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the past eighteen months on numerous occasions, and to very great profit to the organizations in whose interest it was executed.

None are more anxious that the immigration laws should be strengthened than the immigration officials, and for that purpose the secretary of the treasury, about one year ago, appointed a commission of practical officials for the purpose of reporting to him all necessary changes, and a preliminary report of this commission is now in the printing office, and will be sent out to those interested about the time that this article is read.

There is one danger which should be brought forcibly home to the members of labor organizations, and it is more real now that the present enforcement of the law has practically stopped the introduction of laborers under contract—that is, the coming to this country of migratory laborers, or "birds of passage," without intention of permanently remaining here; of immigrants from Europe and Canada, and especially the latter.

Not less than 100,000 persons (three or four times the number of foreign immigrants landing annually in Boston, and at least a quarter of the average number landing at New York) come to the United States from the Dominion of Canada, and at least 50 per cent of these return to their homes, after the working season is over, to come again the next year, and repeating this performance an indefinite number of times. As secretary of the commission referred to above, I had occasion to look into this matter in the cities and towns bordering on the Canadian frontier, notably Detroit and Buffalo, and in Boston (which is easily accessible by boat and rail), and from this investigation I am satisfied that the danger from this class of immigrants is very large more serious than those from Europe. The European immigrant, coming here to permanently remain, generally joins the trade union of the trade in which he is engaged and becomes a useful member; the transient immigrants from the Dominion of Canada, not intending to remain in the United States, have reduced wages in the trades in which they have entered from 25 to 50 per cent, and unless legislation speedily comes this great injustice and wrong will continue.

Another feature of immigration equally bad is the modern development of the "padrone system," which, inaugurated by the act of 1864, was carried out to perfection by the dealers in Italian labor, and later, to a small degree, by other nationalities, such as Poles, Hungarians, Syrians and Armenians. The enforcement of the contract labor law, together with the large massing of Italians in this country, has done away with the bringing of Italians here under contract, but it has opened up an altogether more dangerous practice. Formerly the contractor was obliged to put himself to the trouble and expense of importing his laborers from Europe; this is no longer necessary. Take the Italians, for example: On arrival, they attach themselves to an Italian "banker" in New York, who -probably is a native of their own district, and by him are shifted from place to place as they may be needed,

to-day working in New York in gangs of from 100 to 500, then transferred to the south, then to New England, or wherever railway construction or large municipal improvements, or strikes in manufacturing establishments, may require their services. The system is soulless and absolutely degrading. The immigrant, once in the clutches of these "bankers," is as practically enslaved as ever were the black men of the south. A full statement of these practices will be found in the report of this commission, with the recommendation of the commission on the subject, which will well repay perusal.

The influence of immigration on wages cannot be said to have been detrimental, although in considering this question it is necessary to estimate whether or not this would have been a fact had it not been for the potent influence of trades unions, which has been the largest factor in increasing wages; but to this it may be said that, generally speaking, the immigrants have made first class trade unionists. The opinion is widespread that wages have fallen since the great tide of immigration has set in; the facts do not bear this out. The statistics show that large immigration has almost invariably been coincident with (but not necessarily the cause of) prosperity, and the report of the senate special committee of 1891, which was charged with the duty of ascertaining the course of prices and wages of labor, shows further, that wages have been highest during these same periods of prosperity. Not only, according to this report, have wages gradually increased during the last three decades of steadily increasing immigration, but they have been the highest during those years in which immigration has been the largest. It would be very unfair to say that immigration had increased wages because of this fact, but it is well known, and the report of the investigating commission will show, that the transient Canadian laborers, and the foreign laborers, have no doubt been the cause of directly reducing the wages, especially during the periods of industrial stagnation, and but for the beneficent influence of labor organizations this might have been much more potent.

To come to the close of an article which is already too long, but much too short for a satisfactory discussion of this question, it remains to sum up; to suggest a remedy for the evils which have developed from immigration To say the total shutting of the gates for a period of years, as has been suggested, would do so, is out of the question. Our improved methods of statistics will show that the total real immigration to this country has fallen off to a very great extent. For instance, in the fiscal year ending June, 1894, it would appear that 219,046 immigrants were landed at the port of New York. This, of course, was a considerable decrease from the years preceding. If we were to shut the gates against these immigrants, what would we do? We find, on analysis, that of the total number that came here, 29,782 had been here before. These could not be shut out; they had acquired alien residency rights which must not be disregarded altogether. Of the balance, 90,887 were coming to join their imme

