Speech #620269134

The commission. after nearly four years of investigation and study of the question both in this country and in Europe. made its report to Congress more than a year ago. There were nine members of that commission. and they were unanimous in the following statement: The commission as a whole recommends restriction as demanded by economic. moral. and social considerations. furnishes in its report reasons for such restrictions. and points out methods by which Congress can attain the desired result if its judgment coincides with that of the commission. Eight out of the nine. after citing various methods of restriction. concurred in the following report: A majority of the commission favor the reading and writing test as the most feasible single method of restricting undesirable immigration. It is certainly interesting. and I believe important. to know some of the reasons which led the commission up to these conclusions. and I will make a few extracts from the "Brief statelnent of conclusions and recommendations of the commission." On page 25 of this statement they say: The proportion of the more serious crimes of homicide. blackmail. and robbery. as well as the least serious offenses. is greater among the foreign born. The disproportion in this regard is due principally to the prevalence of homicides and other crimes of personal violence among Italians and to the violation of city ordinances previously. mentioned. On pages 29 and 30 they say: It is certain that southern and eastern European immigrants have almost completely monopolized unskilled labor activities in many of the more important industries. This phase of tIhe industrial situation was made the most im ortant and exhaustive feature of the commissions investigation. anS the results show that while the competition of these immigrants.has had little. if any. effect on the highly skilled trades. nevertheless. through lack of industrial progress and by reason of large and constant reenforcement from abroad. it has kept conditions in the semiskilled and unskilled occupations from advancing. Several elements peculiar to the new immigrants contributed to this result. They came from countries where low economic conditions prevailed and where conditions of labor were bad. They were content to accept wages and conditions which the native Americans and immigrants of the older class had come to regard as unsatisfactory. They were not. as a rule. engaged at lower wages than had been paid to the older workmen for the same class of labor. but their presence in constantly increasing numbers prevented progress nong the older wageearning class. and as a result that class of employees was gradually replaced. An instance of this displacement is shown in the experience in the bituminous coal mines of western Pennsylvania. This section of the bituminous field was the one first entered by tle new immigrants. and the displacement of the old workers was soon under way. Some of them entered other occupations and many of them migrated to the coal fields of the Middle West. Later these fields were also invaded by the new immigrants. and large numbers of the old workers again migrated to the inines of the Southwest. where they still predominate. The effect of the new immigration is clearly shown in the western ennsylvania fields. where the average wage of the bituminous coal worker is 42 cents a day below the average wage in the Middle West and SouthWest. Incidentally. hours of labor are longer and general working conditions poorer in the Pennsylvania mines than elsewhere. Another characteristic of the new immigrants contributed to the situation in Pennsylvania. This was the impossibility of successfully organizing them into labor unions. Several attempts at organization were made. but the constant influx of immigrants to whom prevailing conditions seemed unusually favorable contributed to the failure to organize. A similar situation has prevailed in other great industries. like most of the immigration from southern and eastern Europe. those who entered the leading industries were largely single men or married men unaccompanied by their families. There is. of course. in practically all industrial communities a large number of families of the various races. but the majority of the employees are men without families here and whose standard of living is so far below that of the native American or older immigrant workman that it is impossible for the latter to successfully compete with theta. They usually live In cooperative groups and crowd together. Consequently. they are able to save a great part of their earnings. touch of which is sent or carried abreai. Moreover. there is a strong tendency on fits part of these unaccoapanied men to return to their native counlries after a few years of labor here. These groups have little contact with American life. learn little of American institutions. and aside from tile wages earned ptolit little by their stay in this country. During their early years in the United States they usually rely for assistance and advice el some member of their race. frequently t saloon keeper or grocer. atd almost always a steamship ticket agent and "immigrant banker." who. because of superior intelligence and better knowledge of American ways. comitIds their confidence. After a longer residence they usually become more selfreliant. but their progress toward assimilation is generally slow. Immigrant families in the industrial centers are more permanent and usually exhibit a stronger tendency toward advttcement. although. in most cases. it is a long time before they even approach the ordinary standard of the Anmerican or the older immigrant families in the same grade of occupation. This description. of course. is not universally true. but it fairly represents a great part of the recent immigrnt population in the United States. Their numbers are so great and the influx is so continuous that even with the remarkable expansion of industry during the past few years there has been crested tin oversupply of unskilled labor. and in some of the Industries t his is reflected i a curtailed number of working days and a consequent yearly income among tie unskilled workers which is very much less than is indicated by the daily wage rates paid: and while It may not have lowered in a toarked desrer the American standard of living. it has introduced a lower standard which has beconte prevalent in the unskilled industry at large. On pages 33 and 34 they say: ASSIMILATION OF iih1i5GRANTS. It is difficult to define and still more difficult to correctly measure the tendency of newer immigrant races toward Americanization. or assimitlation into the body of the American people. If. howeve. the tendency to acquire citizenship. to learn the English language. and to abandati native customs and standards of living mtay he considered as factors. it is found that many of the more recent immigrants are backward in this regard. while some others have nmade excellent progress. The absence of family life. whlich is so conspicuous among many southern1 and eastemn Europeans in the United States. is undoubtedly the influence which most effectlvely retards assimilation. The great majority of some of these races tire represented intthe United States by single men or men whose wives and families are in their native country.