portance that the immigrant can be to the agriculture of the State 

 it seems to me that it is one of the great questions that ought to 

 be considered. And that statesmen who have been charged with the 

 affairs of the State for years should not know more of this question 

 is astonishing. A bill was introduced two years ago to provide for 

 the distribution, the protection, and general assimmilation and utili- 

 zation of the immigrant in New York State. I talked with the 

 President pro tern of the Senate, who had been a Senator for twenty 

 years. He said: 'I must confess, Mr. Larmon, that I know nothing 

 whatever of this question.' The Chairman of the Finance Committee 

 made practically the same remark. And yet when we figure up the 

 number of people who come to our shores in five years and take 

 up their residence for the time being in the State of New York it 

 ceases to be a wonder. Now, the number that came here in five 

 years was 4,596,000. We expect a million this year; last year it 

 was 782,000; the year before 752,000. They were lean years, the 

 time of depression. The one before that it was 1,100,000, and so 

 on down to a million, 812,000 and 857,000 in different years. Those 

 people in their home countries were skilled farmers to the extent 

 of 85 or 90 per cent. They had learned the necessity of soil con- 

 . servation and intensive farming; and yet, they come here and are 

 allowed to congregate in this city and become the prey of the libertine. 

 They do not understand our ideals, the ideals of American institu- 

 tions, and they are segregated here and their value largely is lost. 

 You see the agriculturist of the old country working in the sweat- 

 shop ; you see his family being raised in one of the 200,000 dark 

 rooms that have no ventilation, in this city. Think of the environ- 

 ment for the American citizen. It is a question that ought to sink 

 home in the very vitals of everyone interested in the future of this 

 country. The Committee on Agriculture have learned that the amount 

 of money carried out, or sent out, by immigrants was $275,000,000, 

 besides the amount that was carried out by some 700,000 in their 

 pockets. That sum, if the work amongst the immigrants was properly 

 directed, would, to the extent of 50 per cent., be invested in this 

 country. If the proper work was developed, 50 per cent, of those 

 segregated in New York City and other cities would remove to the 

 country. Our lands are cheap in comparison to the lands in other 

 sections of this country. The immigrant cannot believe the price at 

 which he can purchase lands in this State. It is as cheap as in 

 his native country, in Hungary or in Germany. In connection with . 

 this work I have been following for four or five years in the Depart- 



