Chapter IV:
Future Migration
At the beginning of 1921, with a new administration in Washington, America has a racial situation which for its complexity and delicacy is second to none in the world. England, with its colonial problems, has no more difficult task than has America with its racial problems; for it must bring together, through the leaven of Americanism, the members of many races which have been torn asunder by the war; it must reestablish between native and foreign born the confidence which the war has shaken; and it must reinstate the faith of the foreign born in its Constitution and in its institutions. Furthermore, in international questions it must have a fine appreciation of the feelings of one- third of its people who are personally and, therefore, deeply interested in foreign affairs; and an equally true appreciation of the feelings of two- thirds of its people who care little or nothing about foreign affairs.
This condition is, in part, the result of our past methods in dealing with immigration and especially of the methods which we have adopted during and since the war. This legacy takes but little cognizance of the problems which confront America with reference to future immigration. For Europe has also received a legacy on emigration from the war which she hopes soon to invest for her own future welfare. Her action in this respect will create additional problems for America, as well as for all other countries of immigration.
Conditions in Europe and America are vastly different and the fact that Europe and America now hold diverse points of view upon immigration challenges our attention. Europe is a jumble of nationalities, each of which aspires to be a nation. These aspirations culminated in the war; and Europe was reorganized along strictly national lines that are, as yet, only partly nationalistic. As a result, hardly a country in Europe, to- day, is without one dominant nationality—but with several strong nationalistic minorities. Each of these minorities is rooted deep in the soil of race and tradition and is averse to being assimilated by any of the others. The problem, then, is either to coordinate the aspirations and activities of these minority groups with those of the dominant nationality, or to eradicate them by encouraging emigration.
America, on the contrary, is a country which is just awakening to the fact that it is not a nationality but a mixture of nationalities. As yet, there is no problem of minority- nationalities because most of its immigrants have severed the ties which bound them to the land in Europe. When they arrived, they were for the most part prepared to help build up America, and though they gathered together in separate groups, they regarded their future and that of their posterity to be in America. What, then, are the changes due to the war which, depending upon events in Europe, may bring a new epoch of immigration history, in which the willful, hapless wanderings of large bodies of men throughout the world will be discouraged or prevented?
Europe is now concerned with the separation of races, not with their amalgamation. Her tendency is to purify racial strains rather than to mix them. There are many evidences of this tendency. The creation of new states long ethnological lines has stimulated each race to concentrate its members within its own boundaries. Eventually, each one hopes to prevent all other races from participating in its affairs. France desires no one in France but Frenchmen, and is more than ever discouraging any participation in her internal affairs by other races. Whenever she finds it necessary to use laborers from other nations, it is understood that they will be received upon a temporary basis only. She offers coal and phosphate to Italy in exchange for workmen. Though she agrees to furnish these laborers with food at special prices, and to permit them to form cooperative societies, she gives no encouragement to them to become permanent residents or citizens of France.
The efforts throughout Europe to expel the Jews is but another evidence of this general tendency. Germany has established labor exchanges for the "regulation and enlistment of foreign workers." Even England now requires employers to secure a permit to hire aliens. The exchange of men by a country which has a surplus with one which needs men is becoming a matter of careful negotiation, by which each country seeks to safeguard its own interests, and in which the primary object is to keep the racial strain pure.
Each European nation, to strengthen further its own nationalism, is sending out a call to its own well- to- do immigrants in other countries to return home, at least temporarily. Even where the economic conditions are unsettled, each country now deems it wise to strengthen the immigrant's home ties which it believes have been weakened during the war. Belgium sends out word that she needs her able- bodied men from all over the world. Poland appeals to her emigrants to return. Czecho-Slovakia urges them to visit the homeland and to help build a new nation. Germany has established an Imperial Department of Immigration and Emigration to undertake the work of bringing her colonists back to the fatherland. In fact, immigrants from all over the world are returning to Europe in obedience to the call of the native land,— a call which many of them consider hardly less imperative than that of the war. The immigrant answers this call, notwithstanding national debts, high taxes, lack of transportation, need of machinery, ruination of roads, shortage of food, prevailing unrest and other adverse conditions in his native land, though he well knows they will make life harder for him for a time. Even the stories of the hardships of life in Europe told by newly arrived immigrants do not greatly affect the tide of remigration, nor quell the spirit of nationalism. From America, alone, nearly four hundred thousand immigrants left during the second year of the armistice.
The reasons for foreign nations being in favor of race separation are not hard to find. They believe, under the present terms of peace, that the economic safety of no nation is assured. They believe that the time will come when their own strength and resources, alone, will determine their fate. Each nation, therefore, deems it to be a first duty to assemble all of its racial members and to infuse in them a sense of loyalty and devotion. It is not of so much moment whether these returning immigrants stay. The essential thing is that they return, become infused with a new spirit of nationalism, and if need be, go forth again, free to acquire new resources for the native country.
The policies under consideration by European countries with reference to the great countries of immigration are taking as definite form as are the policies which they mean to apply among themselves. They now believe emigration to be a manageable affair in immigration countries, and, in this belief, they are proceeding to formulate new emigration policies. Each country, to which emigration is a vital economic asset, is now considering in what manner it can best control its emigration.
The formulation of such a comprehensive policy involves many difficult questions which each country must decide for itself. For example, should emigration be discouraged or encouraged; in the latter case should emigration be temporary or constant, from the whole country or from certain selected sections?
