m to be divided.

Every movement toward greater social freedom and uniformity of opportunity
contributes to the same end. Next to slavery, social caste is the chief
obstacle to free and fair competition of laborers. Any barriers of race,
social organizations, or even churches, which cultivate exclusiveness in
any direction, in the end work hardship. If they bring temporary advantage
to a few, they are sure to hamper the freedom of many. The welfare of the
community is surest when social conditions favor the freest communication
in all ranges of employment, whether in wage-earning or in profit-making.

The cheapening of transportation in recent years, bringing all the world
nearer, has had various effects upon wages. It has destroyed, to a
considerable extent, the inequality of wages between different regions of
country. If laborers of any kind are scarce, a telegram will within a few
hours bring numbers from some place where they are too plenty. The result
is a tendency to greater uniformity throughout the world. As yet the full
effects of this progress are not realized. Some hardships will undoubtedly
be endured from the ready introduction of unskilled laborers from crowded
countries into our less densely peopled country. But with a larger range
of production opened by cheap labor, our better workmen will find more
constant and more remunerative employment. If restrictions upon
immigration are necessary, it must be to prevent too sudden a transition,
hindering adjustment to new conditions. The danger of overcrowded
population comes more certainly to the nation excluding itself from the
great world by excluding the rest of the world from itself.

The general effect of improved machinery has been several times referred
to already. Its advantages come to the wage-earner directly in multiplying
employments and in multiplying the demand by cheapening products.
Indirectly, the benefits are still greater, because these cheaper products
form the bulk of living for the workers. It is probable that even the
better living thus provided has raised the efficiency of labor so as to
command better wages. It is certain that every movement of civilization
which gives a clearer knowledge of human nature and the world about us
adds to the power of every man, whatever his work. We may welcome every
element of progress in this enlightenment as a direct help to the portion
of humanity recognized as wage-earners. The better the masses of peo