Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 September 1887 — IMPORTED LABOR. [ARTICLE]

IMPORTED LABOR.

Public Opinion Steadily Crystalizing in Favor of its Restrict ion. N. Y, Tribune. \ Missionary work is one thing, imrnigraiioipinothcr. Worthy and able men have confounded the two, and failing to see that a life-giving influence cannot go ont from this conn try. to elevate those who walk in darkness in other lands, if we permit the foundation to be poisoned by t the degradation, on the ground that it is the duty of Americans to welcome every opportuni tydio uplift' the oppressed and the ignorant who come to us from other lands- t Yet public opinion has been steadily in favor of some restriction. Men of the highest virtue and worth, men as devoted as any in the work of the Christian Churches, have come to see that restriction is a duty. This feeling finds expression in the resolution adopted by the Ohio Convention, during the last week, and its reasons should be fairly weighed. Opposition by Eastern men to the exclusion of Chinese immigration has been of no avail, because it has been felt that the unanimous appeal from citizens of the Pacific States and Terri tories ought not to be disregarded by others far removed from the evils and dangers they depict. But now the question concernsa kind of immigration much sought by managers of some corporations, who want to get the cheapest labor they can, and do not care for the final influence upon the social, civil or moral condition of the country. In their behalf the argument will be urged that, if we permit the free immigration of Hungarian or Italian labor, even the most ignorant, the uplifting of Christian civilization will be brought to bear upon men and wotnen who could not otherwise be reached.

Some years ago a great strike occurred in the Connellsville coke region, and employers., determined to get cheaper and less independent labor, imported an army of Hungarians. The world knows what troubles have followed, what strifes and violence, what cruelty and injustice on one side, and what dishonor to the cause of labor on the other. Exactly the same thing has been done by oth-' er corporations, in other localities, and settlements of workers from Hungary or Italy or other lands, as far removed as possible in condition and character from the level of American citizenship have -been formed about, many mines, mills and workshops. It is the lesson of experience that these immigrants, brought in mainly under contracts to labor, and always for the purpose of laboring at a rate of wages below that paid to tree American citizens, do not form a valuable addition to the population. They work for wages which make it impossible for them to live as the citizens of a self-governing Republic need to live. They learn nothing of our laws or institutions. They are powerfully y AnarcElSts arRF •ocialists, but not visibly influenced at all by the Christian civilisation about them, to which they hold the attitude of enemies, nor by the’ spirit of this free Republic which they do not comprehend.

Civilisation helps a man when it begins by opening to him higher possibilities of life. Give him the means to live decently, to enjoy the comforts of a home, to mingle with neighbors and fellow workmen who live and think as free citizens should live and think, and th-n the work of elevation will begin. But when a so-called civilization brings a mag here to make a brute of him, and depr.ve him of the means of living decently,.or associating with free citizens, or educating himself or his children, that is another matter. The uplifting process does not begin. The Christianizingof people whom a Christian civilization condemns to exist as beasts is hot possible, and the gatherings of such labor become plague spots in our Society. To us they do incalculable harm; to them we do no appreciable good. Indiana State Fair. The experience of thirty-four years will be brought t<s bear by the management in their efforts to excel in, every particular. with the coming State Fair, commencing September 19th, being one week earlier than usual. They realize the importance of sustaining their reputation which has become national in its character, having been the pioneers by introducing the principal features of the Model Fair «f this day and age. This is no vain boast, as facta will prove, and letters of inquiry from different State’s and Territories show that the Indiana State Fair is a credit to the State. It was the first to offer premiums without limit ‘ open to the world.’’ The first State Association to own its own Fair Ground and other property. The first to adopt the system of paying awarding committees. The first t& create the Superintendent of each department from the memheraof . the Hoard. The first to abolish the sale of liquor on the fair ground The first £p abolish the offering of premiums on machinery without actual tests. The first to create and erect a large Exposition building in connection with the State Fair, and last but not least the first to organize a Woman’s Association to take charge of that part of the Fair, which has proved an immense success. The Board has distributed over a quarter of a mi tl ion of dollars in premm ms, and has about $200,000 in fair ground