diate families-fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters; in humanity these could not be shut out. So that the balance, which is the real immigration for that year, is but 98,377. During that same year it was discovered that for several months the outflow of steerage passengers, almost exclusively foreign born, from American ports actually exceeded the inflow, which has to a less degree continued up to the present time, so that the balance, instead of being in our favor, was considerably against us. The same figures for 1895 show that the total number of immigrants landing at the port of New York was 190,928; of these, 42,280 had been in the United States before, and 69,637 were coming to join their immediate families, leaving the total number of real immigrants for the last fiscal year to be 79,0'I. Under these circumstances the policy of total exclusion does not appear to be practicable, and the various qualifications—such as education, money and 'consular inspection—are all open to objections, and if passed would be nullified by so many exceptions as to render them practically useless.

I am firmly of the opinion that, administered by honest officials, the present immigration laws, with the amendments which practical experience has suggested, and which are embodied in the report of the commission, are sufficient. I am free to say that there are certain classes of immigrants coming to our shores that we could safely dispense with, and their admission into our national life may prove detrimental. This is mainly due to their tendency to herd together in large industrial centers. The real remedy, therefore, lies not in the exclusion of immigrants, but in their distribution. Certain sections of our country are absolutely suffering for need of labor for its development, while in the cities we find congestion and consequent overcrowding of the labor market. The problem of distribution is being carefully worked out, and will be solved.

The immigration bureau has been called upon frequently, during my term of office, to assist the trades which had been injured by immigration, and which were expecting supposed contract laborers. In the majority of cases where this aid has been invoked the organizations have been ready to accord to the immigration authorities all the aid and assistance in their power for the purpose of getting evidence for the conviction of these alleged contract laborers, and wherever this has been done the result has been most satisfactory, both to the trade interested and to the immigration bureau. Some cases have, however, arisen where on the most meager information the immigration officials were expected to hold up and deport men against whom there was not a scintilla of evidence forthcoming, and on our refusal to return them we have been criticised as being unfriendly to the law. This is absurd, and does not need refutation. The officials of the immigration bureau did not make the law. They realize its inefficiency, and have taken steps to strengthen it in the interest of organized labor. They cannot, without sufficient evidence, summarily and illegally return as contract laborers any immigrants,

unless sufficient proof is forthcoming, and the organizations claiming to be affected by such laborers must lay the blame of this to their failure to furnish proof to the proper authorities.

It would be of immense help to the immigration officials at the several ports, and would greatly increase the efficiency of the law, if the plan as suggested, to put agents of the immigration bureau on guard at the various ports of departure in Europe, be adopted. This plan has been discussed and approved at conventions of the American Federation of Labor, and does not need elaboration here. Our records are open to all, and members of labor organizations generally are invited to visit the various stations personally, when possible, to see for themselves how this work, which is so important to their interests, is being carried out. If this cannot be done, all requests for information and assistance will be cheerfully answered.

Trade Unionism and Democracy.

BY WILLIAM C. POMEROY.

Men are not born equal. They never were. Therefore, we have the right to declare they never will be. Some are tall and thin; others short and thick. Some have splendid intellects; others remain stupid to the grave. Some are energetic, generous, ambitious; others sleepy, stingy and unaspiring. Some tender as an infant; others ruthless as the forest king. Some desire one thing; some desire all things; some desire nothing. These are the people who dwell upon the face of the earth. They are as varied in inclination as they are opposed in object. No two are alike.

It is for such as these that governments have been established. Not because they (governments) are good, but because they are necessary. Governments are necessary that "the greatest good may accrue to the greatest number." Read between the lines, this means that the greatest good may not be for all. Governments are the clearing houses of grievances. If man had no grievances, no government would exist, because none would be necessary. Having grievances, both of natural and unnatural origin, man establishes governments to adjust them. The government which would seek to regulate all the affairs of man would be as obnoxious as the government which refused to regulate any of man's affairs. There are circumstances in life which are of a purely personal nature. To attempt to regulate them by statute would be tyrannical. There are circumstances in life that are entirely general in scope. For a government to refuse to regulate them would be equally as obnoxious. One case is a sin of commission; the other a sin of omission. They are both equally criminal. To obviate both, to prevent either, is the legitimate function of government, as best expressed in a true democracy; i. e., where all men are equal before the law. That is all. To carry the powers of government further is to create friction between the governed and the government; to restrain the powers of government a single step from that point is equally dangerous. Few governments have been

good; none have been perfect. Why? Because water ascends no higher than its source. Government is but the legal expression of the will of the people. Sometimes government ceases to truly express the will of the people. Now, if the people permit a false expression of their desires, they alone are to blame. But the people, as is amply instanced by history, will only permit misrule for a time, when, awakening to their dangers, majorities are reversed and even legislative and executive systems overturned. Reform may obtain for a time-say a day or a generation-and the same evils are at hand again, and must be throttled and overthrown. Listen to Byron :

This is the sequel of all human tales;
It is but the same rehearsal of the past.
First freedom, then glory; when this fails,
Wealth, vice, corruption-barbarism at last.
And History, with all her volumes vast,

Is but one page.

