Very likely, but the trouble is, they do not want to farm and they are free to prefer the squalor of the slums to the green of the fields. Nor is there much hope that this singular but strong inclination can be overcome save by government regulation, which shall settle the matter of location for those who have no specific destination or occupation. It is probable that on this point some reasonable legislation could be secured; especially if the various distribution societies and railroad companies should fail in their efforts to induce the aliens to go where they are needed. Commissioner-General Sargent has dealt plainly with this matter in his Reports for the last three years, and rightly estimates its importance. He says:[41]
Distribution of Prime Importance
"In my judgment the smallest part of the duty to be discharged in successfully handling aliens, with a view to the protection of the people and the institutions of this country, is that part now provided for by law. Its importance, though undeniable, is relatively of secondary moment. It cannot compare in practical value with, nor can it take the place of, measures to secure the distribution of the many thousands who come in ignorance of the industrial needs and opportunities of this country, and colonize alien communities in our great cities."
The Landing at the Battery in New York
From copyright stereograph, 1907, by Underwood & Underwood, New York
Information Agencies Proposed
Suitable legislation is strongly urged to establish agencies through which, either with or without the coöperation of the states, aliens shall be made acquainted with the resources of the country at large, and the industrial needs of the various sections, in both skilled and unskilled labor, the cost of living, the wages paid, the price and capabilities of the land, the character of the climates, the duration of the seasons—in short, all that information furnished by some of the great railway lines through whose efforts the territory tributary thereto has been transformed from a wilderness within a few years to the abiding place of a happy and prosperous population.
A Growing Evil