252 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Cycles of business depression seem to reach us almost periodically, as 

 they do every other country. These are hard to explain and can not 

 be ascribed to any one particular cause. 



Immigration falls off very noticeably during these periods, and, 

 in addition, the stream of aliens leaving our ports for Europe is vastly 

 increased. During such periods of industrial depression the wages of 

 the toiler are necessarily reduced. It is not an oversupply of immi- 

 grant labor which is responsible for the stagnation, but an unwilling- 

 ness on the part of the capitalist to invest money in enterprises whose 

 success is doubtful, owing to commercial uncertainty. It is not a 

 lessening of demand, owing to over supply, but often a complete 

 absence of demand for labor, with abandonment of all attempts at pro- 

 duction, due to lack of confidence in financial conditions. 



The influence of improved machinery upon wage depression can 

 not be over estimated, although its introduction is closely associated 

 with immigration. Improved machinery would probably have been 

 introduced and would have had its effect upon wages in the entire 

 absence of immigration. The use of improved machinery made pos- 

 sible the employment of thousands of unskilled laborers under the 

 direction of a few skilled workers, where formerly the work was done 

 entirely by skilled laborers or mechanics. Its use immensely increased 

 the power of production, and created a new demand for unskilled labor. 

 The effect of machinery has been felt upon wages in the textile trades, 

 woodworking, steel and iron industries, soft coal mining and other 

 occupations. The advent of improved machinery was inevitable, and 

 no labor organization, however strong, could indefinitely clog the wheels 

 of progress by postponing its employment. The immigrant is not 

 responsible for its introduction, for it has been introduced in coun- 

 tries with no immigration problem. He simply took advantage of the 

 demand for labor thus created and played no small part in the won- 

 derful growth of our mining and manufacturing industries. His 

 coming no doubt facilitated the introduction of improved machinery, 

 and it is probable that without this unskilled labor our present position 

 as a producing power would not have been reached for many years to 

 come. The employment of women and children in textile, leather and 

 tobacco trades has demoralized the rate of compensation for male 

 workers in those occupations. Many immigrant women and children 

 take advantage of this practise, but it existed before the immigrants 

 were employed in this way, and to-day thousands of native women and 

 children are employed in factories and mills, especially in the south. 

 The practise is here to stay, and beyond the limitation by law of the 

 age of child workers, can not be stopped. The immigrant's wife and 

 children are not responsible for it, but by means of it increase the fam- 

 ily earnings and raise their standard of living. 