The above lines are eloquent in their rugged truth. They describe experience as recorded through ages; not the nightmare of erratic brains. 'Tis sad; 'tis pitiful; 'tis true. Why? Because human progress is not even caused by a survival of the fittest, but is a struggle for a survival of the slickest.

Oh, we will be told by our idealistic friends, that the writer speaks from his own standpoint, experience and inclinations. Very well. My standpoint, experience and inclinations are at least real, and are not founded on the false philosophy of "confusionists," who can eloquently depict and even magnify the outrages performed by government, but who can furnish no sane solution for the evils which all truthful men admit. In fact, conditions are not more to blame than is nature herself. Cain knew nothing of right or wrong. The brute in him caused him to slay his brother. Remember, the tyrant Commodus was the son of the philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius and gentle Faustina. Through the ages man has, along with refinement, gained ambition and cunning. These are "the unearned increment" of evil. They will not down. They must be controlled. Government is necessary to control them, but they must not control the government. To prevent this latter condition, the powers of government must be limited to only general questions. For this the trade union (pure and simple ) stands. Trade unions are to the craft what government is to the people as a whole; provided, however, that in their function they are limited to purely craft matters. Politics of any stripe has no more business within a trade union session than has religious belief. Politics, like religion, is not a craft matter. They are both personal matters, and only impertinence or imbecility will presume to attempt to regulate a man's personal affairs without his request. The trade union stands for the rights of the craft, and should assail any attempt from without or within to hamper craft alliances with factional strife, which is sure to result from interference with personal rights. Thus the trade union is the happy medium between the individual as a unit

and the craft in the aggregate. Let us suppose that a part of the trade union obligation read as follows: "And I further pledge myself to vote for only such candidates as may receive the endorsement of this union." How many self-respecting men would join? How long would the union last? How many would keep the pledge?

That is the best government which is selected by the best people. That is the best people which is most satisfied. Satisfaction comes, if at all, from contentment. Contentment is the result of prosperity. Trade unionism in its simplest and fullest form can guarantee and maintain prosperity. Prosperity guaranteed and maintained means the best people and, hence, the best government. Recognizing trade unionism as the fulcrum of good government, we must, in order to obtain the best results, divest it of all side issues and superfluous philosophies. The faddist, who has an untried panacea for all the ills of human kind, must be relegated to the museum for economic curiosities, thereby making room for the grand truth which has survived the centuries; i. e., "craft combination, as craftsmen, in the sole interest of the craft." The star-gazer, whose idealistic soul pines for moonbeam ambrosia, must be hung on a peg in the ante-room, while men of materialistic tendencies legislate for the welfare of men who are confronted by material problems. The organizer of side issues must be driven from the trade union pulpit and compelled to "swallow or quit chewing." The man who would seek to drag a trade union into politics should be branded as a fool or a Pinkerton, and dealt with accordingly.

Having done this, the attention of the organizers should be turned toward completing the roster of state federations. These should have sole charge of legislation within their respective states. Thus, a measure approved by the national organization would have forty-five chances of passing. It would pass some of the legislatures, and establish a precedent for others. The national organization should compel all locals to attach themselves to the local central bodies representing the A. F. of L. This would prevent splits, secessions and a multiplicity of so-called central bodies fighting among themselves, to the loss of the aggregate membership. A close alliance, even positive affiliation, with the railway brotherhoods should be solicited at once. The trade union idea is now dominant in their ranks, and they are ripe for coalition.

Having accomplished these things, all in the line of organization, the union label should be nailed to the masthead as the ensign of trade unionism, and the lesson inculcated that the best possible thing to do with any spare time we may have is to aid our friends, for remember

That a friend aided Is an enemy raided.

When we do these things, then will contentment bring back happiness, and happiness that Jacksonian democracy, of which the trade union, minus the fads, is at present the best living example.

Labor Legislation and Judicial Decisions

BY DAVID ROSS.