A policy which discourages emigration would need some supplementary measures, for absolute prohibition would be difficult to enforce. Counter attractions would have to be provided. And in any case, whatever the policy of emigration might be, there would be international policies to consider, which in turn would involve the diversion of emigration on a basis of bargaining.
How are these various plans to be put into effect? Greece illustrates the thoroughness with which they are being discussed, and in a report recently submitted to its government, these significant passages occur:
"We intend to allow immigration, but we intend to arrange it in such a way as to protect immigrants against those who defraud them, and to take care of those who return. We shall establish offices in the second class ports and have one head bureau at the Port of Piraeus. The immigration agents and their representatives must file a bond with the state, and they must conform to certain regulations.
"There will be an endowed fund through private contributions and the help of the nation, the purpose of which will be to encourage immigrants to return and to help those who do return. Our first duty toward the re- turned ones will be in the care of the sick and the safety of their families against all contagious diseases, especially consumption, since unfortunately many of the returning immigrants suffer from that disease. We intend to continue our plans for the returning immigrants and if necessary help them come back to Greece. We think that such measures for the benefit of the immigrants will have a great psychological effect upon them and will accomplish more than if we were to prohibit immigration altogether.
"The recent immigration to America is due to the instinct of the Greek for immigration, but this does not necessarily lessen his love for the old country. The fact that the Greek who immigrates to America does not return to his country as easily as other immigrants of different countries, does not necessarily mean that he has immigrated to America and intends to make it his permanent residence. There are other reasons which prevent him from returning. Some of the reasons are the great distances, the cost of transportation, and the idea that he must return as a millionaire, also the improvident state until recently of the fate and life of the Greek in America.
"During the Balkan War many Greeks returned to fight for the realization of their national aspirations. During the recent war the same thing would have been repeated had it not been for the fact that they were allowed to fight in the American army against a common foe.
"We must admit, however, that the obtaining of American citizenship by the Greeks tends to relax their interest in their mother country. For the above reasons we must encourage, both financially and morally, the returning of Greeks to Greece. The extension of Greek Territory will afford to the 300,000 or more Greeks in America an opportunity. They will bring to Greece industry, civilization and their love for their mother country.
"Every citizen who has no obligation to serve as a soldier or against whom there is no warrant of arrest, can immigrate after he obtains a passport from the proper authorities.
"By Royal decree, immigration for men and women of a certain age and of all ages, can be curtailed for a short period.
"Every agent must give free of charge to the Ministry of the Interior twenty third- class tickets and sixty half tickets every year from New York City to Greece which will be used for those Greeks who wish to return to Greece.
"The owners of immigration agencies are prohibited from issuing tickets unless the immigrant has first obtained his passport. A list of the tickets issued must be filed monthly with the Ministry of the Interior.
"The immigrant agents, their clerks, representatives and all those connected with them are prohibited from urging immigration by publishing articles, advertisements or through other means. They can only state the name of the vessel, its capacity, date of departure, length of trip and destination."
Many European countries recognize that the ownership of land is a great restraining factor in emigration, so most of their plans include some form of land distribution. Greece has passed an act to permit land owners to keep one- third of their estates, and to compel them to surrender the other two- thirds to the peasants. Applicants for land must be members of the Farmers' Union which allocates the land. The indebtedness may be met by amortization, extending over a period of thirty years. Esthonia is planning to distribute to each of its male residents fifty- seven acres of land confiscated from the large tracts of the baronial estates. The Finnish Government has under consideration the establishment of settlement areas where the occupation, reduction and cultivation of land will constitute ownership, the government to bear the initial expense of drainage and of supplying the necessary tools.
The improvement of working conditions, as a possible check to emigration, especially in the newer European countries, has, for this reason, acquired a new significance. More attention is being paid to hours of work, methods of management, security of employment, profit sharing, and representation in management in order that working conditions may not compare unfavorably with those in countries which are trying to attract immigration.
The improvement in political affairs, especially of the new nations, has for one of its objectives the prevention of emigration. Many of the new constitutions are modeled along the lines of the American Constitution. Prospective emigrants may then be told that they no longer need to go to America, for has not the American Constitution been brought to them and will they not have similar rights at home, without having to face the hardships of a long journey, and the uncertainties of a new country?
In some countries a strong "stay- at- home party" is developing, and speeches by political leaders are being made along such lines as the following:
"We shall only be respected abroad when we shall be able to support ourselves, when we shall no longer be forced to knock at other people's door (also at the door of those who do not pretend to have a thousand years' history of superior civility) in order to obtain a living, when we shall no longer have to display our rags, our. misery, our illiteracy, to the world; then only shall we gain respect, and not before. The workers who have gone through the war and to whom you have promised work and bread here, in their own country, do not intend to start again the calvary of emigration as they did before the war, but they intend—and they have the sacred right thereto—to work and produce here, and you men of the government and of the directing classes, it is your duty to provide for them."
In proportion as the new governments succeed in making these constitutions vital, the emigrant will be induced to remain. Continued strikes, the failure of the peasants to receive the land promised to them by the government, or to receive the freedom of which they have been assured, will make the imposition of emigration restrictions difficult. But that nations mean in the immediate future to gamble with the destiny and the happiness of their emigrants is everywhere apparent.
