IMMIGRATION. 251 



6. All administrative matters relating to naturalization should be com- 

 mitted to one central government bureau. 



7. It should be made a crime against the United States to sell or transfer 

 declarations of intention, and it should be provided that after sufficient proof 

 has been submitted to a court, establishing the fact that a certificate is fraudu- 

 lent in any respect, said certificate shall be canceled of record. 



These legislative suggestions of the attorney-general are as com- 

 prehensive as they are timely, and will probably be accepted by Con- 

 gress as a basis for curative legislation. The card index system now 

 employed by our immigration officials, for recording the name and 

 date of arrival of each and every alien, could be elaborated so as to 

 contain a physical description as well. This would prove valuable as a 

 means of identification as outlined in the second suggestion of the 



attorne} T -general. 



Economic Effects of Immigration. 



The economic effects of immigration can not be accurately judged 

 by the total number of immigrants landed each year at our ports. 

 Hundreds of thousands go back to Europe each year, and a very large 

 proportion of those traveling in the steerage to Europe are returning 

 aliens. In spite of our immense total of yearly steerage arrivals, the 

 percentage of foreign born in the United States is not increasing and 

 is slightly less than it was ten years ago. Therefore in considering 

 the effect of numbers, our judgment should be based upon census re- 

 ports of the foreign born population. In regard to occupation and 

 geographical distribution, we must also judge the alien after he is estab- 

 lished here, rather than by the statement he makes to the immigration 

 officials upon arrival. During years of industrial depression, the num- 

 ber of aliens returning to Europe is much increased, and while no claim 

 is made that these birds of passage are desirable immigrants, it must be 

 admitted that they do not add to our burdens in times of trouble by 

 swelling the army of the unemployed. On the other hand, we have to 

 consider the excess of males of competitive age (15 to 45) among 

 immigrants, and their unequal distribution. Their geographical dis- 

 tribution is such that 86 per cent, are settled in the states east of the 

 Mississippi and north of the Ohio rivers. Their distribution by trades 

 or occupations is also unequal, as shown by the relatively small number 

 engaged in tilling the soil, compared with the enormous number en- 

 gaged in mining and sweat shop occupations. 



One of the chief offenses charged to the immigrant is reduction 

 of our wage standards. There are other factors more potent in de- 

 pressing wages than immigration, some of which are not connected 

 with it in anv wav; others are associated with it so intimately that it 

 is difficult to separate them from it. These factors are obscured in the 

 minds of many by the fact of our increasing immigration, and some are 

 prone to charge the sum of their effects to immigration alone. 



