534 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The following table indicates the ratio of unskilled laborers to the 

 total landed in 1903, also the percentage of illiteracy; only those races 

 whose illiteracy is above 10 per cent, are given : 



Race. 



South Italian 



Pole 



Croation 



Slovak 



Kuthenian ... 

 Lithuanian. .. 



Greek 



Syrian 



Hebrew 



Total Number 

 Landed. 



196,117 

 82,343 

 32,907 

 34,427 



9,843 

 14,432 

 14,376 



5,551 

 76,203 



Number 



of Unskilled 



Laborers. 



118,000 



51,000 



26,850 



21,400 



7,300 



9,550 



9,700 



1,900 



7,000 



Ratio 

 of Illiterates. 



48 per cent. 



Ol) " it 



35 " " 



22 " " 



49 " " 

 47 " " 

 28 " " 

 54 " " 

 26 " " 



The first race (Italian) and the last three races (Greek, Syrian and 

 Hebrew) given in the above table are notoriously city dwellers. The 

 Italian and five races immediately following, Pole, Croatian, Slovak, 

 Kuthenian and Lithuanian, furnish us with nearly all our unskilled 

 industrial labor. 



While it must be admitted that the illiteracy test would debar many 

 thousands of undesirable immigrants and prospective dwellers in the 

 tenements, it is doubtful if this result would compensate for the loss 

 of 32 per cent, of such sterling laborers as the Poles, or 35 per cent, 

 of the Slavs in general, in view of the fact that as large, if not a larger, 

 proportion of the undesirable immigrants could be debarred by requir- 

 ing a high standard of physique, without seriously affecting our supply 

 of unskilled labor. The standard of physique should be definitely pre- 

 scribed by law, so that the medical certificate of failure to reach the 

 standard would be final, as it is now in loathsome or dangerous con- 

 tagious disease, idiocy, epilepsy or insanity. 



The standard required of recruits for the United States army, with 

 a fixed minimum height and chest measurement, could be employed 

 for this purpose. Every male immigrant between the ages of 18 and 

 45 should be required to pass such a physical test. Each family should 

 be required to possess at least one male, supposedly the bread winner, 

 who could come up to these requirements. 



An aged person, if unaccompanied, should not be permitted to 

 land, unless he or she possess a son, daughter or other near relative 

 in America, who is willing and able to care for such aged dependent. 

 This physical standard to be required of the persons specified in addi- 

 tion to, and not in place of, such other restrictions as are now in force. 

 The requirement of a high definite standard of physique would have 

 very little effect upon the most desirable alien races. It would fall 

 heavily upon the parasitic and competitive classes, and, while it would 

 not stop all the yearly alien reinforcement of the foreign quarters and 