In some countries, the stimulation of emigration, rather than its prohibition will, for the time being, best serve their purposes. This will be undertaken by each one of them with as much care and forethought as is the restraint of emigration where that is the policy to be pursued. No longer is the prospective emigrant to follow his own inclination, or to be encouraged to go when and where he pleases. No longer is the steamship ticket agent to be the sole deciding factor. No longer is the letter from his countrymen abroad, even though it contains the price of a ticket, to be the only factor in his decision. As the various European countries gain in stabilization and in power, they plan increasingly to direct the emigration flow and to divert it in accordance with two economic purposes: First, to capitalize its value in immigration countries; and, second, to supervise its activities after arrival in such countries.
One of the ways by which the value of the emigrant will be capitalized is to secure concessions in return for his diversion to such countries. European nations which now have to count every item in order to pay their war debts and to rehabilitate their industries, are beginning to realize that the country which receives the most immigrants of productive age, and at the least expense to itself, has a great economic advantage. They believe that the exchange of man power for economic opportunities is a proper matter for future commercial negotiation.
Does Argentine, for instance, offer land and a bonus to immigrants, with no bothersome requirements regarding citizenship? If so, concludes the native country, an effort will be made to persuade emigrants to go to Argentine. If persuasion fails, the home country is prepared in some instances to go further, and will supply part of the passage money. Again, does Canada guarantee work to every immigrant admitted? Then Canada will be favored in preference to a country where the immigrant is to be left to shift for himself, or to a country wherein the alien is liable to be deported if he has had work promised to him before he sails. Does the exchange rate of the new country favor the home country? If so, that is a consideration of one kind. Does it pay better to send men to earn money in countries with high rates of exchange? If so, that is a consideration of another kind. As an illustration of the kinds of terms which countries of emigration may impose, those of Belgium are of interest. Because of its need of man power, it has prohibited all adult male emigration unless each man has received a contract to work, and the employer has agreed to pay passport and other fees.
The following are typical of some of the many concessions being made by immigration countries to promote the diversion of emigration:
"The Canadian Government has appropriated several hundred thousand dollars annually to care for and to encourage immigration to Canada. Agents are kept in the principal European cities to care for permanent and traveling exhibits of Canada's opportunities. The government also pays a bonus to steamship offices for every ticket sold for Canada. Negotiations for men were begun between a Canadian official and the Italian Commissioner of Emigration. There was a meeting almost every day, and sometimes it seemed the matter would be arranged, but, unfortunately almost every time a new decree was unearthed the Canadian had to communicate a new condition to his company. The delegate continued these conferences for three months. The conditions imposed on the company by the Emigration Commissioner were so complicated that finally the official left for France to enlist workmen, despite the fact that more than 1,000 Italians would have been only too glad to emigrate to Canada under the conditions proposed by the railway."
"A Committee of the Soldiers' Settlement Board of Canada was sent abroad to take up the question of securing emigrants from Great Britain. It held eighty- three sessions and selected 629 men representing an aggregate capital of over $1,000,000. These immigrants have to spend a prescribed time on farms before they can be settled on their own account."
"Chile offers a hundred acres of land, implements, and other assistance to the immigrant settler."
"Australian provinces will assist immigration, especially those with agricultural experience; advances are made for improving their farm holdings which they purchase on very small half yearly payments. Like Canada, it also has paid agents to go to Europe to induce immigration. New Zealand arranges with the shipping companies for reduced fares for desirable immigrants."
"Brazil gives not only free passage to all who come to its ports as immigrants, but will take care of them on arrival, transport them to their destination, provide them with tools and seeds and supply them with medicine and care for their families. Brazil also exempts steamship lines from harbor duties and poll taxes. It has already received over 3,000,000 immigrants, half of them from Italy. Italy at one time suspended immigration to Brazil because its measures for the protection of immigrants were unsatisfactory and it declined to remedy them. Immigration was renewed only after objections had been removed."
"Argentina is receiving large numbers of Italians, Spaniards, and Frenchmen, now totaling several millions of population. They have full liberty to engage in any business and to acquire property. Free land is also given to newcomers. Naturalized citizens are exempted from military service for ten years—a point which has considerable weight with some races from Europe who have endured militaristic governments. In the course of three months more than 600 families with some capital from Central Europe have settled in the country. If the stream of immigrants from Germany, Austria, and the Balkan States is strong, that from Italy is not less so. An Italian vessel which recently came into port brought some 800 Italian immigrants, of whom no less than 250 had sufficient money to acquire their own land. Before the war, immigrants arrived without any other means than. their will to work. Today, in addition to this, they come provided with capital for acquiring allotments and land, which enables them to settle with their families."
In considering the adoption of a policy which will enable a country to profit by its emigration, foreign countries are not unaware of the difficulties. Each knows that in proportion as it succeeds or fails in its policies of protection, in its rewards and in the new opportunities granted to its people, will its immigrants listen, whether it counsels them to remain at home or to depart. Likewise, each country realizes that its emigrants will be inclined to follow dictation and accept the assistance which may be offered in proportion as its negotiations are successful with other countries abroad, and as the protection afforded to immigrants is adequate. On this subject, one emigration officer says:
"The diversion of immigration presents a laudable intention but in practice some grave difficulties, because emigration is not an artificial phenomenon; it is not a current which one can easily divert or direct with dams or dykes. It resembles something of the migration of birds; there is something of an intensive character in it, which answers however to given economic conditions that are not understood by emigrants but which they nevertheless obey. The fact is that up to the present emigrants have gone where they wished to go and not where we wished to send them. Does this mean we should not try? No. Let us adopt economic not political regulations even to the extent of grants of free passage."
