THE IMMIGRANT 85 



they are located. They raise tobacco, cotton, truck, and fruit. 

 The Italian especially may be called the truck and fruit-grower. 

 Their bank accounts are small because they invest their surplus 

 in additional land. Consequently the steady growth in their 

 acreage is an accurate index to their prosperity. >uch pros- 

 perity is, however, due to lower standards of living rather than 

 to improved methods of farming. They still prefer hand-labor 

 to machinery. They make only slight use of fertilizers. Again 

 the Jew is the exception. He is a farm owner and does not hesi- 

 tate to invest in machinery and fertilizers. In fact he tends to 

 go to the other extreme. His outlays are often unwise. More- 

 over, he likes to undertake side occupations. As a result it fre- 

 quently happens that he does not prosper on the farm. This 

 condition is the more surprising because he has had more out- 

 side assistance than any of the others. The best managed effort 

 for that purpose has been the one financed by the Baron de 

 Ilirsch fund. In fact the Jew would probably never have at- 

 tempted agriculture to any 'considerable extent if it had not been 

 for these efforts. The result has been a few colonies of rather 

 impractical farmers. Colonization efforts in the case of the 

 other immigrants have frequently been mismanaged and have 

 failed unless each one has been given sole possession of his 

 property. Such settlements differ considerably from the group 

 settlements of the earlier immigrants in that each one is far more 

 dependent on the others socially. 



Recently the impression as been growing that too many un- 

 desirable immigrants are being admitted. To remedy this de- 

 fect a literacy test has been provided. The protection which 

 such restrictive legislation will afford American capital and 

 labor will undoubtedly be temporary. Far more important is 

 the question whether we can assimilate the hordes whicli are 

 entering. As indicated above, the number entering has in- 

 rivasrd so rapidly in the last few years that the result is doubt- 

 ful. Nevertheless a literacy test does not seem the proper 

 method of securing the result desired. It excludes individuals 

 who have not had an opportunity rather than those who lack 

 ability. What is needed is a publicity bureau to inform the 

 immigrants of the best opportunities in this country. If any one 

 is admitted without the necessary means to betake himself to the 



