In preceding chapters we have seen the conditions in their foreign homes which spurred the emigrants to seek America. We have seen religious persecution, race oppression, political revolution, militarism, taxation, famine, and poverty conspiring to press upon the unprivileged masses and to drive the more adventurous across the water. But it would be a mistake should we stop at that point and look upon the migration of these dissatisfied elements as only a voluntary movement to better their condition. In fact, had it been left to the initiative of the emigrants the flow of immigration to America could scarcely ever have reached one-half its actual dimensions. While various motives and inducements have always worked together, and it would be rash to assert dogmatically the relative weight of each, yet to one who has carefully noted all the circumstances it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that even more important than the initiative of immigrants have been the efforts of Americans and ship-owners to bring and attract them. Throughout our history these efforts have been inspired by one grand, effective motive,—that of making a profit upon the immigrants. The desire to get cheap labor, to take in passenger fares, and to sell land have probably brought more immigrants than the hard conditions of Europe, Asia, and Africa have sent. Induced immigration has been as potent as voluntary immigration. And it is to this mercenary motive that we owe our manifold variety of races, and especially our influx of backward races. One entire race, the negro, came solely for the profit of ship-owners and landowners. Working people of the colonial period were hoodwinked and kidnapped by shippers and speculators who reimbursed themselves by indenturing them to planters and farmers. The beginners of other races have come through similar but less coercive inducements, initiated, however, by the demand of those who held American property for speculation or investment. William Penn and his lessees, John Law, the Dutch East India Company, and many of the grantees of lands in the colonies, sent their agents through Western Europe and the British Isles with glowing advertisements, advanced transportation, and contracts for indentured service by way of reimbursement. In the nineteenth century new forms of induced migration appeared. Victims of the Irish famine were assisted to emigrate by local and general governments and by philanthropic societies, and both the Irish and the Germans, whose migration began towards the middle of the century, were, in a measure, exceptions to the general rule of induced immigration for profit. Several Western states created immigration bureaus which advertised their own advantages for intending immigrants, and Wisconsin, especially, in this way settled her lands with a wide variety of races. After the Civil War, induced migration entered upon a vigorous revival. The system of indenturing had long since disappeared, because legislatures and courts declined to recognize and enforce contracts for service. Consequently a new form of importation appeared under the direction of middlemen of the same nativity as that of the immigrant. Chinese coolies came under contract with the Six Companies, who advanced their expenses and looked to their own secret agents and tribunals to enforce repayment with profit.[62] Japanese coolies, much later, came under contract with immigration companies chartered by the Japanese government.[63] Italians were recruited by the padroni, and the bulk of the new Slav immigration from Southeastern Europe is in charge of their own countrymen acting as drummers and middlemen.
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS OF IMMIGRANTS—1906[64]
| Race or People | Total, 100 Per Cent | Sexes | Ages | Occupations[65] | |||||||
| Males | Females | Under 14 years | 14-45 years | Over 45 years | Total, 100 Per Cent | Professional | Commercial | Skilled | Unskilled | ||
| African (black) | 3,786 | 62.2 | 37.8 | 9.1 | 86.8 | 4.1 | 2,921 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 45.6 | 48.8 |
| Armenian | 1,895 | 75.1 | 24.9 | 11.8 | 84.3 | 3.9 | 1,390 | 3.4 | 5.1 | 38.5 | 53.0 |
| Bohemian and Moravian | 12,958 | 57.3 | 42.8 | 20.7 | 73.9 | 5.4 | 7,985 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 43.6 | 53.9 |
| Bulgarian, Servian, and Montenegrin | 11,548 | 96.2 | 3.8 | 1.9 | 96.2 | 1.9 | 11,025 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 3.7 | 95.9 |
