under the pressure of competition wages fall or that the days of work are reduced, and, logically, that the standard of living is lowered. When such things happen a community is not in a sound economic condition. A million aliens a year are not too many, possibly, for a country so large and generally so prosperous as the United States, provided that the million is properly distributed."

There are three ways under discussion by which the stream of immigration can be cut down. An educational test is being urged by many public men. Aliens, these men argue, should be able to read and write their own language. The reply is made in opposition to this suggestion that the literacy test would exclude many young and healthy aliens, and admit agitators and persons living principally by their ingenuity.

Another proposal is to base all future immigration on the number of aliens now in the United States from each country. If that idea became a law, there would be a large decrease in the number or immigrants admitted from Greece, Italy, and AustriaHungary, but there would be no appreciable effect upon immigration from Russia, and no effect whatever upon immigration from Great Britain, France, and Germany, or the countries of northern Europe.

A third plan for reducing immigration is to admit immigrants to eastern ports of the country in proportion to the population of the countries from which they come, taking into account at the same time the condition of business in the United States. Under this scheme Russia would fare best, and Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Italy, and England would follow in order as given.

Foreign language societies, Hebrew societies, those political economists who maintain that men should move without hindrance wherever they choose, and certain large corporations which view with composure an over-supplied labor market, are antagonistic to all attempts further to limit the human tide that is sweeping in upon the shores of the United States.

Organized labor, patriotic societies, and some organizations of farmers are urging additional restrictive legislation. The literacy test is approved by organized labor and the patriotic associations. Fiftysix per cent. of the immigrants arriving from southern Italy are illiterate. The education laws of Italy are the same north and south. There are striking dissimilarities, however, between the people of the two regions.

One day I said to Secretary Wilson:

"Thousands of men working in this country returned to Europe at the call of their countries and are now engaged in war. Should aliens who come here to find work be required to take out papers of naturalization?"

"I do not think so," Secretary Wilson answered. "The alien who becomes a citizen or takes steps to become a citizen should do so freely and not under any sort of compulsion. He should want to be an American, should believe in our institutions, and love liberty. Such a man will make a good citizen and his children will be patriotic Americans. It would be no gain to the country were he forced to accept citizenship; on the contrary, it would be an injury.

"Besides, if entrance to the United States were conditional on citizenship, nothing could prevent an alien

from applying for first papers, thus signifying his intention, and then refusing later to complete the required process. Fraud would be encouraged, and we should be making a mockery, as I see it, of a sacred privilege."

In discussing this question of the restriction of immigration, Secretary Wilson is very sympathetic with the immigrant, but he says:

"We must not think simply of the man who wants to enter our country; but we must also think of those who have already come in. They need protection as much as the immigrant needs sympathy. When we let them into a country, we assume a responsibility as well as a burden. We owe it to them not to take in too many or more than the nation can well assimilate.

"If men were mere machines, then we could afford to take in anybody who would produce more than he would consume. Under such conditions we should need simply to balance the producing and consuming qualities of our immigrants. But immigrants are not machines. Not only have they souls which we must consider, but they bring with them other things besides the power to produce and consume. Immigrants can bring disease, not only of the body but also of the mind. A machine will consume raw material and turn out the finished product. We know its limitations as well as its capacity. An immigrant, however, does much more than consume and produce. Every immigrant has a certain moral influence in this country, either for good or for evil. Moreover, he has this influence with a foreign group, a group which it is difficult for the rest of us to reach."

CHAPTER IV

HIS BOYHOOD ENDS-JOINING THE UNION.

A slight little fellow, not yet in his teens,
His arms to his elbows tucked down in his jeans;
No cares for the present, no thoughts of the past,
No plans for the future, no troubles that last;
No bird as it sings o'er its nest in the tree
Its ode to the morning more happy than he,
His loud ringing whistle, clear, piercing, and shrill,
Re-echoes the joys of his heart o'er the hill—
He is starting in life as a miner.

THIS description of a happy little lad is taken from one of Mr. Wilson's own poems.

We can well imag

One need only look

ine it pictures his own boyhood. at the Secretary's face to realize that he must always have been cheery, even when his later life brought him many cares and responsibilities.

After the family was safely landed at Arnot, and settled in a home, naturally the next thing was to start the children in school. Reuben Howland, an oldtime schoolmaster, was in charge of the public school, and what little early education Billy had was attained in this school, supplemented with tutoring by this Mr. Howland. The boy had had quite a vacation since the days with the tall teacher with the black curls in Scotland, when he plunged through reader after reader at breakneck speed. He probably, like other children, had enjoyed the activity and changes of the journey to the new home, in spite of its discomforts, but no doubt he was now glad to begin to study again.

The happy little fellow trudged along to school, day after day, care-free and full of play. His eagerness to learn would surely make him excel in his lessons, and his natural boylike exuberance would cause him to enter enthusiastically into the sports of the playground. We may be sure that Billy was popular; the same traits that have won him the love and support of his townspeople and fellow workers everywhere, were present in the small boy's disposition. We can imagine him a leader among the boys, as he afterward became prominent in settling difficulties among workers. This was the one period of Bill's life when he was free from responsibility and bent on getting the most out of life for himself.

Yet, even at this time, life was not all fun for Bill. He tells of the first money he ever earned, saying: "The first real money I ever earned was about two dollars, collected from the neighbors for carrying water, running errands, and being general messenger and delivery boy for the community."

This must have been before he left school, and must have been gathered slowly little by little, for other people in that community were poor, too, and we may be sure they could not afford to pay much for the services that Bill rendered. Now, what did the boy do with this hard-earned two dollars? Did he hand it over to his mother to help in buying necessary clothing or supplies? Did he put it aside for future need? Or did he invest it so that it would bring him some return later? The boy's thirst for knowledge decided. His parents wisely let him use the money as he wished. He says:

"With that large sum I purchased a second-hand