Speech #480090826

United States io or oipo tf. i ocw"uindustry~oot at present existing orestablshed in the Urited States. provided hiled laborifor that purpose r4o not be othcrwli qbtaineet. non shell the pisiirh of this actapply to prfe6sAsil ctors. lecturrs. or pingers.". T his recommendationis founded uponl. th.: investigations of the.committee. andthe nouelsion to which .thecommittee have come. basedfuoup h sib Invp tigation. is that the evils complained of and sought to be remedied by thebill actually ad tWan alarxiing extent exist. The bill in 4o0measure seeks to restrict fre immigration... Sorbh s~propostation would be. and.justly~so. odious to the .American people.. The foreigner wiso voluntarily and f$rom choice leaves his native land and settles ic this country. wth the intention of becoming an Americancitizen. asart of UhAmerican body politic. has always been welcome tourshores.. As a recent writer well said- . "S uchirec jijmigranthy his coing to this country ivesa cerlaip assurace as .o his lity totake creAo himself audo h old up the standard of. social wcllrheing which bhrd~ds alrady dstiog among opr working classes." uehan immigrant comeshere because the institutions of thecountry are .in consonance with his social and poiticalides. and beqauseof the advantages anr~d opportunities efforded by. the -.tentof our domain and. its material re. sources. te coses to better his social andfinancialconditiont toake adv an tage of .the faqilities whilh he finds ber. andis. he comes of sis own volition. by his own means. and from choie. he alwaYS exacts for Isfis labor the highest rates which the market aftdns. No one is injured by.Isis coming. andas he generally. ma.kes a fgood .citizen. ttbe iState. is. benefited by the. awnisition.: These immigraffts are: generally of a higher class. socially. morally.. and intellectuall y and have aided largelt i- the developmentof our ndustries and the material progressof our people.. With this lass ef immigrants this bill. baa no concern Its object is. to restrict and prlohibittheimmigration Or ratlher thpinLportation of oiugentirely.Idifferent 4lAss of persons..the immigrant who .does. not comeby " L his own initiative. buItbythatof the capitalJst. It seeks torestrain and prohibit the immigration re importation. of laborers who wouid havue neverseen our shores but for the ind enents and allurements of men whose only object i to obtainlabor at the Iowest possible rate. regardless of thesocial and material. wellbeing of nor owncitizens and regardless o the evil onse. qunces which result.to Amerian lahorers from such immigration.. This class of immigrants care nothing about our institutions. and in alisy in.. stances never even. heard of them . they are men whose. passage is paid by the importers . they. once here under .cuntraet~to labor .foe a. certain number of years.. they are ignorant of our sociat conditions. and that they may remain so theyare isolated and 1prevented from. cominginto contact with Americans. They are generally from. the lowest social stratum. and live upon the coarsest food and in hovels of aharacter before :unkaown. to. Amnerican workmen. .Bring bound by contract they arc unable enere they so. disposed. to take ad. vantage of the facilities afforded by the country to which they havebeen imported. They. as a role. do not become citizens. and arc certainlylnot a desirable aeqqisitiono. tle. boly5politi.. hen th4eir term of. nniret. servitude expires their place is supplied by fresh importations. .The inevitabletendency of -their presenee among ga is to degraode American labor .and reduce it to the level of the impprtcd pauper labor. -The demand fox the enactment of some restrictive measure of this character comes not alone from American workmenl but also from employers oflabor in America. The employers of labor who from inability.or from.patriotis motives. employ only American workingmenare unable to compete inthe markets with the. corporations. who employ the cheap imported labor . . . � ! : As an evidence f .the .truth of this proposition. tie glassmanufactutrers of Pittsburgb. including. all the. large employers of labor in that industry. in January. 1880. denounced the action of the manufacturers .vest of Pittsburgh in importing European workmen ii.place ofidischargedAmerican workmen. :. . This evil has become so extensive. alarming. and great .th tthe .attention:.of our foreign consuls has been direeted to it f - - Henry Sterne. esq.. United.States consul at BudaPesth..Hungary says: "There seems to be an agency at work which by misrepresentations induces people to leave their homes who will not better their condition. thereby. nor benefit the country.which receives them. People inquire by letter! and in person lo this consulate about this agency pfwhich they. ve heard. or read. Someeven claim that this consulate has instructions from its Government to ssist people in immigrating. I am under the impression that the Uited States Government does not approve of immigration brought abouthy such irregular means and) of the. character described. and therefore beg leave to suggest whether steps could or should. not be taken to correct the evil. if I may be permitted to term it such. I have information that agents are managing the business a good deal in the manner of the cooly trade. and that these immigrants are shipped to the United Statesabout like so many cattle." (SeeiState Department. report. 1881- 82.) Count 3Esterhazy. an intelligent. cultivated Hungariah. at present Austrian consul to this country. who has established a bureau for the protection of Hungarian immigrants. says : There is no doubt that a contract system is: being carried on. and I believe it has reached larger proportions than any one believes. Certain it is that great nurmrers of immigrants are landed on these shores &ho are owned byt capitdlisis. As lr asI. k o0w. persons whoI have. been so imported aro.satisfied. bt this fact does not apo9gize for the system. J havelo gendcavoredol disqover who the parties are .Abn obtain th imnigrAnt tl5othdrbsiertit bavethu far been Unsieessful. I certainly hope that Congresswillpassome late tO put a stop to such immigration." Superintendent Jackson. of Castle Garden. says. speakinglon this subjeci I have no doubt that this system is carried op. to a great extent hby corporation in this eduitrywho have their agents SbroJad Every now and thon large gangs of laborers arrive. all bound for the same town. They are generally taken in charge by some person or persons who come here to meet them. Some few weeks ago a party composed of about sixty Irish and German girls arrived. all of whom were going to one of the large silkmanufacturing establishments in New Jersey.