| Chinese | 1,485 | 94.1 | 5.9 | 4.5 | 81.5 | 14.0 | 1,261 | 6.9 | 66.0 | 1.5 | 25.6 |
| Croatian and Slovenian | 44,272 | 86.5 | 13.5 | 3.8 | 94.1 | 2.1 | 40,125 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 3.7 | 96.1 |
| Cuban | 5,591 | 67.4 | 32.6 | 17.2 | 73.2 | 9.6 | 2,842 | 10.3 | 19.1 | 55.9 | 14.7 |
| Dalmatian, Bosnian, and Herzegovinian | 4,568 | 95.1 | 4.9 | 1.7 | 96.3 | 2.0 | 4,373 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 7.7 | 91.9 |
| Dutch and Flemish | 9,735 | 67.0 | 33.0 | 17.6 | 76.4 | 6.0 | 5,849 | 5.2 | 7.9 | 30.1 | 56.8 |
| East Indian | 271 | 93.0 | 7.0 | 5.5 | 90.5 | 4.0 | 222 | 9.9 | 52.7 | 5.4 | 32.0 |
| English | 45,079 | 62.1 | 37.9 | 13.5 | 75.3 | 11.2 | 28,249 | 10.8 | 13.5 | 51.3 | 24.4 |
| Finnish | 14,136 | 67.4 | 32.6 | 7.1 | 90.8 | 2.1 | 11,959 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 7.2 | 92.1 |
| French | 10,379 | 57.1 | 42.9 | 8.6 | 81.7 | 9.7 | 6,823 | 16.5 | 12.9 | 31.3 | 39.3 |
| German | 86,813 | 59.2 | 40.8 | 15.1 | 78.6 | 6.3 | 55,095 | 4.3 | 6.7 | 29.7 | 59.3 |
| Greek | 23,127 | 96.3 | 3.7 | 3.1 | 95.9 | 1.0 | 21,615 | 0.5 | 2.6 | 9.4 | 87.5 |
| Hebrew | 153,748 | 52.1 | 47.9 | 28.3 | 66.3 | 5.4 | 76,605 | 1.4 | 5.6 | 66.7 | 26.3 |
| Irish | 40,959 | 50.9 | 49.1 | 4.6 | 90.9 | 4.5 | 35,387 | 1.7 | 2.9 | 15.1 | 80.3 |
| Italian (North) | 46,286 | 78.9 | 21.1 | 8.6 | 87.9 | 3.5 | 36,980 | 1.4 | 2.3 | 19.4 | 76.9 |
| Italian (South) | 240,528 | 79.4 | 20.6 | 11.1 | 84.3 | 4.6 | 190,105 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 16.0 | 82.3 |
| Japanese | 14,243 | 89.6 | 10.4 | 1.0 | 97.1 | 1.9 | 11,797 | 2.2 | 10.3 | 2.8 | 84.7 |
| Korean | 127 | 81.1 | 18.9 | 16.5 | 81.1 | 2.4 | 80 | 6.3 | 15.0 | 2.5 | 76.2 |
| Lithuanian | 14,257 | 66.1 | 33.9 | 8.9 | 89.5 | 1.6 | 11,568 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 9.2 | 90.4 |
| Magyar | 44,261 | 71.8 | 28.2 | 9.0 | 87.5 | 3.5 | 34,559 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 9.3 | 89.6 |
| Mexican | 141 | 66.0 | 34.0 | 14.9 | 74.5 | 10.6 | 65 | 23.1 | 35.4 | 24.6 | 16.9 |
| Pacific Islander | 13 | 76.9 | 23.1 | 7.7 | 76.9 | 15.4 | 9 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 66.7 | 0.0 |
| Polish | 95,835 | 69.3 | 30.7 | 9.3 | 88.5 | 2.2 | 77,437 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 7.7 | 91.9 |
| Portuguese | 8,729 | 58.4 | 41.6 | 20.9 | 70.7 | 8.4 | 5,815 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 4.8 | 93.6 |
| Roumanian | 11,425 | 92.5 | 7.5 | 2.0 | 94.0 | 4.0 | 10,759 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 2.5 | 97.1 |
| Russian | 5,814 | 81.7 | 18.3 | 10.0 | 86.8 | 3.2 | 4,591 | 3.2 | 2.4 | 10.8 | 83.6 |
| Ruthenian | 16,257 | 75.7 | 24.3 | 3.6 | 93.9 | 2.5 | 14,899 | 0.1 | [66] | 2.7 | 97.2 |
| Scandinavian | 58,141 | 62.1 | 37.9 | 9.1 | 86.4 | 4.5 | 47,352 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 23.5 | 73.1 |
| Scotch | 16,463 | 66.1 | 33.9 | 12.9 | 78.8 | 8.3 | 11,207 | 5.7 | 9.9 | 62.8 | 21.6 |
| Slovak | 38,221 | 69.6 | 30.4 | 8.9 | 88.4 | 2.7 | 29,817 | [66] | 0.1 | 4.9 | 95.0 |
| Spanish | 5,332 | 83.6 | 16.4 | 7.1 | 84.6 | 8.3 | 4,211 | 5.7 | 19.2 | 44.4 | 30.7 |
| Spanish American | 1,585 | 69.7 | 30.3 | 17.0 | 74.4 | 8.6 | 790 | 23.7 | 37.1 | 21.1 | 18.1 |
| Syrian | 5,824 | 70.4 | 29.6 | 15.2 | 80.9 | 3.9 | 4,023 | 1.1 | 11.1 | 19.9 | 67.9 |
| Turkish | 2,033 | 95.7 | 4.3 | 1.9 | 96.0 | 2.1 | 1,914 | 1.5 | 4.4 | 8.3 | 85.8 |
| Welsh | 2,367 | 7.1 | 29.9 | 12.5 | 78.2 | 9.3 | 1,639 | 4.9 | 6.7 | 62.4 | 26.0 |
| West Indian (except Cuban) | 1,476 | 58.9 | 41.1 | 14.8 | 76.1 | 9.1 | 900 | 7.6 | 15.0 | 49.4 | 28.0 |
| Other Peoples | 1,027 | 94.5 | 5.5 | 2.6 | 96.0 | 1.4 | 932 | 1.2 | 4.1 | 18.0 | 76.7 |
Total | 1,100,735 | 69.5 | 30.5 | 12.4 | 83.0 | 4.6 | 815,275 | 1.8 | 3.1 | 21.7 | 73.4 |
These labor speculators have perfected a system of inducements and through billing as effective as that by which horse and cattle buyers in Kentucky or Iowa collect and forward their living freight to the markets of Europe. A Croatian of the earlier immigration, for example, sets up a saloon in South Chicago and becomes an employment bureau for his “greener” countrymen, and also ticket agent on commission for the steamship companies. His confederates are stationed along the entire route at connecting points, from the villages of Croatia to the saloon in Chicago. In Croatia they go among the laborers and picture to them the high wages and abundant work in America. They induce them to sell