Countries of emigration, therefore, recognize that successful regulation and diversion of emigration requires the cooperation of all European countries. They believe if, for any reason, one country may decide upon the restriction of emigration, that arrangements can be perfected whereby immigrants will not be permitted to leave by ports in alien countries. This is one of the things which, it is expected, the adoption of a uniform passport system will control. It is also proposed soon to hold a conference to discuss the adoption of more uniform measures of protection, to be applied in countries of immigration.
That such cooperation in the future is possible may be seen from the fact that Great Britain, with the best of motives, is at present helping the Syrians who are suffering great hardships and who are in a difficult situation, with respect to peace regulations, to migrate to Canada or to the United States. Some students of immigration think it is within the possibilities that countries may soon combine in an attempt to force the Jews into new territory and the German emigrant into South America or Russia. While America is not unwilling to do its share in caring for the stricken people of the war, the work will be much better done, with less likelihood of racial friction and of unfavorable reactions later, if this country is advised of the exigencies of the situation and of the plans being adopted to meet them.
International labor bodies which are federated in a powerful organization, with strong socialist tendencies, also intend to at least try to control the labor supply and thus affect production in the various countries. For instance, the International Needle Workers have under consideration the establishment of a bureau to control the supply of needle workers throughout the world. One of the objects of this bureau is to socialize industries; to prevent immigration to countries where there are strikes or unemployment; and, should this fail, to connect them with trade unions on arrival in the new countries.
It is also reported that an International Commission of Emigration has been created by international workers whose duty it is to regulate the emigration of workmen from their native countries and to protect the interests of laborers who are located in different countries than their own. The commission consists of 18 members comprising government representatives, employers and workers. Germany has delegated a workman as representative. The International Workers' Bureau has sent a questionnaire to 42 governments which have joined the Bureau, requesting information concerning emigration, and legislation appertaining thereto. The answers received up till now are of a too general character to enable the Commission to undertake as yet any extensive work.
The attempt of labor bodies to control immigration affairs may be illustrated in another way by the action of the Industrial Trades Union Conference which met recently at Amsterdam. It recommended that social attachés be appointed to serve in different countries for the purpose of keeping the native country informed concerning labor conditions, wage rates, unemployment, legislation and other matters in the country to which they are accredited. Of the duties of these attachés, a report says:
"The social attaché must carefully watch the labor market in both countries, in order that he may be able to give expert advice on questions relating to immigration and emigration. He must know the particular class of workmen called for in one or the other country and the districts where they are needed. It is desirable so to organize immigration and emigration, with the assistance of the social attaché, that each workman may know exactly where he can find work, thereby obviating unnecessary traveling and annoyances.
"The social attaché shall also, in so far as the case lies outside general office routine, represent the interests of the individual workman and the employees of his nation in a foreign country. For this purpose it is necessary that he should be on a good footing with the authorities as well as the employers' and workmen's organizations of the country in which he is working. In political matters he must, of course, observe strict neutrality.
"Such an arrangement, which must extend to the conditions of employment, to the personal protection of the workman, and to the enforcement of acquired rights, can, generally speaking, be arrived at only by agreement between the governments concerned, with the cooperation of employers' and workmen's organizations. To suggest and prepare the way for such agreements is also part of the duties of the social attaché."
It was in furtherance of such international plans that application was made to Federal authorities by American trades unions to have representatives at Ellis Island there to meet the immigrants on arrival; which application has been denied.
The lesson of the war which revealed to Europe the ebbing strength of its hold upon its nationals has not been lost. They mean if possible to be more certain of them in the future, and they intend to bind them more closely to the home country, especially when it is more to their advantage to encourage them to stay abroad than to return home. To assure success, at least two lines of policy are being followed. The first is to have an economic survey made of their "colonies" in foreign lands which will cover their location, properties, and resources. The following summary illustrates the comprehensiveness of some of these surveys:
"In Chile where there are only 14,000 of our countrymen, the collective wealth of this group exceeds half a billion 'pezzi' and consists chiefly of immovable property. There are about 80 firms of which 52 are in Valparaiso alone with a capital of $25,000,000. In Uruguay, we have about 400 commercial houses. In Montevideo, alone, there are 114, representing a total value which exceeds $20,000,000. In Paraguay there are more than 300 firms, with a capital exceeding $500,000,000. In Ecuador, in Venezuela, and in Guatemala, there are more than 300 firms of importance. In Colombia, these firms number about 30, a greater part of them are in two centers of Bogota and Barranquilla. In New York, 280 firms, in San Francisco, about 80, several in Seattle, and others in the leading centers of the United States. The greatest number, however, is in Mexico and Brazil where it exceeds 500 for each of those two states with capital that reach many hundred of millions. In Morocco, there are some 20 firms of which 12 are in Tangiers, each of which is valued from 400,000 to 500,000 francs. In Spain over 300; and in Barcelona, about 130. In Argentine, where the immigration is very considerable, we have over 250 commercial houses, many of them with a capital in excess of five million, while the smaller ones have capital varying from one hundred to one hundred and fifty thousand pesos. If, from among so many millions which are spent by the state for various purposes, and not always useful, there could be found at least $100,000 to be directed to taking a census of the industrial, commercial and financial forces of all of our individual immigrants abroad, this country would have a wonderful picture of her economic expansion."
