One thing, however, seems certain—that the movement is not accomplishing all the good that it might. Many of the foregoing statements in regard to immigration have been qualified by the phrase “as at present conducted.” The peculiar circumstances which have given rise to the immigration movement certainly contain possibilities of great advantage to the human race. It ought to be possible so to utilize them as to bring about a great and permanent uplift for the whole of mankind. There is no assurance that our present policy, adopted in its main features at a time when conditions were radically different,[[394]] guarantees this uplift in its maximum degree. What, then, ought to be done about it? This is the real kernel of the immigration problem for the statesman and the practical sociologist.
One of the great difficulties with which sincere social workers have to contend in almost every field of their efforts is that practical economics has advanced so much more rapidly than practical sociology. Our knowledge of the technique of production and transportation, and of the industrial arts, has made phenomenal strides in the past century. The growth of cities, the development of the factory system, easy means of communication between all countries, the growth of the world market, advances in agricultural methods which have made the soil much more productive per unit of labor, have coöperated to introduce a new set of social conditions and problems with which we have not yet learned to grapple. Our knowledge of how to produce satisfactory social relations is far behind our knowledge of how to produce wealth. This is strikingly evident in the matter of immigration. If transportation conditions and means of communication had remained as they were at the time of the Revolution, our present immigration situation could never have arisen. There would have been a natural barrier which would have prevented too large increments of European population from entering the new country while it was working out its problems and gradually finding itself. The problems of immigration which presented themselves would have been of sufficiently moderate dimensions so that they could have been dealt with as they arose. As it is, the recent rapid development of communication has made the ease of immigration so great that we have been overwhelmed by the resulting problems. The movement of millions of people from one region to another is a phenomenon of prodigious sociological import. Modern mechanical progress has made this movement possible, before the nations or the individuals concerned have advanced far enough in social science to know how to make the most of it.
Granting that there is an immigration problem, and granting that there is a desire to grapple with it, there are two methods of attack. The first is, to pick out the obvious evils, and apply a specific to them one by one. The other is to endeavor to determine the underlying principles and to devise a consistent and comprehensive plan which will go to the root of the matter, relying upon established sociological laws. The first method is much the simpler. It is the one which has hitherto been followed out in our immigration legislation. One by one certain crying evils have been met by definite measures. After half a century of protest, paupers and criminals were refused admission. A little later contract laborers were debarred. Certain diseased classes, growing more comprehensive with the years, have been excluded. The principle of deportation has been introduced and gradually enlarged. Steamship companies have been made responsible for the return of nonadmissible aliens. The net result of these measures has unquestionably been beneficial. This type of remedy, if wisely administered, is always valuable, and should be adopted, in the absence or delay of the other kind of solution.
Certain other improvements of this general type readily suggest themselves. The steerage should be abolished, and United States inspectors placed on all immigrant-carrying vessels. If possible, better provisions should be adopted for turning back inadmissibles early on their journey. Immigrant banks and lodging houses should receive stricter supervision. The padrone system and the unrestricted contract labor system should be abolished. Tenement houses should be supervised in the strictest way possible. Every remedial agency designed to better the lot of the alien in this country should be encouraged.
It appears that many of the ills of immigration are due to faulty distribution and the lack of efficient contact between aliens and the better classes of Americans. Consequently, the need of better distribution, and various schemes for securing it, are constantly urged in the press, and in other writings on the subject. Yet we are warned to be on our guard against pinning too much faith to this solution of the problem. There are many evils which distribution alone cannot remedy, and there is competent authority for the statement that much of the agitation for better distribution emanates from interests which profit by a large immigration, and which hope in this way to blind the eyes of the American people to the more deep-seated evils, and to hush the cry for some restrictive measures. Some think, also, that if there ever was a time when any scheme of distribution would have been effective, it is now long since past.[[395]]
In such ways as the foregoing, great good may be accomplished, and many of the more obvious evils avoided or mitigated. It does not seem possible, however, that in such a manner can the greatest possible good be derived from the immigration movement. This can be achieved only through the operation of some far-reaching, inclusive plan of regulation, based on the broadest and soundest principles, in which all countries concerned will concur. The formulation of such a plan requires the greatest wisdom of which man is capable. It is possible that we have not yet advanced far enough in social science to make the construction of such a plan feasible. In such a case, it might be the part of wisdom and honor to radically restrict the numbers of immigrants until such a plan can be devised and put into operation. Otherwise, the peculiar situation of the United States among nations may disappear, and the possibilities of gain to the race be lost forever, before the maximum advantage has been secured. One of the strongest arguments for restriction at the present time is that the United States is not yet qualified to accept the responsibility of admitting unlimited numbers of eager seekers for advantages, and giving them in fullest measure those things which they desire, and which their earnest efforts merit.
One thing, meanwhile, must be remembered—the problem will not solve itself. If there are evils connected with immigration, there is no prospect that in the natural course of events they will disappear of themselves. The history of immigration has been a history of successive waves of population, from sources ever lower in the economic, if not in the social, scale. If it has seemed at any time that the country was about to adjust itself to a certain racial admixture, a new and more difficult element has presented itself. And the process will go on. As General Walker pointed out long ago, immigration of the lowest class “will not be permanently stopped so long as any difference of economic level exists between our population and that of the most degraded communities abroad.”[[396]] Under present conditions a diminution in the immigration stream should not be interpreted as a cause of congratulation, but rather deep consternation. For, except to the extent that restriction is actually accomplished by our laws, a cessation of the stream of immigration to the United States can only mean that economic conditions in this country have fallen to so low a pitch that it is no longer worth while for the citizens of the meanest and most backward foreign country to make the moderate effort to get here.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Note. A bibliography on Immigration might be extended almost indefinitely. Nearly every book written on any social question, particularly in America, contains material on immigration. The magazine articles on the subject are legion. By no means all the works which may profitably be consulted, nor all those cited in the foregoing pages, are included in the following list.