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                     _SOCIAL QUESTIONS OF TO-DAY_

                   EDITED BY H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A.

                          THE ALIEN INVASION

                      SOCIAL QUESTIONS OF TO-DAY.

                  _Edited by H. de B. GIBBINS, M.A._

                        Crown 8vo, 2_s._ 6_d._

MESSRS. METHUEN announce the publication of a series of volumes upon
those topics of social, economic and industrial interest that are at
the present moment foremost in the public mind. Each volume of the
series is written by an author who is an acknowledged authority upon
the subject with which he deals, and who treats his question in a
thoroughly sympathetic but impartial manner, with special reference to
the historic aspect of the subject.

_The following form the earlier Volumes of the Series_:--

  =1. TRADE UNIONISM--NEW AND OLD.= G. HOWELL, M.P., Author of
  _The Conflicts of Capital and Labour_.               [_Ready._

  =2. PROBLEMS OF POVERTY:= An Inquiry into the Industrial Condition of
  the Poor. By J. A. HOBSON, M.A.                      [_Ready._

  =3. THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT TO-DAY.= G. J. HOLYOAKE,
  Author of _The History of Co-operation_.             [_Ready._

  =4. MUTUAL THRIFT.= Rev. J. FROME WILKINSON, M.A., Author of
  _The Friendly Society Movement_.                     [_Ready._

  =5. THE COMMERCE OF NATIONS.= C. F. BASTABLE, LL.D.,
  Professor of Political Economy in the University of Dublin.
                                                       [_Ready._

  =6. THE ALIEN INVASION.= W. H. WILKINS, B.A., Secretary to
  the Association for Preventing the Immigration of Destitute Aliens.
  (With an Introductory Note by the Right Reverend the Bishop of
  Bedford.)                                            [_Ready._

  =7. THE RURAL EXODUS:= Problems of Village Life. P. ANDERSON
  GRAHAM.                                     [_In the Press._

  =8. LAND NATIONALIZATION.= HAROLD COX, B.A. [_In the Press._

_The following are in preparation_:--

  =9. MODERN LABOUR AND OLD ECONOMICS.= H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A.
  (Editor), Author of _The Industrial History of England_.

  =10. ENGLISH SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY.= HUBERT BLAND, one of the
  Authors of _Fabian Essays_.

  =11. ENGLISH LAND AND ENGLISH MEN.= Rev. C. W. STUBBS, M.A.,
  Author of _The Labourers and the Land_.

  =12. CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND.= Rev. J. CARTER, M.A.,
  of Pusey House, Oxford.

  =13. THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE.= J. R. DIGGLE, M.A.,
  Chairman of the London School Board.

  =14. POVERTY AND PAUPERISM.= Rev. L. R. PHELPS, M.A., Fellow
  of Oriel College, Oxford.

  =15. CONTINENTAL LABOUR.= W. MAXWELL.

  =16. WOMEN'S WORK.= LADY DILKE.

                          THE ALIEN INVASION

                                  BY

                          W. H. WILKINS, B.A.

                     (_Clare College, Cambridge_)

     AUTHOR OF A MONOGRAPH UPON "THE TRAFFIC IN ITALIAN CHILDREN"

                       WITH AN INTRODUCTORY NOTE

                                BY THE

                 RIGHT REVEREND THE BISHOP OF BEDFORD

                             Methuen & Co.

                     18, BURY STREET, LONDON, W.C.

                                 1892

                        [_All Rights reserved_]

                     RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,
                           LONDON & BUNGAY.

                                  TO

           The Right Honourable the Earl of Dunraven, K.G.,

                             THE LEADER OF

                THE MOVEMENT FOR PROTECTING OUR PEOPLE

                 AGAINST THE INVASION OF THE DESTITUTE

                     AND WORTHLESS OF OTHER LANDS,

                   This Little Volume is Dedicated,

                      IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT

              OF MUCH ENCOURAGEMENT, AND MANY KINDNESSES.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

My object in writing this little book has been to collect together in
a popular and readable form the main facts connected with the question
of destitute immigration. I have endeavoured to set forth as concisely
as possible the evils consequent upon our present system, and to place
before the public the leading arguments in favour of some moderate and
judicious restriction of the influx of the destitute and worthless of
other countries. In doing so, I have studiously avoided identifying
this important question with any particular party, or any particular
creed. It is a matter which concerns the nation as a whole, and it is
one in which men of all creeds and parties--Jew or Christian, Liberal
or Conservative--may unite together for good. The advisability of
restricting our present system of unchecked destitute immigration is
a matter upon which there exists considerable difference of opinion.
In giving expression to my earnest convictions, I ask for that same
indulgence which I willingly extend to those who may differ from my
conclusions.