their little belongings and they furnish them with through tickets. They collect them in companies, give them a countersign, and send them on to their fellow-agent at Fiume, thence to Genoa or other port whence the American steerage vessel sails. In New York they are met by other confederates, whom they identify by their countersign, and again they are safely transferred and shipped to their destination. Here they are met by their enterprising countryman, lodged and fed, and within a day or two handed over to the foreman in a great steel plant, or to the “boss” of a construction gang on a railway, or to a contractor on a large public improvement. After they have earned and saved a little money they send for their friends, to whom the “boss” has promised jobs. Again their lodging-house countryman sells them the steamship ticket and arranges for the safe delivery of those for whom they have sent. In this way immigration is stimulated, and new races are induced to begin their American colonization. Eventually the pioneers send for their families, and it is estimated that nearly two-thirds of the immigrants in recent years have come on prepaid tickets or on money sent to them from America.[67]
The significance of this new and highly perfected form of inducement will appear when we look back for a moment upon the legislation governing immigration.
Immigration Legislation.—At the close of the Civil War, with a vast territory newly opened to the West by the railroads, Congress enacted a law throwing wide open our doors to the immigrants of all lands. It gave new guaranties for the protection of naturalized citizens in renouncing allegiance to their native countries, declaring that “expatriation is a natural and inherent right of all people, indispensable to the enjoyment of the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”[68]
In the same year, 1868, the famous Burlingame treaty was negotiated with China, by which Americans in China and Chinese in America should enjoy all the privileges, immunities, and exemptions enjoyed by citizens of the most favored nation. These steps favorable to immigration were in line with the long-continued policy of the country from the earliest colonial times.
But a new force had come into American politics—the wage-earner. From this time forth the old policies were violently challenged. High wages were to be pitted against high profits. The cheap labor which was eagerly sought by the corporations and large property owners was just as eagerly fought by the unpropertied wage-earners. Of course neither party conceded that it was selfishly seeking its own interest. Those who expected profits contended that cheap foreign labor was necessary for the development of the country; that American natural resources were unbounded, but American workmen could not be found for the rough work needed to turn these resources into wealth; that America should be in the future, as it had been in the past, a haven for the oppressed of all lands; and that in no better way could the principles of American democracy be spread to all peoples of the earth than by welcoming them and teaching them in our midst.
The wage-earners have not been so fortunate in their protestations of disinterestedness. They were compelled to admit that though they themselves had been immigrants or the children of immigrants, they were now denying to others what had been a blessing to them. Yet they were able to set forward one supreme argument which our race problems are every day more and more showing to be sound. The future of American democracy is the future of the American wage-earner. To have an enlightened and patriotic citizenship we must protect the wages and standard of living of those who constitute the bulk of the citizens. This argument had been offered by employers themselves when they were seeking a protective tariff against the importation of “pauper-made” goods. What wonder that the wage-earner should use the same argument to keep out the pauper himself, and especially that he should begin by applying the argument to those races which showed themselves unable rapidly to assimilate, and thereby make a stand for high wages and high standards of living. Certain it is that had the white wage-earners possessed the suffrage and political influence during colonial times, the negro would not have been admitted in large numbers, and we should have been spared that race problem which of all is the largest and most nearly insoluble.