The Character of Our Immigration 



9 



From Carnolia, Krainers have been 

 coming here for 70 years, following 

 some Krainer missionaries who came 

 here and settled on the northwestern 

 border. These missionaries have been 

 followed by their countrymen, who have 

 formed settlements. They are in most 

 respects a desirable people, and come 

 here to remain, and are rapidly becom- 

 ing citizens. 



Dalmatian settlements are rapidly 

 forming in the United States, especially 

 in the more growing sections of Cali- 

 fornia. 



The whole Balkan territory is begin- 

 ning to feel the fever of emigration, and 

 only the prohibitive rates for passage 

 keep the semi-civilized tribes of Bosnia, 

 Servia, Herzgovinia, and Bulgaria from 

 coming here. In the near future cheap 

 river transportation will be provided on 

 the Danube River to the Black Sea, 

 whence they can come to the United 

 States. Then we may expect them in 

 large numbers. 



THE FINNS 



Up to 1899 the Finlanders had lived 

 contentedly enough under Russian rule, 

 and, on the whole, the Czars punctili- 

 ously observed their oath to maintain 

 inviolate the constitutional liberties of 

 Finland. In that year, however, the 

 present Czar wiped out the Finnish con- 

 stitution and promulgated a rescript that 

 all questions held by the Russian min- 

 isters at St Petersburg to concern the 

 Muscovite Empire of old should be 

 treated by them and Finland put under 

 the general conditions of other Russia. 

 Prior to that time no enactment had the 

 force of law unless it emanated from the 

 Finnish Parliament. The protest on 

 the part of Finland to this action was 

 immediately responded to by almost 

 every other civilized country in the 

 world, but without avail. The press is 

 muzzled, the right of public meetings 

 prohibited, and private gatherings for- 

 cibly dispersed. In July, 1901, by spe- 



cial ukase, the Finnish military act of 

 1878 was abrogated and the army broken 

 up. Those Finnish officers who did not 

 choose to serve in Russian regiments 

 were sent into private life. 



When we consider that among the 

 Finnish people it is stated that only one 

 man in 1,200 cannot read nor write, 

 while in Russia the illiteracy ranges 

 from 47 to 66 per cent, according to dis- 

 tricts, and Finnish customs, language, 

 manners, religion, and ideals are all 

 different, it seems that this movement 

 will practically destroy the Finnish peo- 

 ple. In 1 899 we commenced to get what 

 promised to be a considerable immigra- 

 tion from this territory, but the British 

 government, alert to the advantage of 

 securing such a desirable people, have, 

 by reason of special inducements, di- 

 verted the Finns to Australia and other 

 British colonies. 



Greek immigration consists mainly of 

 boys and young men, there being but 

 one woman to thirty males. Some work 

 in mills in Massachusetts, but the bulk 

 are brought over to peddle fruit and 

 peanuts, in which business they are 

 displacing the Italians. It is generally 

 understood that they are brought over 

 by padrones and paid $100 per year for 

 their services in peddling. 



The Syrian immigration now amounts 

 to over 3,000 yearly. The movement 

 seemed to receive an impetus by the 

 World's Fair of 1893. Like the Greek, 

 they are mainly controlled by padrones. 

 Though the movement is actually less 

 than ten years old, Syrians are now 

 trudging over the whole of the Western 

 continents with their packs and baskets 

 of gew-gaws. They are not only around 

 the well-settled districts, but are actually 

 among the remote fishing hamlets of 

 Newfoundland and Gaspe, everywhere 

 among the villages of Mexico, in Brazil, 

 Argentina, and in Patagonia. 



In character they have changed little 

 since they were described in the Old 

 Testament. They have all the vices of 



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