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society better than the men who constitute it would convince even the most rabid, that the kind of liberty which they desired must be its own destruction. Or, to quote Goethe:

"For pure perfection's heights will unrestrained

Wild spirits vainly strive with sure disaster.
By well-directed strength is greatness gained
In limitation proves himself the master,

And but through law can freedom be attained."

There is another danger to which I would, in this connection, call your attention. We hear much in this country about the protection of American labor. We pay an enormous sum, annually (far beyond the needs of the Government) for the ostensible purpose of protecting American labor. But how does this system operate? As long as Castle Garden remains open, and an unceasing stream of immigrants eager and willing to work for anything they can get (as long as they can keep soul and body together) pour in through this unbarred flood-gate, and underbid the native laborer in all markets, it is the employer who is protected, and not the laborer. If the freight-handlers or cigarmakers or bricklayers strike (whether for adequate cause or not), there is usually no difficulty in filling their places with newly arrived recruits from Castle Garden. No wages are so small now that there is no one who will accept them. Hungarians who sleep on mattresses on the floor, and eight and ten in one room, who pick their dinners out of the ash barrels, and change their linen once a month, can manage to live on wages which to selfrespecting American laborers would scarcely suffice to starve on. And what is more, the Hungarians will manage to save something. Competition in business often compels a manufacturer to engage the cheapest labor he can procure, because his rivals would otherwise be enabled to undersell and ruin him. He is sometimes obliged to discharge self-respecting workmen whom he would rather keep, and employ foreigners whose grade of living is lower, because his competitors are already benefiting by the cheaper labor. Wages thus show a tendency to reach the level where they represent bare existence on the lowest possible plane, and the laborers themselves, in their struggle to procure employment, engage in a mutual competition to reduce the cost of living to the lowest possible figure. The Labor Statistics of the Massachusetts Bureau for 1884 show that the average earnings of the heads of

families working in factories were $196 less than the actual cost of maintaining such families; the difference, therefore, had to be made up by child labor. Now if economic forces show this tendency, is it not evidence that something is radically wrong? For surely no one can be blind enough to suppose that it is for the good of society, to reduce a large class of its members to a plane of living which must be degrading, and destructive of every higher instinct. The Rev. Father Huntington has, in his article on "Tenement House Morality," forcibly demonstrated the effect of miserable surroundings upon the morals of laboring men and women. "If you have

to live like a pig, you soon get to behave like one, too," said a Swedish immigrant woman to me last winter, when I asked her how she could afford to live in three rooms while her husband was out of work.

And it is a fact that the moral degradation wrought by filth and perpetual discomfort would suffice in itself to unfit a man for American citizenship. People thus situated cannot foster the spirit of self-restraint, respect for the law, and patriotism, which is, and must be, the head corner-stone of a republic. If immigration, by introducing an undue competition with civilizations lower than ours, depresses the moral and intellectual level of American citizenship, it is a direct menace to our institutions.

There are yet a few points which I wish to touch upon before concluding. First, it has been urged that restriction of immigration would have an unfavorable effect upon business, by excluding skilled labor, for which we now, to a large extent, depend upon Europe. A native American who has gone through the public schools rarely takes up a trade, except as a temporary expedient. He hopes by his cleverness soon to be beyond the necessity of working with his hands. If he learns the printer's trade, it is with the idea of some day becoming an editor. If he becomes a carpenter or a mason, it is with a view to acquiring wealth as a builder or contractor for public works. If he is a conductor or an engineer, he expects to become a railroad president. Now, within certain limits, this is no doubt a laudable spirit, and as long as immigration furnishes a steady supply of men ready and willing to work with their hands, it is quite natural that the native mechanic, who has an advantage in knowing the resources of the country and the conditions of trade, should rise upon the shoulders of the rest. But, for every one who succeeds, how many hundreds are there

who fail, because of this unbridled ambition! Is it not due to this spirit of impatience at, and contempt for, slow and honest toil that so many speculators, gamblers, sporting men, and other anomalous characters fill our cities and endeavor to make a living out of the corruption of politics? I feel confident that such is the case. It is, again, the spirit of the public school which bears a large share of the responsibility. And I believe that, when industrial training shall have been introduced instead of the present miscellany of accomplishments; when children shall acquire in the school a definite, useful, practical knowledge, fitting them, not for Presidents of the United States, but for the work and the responsibilities of their lives in humble or exalted stations, in accordance with their powers-then we shall no longer have to depend upon Europe for our skilled labor.

