mass are obliged to accept the
lower standard or are forced out of the industry into misery, pauperism,
and crime. The greater tendency of immigrants, by reason of their
poverty, to permit or encourage the employment of their wives or
children, still further increases the intensity of the competition for
employment. In view of all the facts, a recent writer argues that the
limitation or restriction which would reduce the volume and improve the
economic quality of immigration would greatly improve labor conditions
in this country.

[Sidenote: Deterioration a Result of too Large Immigration]

Under the present free inflow, says this writer, "the condition of the
great mass of the working classes of this country is being permanently
depressed, and the difference between the industrial condition of the
unskilled workers in our country and of other countries is being
steadily lessened to our permanent and great detriment."[80]

[Sidenote: False Reasoning]

As to the economic effects of unrestricted immigration, the stock
argument that it costs a foreign country a thousand dollars to raise a
man, and that, therefore, every immigrant is that much clear money gain
to this country, simply begs the question of the usefulness of the
immigrant and the country's need of him. Many immigrants are not worth
what it cost to raise them, to their native land or any other; and at
any rate, a man is only of value where he can fit into the community
life and do something it needs to have done. Another naive claim is that
every mouth that comes into the country brings with it two hands, the
assumption being that there is necessarily work for the two hands. If
not, then there is an extra mouth to be fed at somebody else's expense.
The real question is one of demand and quality.

[Sidenote: Effects upon Education]

What effect has immigration had, and what is it likely to have, upon our
national educational policy? The parochial school is opposed to the
public school; the parochial school is Roman, the public school
American. The parochial schools could not secure scholars but for
immigration. The Roman Catholic Church is persistently trying to get
appropriations of public money for parochial schools, although well
aware that this is directly contrary to the fundamental American
principle of absolute separation of Church and State; and is relying
upon the foreign vote to accomplish this un-American purpose. Here is an
illustration of the