for unskilled labor and this demand is not met by Americans, then their admittance or non-admittance resolves itself, to-day as in the past, into a question of national economy. The native American does not engage in the digging of excavations, carrying the hod, or mining. No native American resents that the immigrant has turned him out of the great Pennsylvania mines. The American mechanic's objection is, however, well founded. There is quite a large class of immigrants composed of men of poor physique, with their families, admitted every year, because they are skilled in tailoring, shoemaking, baking or other trades which do not require much physical strength. These people are undesirable immigrants. They enter into direct competition with the American tradesman or mechanic, accepting lower wages and working more hours.
The American mechanic, artisan or tradesman can have no grievance against the poor unskilled laborer, who does not compete with Americans, but with other foreigners who have preceded him and who is able and willing to do work that the American will not do—work that is necessary for our industrial progress. He has, however, cause to complain of the admittance through our ports every year of the thousands of skilled laborers, tailors, shoemakers and all kinds of factory hands who fill the sweat shops and factories and tend to greatly lower the American scale of wages.
The following table gives the relative value of the different races as shown by the percentages of skilled and unskilled laborers. It also shows the percentage of each race coming here between the ages of fifteen and forty-five. It is between the ages of fifteen and forty-five that the economic value of the immigrant to the country is greatest.
Unskilled laborers are absolutely essential for our industrial progress. The demand for the necessary unskilled laborers is not satisfied by native Americans.
Skilled laborers, coming as immigrants, may or may not be advantageous to the country, but they are not necessary for our advancement. The demand for skilled laborers can, with very rare exceptions, be supplied by native Amercan applicants. Therefore, the races having the highest percentages of unskilled laborers and of immigrants between the ages of fifteen and forty-five are the most necessary and the most desirable.
| Race. | Percentage Unskilled. |
Percentage Be tween 15 and 45 Years of Age. | |||||
| Lithuanian | 86.5 | 90.5 | |||||
| Slav | 86.9 | 88.2 | |||||
| Magyar | 83.9 | 87.2 | |||||
| Finn | 82.5 | 85.5 | |||||
| Italian | 75.5 | 79.4 | |||||
| Syrian | 48.1 | 75.7 | |||||
| Hebrew | 13.6 | 68.5 | |||||