Recent judicial decisions, both state and federal, upon questions affecting the interests of the industrial classes, have been the principal subject of discussion by the press and people. Persons holding high judicial and executive positions, exasperated by what they conceived to be false constructions of the law's intent, have, in the strongest terms, denounced those decisions that deprive the people of rights and privileges guaranteed by statutes enacted by those elected to serve their interests. The impression becomes daily more prevalent that the character of many of the opinions of our courts, involving labor questions, results either from ignorance of, or indifference to, the changed conditions of an expanding industrial civilization, or are the natural, and, perchance, the unconscious, outgrowth of the power and influence exercised by corporate wealth, or are hampered by organic laws, like state constitutions containing provisions hostile to and inconsistent with the legislative demands of the present time.

Our government is separated into three great divisions the legislative, executive and judicial—and of these the most important is the last, as upon it has been conferred the power either of sustaining or invalidating the judgment of the state or national legisla

tures.

This power is the supreme prerogative delegated by the many to the few. When we reflect that so long as our constitution exists unchanged this prerogative is practically irrevocable-that its pronouncements are like the decrees of the Medes and Persians-we can easily realize that the character of our judiciary, like that of Cæsar's wife, should be spotless and absolutely free from even the shadow of suspicion. Woe betide the land when "her judges are evening wolves that gnaw not the bones till the morrow!"

Various legislatures have, within the past few years, in conformity to the demands of the industrial population, enacted laws providing that corporations shall pay the wages due their employes weekly, for the weighing of coal before screening, for the abolition of the infamous truck system, and for regulating the employment of females in certain industrial pursuits. These and other enactments calculated to improve the conditions of wage-earners have each and all been rendered nugatory, so far as their legal effect is concerned, by adverse decisions of the higher courts.

All labor legislation of any material importance, except strictly police regulations, has been declared unconstitutional because of an alleged conflict between the provisions of the several enactments and those articles in the different state constitutions which provide that "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law." This constitutional provision was, in many instances, written nearly half a century ago, and before the idea of imprisonment for contempt, or the deprivation of personal liberty by arbitrary injunction, was so fully devel

oped as it has become by modern practice. Due process of law, as defined in the text books, has been construed to mean the law of the land." To the uninitiated in the mysteries of legal lore it would appear that when the legislatures decreed that corporations should be required to observe the provisions of a law specifying and imposing new obligations, the requirements of the constitution had been complied with.

Two reasons are prominently set forth as the basis for these decisions: First, That they prevented the parties from entering into an agreement beyond the express stipulation of the statute; and, second, that they discriminated as to certain corporations, inasmuch as all were not included. The principle of a contract implies the assent and concurrence of two minds, and is essential to its very existence. As, in the cases named, the employes were the beneficiaries under the law, and were necessarily parties to the contract, we cannot justify ourselves in assuming with the courts that any of their rights were impaired by making it unlawful for corporations to contravene the act. The employes were satisfied with the contracts made for them by the legislatures and regret deeply the necessity resulting from their annulment by the courts in being compelled to accept a contract made, not by them but for them, by their employers.

The rule is, that where there is a reason for class or distinctive legislation, the courts will hold it valid, notwithstanding the constitutional provision herein referred to. The corporations included in the Illinois act of 1891 comprised employes whose monthly earnings averaged less than forty dollars, and represented a class desiring such regulation, and whose distinct interest would have been promoted by its enforcement. Information seems to have been lacking on this point, as comparisons are made with other classes, supposed to be in the same category, whose earning capacity was and is much greater than those included in the act, and who, in consequence, were not demanding or desiring shorter intervals between pay-days. The arguments employed as excuses in setting aside the screen law, the truck law, and other acts, are substantially in the same vein, and founded upon the assumption that in each case the right of private contract was denied. The reason for the enactment of these measures was that rights were denied, and the remedy was sought and found in legislative action, counteracted, unfortunately, by the adverse decision of the courts.

In many portions of the union fully forty per cent of the miners' product passes through an opening falsely called a screen, for which no compensation is

allowed, while one of the vicious features of the truck system was, and still is, to condition employment upon workers trading in such places, notwithstanding that, in many instances, goods purchased at the truck store cost twenty per cent in excess of what they could be procured for elsewhere. No one has ever thought the laws against usury, preventing, as they do, the greedy loaner from taking advantage of the borrower's necessities beyond the per cent specified by the acts, are unconstitutional; yet, the same courts that repudiate a pri

vate contract in excess of the allowed rate, under the penalty of forfeiting all the interest earned, substantially repeal, by their decisions, acts which sought to prevent the forced collection of over thirty per cent.