  W. H. WILKINS.

  15B, ARLINGTON STREET, S.W.
  _January 1892._

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

I have been asked to write a short preface to a work in which the
author proposes to afford the public information with respect to the
immigration of destitute aliens into this country. He will discuss
the evil incident to an immigration that is practically uncontrolled;
and he will suggest the lines in which, in his opinion, remedial
legislation should be promoted.

The subject is one of very great importance, and I am confident it will
be approached by the writer in a dispassionate spirit. He must know
that he will fail of his object unless it is perfectly clear he is
not influenced by any prejudice against the race to which the greater
part of the destitute immigrants are known to belong. He will make it
abundantly clear there is no desire or intention to forbid the man
who is persecuted, either for his religious creed or his political
opinions, from finding an asylum among us.

It is the opinion of many who have given to this subject much
consideration, that the destitute foreigners who come to England in
such numbers exchange into a condition that is hardly less tolerable,
than that from which they have fled in the lands of their birth. It is
said they exercise an influence that is morally and socially to the
hurt of those among whom they come to dwell. It is contended that they
injuriously compete with our own people in the labour market. It is
often urged that they compel our people to seek a home and employment
in other lands, because of the glut they cause in the labour market,
and because of their readiness to accept wages and to be content with
conditions of living which are unacceptable, and something more than
merely unacceptable, to the Englishman.

These allegations require to be investigated. It is important to
ascertain what the number of foreign immigrants really is, and what
is their condition when they land among us. It is desirable we should
know what provision is made, if any, for their reception, and what
becomes of the men, women, and children, who are said to arrive in
London in large numbers, and for the most part absolutely destitute.
Is overcrowding, with its consequent miseries and ills, appreciably
increased in the East End of London? These are questions on which
the public ought to be informed, and the guardians of the health,
and morals, and general well-being of the people must desire to be
enlightened on these matters. If the evils that are said to be the
results of the immigration of destitute aliens are found to exist, it
will be for our legislators to devise in their wisdom the appropriate
remedy. I will only venture to express one opinion with reference to
this difficult and intricate subject.

I am of opinion it is not safe to allow things to remain as they are
without thorough investigation. On the part of the immigrants there is
a widespread feeling that they are the victims of unjust aspersions;
on the part of the native population there is a disquieting feeling
that the authorities are indifferent to their interests, and careless
of their sufferings. The antipathy of race to race is consequently and
injuriously fomented. It is not to the good of the whole community that
this state of things should be allowed to continue. If this book shall
help to throw light upon the matters in dispute, and influence public
opinion to move the authorities to investigation, and, if the evils
said to follow upon unrestricted immigration are found to exist, to
endeavour to remove them by legislation--it will not have been written
in vain.

  R. C. BEDFORD.

CONTENTS.

  CHAP.                                                      PAGE

     I. THE GENERAL ASPECT                                      1

    II. INCREASE AND EXTENT                                    17

   III. JEWISH IMMIGRATION                                     35

    IV. ITALIAN IMMIGRATION                                    54

     V. ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS                  68

    VI. WOMAN'S BITTER CRY                                     85

   VII. THE SANITARY DANGER                                    95

  VIII. THE SOCIAL EVIL                                       104

    IX. LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF EUROPEAN COUNTRIES                115

     X. THE EXAMPLE OF THE UNITED STATES                      127

    XI. THE COLONIAL ASPECT                                   136

   XII. THE REMEDIES                                          147

  APPENDIX A. SOME OBSOLETE ALIEN ACTS                        157

          "    B. THE ALIEN ACT OF WILLIAM IV.                161

          "    C. ITALIAN LAW AS TO VAGRANTS                  167

          "    D. THE DANISH ALIEN LAW                        169

          "    E. SUMMARY OF THE LAWS OF THE
                    UNITED STATES                             176

          "    F. SOME COLONIAL IMMIGRANT ACTS                179

          "    G. LIST OF TRADES UNIONS WHICH
                    HAVE CONDEMNED PAUPER IMMIGRATION         186

  INDEX                                                       189

THE ALIEN INVASION.

CHAPTER I.

THE GENERAL ASPECT.

The unrestricted influx of destitute aliens into the United Kingdom is
a matter which has for some time past attracted a considerable amount
of public attention. Within the last few years a Select Committee
of the House of Commons has inquired into this question, and has
published a report acknowledging its extent and recognizing some of
its evils. The Sweating Committee of the House of Lords has dealt with
it indirectly, so far as it concerned the subject in hand. Trades
Unions and Labour Congresses have passed resolutions condemning, in a
more or less general way, the present system of unchecked and unsifted
immigration. But it is only quite recently that it has advanced to a
place within the realm of practical politics. Few public questions have
ripened so quickly as this has done. Last year[1] it was discussed, it
is true, but only in an academic way, as one of those matters which
loom among "the dim and distant visions of the future." To-day it
is emphatically one of the questions of the hour. The Electorate is
considering it, the Press--that sure reflex of public opinion--is
discussing it, and the leaders of political parties, forced by the
growing pressure from beneath, are making up their minds about it.

