The two main facts about the.American industries are. first. that labor is scarce. and. secondly. that wages have been high relatively to those prevailing in other countries. that they have risen very much within the last 50 years and are still rising. 2. There is almost universal assent to the proposition that every healthy. honest laborer who comes hither from other lands contributes appreciably to the productiveness and wealth of. the country. Lately. however. there Is a disposition to make a distinction between the skilled and the unskilled Immigrant. and between the immigrant who comes to stay and the immigrant who comes for a few years to lay up money enough to enable him to live comfortably in his fatherland. but even an unskilled laborer who works faithfully makes an addition to the wealth of the country. although not so large an addition as the skilled laborer. and every luimigrant who. after a few years. returns to his native land with his savings must have done good work for the country during his entire stay here. else he would not have saved money enough to go home with contentedly. The unskilled laborer who only lives a few years in the United States is no exception to the general rule that every healthy and faithful laborer is profitable to the country and that more labor Is needed In every branch of American industry. 3. An educational test to resist immigration is both misdirected and untimely. It is misdirected. because ability to read is no proof of either health or character. Many entirely illiterate persons are vigorous. honest. and of sound judgment in affairs and in the conduct of life.
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