facturing and mining industries of the eastern and middle western states, mostly in the capacity of unskilled laborers. There is no basic industry in which they are not largely represented, and in many cases they compose more than 50 per cent of the total number of persons employed in such industries. Coincident with the advent of these millions of unskilled laborers, there has been an unprecedented expansion of the industries in which they have been employed. Whether this great immigration movement was caused by the industrial development or whether the fact that a practically unlimited and available supply of cheap labor existed in Europe was taken advantage of for the purpose of expanding the industries, can not well be demonstrated. Whatever may be the truth in this regard, it is certain that southern and eastern European immigrants have almost completely monopolized unskilled labor activities in many of the more important industries. This phase of the industrial situation was made the most important and exhaustive feature of the Commission's investigation, and the results show that while the competition of these immigrants has had little, if any, effect on the highly skilled trades, nevertheless, through lack of industrial progress and by reason of large and constant reinforcement from abroad, it has kept conditions in the semiskilled and unskilled occupations from advancing.

Like most of the immigration from southern and eastern Europe, those who entered the leading industries were largely single men or married men unaccompanied by their families. There is, of course, in practically all industrial communities a large number of families of the various races, but the majority of the employees are men without families here and whose standard of living is so far below that of the native American or older immigrant workman that it is impossible for the latter to successfully compete with them. They usually live in cooperative groups and crowd together. Consequently, they are able to save a great part of their earnings, much of which is sent or carried abroad. Moreover, there is a strong tendency on the part of these unaccompanied men to return to their native countries after a few years of labor here. These groups have little contact with American life, learn little of American institutions, and aside from the wages earned profit little by their stay in this country. During their early years in the United States they usually rely for assistance and advice on some member of their

race, frequently a saloon keeper or grocer, and almost always a steamship ticket agent and "immigrant banker," who, because of superior intelligence and better knowledge of American ways, commands their confidence. Usually after a longer residence they become more self-reliant, but their progress toward assimilation is generally slow. Immigrant families in the industrial centers are more permanent and usually exhibit a stronger tendency toward advancement, although, in most cases, it is a long time before they even approach the ordinary standard of the American or the older immigrant families in the same grade of occupation. This description, of course, is not universally true, but it fairly represents a great part of the recent immigrant population in the United States. Their numbers are so great and the influx is so continuous that even with the remarkable expansion of industry during the past few years there has been created an over supply of unskilled labor, and in some of the industries this is reflected in a curtailed number of working days and a consequent yearly income among the unskilled workers which is very much less than is indicated by the daily wage rates paid; and while it may not have lowered in a marked degree the American standard of living, it has introduced a lower standard which has become prevalent in the unskilled industry at large.

Recent Immigrants in Agriculture

According to the census of 1900, 21.7 per cent of all foreignborn male breadwinners in the United States were engaged in agricultural pursuits, but the great majority of these were of the old immigration races. Up to that time comparatively few of the immigrants from the south and east of Europe had gone on the land, and, while during the past ten years some of the races have shown a tendency in that direction, the proportion is still small. Among the races of recent immigration which have shown a more or less pronounced tendency toward agriculture in states east of the Rocky mountains are the Italians and Poles, while several Hebrew agricultural colonies have been established. A considerable number of the Italians are to be found in various parts of the East, the South, and the Southwest, where, as a rule, they have established communities, and on the whole have made good progress. In the East many have engaged in truck gardening in the vicinity of the largest cities, while in the South

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and Southwest they have entered fruit and berry raising and, to a lesser degree, general farming. The Poles have gone into general agriculture in many parts of the East and Middle West, while the Hebrews are, as a rule, located in the more populous states and usually near large cities. The small number of Hebrews who have engaged in agricultural pursuits have not been conspicuously successful, although in some localities they have made fair progress. The Polish farmers, as a rule, have succeeded, particularly in some of the eastern localities where they have purchased worn-out lands and succeeded in making them productive and profitable. The Italians usually have been successful in general farming and especially so in truck gardening and small farming in the vicinity of large cities.

While encouragement is to be found in the experiences of the past few years, it is clear that the tendency of the new immigration is toward industrial and city pursuits rather than toward agriculture.