propferty. They, have this season expended SIB,OOO in improvements and extension of the fair grounds. The main building has been re-roofed and remodeled, with a thorough painting inside and out, and the grounds put in complete order. ■ At present the indications are that some of the exhibitors in their delay of applications for space and stalls and pens, “are going to get left,” SPBCIAL FRKMIVMS OFVBKBD. • The American Jersey Cattle Club offerin competition at the Indiana fctate "Fair SIOO for the best herd of registered Jersey cattle, consisting of one bull and four females. The Holstein-Friesian Association of America offer as a special premium for Holstein-Friesian cattle SIOO to add to the first premium of $l6O, for the best herd of milk breeds in competition. The American Clydesdale Association offer a silver medal to the owner of the best recorded Clydesdale stallion, also same for best recorded Clydesdale mare bred in Indiana, on exhibition. The American Pereheron Horse Breeders’ Association offer a gold medal, to be awarded for the best Pereheron bred in Indiana. The Oxford Down Breeders’ Association offer a silver medal, for the best breeding pen of six recorded Oxford Down Sheep owned in Indiana. Pen to consist of one ram and five ewes, any age. Alaskan Lore. Indianapolis News. “The island up there is.not a pleasant habitation,” said Mr. Ryan to a News representative, fanning himself with a palin leaf. “It is a pile of rocks, more than anything else. There’s not much scenery lying around loose, a coarse grass and moss beds constituting the vegetation. Not even a thorn bush adorns any of the Behring Sea islands. “There is not a great deal of mystery eonnected with the sealing, although it differs from ‘sucker’ fishing in White river. They are driven over the rocks to a place where they are slaughtered like hogs. On St. George’s island 16,000 seals are killed annually for their skins. The law prohibits the killing of anv under three or over five years old, and the slaughter of females is prohibited.

“The sea otter is an animal much more valued for its fur than the seal. The Aleuts (natives of the Aleutian islands) deem this animal their especial ‘meat.’ but unless the government protects the otter as it does the seal it will become extinct before many years. ’ “Anybody who hits upon the islands of the north for a sumdier resort will find the inhabitants first rate company. On St. George’s there are 112 people, or were when I left. On St. Paul’s, forty miles away, there are 240. These Aleuts resemble the Japanese to a certain extent, and it is not unlikely the tribe is remotely descended from the ‘Japs,’ who live la. the-southwest. They are superstitious and cowardly, and fear the white man’s stern, cold look. They are a little ahead of us in one thing—there are no desperadoes among them, and they don’t know what murder means. The Aleutian language is comprised in a few words, and the lawyer who would sit on the veranda of a hotel on a July afternoon conversing with his landlady while he looked at the icicles on the eaves would run no risk of being talked to death. They have poor health, being scrofulous and inclined to consumption. School is maintained by the Alaska Commercial Company eigh months of the year. There is a church of the Greek persuasion which the Aleuts attend about ten months. They are worshipful through fear instead of Ipve, and this has not tended to make them better .eitizens.” _ . , Ameri«anr». English Railway Speed. Lqpdon Standard. There is an impression on this sidg of the Atlantic that railway accidents in America are tuainlv due to the craze for swift travel which characterizes our cousins in the new world. In realitv the American trains travel, as a rule, much more slower than ours, and with a less average’of aasualties than is yearly put at the doors of the Unglish railway companies. For instance* the express trains between New York and Albany average only twenty-nine and two-eighth miles per hour, though the track is almost level, while the “Flying Scotchman” averages fifty miles over a considerable part of the distance between London an dEdin burgh Between New York and Boston the speed is rarel over thirty-two and two-thirds miles an hour, though the course is much easier than that between London and Manshester, which is sometimes traversed at the rate of forty seven and three-fifths miles ah hour. This speed is, indeed, only attained by one American line—what may be called the “Limited Mail,” between New York and Chicago, which •barges a heavy extra fare for the accommodation afforded. Taking themall round; the best English trains exceed those of America fully twenty five per cent, in speed.

How It Assists Nature. «■ Scranton Truth , _ “I regard the use of beer as the true temperance-principle. When 1 work all day and am exhausted nothing helps me like a glass of beer. It assists nature, you understand,” said Remspn to BensonL “It makes a fookof me,”Benson replied.—“Justso;” exelaimed Itemson, that’s wbat I say; it assists nature.”