Speech #650278601

I quote from this article: Now. let us see just what has happened to this 35.000.000 since the war began. He assumes that the man power of the United States is 35.000.000The first thing to bear in mind is that with the beginning of the European war the greatest source of increase for our man power was cut off. We used to get an increase of a million man power a year through immigration. We now gct substantially nothing. Few people recognize the significance. in a business and economic sense. of this cutting off of immigration. The immigrant was almost the only source of what we call "day labor" the men who do the building and repairing of railroads. the mending of streets and roads. mining. and the rough work of steel mills and other factories. We have gone on as if this source of our labor were a perpetual fountain. We have not stopped to consider the business and economic and social changes which must come about when the fountain runs dry. and we are compelled to adapt ourselves to a condition very strange to us. Moreover. an Immigrant raised to maturity.. with all the expense of his nurture and training paid by his own country. delivered at our gates free of charge as a working unit of man power. was a valuable asset. Valued even in the way that slaves were valued before the Civil War. and taking into account the change of standards. he was worth at least $2.000. A million immigrants a year were worth $2.000.000.000. That is. roughly.. equal to the value of our wheat crop and our corn crop added together. If our entire wheat crop and our entire corn crop were complete failures in any one year. we should hear a great deal about it. As a. matter of fact. the cutting off of our Immigration of a million man power a year was a more serious matter than the loss of our wheat and corn crops. For the cessation of immigration was not for one year merely but for as long as the war lastsand it may very well be for always. Again: After the cessation of the accustomed increase. the most obvious thing that has happened to our man power is that 2.000.000 of it between the ages of 21 and 31 have gone into the Army and are no longer at their accustomed posts in factories. mines. offices. and farms. This 2.000.000 is the best of our man power.