averse to a human influx that bould tend to lower wages by increasing the cupply of labor but as those who receive wages are still largely in excess of those who pay them the diametrically wishes of the former class are likely to prevail the american people do not wish to see a gheral lowering of wages or the dia content that it would certainly induce with this exception however thore is no objection whatever to the people who can pass mr carnegles Carne gies testa but he aa though these vere the very whom H is desired to exclude mr carnegie has never yet succeeded in imparting into hla great soda and international that ele ment ot that distinguished him as a business man he tells u what we ought to alo but he forgets to show how it can bo done and this is probably the reason why europe atall to form herself into a new united states upon the ad vice of mr carnegie how are all these immigration tats to be applied and how can we know that these admirable qualifications to citizenship are really possessed A man cannot prove hla frugality and his ambition by means of a certificate in the bamo way ahat he can prove that he has been vaccinated vaccina ted or married aa a matter of fact the majority of the people now coining to america do not these or any others it is very easy to say that an la worth 1000 to te country but Is h worth that amount it fae introduces a moral disease into the country it he commett a crime or in cites otlis to commit crime it be becomes a lunatic and bas ba s to be aup hy the stale for the of hla daya it probably costs california alono ft good many thousand dol larsa year to support insane aliens Is he worth 1000 if he Is incurably or if he possesses innate social or political ideas that are opposed to those happily now prevailing in the country mr carnegie has simply erected a windmill in order that ho may then have uie pleasure of tilting against it no one wishes or has suggested tho exclusion of the fine characters that he so airily sketches but our complaint Is that tho modern immigrant does not possess these qualify canons that ho la by no means the exalted being tw mr carnegie implores us to welcome but quite a different kind of person who enriches ats own country by his absence and impoverishes es america by his presence it ia of course a great pleasure to listen io mr carnegles Carne gies opinions upon all the great and varied questions of the day and to recognize that their easy flow Is still unchecked ye do so houwer with the that he has not usefully contributed to the fco lution of the particular problem of immigration |
