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That this is nt a fanciful anxiety is only too readily proved. Any one who is desirous of knowing in practical detail the degrading e."ect 01 this constant importation of the lowest forms of laborcan d vivid picture of its results in the very interesting book just published by Sir. Bius. entitled "How the Other Half Lives." The story which he tells of the condition of a large mass of the laboring population in the city of sewl York is enough to alarm every thinking man: and this dreadful condition of thiugs is intensified every day by the steady inflow of immigration. which is constantly puliingdown the wages of the working people of New York end affecting in a similar way the entire labor market of the United States. In a word. the continued introduction into the labor market of four hundred thousand persons annually. half of whom have ino occupation and most of whom represent the rudest form of labor. has a very great effect in reducing the rates of wages and disturbing Ohe labor market. This. of course. is toe obvious to need comment. and this tendency to constantly lower wages by the competition of an increasing end deteriorating immigration is a danger to the people of the United States the gravity of which can hardly be overestimated. oreover. the shifting of the sources of the immigration is unfavorable and is briingng to the country people whom it is very difficult to assimilate and who do not promise well for the standard of niviliztion in the United States. a matter as serious as the effect on the labor market. The question. therefore. arisesand there is no more important question before the American peoplewhat shall be done to protect our labor against this eundue competition and to guard our citizenship against an infusion which seems to threaten deterioration? .e have the power. of course. to prohibit all immigration or to limit the number of persons to be admitted to the country annually. orfwbich would have the same effectto impose upon immigants a heavy capitation tax. Such rough and stringent measures are certainly neither necessary nor desirable if we can overcome the difficulties and dangers of the situation by more moderate legislation. These methods.moreFEBRUAny 19. over. are indiscriminate. and what is to be desired. if possible. is restriction which shall at the same time discriminate. Ve demand now that immigrants shall not be paupers or diseased or criminals. but these and all other existing requirements arc vague. and the methods provided for their enforcement are still more indefinite and are perfectly Ineffective. Any law to be of use must require. in the first place. that immigrants shall bring from their native country. from the United Stateseonsul orother diplomatic representative. an effective certificate that they are not obnoxious to any of the existing laws of the Unitcd States. We ought. in addition. to make our test still more definite by requiring a medical certificate in order to exclude unsound and diseased persons. In reference to this matterof medical inspection. Surgeon General Hamilton. in his report just published. states. as an illustration of the inefficiency of the present law. that of fifteen insane persons and eleven idiots reported by the medical officer at New York. four of the insane and all of the idiots were permitted to land. In this same report. which is one of the ablest and most important papers that have appeared on the subject of immigration. Dr. Hamilton 2ys further that every emigrant should "produce to the consul a certificate from a legally qualified resident physician to the effect that such emigrant is at the time suffering from ro contagious or chronic disease or disability." Dr. Hamilton also states that at the present time thereis no medical inspection whatever of immigrants except at the port of New York. and thus we havepractically no protection against the importation of disease or insanity. W ought also to insist that the Consular ccrtificate be given only after careful inquiry and due proof. and we must make a further definite test which will discriminate against illiteracy if we desire any intelligent restriction or sifting of the total mass of immigration. It is a truism to say that one of the greatest dangers to our free government is ignorance. Everyone knows this to be the case. and that the danger can be overcome only byconstanteffort and vigilance. We spend millions annually in educating our children that they may be nt to be citizens and rulers of the Republic. We are ready to educate also the children who come to us from other countries. but it is not right to ask us to take annually a large body of persons who are totally illiterate and who are for the most part beyond the age at which education can be imparted. We have the riht to exclude illiterate persons from our immigration. and this test. combined with the others of a more general character. would in all probability shut out a large partof the undesirable portion of the present immigration. It would reduce in a discriminating manner the total number of immigrants. and would thereby greatly benefit thelabor market andhelp to maintain the rate of American wages. At the same time it would sift the immigrants who come to thiscountry. and would shut out in a very large measure those elements which tend to lower the quality of American citizenship. and which now in many cases gather in dangerousmasses in the slums of our greateities. Thinecasure proposed would benefit every honest immigrant who really desired to come to the United States and become an American citizen. and would stop none. It would exclude many. if not all. of those persons whose presence no one desires and whose exclusionis demanded by our duty to our own citizens and to American institutions. Above all. it would be a protection and a help to our workingmen. who are more directly interested inthisgreatquestion than any one else can possibly be.