The reasons for this are not very far to seek. Two great causes have
tended to bring this question to the front at the present time.
One, the recent edicts promulgated by the Czar against his Jewish
subjects in Russia, edicts with which no right-thinking man can have
any possible sympathy, and which necessarily have the result of
driving many thousands of Russian Jews to seek their fortunes anew in
other lands; the other, the action this year[2] of the United States
Government, in passing a law which has had the effect of practically
closing the Atlantic ports to the poorer class of aliens altogether.
Now since the inevitable tendency in the movement of peoples is from
East to West, and since Great Britain, after America, is admittedly the
country to which the greatest portion of these Eastern immigrants come,
it follows, as a matter of course, that the action of the American
Government in thus shutting their doors to the refuse population of the
Old World, cannot fail to have the effect of greatly intensifying the
evil here. Our little overcrowded island is really the only place left
for them to come--the only country among all the nations of Europe,
with one insignificant exception, which has not seen fit to protect
its own people against the influx of the destitute and unfit of other
lands. These are the two principal causes which have forced this
question to the front. There is another also which will prevent its
ever again sinking into the background. It is this. The working-classes
of this country, with whom rests the balance of political power, have
taken the matter up, and, having once taken it up, they will not let it
drop. On this I shall dwell more fully later on. I merely allude to it
now, as one of the factors which will have to be considered in dealing
with this problem.

In taking a general survey of the situation, the first thing that
strikes one is the isolated action of England in this matter, when
compared with other nations. It may be laid down as an axiom admitting
of no cavil, that it is the duty of every State to deal with its own
paupers and undesirable citizens; and moreover it is obvious that this
desirable state of affairs can only be brought about by other countries
refusing to admit them. This common-sense view has been adopted by
all other European countries, except Portugal, which has practically
no immigration at all, and can scarcely, therefore, be said to count;
by all our principal colonies, notably, Australia, Tasmania, New
Zealand, and Canada; by the great Republic of the United States, and
in a general sense by nearly every civilized nation throughout the
world. Those of our colonies which have not prohibitory statutes, have
the power, and use it too, of passing restraining laws from time to
time as need requires, which effectually meet the purpose for which
they are enacted. All through Europe there are either laws prohibiting
the admission of undesirable aliens, or the police regulations and
local customs render their continued residence impossible. Even the
well-to-do Englishman who goes abroad, for no other purpose than to
spend his money, finds himself compelled, should he remain in one
place for any length of time, to contribute, in all sorts of ways, to
the taxes of the country in which he resides. Rightly so too, since
he enjoys the benefit of the protection which the State affords to
him. In particular instances this rule may seem to press hardly on
individuals, since in Germany, for instance, even an Englishwoman
who gives a few lessons in her native tongue is compelled to pay a
tax upon her earnings, a tax in some cases so large as to make the
pittance she obtains hardly worth the earning. Yet those aliens who
are sent to us from other countries--I speak now of the destitute
and unfit--contribute nothing to our taxes, nothing to our national
welfare, nothing to our national defence; they take everything and
give nothing in return, even worse than nothing, since their habits
and their customs exercise a most injurious effect upon the English
community with whom they come in contact.

What then can be urged against England following the example of other
countries in this matter? Nothing but a mere sentiment that she is
a country free and open to all, and that all who will should find a
refuge upon her hospitable shores. This is a sentiment worthy of all
honour, but hospitality may be carried too far, and in this instance
it is not a question of its exercise, but of its abuse. There is a
homely maxim that "Charity begins at home," and if this be true of
individuals it is no less true of nations. The first duty of the father
of a household is towards his own family. He must not give bread to
others while his own children are starving. He must not give shelter to
the stranger, and drive his sons and daughters out into the cold. In
the same way, the first duty of a nation is to its own kith and kin.
It must not open its arms to the surplus population of other lands,
while its own people are clamouring in vain for work. Yet this is the
case, and while every day destitute aliens are pouring in, Englishmen
are driven from the land of their birth to make room for them. Speaking
last year at Liverpool, upon the subject of our rapidly-increasing
population, Lord Derby is reported to have said that "Emigration is
the only palliative." On all subjects connected with population Lord
Derby is a great authority; but of what avail, I would ask him, is
it to recommend emigration as a panacea for our social ills, when for
every hundred of our people taken away, a leak remains behind by which
thousands more of an immeasurably inferior calibre come pouring in,
by whom the conditions of existence are made harder than before, and
the standard of comfort and decency in the home-life of our people is
infinitely lowered? As illustrative of this it may be mentioned that
at Leeds, where there is a very large and increasing foreign colony,
some £500 was spent in 1887 in emigrating English children to Canada;
and evidence was given before the Sweating Committee to the effect that
one day a party of 500 emigrants, mostly young men in the full prime of
their health and vigour, sailed out of Tilbury Docks, and at the same
time another vessel, having on board 700 foreigners, came in. Truly, we
are an eccentric nation!

