Some of the best qualities in the immigrants are liable to abuse. Thrift, for instance, is commendable, but not when it is exercised at the expense of decent living. Economy is an admirable trait, but not when practiced at the expense of manhood and decent conditions. A distinct deterioration of the masses displaced by the cheaper labor has marked the advent of the new immigration. While some of the workingmen thrown out of employment by immigration rise with the increase in the number of superior positions, the great mass are obliged to accept the lower standard or are forced out of the industry into misery, pauperism, and crime. The greater tendency of immigrants, by reason of their poverty, to permit or encourage the employment of their wives or children, still further increases the intensity of the competition for employment. In view of all the facts, a recent writer argues that the limitation or restriction which would reduce the volume and improve the economic quality of immigration would greatly improve labor conditions in this country.
Deterioration a Result of too Large Immigration
Under the present free inflow, says this writer, "the condition of the great mass of the working classes of this country is being permanently depressed, and the difference between the industrial condition of the unskilled workers in our country and of other countries is being steadily lessened to our permanent and great detriment."[80]
False Reasoning
As to the economic effects of unrestricted immigration, the stock argument that it costs a foreign country a thousand dollars to raise a man, and that, therefore, every immigrant is that much clear money gain to this country, simply begs the question of the usefulness of the immigrant and the country's need of him. Many immigrants are not worth what it cost to raise them, to their native land or any other; and at any rate, a man is only of value where he can fit into the community life and do something it needs to have done. Another naïve claim is that every mouth that comes into the country brings with it two hands, the assumption being that there is necessarily work for the two hands. If not, then there is an extra mouth to be fed at somebody else's expense. The real question is one of demand and quality.
Effects upon Education
What effect has immigration had, and what is it likely to have, upon our national educational policy? The parochial school is opposed to the public school; the parochial school is Roman, the public school American. The parochial schools could not secure scholars but for immigration. The Roman Catholic Church is persistently trying to get appropriations of public money for parochial schools, although well aware that this is directly contrary to the fundamental American principle of absolute separation of Church and State; and is relying upon the foreign vote to accomplish this un-American purpose. Here is an illustration of the conditions made possible through unchecked immigration and the wielding of this immigration by priestly influence:
Baneful Results in Illinois
In Illinois the foreign element outnumbers the native in voting power. In consequence compulsory education in the public schools of that state was voted down by a legislature pledged to obey the dictum of the foreign element. Where the priests wield the foreign element in favor of the parochial schools, it is not possible to pass a bill for compulsory education in the English language.
Parochial Schools in Pennsylvania