A second line of policy, which was followed somewhat indifferently before the war, but which has now assumed greater proportions, is indicated in the intention of foreign governments to control their nationals after their arrival in countries of immigration.
The following excerpts from official reports, and from statements of emigration officials, indicate the nature of the methods which are now in operation, or which are under consideration:
"I believe that the state may be able to assist and subsidize the private enterprises which are directed toward colonization in the new country to which our emigrants are directed, giving due preference to those where our immigrants are better treated. Our Board of Emigration has already considered three forms of state intervention: guarantee of interest to the combination which should there invest its capital; the payment of a sum as a donation; or the concession of loans to colonists."
"By emigration policy we mean one which aims at keeping the emigrant as closely joined as possible to the mother country and at his conferring upon her the greatest possible advantages. One of the first elements of maintaining this policy is to strengthen the bonds between the mother country and the emigrant sentiment of national brotherhood, by maintaining alive and propagating even more the language, and the ideas of civilization of the home country in other states, by offering her political and moral influence which should open the way to her commerce. One way is to maintain schools, and to this end we should coordinate the various existing scholastic institutions in given localities, provide for a wide distribution of school books, provide books for circulating libraries, and great subsidies in money. In South America for instance under the name of master agents, teachers are provided who not only perform school duties, but help immigrants by furnishing them with information and advice and by exercising sometimes the functions of Consular agents, and where there has been a deficiency of sanitary assistance we have favored the location of our own doctors to whom we offer free passage and a sum for expenses."
"Capital gives an influence which labor does not. Great Britain, with her investment of 400,000,000 pounds of sterling in Argentina, possesses more power than we with millions of men; therefore our capital must follow our men, if we are to have a moral, commercial and political influence."
"Requests for enrollment of whole families have been refused, because the necessary guarantees were lacking. Either the wages were deemed inadequate or the regions to which the emigrants were to go were considered unhealthy or it was held that the parties who were to enroll them did not give sufficient guarantee of that seriousness and integrity which are indispensable in such cases."
"We deplore and should discourage the rivalries existing among rival societies in America, and the dissensions, private animosities and strife for recognition in colonies, for commercial competition, and honorary appointments—these render the position of our agents more difficult because the contending parties naturally wish them to take sides and if they hold themselves aloof they only reap the anger and resentment of every one concerned."
"We must be very glad that the differences of the seasons, joined to the ever increasing extraordinary swiftness of communication permits an always greater development of temporary emigration for by this we do not lose our workers who return to us with the savings they have laid up by their thrift. But there is a future also for permanent emigration to countries where land is available and where our capital can follow them."
"We must find some way of making it easier for our emigrants to become foreign subjects, because by acquiring this foreign citizenship they will have the right to vote, will gain influence and our colonies will acquire greater importance. The answer is not to encourage or dissuade them but to facilitate repatriation for those who have lost citizenship by becoming foreign subjects and to modify the severe regulations of the civil code by which the reinstatement in rights is a possibility."
"It must be the object of our greatest desire to foster in distant lands the continued study and use of our language among our countrymen, to avoid being confronted by the painful phenomenon which has taken place in some regions where after two generations of life abroad, our emigrants are still our own although our language has ceased to exist among them."
"We have had under contemplation the consolidation of our societies in America but this can be done only by granting a subsidy and making the subsidy itself subject to conditions. Also a diversity of societies answers our purpose better than consolidations."
While the use of these methods and the establishment of such organizations are not new to Americans, a movement on the part of foreign governments to deal with their nationals through their racial organizations, rather than through individuals, does indicate a new departure. This changes the situation to a marked degree, for Americans have now to consider, not so much the safeguarding of the freedom of the individual immigrant to express his beliefs as they have to question the right of his organization to take formal action with regard to his beliefs, which in turn may affect the current and progress of political affairs in the native country of the immigrant.
In a country where there is a foreign language press of many hundreds of publications with a considerable circulation abroad, the use of such a press in one country for political propaganda affecting another country becomes of considerable interest.
When racial organizations, with great financial resources, with a powerful press, with ambitious leaders, and with a far- reaching racial economic system, undertake to influence or settle affairs in another country, a situation is created which sooner or later must result in misunderstanding. For instance, a recent issue of a Hungarian paper published in America, which has a circulation of 4,000 copies weekly in Budapest, was recently confiscated and distribution denied to it, because of articles which it contained attacking the native government.
The changing character of these racial organizations which may be so used in immigration countries is also of importance. Before the war, their activities in immigration countries were largely humanitarian; while now they are becoming largely economic. It is the consulate, the foreign chamber of commerce, the branch of a foreign bank, the trading corporation and similar organizations which are now taking up the protection and direction of the immigrant's affairs in America. And the immigrant home, the information bureau, the racial society, and similar humanitarian organizations, if not changed or superseded, will at least become tributary to these more efficient economic institutions.
For instance, among some races it is no longer the individual or the racial committee alone which is bringing to America the families of immigrants in order to reunite them with their wage earners who have been kept here during the war; but a number of overseas or trading corporations have been organized, whose business it is to bring in these families at a cost exclusive of transportation of from $150 to $600 per family. One prominent American bank is now acting as trustee of the funds advanced by immigrants for this purpose to one such trading corporation in America.