The fundamental error, in my humble judgment, at the base of all these decisions consists in the assumption, unwarranted by the facts of experience, that under the present organization of industrial society the naked right of private contract has a real existence. Whatever may be said of it in regard to life's strictly private affairs, it has not, and, in the nature of things, cannot have, any application to the complicated industrial institutions and conditions with which we now have to deal. In the case of a plant employing, say, one thousand persons and there are many employing a greater number - what opportunities have these employes, under such circumstances, to negotiate individual agreements as contemplated in the judicial theory of private contract? If the law of private contract in this sense means anything it should mean the privilege, nay, the right, of a personal interview and a satisfactory individual agreement upon the terms of employment. The development of industry in this epoch has made such contracts absolutely impossible. The corporation employing a thousand or more workmen recognizes them as a single unit, and deals with them as such. In the absence of a strong labor organization, the rate at which the weakest of their number is willing to work becomes, in time, the scale to which all the others must conform.

Complaint is made that legislation affecting the relations of the employes should not be enacted when the object sought is to substitute the judgment of the legislature for the judgment of the persons interested, the parties being competent to contract. There can be no question of the competency of employes generally to contract-the school master has been too long abroad in the land for that. The difficulty now confronting them is that, under the present industrial regime, they are not permitted as individuals to so act, but are compelled by their own necessities to accept terms and contracts that their better judgment repudiates. It is the conditions only that operate to produce incompetency, therefore justifying the intervention of the legislative judgment.

The time has come in the process of industrial development when more restriction is demanded; when the power controlled by corporate wealth should be exercised so as not to oppress the people. The tendencies of the times are in this direction, and the immediate future holds the promise of marvelous changes, not the least of which will be to confer upon state and municipal corporations functions for public good that, under the present system, are being employed solely to promote private greed. So far as legislation can influence it, the character of our future citizens should be the subject of supreme importance with our legislative assemblies, and it also ought to have some place in the judgment of our supreme courts.

The power born of organized labor is to-day the most active and potent factor in our national life.

The problem is as wide as the world and as complicated as our civilization, of which it is a significant part. The labor union has in this country its widest field of experiment. Those engaged in productive employment in the United States comprise a majority of our people, and when their strength is fully developed by more perfect and effective organization, legislatures will enact the laws they want and the courts will stand ready to endorse them.

Nightmare of Insincerity.

BY FRANK A. MYERS.

The thoughtful person sees a growing tendency in the minds of the masses toward a settled state of uncertainty, and consequent insincerity, relative to government, to the social fabric, and even to the church. Indeed, the middle aged begin to doubt of all good, and partly believe there is nothing true in this life-but death, taxes and unfriendly laws.

In barbarous times there was more frankness and personal honor than now, but it would be assuming too much to say that there ever was a time when there was a condition of affairs that allayed every mistrust in the minds of the governed. Too many bloody revolutions assert the contrary. But to-day there is perhaps more mental revolt than ever before; for the kings of industry are so tightening the bonds of toil, by absorbing the means of labor and of a livelihood, that they thereby engender the idea in the minds of the masses that they are compelled to make bricks without straw. The idea is based upon fact. The kicks against this unholy order of things are therefore justifiable. The people, from an inborn sense of right, if not from a knowledge of law and custom, have a proper idea of injustice, and of the time and means for a revolt. They wisely appeal no longer to the arbitrament of the sword, but to the judicious methods of argument and agitation. They are also des perately in earnest, for they feel they have a proper and vital cause.

Those plutocratic thinkers, who wrack their brains for arguments to explain away the loyal discontent of the people, might learn a lesson from the old colored woman, who said in one of their meetings, just after the passage of the fugitive slave law: "Bress de Lo'd! De tighter de hoop, de sooner it'll bust! Glory halleluiah!" This plain sentiment might convince the oppressor of the moral, that oppression is a boomerang

that eventually hits the oppressor. That is to say, in

the popular language of the day, things do not always go on. Brutal materialism might be reminded that sacred ideas are never annihilated, even if frightened

away for a time. Truth will get uppermost, to the

shame of the false and the false advocate.

Change is the order of nature in all things. And this idea is the hope and the faith of the poor daily toiler. He sees the fatal and false in the old conditions, and is agitating for a change; and the morrow is sure to come. All the earth puts on and puts off her green. The wheel of fortune is fickle-sometimes up and sometimes down.

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