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A. Paupers, idiots, contract laborers, the Chinese, and several other cla.s.ses of people are already excluded.
B. The subject has been discussed in legislatures, in political meetings, from pulpits, in reform clubs, and among individuals.
II. The problem divides itself into two distinct questions:--
A. Is it for the advantage of the United States that immigration be further checked or limited?
B. If so, in what way should the check or limit be applied?
III. These questions must be considered, first, from the industrial point of view; and, secondly, from the political point of view.
DISCUSSION.
Immigration should not be further restricted, for
I. From an industrial point of view, the United States needs immigrants, for
A. Without question, immigrants represent laboring power.
B. The United States needs more laboring power, for
1. Admittedly, the introduction of laboring power into an undeveloped or partially developed country is advantageous up to the saturation point.
a. Adam Smith says that labor is the wealth of nations.
b. The history of America has borne out this statement, for
1'. The laborer has turned the forests, fields, and mines into wealth.
2. The United States is still under-populated, for
a. There is a smaller population to the square mile than in many European countries, for
1'. In 1890 the Netherlands had the average of three hundred and fifty-nine inhabitants to the square mile
2'. Great Britain had the average of three hundred and eleven.
3'. Germany had two hundred and thirty-four.
4'. France had one hundred and eighty-seven.
5'. In about one-third of the whole area of the United States, the average is less than six.
6'. In certain more thickly settled portions the average is from seven to forty-five.
7'. In New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, the average is from forty-five to ninety.
8'. In a small territory made up of parts of Ma.s.sachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, the average is over ninety.
9'. In the United States as a whole, the average is twenty.
II. From a political point of view, the immigrants who are arriving at our sh.o.r.es make good citizens, for
A. Their previous political training has been such as to render them capable of learning how to perform the duties of American citizens.h.i.+p, for
1. Of the 500,000 immigrants that arrived in 1891, Germany sent approximately 100,000.
2. Italy sent 76,000.
3. Austria sent 78,000.
4. England and Ireland sent 50,000 each.
5. Russia, exclusive of Poland, sent 47,000.
6. Sweden sent 36,000.
7. Poland sent 27,000.
8. Scotland, Norway, and Denmark sent 12,000 each.
9. Switzerland sent 6,000.
10. The Netherlands sent 5,000.
11. France sent 6,000.
12. Belgium sent 3,000.
13. Except in Russia and Poland, the elements of representative government are not wholly unknown to these people, for
a. In most of these countries some form of popular government has either wholly or partially gained a footing.
B. The duties of the American citizen are not hard to learn, for
1. Republican inst.i.tutions are not very complicated.
C. The political ignorance of the immigrant can be remedied, for
1. Before extending immigrants the franchise, States can insist on requirements that will secure some preliminary training in free political inst.i.tutions, since
a. The right to vote is entirely a matter of State regulation, for
1'. Citizens.h.i.+p, which is regulated by Congress, does not carry with it the franchise.
b. Already twenty-two States allow no one to vote who has not been in the United States at least five years.
c. Ma.s.sachusetts and Connecticut have an educational test.