So naïve is much of the effort of foreign countries to keep in touch with their nationals that one is not surprised to find the Dutch government, through the Netherlands Emigration League, proposing in all good faith to establish bureaus, not only "to protect our immigrants after their arrival, to see that they reach their destination without molestation, and that they maintain the good reputation of those already here"; but it also is planning to relieve the American somewhat of his Americanization work, by urging its immigrants to stay in America, to learn English and to become citizens; and for this purpose it will make their repatriation more difficult. If America in the future is to receive immigrants at no expense to itself, and is to have them protected and Americanized at European expense, it must be that immigrants in America are considered to be a good investment.
Unquestionably the requirement of certain standards of protection, with reference to working and living conditions in immigration countries, is to be an important consideration in determining what countries will be favored with immigration. Certain countries are already carrying heavy burdens not only on account of the physical condition of their returning immigrants, but also because of financial burdens, due to their failure to succeed in new countries, a situation often due to the prevailing conditions of employment. The Dutch government has under consideration a plan for calling a conference of European states to consider this very question. This conference, when held, will doubtless raise the whole question of the desirability of having a system of protection which will take care of the emigrant from the time he leaves his home until he arrives at his final destination in the immigration country. It will doubtless take under consideration, also, what will constitute standards of protection in immigration countries and the best means for inaugurating and maintaining them alike in all countries.
Great Britain offers, perhaps, the best illustration of some of the problems which are encountered in the matter of keeping in touch with its own nationals. A recent report on the subject says:
"The Committee, appointed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs to consider the means of maintaining a connection between Great Britain and British communities abroad, recently presented its report to the Foreign Office. The Committee was invited to consider a number of proposals, among them the advisability of introducing a system of registration for all British subjects abroad, the advisability of establishing or assisting British schools in foreign countries, and the policy to be adopted toward British Chambers of Commerce in foreign countries. Communities of British subjects in the United States and Russia were expressly excluded from consideration.
"Among the Committee's most important recommendations are those connected with education of British children resident abroad. The Committee has adopted as a principle that the Imperial Government is liable for the proper education of the children of His Majesty's subjects even when resident outside his dominions, and recommends that necessary steps should be taken by the Board of Education to subsidize and inspect schools in those centers where the size of the British community justifies the expense. The parents could be expected to contribute school fees and foreign children would be admitted, both for the purpose of distributing the financial burdens on a wider basis, and in order to extend a knowledge of the English language."
This attitude on the part of Great Britain reflects an increasing tendency among other European countries to emphasize education. Provisions for free education and for religious practice in immigration countries will play a much larger part than heretofore in the selection of destinations; on the theory that native countries need to secure a maximum return from their nationals abroad, and that educational and religious facilities advance the economic interests of the immigrant, through his better protection and increased opportunities.
Is the immigrant aware of his new value to his native country and of its eagerness to hold his allegiance? It would appear not. In the future he will leave his home with a heavier yoke of nationalism upon him, but it will be a yoke whose pressure will be gentle because of his willingness to bear it. The emigrant will leave, as he believes, to better his own conditions, but his nation will understand that it is to relieve the economic strain. He will leave, as he believes, to join friends and relatives; but his nation will understand that it is for its own best interests. He will go, as he believes, for his own adventure and success, but his nation will understand that he goes for the glory of the home land, and will, therefore, admonish him not to abjure his allegiance, but to report opportunities for investment and locations for foreign capital in the new country. It will urge him to do everything while abroad that is in his power to advance the interests of his native land. It will connect him with racial organizations, so he may keep aloof, rather than join in, the affairs of the new nation.
Fraught with danger, as all such movements must be, unless they are openly conducted with the approval of immigration countries, not only to the happiness and success of the immigrant but to the good will between nations, some European nations have under consideration another movement which should cause grave anxiety. The immigrant, between the time he leaves his native country and the time he becomes a citizen of a new country—a period of about five years—has no political standing and the alien group which he joins has no representation at home or in the new land. These nations now propose to give the immigrant located in the new country representation in his native land. This would extend the principle of representation, which is now confined to colonies in the territory of the native government, to groups of people in alien territories, without discrimination as to whether they were aliens or naturalized citizens.
Under this plan, a group of foreign born people might meet, let us say, in America to select representatives who are to sit in a capital in Europe, there to pass upon policies and questions affecting, not only the home country in its local affairs, but also international affairs. The same group of people might at the same time in America participate in a policy which their own representatives abroad had disapproved. Such representatives would naturally try to influence the country in which they lived upon matters pending between the two countries. These in turn, would seek to secure the support of the racial group to which they belonged, not perhaps for American interests, but for those of the native country in whose councils they were important personages, though they were comparatively unknown in America. In accordance with this tendency, delegates from American racial groups have already attended conventions abroad which have had a political significance and have reported to their constituents in America the action there taken.
America, with its many races and its millions of foreign born, may well inquire: first, if this would not tend "to divide its own community, and to distract its councils," and, second, what effect these racial representatives, concerning whom it had no knowledge, setting in the councils of foreign nations would have upon its official relations and negotiations with these same foreign governments. The adoption of such a policy by European countries might well mean that America, in addition to its prevailing dual economic system, would, in time, come to possess a dual political system.