It will possibly be inferred by some who have done me the honor to listen to this address, that I entertain a low opinion of foreigners. If I have conveyed any such impression, let me hasten to correct it. I do not believe that there is any peculiar virtue in American birth, or that Americans are, per se, superior to all other nations; but I do believe that they are better fitted than all others to govern their own country. They made the country what it is, and ought to have the first voice in determining what it is to be. In this alone consists their superiority. It would be folly to object to the immigrated races, as races. It is as individuals that they are objectionable, if objectionable at all. I know many naturalized citizens of German, Scandinavian and English birth whose noble character and intelligent interest in public affairs would make them an acquisition to any country. In fact, the great majority of the immigrants of these races are, and have always been, useful and honorable men. The circumstance that we receive from Germany a considerable number of anarchists and socialists, ought not to prejudice us against a nationality which has contributed such excellent elements to our population. It is a question, perhaps, which I shall not undertake to answer, whether, at the present time, aliens, even of an unobjectionable character, are as great a gain to this country as they were twenty or thirty years ago. Quite apart from any question of character, they complicate, by their mere alienism, the problems of self-government, and by their mere presence give rise to economic convulsions and industrial disturbances, which must react unfavorably upon all classes

and conditions of citizens. It is not necessarily because they are bad that we would largely limit their number, but because the nation needs time to assimilate he foreign elements which it already has, before it can with safety receive more; for when assimilation ceases, the coherence, nay, the very existence, of the nation. is in peril. I hope, therefore, that you will not put me down as a rabid Know-nothing, whose bigotry has unsettled his judgment. I need scarcely say that I am myself a foreigner-a Norseman ; or, if you like, I am an older American than any of you, for Leif Erikson, a countryman of mine, took out my naturalization papers, in Massachusetts, nearly 500 years before Columbus set foot on this continent. I spring from the parent stock, from which came Duke Rollo and William the Conqueror; and it is no effort for a man of my blood to enter into the American spirit of constitutional liberty -freedom limited by self-imposed law-for that spirit first arose among the mountains of Norway, and spread from there to England and to America.

Now, gentlemen, I believe I have stated the problem as clearly as I am capable of doing. If you ask me what is to be the remedy, I shall have to admit that it presents unusual difficulties, some of which appear almost insuperable. We have taken a step (and I think a proper one) in excluding the Chinese; but I fear that legislation aiming at the exclusion of any definite nationality of the Caucasian race would not be upheld by public opinion. I think it is highly desirable, for many reasons, to exclude the Slavonic race; but I have no expectation that it will ever be done. Equally impracticable would it be to legislate against certain classes among different races. There is no sign by which an anarchist or a socialist is known, and there is no possible way of distinguishing him from his fellow-travelers on his arrival at Castle Garden. All tests of character also are worthless, because there are a hundred ways of evading them. A head-tax of $20 or $30, levied by the United States, would have the effect of excluding the great majority of the undesirable ones, but it would also exclude a great many who might be regarded as desirable. Moreover, it would be amenable to the objection that it is undemocratic, because it would favor the comparatively well-to-do at the expense of the poor. In fact, there is no imaginable method of separating the sheep from the goats, nor of framing a law which would not be felt by many to be a hardship and an injustice. The mere lengthening of the

term of residence required for naturalization from five to ten years would, I think, scarcely have any perceptible effect in lessening the number of arrivals; for it is not the prospect of political liberty which allures the immigrant to our shores nowadays, but it is the prospect of gaining an ampler and an easier livelihood. Nevertheless, the lengthening of the term would, on other grounds, be highly desirable, and I hope it will be done.

The plan of restriction which I proposed some years ago is by no means an ideal measure; but it will, if properly enforced, have the effect of shutting out the very worst classes; and it has the additional advantage of being perfectly feasible. My idea would be that no immigrant should be permitted to land, unless he can exhibit a certificate signed by the American consul residing nearest to his home, testifying to his good character and showing that he complies with the conditions, whatever they may be, which Congress may see fit to impose. In all European countries such information is easily accessible; the parish, communal and police authorities usually being able to furnish all information desired, concerning the individals within their jurisdiction. If the task of collecting these data were imposed upon the consuls, it would, of course, greatly increase the labor and responsibility of these officials; and would necessitate a considerable increase in their number. But as a consulate in all but the principal commercial cities is at present a sinecure, this objection need scarcely be regarded as a serious one. A weightier objection would be the opportunity for bribery and corruption which such a law would offer to officials of questionable morality. But such opportunities exist throughout the public service, and must exist as long as human nature is what it is. If the proper care is exercised in the selection of consular officers, and if it were clearly understood that the policy of the administration favored restriction rather than indiscriminate hospitality, the object of the law would, no doubt, be accomplished in lessening the total number of immigrants and excluding the most undesirable classes.

In conclusion, permit me to reply to a criticism which no doubt will be made by many, and which lies near at hand. Here is a man, you will say, who, having himself accepted the hospitality of the American nation, proposes to slam the door in the face of all those who wish to follow his example. Well, if it were a mere personal question, with no wider bearings, I presume I should be liable to such a charge. I may say, however, that my father made

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