Thompson. secretary of state of New Hampshire found a letter written by the last royal governor of the colony of New Hampshire. in which he informed the home government that there were no manufactures in New Hampshire and he would take good care that none - were established. That was the key to Great Britains attitude towards America then and since. Now. suppose. instead of three principal classes of immigrants arriving on these shores. laborers. farmers. and artisans. there had been one class. and that class all farmers. Such a condition would have trebled the agricultural products of the United States. and wheat as well as corn. and barley as well as wheat. burned for fuel in every State instead of one. would be the story that every speaker on the other side of this Chamber would be rolling as a sweet morsel under his tongue. Fortunately for these 14.000.000 immigrants they found a different situation here from that which Adam Smith and Governor Wentworth had marked out for America. They found here a condition of wonderfully diversified industry. They found that they need not all become farmers. but some could be farmers. some planters. some operatives. some merchants. some professional men. some mechanics. and some "jacks at all trades." These 14.000.000 immigrants discovered something else. also. They discovered that the wages paid here were nearly double the wages paid in Europe. and that the chances for getting on in the world. of making XXI30a comfortable living and being somebody. were 100 per cent. better for poor men in the New World than in the Old. if this were not so the movement of population from Europe to America would stop. It will not stop. it will continue. In the next one hundred years the population of the United States will rise to 200.000.000. rendering a diversification of industry in this country a greater necessity than it is even today. So long as half a million of people are added annually to our population so long should the market of the United States be reserved to ourselves. Only a small part of these immigrants can become farmers. If an undue proportion should year after year become tillers of the soil the present wise adjustment would be broken up. and exceedingly low prices. general distress. and universal discontent would follow. To maintain this diversification is the problem before this Congress and is the object of the McKinley bill.
Keywords matched
immigrants