Under such a plan organized groups in America would deal officially with political affairs in both Europe and America; questions of European policy would be referred to these groups in America and American initiative and resources would be used as a lever in European affairs. The attitude of nationals in the new country toward affairs in their native country, in view of the unsettled conditions in Europe, might assume a position of great importance, if we are to prevent the growth of race hatreds in America and are not to meddle by subterranean channels in European affairs.
The war has created a number of situations, not primarily concerned with the control of emigrants, which are indicative of the international importance of the problems which are arising. One of these is the adoption of greater precautions to protect from infectious diseases the health of the immigrant in transit, as well as to protect the countries to which he emigrates. Several international conferences have been held upon this subject; but, even so, some of the measures adopted illustrate that needless hardships are imposed upon the helpless emigrant by the action of his government. This may be illustrated by the new regulations concerning disinfection which are enforceable abroad. These have unexpectedly cost so much additional money for subsistence, that after they have left their home country some immigrants have arrived in America without the required amount, and in consequence have not been permitted to land.
Another problem concerns passports. There is already, under the leadership of Lord Robert Cecil, a Passport and Postal Reform Committee. As a result of the activities of this committee, Switzerland has modified its passport regulations, which have heretofore harassed the foreigners visiting that country; other countries will modify their regulations; and it is hoped that all countries later will adopt a uniform plan. The immigrant is, at present, the greatest sufferer under the passport system, especially when he comes to this country. America has not yet participated in these conferences; but "it is hoped that she will accept the decisions." There are indications that the further use of the passport, as a means to regulate emigration, will be an important question in future international deliberations; and its present status as well as its possibilities may well be made the subject of careful study by Americans.
Dual citizenship, perhaps the most insoluble of all international questions, is awaiting its turn for a hearing. Before the war, it was the subject of innumerable conferences but, as has been pointed out, the very existence of each country is at stake in this matter and a compromise hardly seems possible. In the meantime, the United States sees not only its naturalized citizens but their sons born in America drawn into the military service of a foreign country. It is impossible to say whether the solution will be a new kind of international citizenship or a movement by foreign countries to encourage their nationals to become citizens in foreign lands, but which countries at the same time will aim to make the repatriation of their nationals, who have become citizens, easier if they will later return home. But some agreement there must be, if for no other reason than to protect the standing of American citizenship.
If this is to be the nature of future policies for emigration countries in Europe, to be carried out as perfectly and as rapidly as their rehabilitation will permit, what is to be the attitude toward them of immigration countries and what policies will they devise? For these intentions of emigration countries, if carried out, cannot fail to produce new situations which immigration countries should at least be prepared to meet. It may be that these proposed policies will be to the benefit of America, and that it may wish to further them; or it may be that they will be inimical to its welfare and America may have to oppose them, or at least to neutralize their effect within its own borders. Whatever has been said concerning these tendencies is, therefore, not for the purpose of stating a final judgment as to their advantages or disadvantages to this country, but is rather for the purpose of stimulating Americans to make a more extensive inquiry, looking toward the adoption of such measures or the opening of such negotiations as may be necessary in its own interest.
Far-reaching future legislative action based upon single investigations, or upon temporary excursions to Europe, with a hasty examination from time to time of prevailing conditions and intentions will scarcely answer the purpose. The situation requires the careful and prolonged study of conditions in each country by experts who can understand not only the records and policies which will be opened for their inspection but their probable effect upon future affairs. The problem is too vast and the responsibilities are too grave to sanction the enactment of laws from the deductions of one or two people who go abroad, collect a few impressions, make a few superficial observations from crowds of immigrants waiting for passports; and who return either with "news" for scareheads to stimulate race prejudice, or with a policy to be imposed upon the American people.
Many countries of immigration appreciate the necessity for thorough information and for representative conferences. South America has already taken a stand and is ready to negotiate for immigrants, to make concessions, to adopt protective measures, and to fit her plans to those of Europe. Mexico is in the market for immigrants, though upon what terms we do not as yet know. Canada has adopted a selective policy, under which she is negotiating for the labor needed, of the kind she desires; she is specializing on farm labor and is prepared to send abroad commissions and agents to perfect the terms of negotiation. Australia, one of the great immigration countries of the future, is marking time pending the outcome in Europe, and not less in America, for she is waiting to see what progress America will make in its plans for assimilation. Russia, probably the greatest immigration country of the future, is also making her plans to attract immigration. In all of these countries, there is a marked tendency to favor economic assimilation but, as yet, little definite action toward political assimilation has been taken. Indeed, some of them have scarcely, as yet, considered the question of the future political rights of their new residents.
The position taken by America seems to be unique. The country is concerned, not with the separation but with the amalgamation of races. It welcomes the immigrant, not only as a worker, but as a potential citizen. It urges him to learn its language, to transfer his allegiance; and definitely to cast in his lot with the new country. Its immigration laws and present policies are constructed upon this theory, and the American is bent upon strengthening these policies even if it necessitates compulsion. He is squarely on record against the admission of races which, he thinks, cannot be assimilated.
These divergent attitudes of countries of emigration and of immigration have not yet reached the point where they have become either the subject of mutual study or of general agreement. America sees little need for action to protect the future, so long as immigrants continue to arrive in fairly satisfactory numbers. South America is content, so long as immigrants create few political problems. Europe, while stabilization is delayed, sees no reason to stem the outgoing tide of emigration so long as it relieves the economic strain at home and advances her interests abroad.
