DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22140#0325
MOVEMENTS OF LABOUR.
309
almost alone among settlers of British descent, the United States
have an extraordinary power of assimilating the very varied
peoples who settle among them. Out of the sea-bound towns
English, Irish, German, Italian, Scandinavian settlers acquire in
a very short time all the characteristics and all the political
utterances of the native American.
Now we are not to expect, especially as we exercise no super-
vision over those who come hither to settle, that a distance which
is not more than a hundredth of that space which separates the
Old World from North America will guarantee us immigrants
even of the average quality which the American Union procures.
The immigrant from a distant country may be fairly considered
to have weighed the circumstances well before he made the venture ;
to be possessed of those qualities which are likely to secure him
success in the country of his adoption ; to be enterprising, com-
petent, satisfied with the field of his future operations ; and to be
possessed of means susficient to maintain him with while he looks
about him, or with friends in the country who will welcome,
shelter, and assist for a time till he settles. Spontaneous emigra-
tion to a distant country is generally of the best and most hopeful
states among the working classes, whose departure is a loss to the
country of their birth and bringing up, a gain to that of their
adoption. If you take men who are always wanted in a new
country, of which character most of the immigrants into the
States and the British Colonies are, the exportation of wealth in
skilled and competent labour, ready at once to assist the productive
energies of the country to which they go, amounts annually to an
enormous sum. It is no marvel that, despite their atrocious and
demoralizing financial system, the wealth of the American Union
grows at so rapid a rate. The character and purposes of the
immigrants is susficient to account for the result. The Union
takes a tribute from the Old World, being at the pains to regulate
it by the best machinery which it can devise, in the shape of
skilled labour, which, if the true balance of exports and imports
were given, would very materially modify some conclusions as to
these matters which foolish people have arrived at. We export
annually an enormous amount of national wealth, without any
equivalent in return for it.
309
almost alone among settlers of British descent, the United States
have an extraordinary power of assimilating the very varied
peoples who settle among them. Out of the sea-bound towns
English, Irish, German, Italian, Scandinavian settlers acquire in
a very short time all the characteristics and all the political
utterances of the native American.
Now we are not to expect, especially as we exercise no super-
vision over those who come hither to settle, that a distance which
is not more than a hundredth of that space which separates the
Old World from North America will guarantee us immigrants
even of the average quality which the American Union procures.
The immigrant from a distant country may be fairly considered
to have weighed the circumstances well before he made the venture ;
to be possessed of those qualities which are likely to secure him
success in the country of his adoption ; to be enterprising, com-
petent, satisfied with the field of his future operations ; and to be
possessed of means susficient to maintain him with while he looks
about him, or with friends in the country who will welcome,
shelter, and assist for a time till he settles. Spontaneous emigra-
tion to a distant country is generally of the best and most hopeful
states among the working classes, whose departure is a loss to the
country of their birth and bringing up, a gain to that of their
adoption. If you take men who are always wanted in a new
country, of which character most of the immigrants into the
States and the British Colonies are, the exportation of wealth in
skilled and competent labour, ready at once to assist the productive
energies of the country to which they go, amounts annually to an
enormous sum. It is no marvel that, despite their atrocious and
demoralizing financial system, the wealth of the American Union
grows at so rapid a rate. The character and purposes of the
immigrants is susficient to account for the result. The Union
takes a tribute from the Old World, being at the pains to regulate
it by the best machinery which it can devise, in the shape of
skilled labour, which, if the true balance of exports and imports
were given, would very materially modify some conclusions as to
these matters which foolish people have arrived at. We export
annually an enormous amount of national wealth, without any
equivalent in return for it.