Artificial Distribution of Immigrants

In making the larger cities and industrial communities their place of residence, aliens composing the new immigration movement have continued to follow a tendency which originated with the advent of such immigrants in considerable numbers. This may be ascribed to various reasons. A large part of the immigrants were agricultural laborers at home, and their immigration is due to a desire to escape the low economic conditions which attend agricultural pursuits in countries from which they come. With no knowledge of other conditions it is natural, therefore, that they should seek another line of activity in this country. The destination of these immigrants in the United States on arrival is controlled by the fact that they almost invariably join relatives or friends, and few of these, even among earlier immigrants of the class, are engaged in agricultural pursuits.

No satisfactory or permanent distribution of immigrants can be effected through any federal employment system, no matter how widespread, because the individual will seek such social and economic conditions as best suit him, no matter where sent. What is needed is a division of information which will cooperate with states desiring immigrant settlers. Information concerning the opportunities for settlement should then be brought to the attention of immigrants in industrial centers who have been

here for some time and who might thus be induced to invest their savings in this country and become permanent agricultural settlers. Such a division might also secure and furnish to all laborers alike information showing opportunities for permanent employment in various sections of the country, together with the economic conditions in such places.

Recommendations

As a result of the investigation the commission is unanimously of the opinion that in framing legislation emphasis should be laid upon the following principles;

1. While the American people, as in the past, welcome the oppressed of other lands, care should be taken that immigration be such both in quality and quantity as not to make too difficult the process of assimilation,

2. Since the existing law and further special legislation recommended in this report deal with the physically and morally unfit, further general legislation concerning the admission of aliens should be based primarily upon economic or business considerations touching the prosperity and economic well-being of our people.

3. The measure of the rational, healthy development of a country is not the extent of its investment of capital, its output of products, or its exports and imports, unless there is a corresponding economic opportunity afforded to the citizen dependent upon employment for his material, mental, and moral development.

4. The development of business may be brought about by means which lower the standard of living of the wage-earners. A slow expansion of industry which would permit the adaptation and assimilation of the incoming labor supply is preferable to a very rapid industrial expansion which results in the immigration of laborers of low standards and efficiency, who imperil the American standard of wages and conditions of employment. The commission agrees that:

1. To protect the United States more effectively against the immigration of criminal and certain other debarred classes

(a) Aliens convicted of serious crimes within a period of five years after admission should be deported in accordance with the provisions of House bill 20,980, Sixty-first Congress, second session.

(b) Under the provisions of section 39 of the immigration act of February 20, 1907, the President should appoint commissioners to make arrangements with such countries as have adequate police records to supply emigrants with copies of such records, and that thereafter immigrants from such countries should be admitted to the United States only upon the production of proper certificates showing an absence of convictions for excludable crimes.

(c) So far as practicable the immigration laws should be so amended as to be made applicable to alien seamen.

(d) Any alien who becomes a public charge within three years after his arrival in this country should be subject to deportation in the discretion of the secretary of commerce and labor.

2. Sufficient appropriation should be regularly made to enforce vigorously the provisions of the laws previously recommended by the commission and enacted by Congress regarding the importation of women for immoral purposes.

3. As the new statute relative to steerage conditions took effect so recently as January 1, 1909, and as the most modern steerage fully complies with all that is demanded under the law, the commission's only recommendation in this connection is that a statute be immediately enacted providing for the placing of government officials, both men and women, on vessels carrying third-class or steerage passengers for the enforcement of the law and the protection of the immigrant. The system inaugurated by the commission of sending investigators in the steerage in the guise of immigrants should be continued at intervals by the bureau of immigration.

4. To strengthen the certainty of just and humane decisions of doubtful cases at ports of entry it is recommended—

That section 25 of the immigration act of 1907 be amended to provide that boards of special inquiry should be appointed by the secretary of commerce and labor, and that they should be composed of men whose ability and training qualify them for the performance of judicial functions; that the provisions compelling their hearings to be separate and apart from the public should be repeated, and that the office of an additional assistant secretary of commerce and labor to assist in reviewing such appeals be created.

5. To protect the immigrant against exploitation; to discourage sending savings abroad; to encourage permanent resi