But beneath this apparent indifference, some significant changes are taking place on both continents which should make the statesmen of both hemispheres, who have peace among nations at heart, pause and reflect. These widely diverging policies must sometime be dealt with understandingly and cooperatively unless they are to constitute a future ground for misunderstandings and perhaps for war. For the future migrations of millions of people are threatened with great difficulty to themselves and with danger to nations, when some countries in Europe are bent upon retaining the allegiance and controlling the activities of their emigrants after arrival in immigrant countries, and are hoping to give them representation in their home countries; when other countries, like America, are bent upon restriction, registration and repression, unless immigrants learn the language and become citizens; and when other countries, like Argentine, are indifferent to citizenship, and are willing to receive and billet immigrants for an exchange of markets. In such a confusion of attitudes and policies the immigrant is likely to be the sufferer.
Before the war America, alone of all the great immigration countries of the world, seemed to have no general agreement in opinion on immigration policies among its own people. Now, for the most part, it seems to be unaware of what Europe is thinking and planning about immigration and of what other immigration countries are doing. It is therefore in no better command of immigration affairs than it was before the war. Its leaders are talking, not about future immigration and its new aspects and responsibilities, but about repression and deportation, and about probation systems—all of which affect the immigrant only after his arrival and do not consider the prevention of conditions which he creates. This indicates that the only future which Americans anticipate is a rush of immigration, and that they intend either to arbitrarily restrict it or to continue in the same unintelligent way to accept every immigrant who comes, if he passes a few physical tests and can read forty words in the English language, or is perhaps related to someone already here. It sees no necessity for expressing to Europe what it either needs or desires in the way of immigration. It is a pertinent question whether, in the face of the commercialization of immigration by all of the countries in the world, this loose idealism of America can prevail. This question should be decided, at least, with a full knowledge of what the rest of the world has in view.
A survey of American activities during the past six months, during which time there has been a resumption of immigration, leads to the inevitable conclusion that, so far as the whole subject is concerned, we have neither changed our methods nor enlarged our vision. As evidence of this, we find from what information is available that the studies on Americanization, now being published under the auspices of the Carnegie Foundation, concern domestic matters only and are retrospective, rather than perspective; and so take us but to the threshold of the new immigration epoch. We find that the method of receiving immigrants at Ellis Island is, as the Commissioner of Immigration has said, "to extend the glad hand to our new immigrants instead of a kick," which is a reversion to the days of Commissioner Watchorn. The present policy is to sublet, without limit, and apparently without much discrimination, to racial, civic, religious or patriotic organizations the reception and distribution of the immigrant. It lessens, but little, the confusion and competition of these various agencies for the government to exclude a few of them, even such important ones as the American Federation of Labor and the American Legion—since in the great competitive rush to welcome him the immigrant cannot well distinguish between the public interests of government and the private interests of organizations. Beyond this immediate welcome, there as yet is no protective system, and no organization of the labor market. We therefore regard with complacency, if not cordiality, the renewed efforts of foreign governments to protect their own nationals in America. We find Americanization proceeding upon its own happy way, according to any ideas which its several leaders and organizations may hold, and limited in its efforts only by the size of the contributions it receives and the enthusiasm of its workers.
What our government and business will do with this mass of well- meaning endeavor, to secure to the country a fuller return from the efforts of these organizations while preserving their entity, is an important question. What the government will do in relation to the future policies of emigration countries, which the numerous endeavors under present conditions hardly affect, is a matter of greater moment. But whether America will adopt an immigration policy which will give to it the position of leadership in the great international world of immigration affairs, which as the greatest immigration country in the world is its natural place, is a question which transcends all others.
Few will deny that these and other questions, which are presented later, should in this country be made the subject of national study and conference, and at an early date be made the subject of international conferences. That the European policies which are now under consideration, and which will affect America, will lend themselves readily to such discussion, is shown by the fact that necessity and not animosity is the motive behind them. That countries of immigration should be consulted in advance of the adoption of emigration policies is a suggestion which will be welcomed, because self- preservation, and not exploitation, is the spur for the present action. In the absence of any authoritative call for such national or international discussion, we run the risk of having these most important matters fall into the hands of class organizations, as for instance the garment workers who aim to control the migrations of all needle workers.
If America is to continue to admit the immigrant, content only with what he appears to be, by reason of a superficial examination at Ellis Island, and with no comprehension of the forces and intelligence behind him and operating through him after arrival, then it requires but little imagination to picture the effect which these new policies may have upon the racial situation in America. If immigrants are to be sent to us without relation to our prevailing problems and without our knowledge of the objectives of emigration countries, we may well ask what is to prevent America from becoming a country of economic exploitation, a land of many colonies, an objective of racial propaganda, a temporary home, and a source of wealth to Europe; and from becoming a country for n with dissensions and racial antagonisms?
America is in a position to act in this matter, for Congress has authorized the President to call an international conference to consider just such questions as now arise. America possesses the advantage of being in a position to contribute to such a conference the inter- racial judgment of its peoples. Congress has under consideration proposals of such far- reaching importance that they should be made the subject of debate throughout the country.
The mind rises to the possibilities which may result from such a deeper understanding and larger appreciation of the questions involved, and the vision of its full accomplishment will inspire those, who, though they place their own country first among the nations of the earth, know that it, alone and unaided, cannot solve the race problems of the world.