Women and children in Rumania, Law regulating employment of

Women and children, Legislation affecting hours of labor and employment of

Wood alcohol [Resolutions of painters concerning],

Woolen goods- -reduction in hours of labor,

Workers, Protection of

Working population, Zürich, 1905,

Wyoming: Inheritance tax, 1905,

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Among the various social and industrial problems with which the present generation has to deal, the question of immigration is one of the most prominent. The three great features of the problem are Selection, Distribution, and Industrial Assimilation, or, in other words, who and what our immigrants are; where they are going, and what they intend to do after they get there; and whether they will conform readily to our social and industrial life — and become " Americanized."

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The answers to these questions must be derived from our experience in the past, actual present conditions, and from the wisdom of the future based upon past experience and present knowledge.

SELECTION.

This feature of the problem is determined by United States laws. All immigrants are subjected to official inquiries which are recorded, and when tabulated form the basis of the annual report of the CommissionerGeneral of Immigration of the United States. The principal inquiries are

as follows:

1. Name.

2. Age.

3. Conjugal condition.

4. Occupation.

5. Whether able to read and write (in own language).

6. Nationality (country of which citizen or subject).

7. Race or people.

8. Last permanent residence.

9. Final destination.

10. Whether having ticket to (that) destination.

11. By whom was passage paid.

12. Amount of money in possession.

13. Whether ever before in the United States; if so, where; number

of years resident here; how long ago.

14. Whether going to join relative or friend.

The records supply the preceding information for all alien immigrants. Monthly statements are issued showing, by ports, the number landed and debarred, together with those returned by immigration authorities after landing.

The following classes of aliens are debarred: Idiots; insane persons and epileptics; paupers, or likely to become public charges, and beggars; persons with loathsome or dangerous contagious diseases; convicts; polygamists; anarchists; prostitutes and procurers; assisted immigrants; contract laborers; and those affected by the provisions of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

The New England immigration ports are Boston and New Bedford, Mass.; Portland, Me.; and Providence, R. I. Montreal is a Canadian port for immigrants entering the United States through Canada.

The proportion of those debarred to the whole number of immigrants varies, naturally, from month to month; the debarments average 12 per cent, one per cent being paupers, while the remaining half of one per cent are excluded for one or more of the reasons previously specified.

With the existing laws and regulations it would seem that our immigrants must be physically able-bodied, have some money in hand, be fairly educated, have a definite location in view, have friends or relatives, as a rule, to welcome them, and, generally, an occupation upon which to depend for a livelihood for themselves, or for their families. So far we have dealt with the theoretical side of the question. The most important practical feature has been that of

DISTRIBUTION.

If the United States were a great employer of labor, and each State or Territory were engaged in a single great industry, the question of distribution would be an easy one, for the immigrants would go to that locality where their services were required. As it is now, the personal preferences of the immigrants and not the country's industrial needs are consulted, or, rather, complied with. If all the immigrants wish to remain in the city of New York, there is no way to force them to go where their services would be more in demand. And, yet, if certain lines of industry in a city or State are over-supplied with workers, it is an injustice to those who are there as well as to the newcomers to thus further overstock the labor market. When goods are plenty prices fall, unless maintained by financial monopolies or combinations; so, also, when workers are in excess of the demand, wages are reduced, unless maintained by labor combinations.

We will now consider the distribution of the immigrant population of Massachusetts. The table which follows shows for each county, city, and town, and for the State, the number of foreign born as determined by the State Censuses of 1895 and 1905, and the increase or decrease in number in 1905 as compared with 1895.