Recognition of the family, even in its collateral branches, and the placing of burdens upon those who are blood kindred, is one of the first principles of organized relief. When, however, all inquiries run quickly to the ocean's edge, the chances of any effective recognition of family responsibility are greatly lessened. A vague statement that one's parents or other kindred are in Syria, in Poland, in Southern Italy, or in Ireland, and that they have all that they can do to support themselves, is not easily dis proved even if it is not always true. Correspondence with relief agencies throughout the European continent is difficult, and even when it has been established, is often in conclusive because of the different points of view and the differences in language, customs, and standards. When one has lost employment and has but a few acquaintances, and these perhaps hastily formed, it is, of course, more difficult to furnish those evidences of character and fit ness which would be available in the native land, but which are not readily imported among the immigrant's assets. It is beyond reasonable expectation also, that when an immigrant has, through old age or infirmity, become a public charge, there should be quite the same degree of tenderness and consideration for him as he might have experienced in a similar adverse fate in the home of his ancestors. I am not apologizing for any in difference to the necessities of those who are in distress, but pointing out that absence from those upon whom they have the strongest claim for the offices prompted by ties of kindred and of intimate association through generations, is a deprivation of that for which there is no ready substitute. This, however, increases rather than lessens the responsibility of those who in public or in private charities administer relief. Those who have been in the country but a short time may wisely be returned to their homes, but others, who may remain after the lapse of years essentially immigrants, may be in distress, and it may be possible to relieve them, or necessary to support them, in their dependent condition. It is not by with holding relief from individuals or from families who may wisely be aided that the evil consequences of unrestricted immigration are to be met. The strengthening of existing laws, by the addition of a clause excluding illiterate adults, and by providing more efficient means for the deportation of those who have been admitted through misrepresenta tion or fraud, is advisable, and the uniform and equitable administration of existing laws is essential ; and in addi tion voluntary agencies and private citizens may wisely counteract, at the sources of emigration, the misinforma tion which has been persistently spread abroad. Definite measures are now taken, for example, in Ireland, to check emigration, and these are supported by representative Irishmen whose devotion to the interests of the Irish people, both at home and in America, is unquestionable? The arguments in favor of unrestricted immigration are that cheap labor is needed in the building of railways and in many other undertakings in which the directive intelli gence can be separated from the physical labor required; and that any practical test, such as ability to read or write, possession of a given sum of money, or even a certificate of good character from the place of departure, will operate to exclude many who, under new and favorable conditions, in a new land, might prove to be very useful and entirely self-supporting citizens. While it is true that cheap labor I There is a similar anti-emigration movement in Sweden, and the Italian government has a Bureau of Emigration which aims to discour age the departure of desirable citizens, and permits the United States authorities to examine for the detection of undesirable persons.
may be made profitable from the employer's point of view, it does not follow that those who are considering the in terests of the community as a whole can look with favor upon it. The superintendent of a mill which had within a few years replaced efficient but highly paid American laborers by Hungarians analyzed the results of the change in conversation with the author as follows : The new laborers could do less work in a given time, but they were willing to work at less wages, and they were willing to work more hours in the week. Being less efficient and
having less initiative, it had been necessary to increase the number of foremen and to pay them somewhat higher wages, holding them responsible to a greater extent than before for the correction of mistakes and for driving the men under them at their maximum capacity. As the men worked for longer hours, the machinery was idle for a smaller part of the time, and the total product was increased at less expense. This illustration is not presented as typi cal. In many instances the product would doubtless be diminished rather than increased by such a substitution, and the cost increased so that the net result would be a diminution of profits. Within reasonable limits the gen eral principle is that high-priced labor is economic labor, the condition being that it shall be as intelligent, as trust worthy, and as efficient as it is well paid. Nevertheless the exploitation of cheap labor, `as is illustrated in the in stance above cited, is not infrequent, and whether in the long run it is disastrous or beneficial in a given industry, there is no doubt that for individuals in charge of particu lar industries at particular times it will offer an opportu nity for pecuniary profit and that such an opportunity will be seized. With the consequences to the industry in the long run, the employer of the moment may have little concern. It has been asserted that without the immigrant —without these "lower, dependent-producing grades" of labor — we could not have an industrial organization. I am unable to accept this view, or to agree that it is a matter of conjecture whether our industrial organizations could be maintained without them. There is plenty of expe rience and ample warrantable analogy for believing that if it were necessary for American communities to get on without a large element of illiterate, unskilled, and low priced labor, they would succeed in doing so ; and would leave no work of vital importance unperformed.
In a nutshell, if the American workman, accustomed to a high standard of living, is confronted with a disagreeable task, he will invent a machine to do it for him. Disagree able labor, such as is performed by Negroes, by ill-paid Ital ian laborers, by Chinese coolies, by sweat-shop workers, and by others in a similar grade of development, and such as was formerly performed by Irish immigrants, and, to some extent, by the less efficient and progressive classes of native-born laborers, is performed by human beings only when they can be had cheap. If there is no one willing to work at the wages which can be earned in such occupa tions, and if the industrial efficiency of the individual worker is such as to justify his employment at higher wages elsewhere, it does not mean —it never has meant that these industries will be discontinued. It means that they will be performed by machinery or by processes from which the more disagreeable features have been eliminated.
The sweat-shop has never been a necessity of New York City ; but it is a natural product of the presence of large numbers of people who can be worked in sweat-shops. Through organization and legislation the particular trades which were ten years ago, or even five years ago, carried on in sweat-shops, have been largely transferred to decent workshops and factories ; and it is reasonable to believe that the grade of efficiency represented by the sweat-shop would disappear if it were not for the continued supply through immigration of those who have been accustomed to, and will accept, the lower standard ; and who, from the point of view of the individual manufacturer, are more profitable than decent workshops and improved machinery.