It was George Cruikshank who in allegory drew a map of England with a
board on a pole stuck in the centre, and on it the following notice
to Europe, "Rubbish may be shot here." It was a caricature, and like
all caricatures subject to exaggeration, but it contained within it
the germs of a great truth. But even Cruikshank little dreamed that
these people would ever arrive here at the rate of 40,000 and 50,000
per annum. Had he done so the notice would rather have run, "No
admittance." "Oh," but I hear some say, "you would check this influx,
but what of the people we emigrate to other countries?" I would answer
that there is no just or fair comparison to be drawn between the people
we send away, chiefly young and able-bodied men, and the wretched,
under-sized, destitute immigrants we gain in exchange. As things
are at present all schemes of emigration and colonization, however
well-meaning, are beside the mark. We are drawing out of the barrel
and pouring in at the top. More than that, we are drawing out good
wine and pouring in bad. It is idle to talk of reprisals, because, as
I have already pointed out, other countries have taken steps to guard
against this evil. No other civilized nation will take our paupers, our
criminals, our lunatics, our outcasts. Why then, in the name of common
sense, should we be compelled to take theirs?

Many attempts have been made to confuse this simple issue. Many red
herrings have been drawn across the track. It has been said, without
one jot or tittle of evidence, that this demand for some moderate
measure of restriction, veils behind it a desire to check foreign
immigration altogether. Nothing could be farther from the truth. No
objection can be urged against foreign immigration as a whole, but
only that part of it which exercises an injurious effect upon our own
people. There are, for instance, at the present time many foreigners in
England employed in different professions and vocations, as teachers of
languages, clerks, waiters, cooks, artisans, and so forth. These are
in no sense an evil, for they supply a felt want, and are decent and
cleanly in their habits and mode of living. Many of them are gradually
absorbed into our national life, and become good and useful members of
the community. The skilled labourer, the decent artisan, the man with
brains to work, or with money to spend, is always welcome to our shores.

Such were the Huguenots. They had not much money, perhaps, but they
brought with them something more precious than mere wealth,--the brain,
the bone, the muscle, and the manufacturing talent of France. They
introduced into England arts and manufactures hitherto unknown, and
they added to the lustre of their adopted country by contributing to
the science and the literature of the day. They were in fact the _fine
fleur_ of the French nation.

A similar influx was that of the Flemings, which took place at an
earlier period of England's history. The Flemings, who introduced into
our country the finer kind of weaving, first came to England during the
reign of Edward III. The weavers of England were then unable to produce
any of the better kinds of cloth, and the difficulties and expense
of having to send abroad whenever any material was required superior
to the coarse home-made product were necessarily great. Under these
circumstances, it was obviously a wise policy of the English king to
induce the Flemish weavers to come over to England, and to bring their
looms with them. The high wages offered, and the prospect held out of
ample employment, soon brought large numbers. A like policy was pursued
by several of the other English kings who reigned during the period
which elapsed between the death of Edward III. and the accession of
Edward VI., and there was from time to time a considerable influx of
skilled artisans of all classes. In the reign of Edward VI. it appears
however that public opinion had veered round. The influx of Flemings
and of foreigners generally had become so considerable, that there was
a general agreement on the part of the native-born population that it
was no longer necessary to hold out inducements to foreign craftsmen,
since their presence in large numbers destroyed the demand for good
English work, and acted detrimentally upon the interests of English
tradesmen. Accordingly we find the citizens of London petitioning the
Privy Council to put a stop to this foreign influx, but the only result
appears to have been that an estimate, or census, was taken of all the
foreigners then resident in London.

One must not infer, however, from the case of the Flemings that the
advent of the foreigner was always welcome, or that the outcry against
him in the reign of Edward VI. was a new thing. The history of the
alien in Great Britain has yet to be written, and space does not permit
of its being dwelt upon to any great extent here. Yet in looking back
upon the legislative enactments of the Plantagenets and early Tudor
kings, which have been briefly referred to elsewhere,[3] one cannot
but be struck at the way in which popular opinion--of which these acts
were doubtless the outcome--wavered on this subject. The generous
treatment accorded to the Flemings and other skilled foreign craftsmen
who came to England from time to time contrasts strangely with the
harshness with which foreigners were treated at other times. In 1155,
for instance, there was an anti-foreign outcry, and many foreigners--in
fact all that could be found--were first plundered of their worldly
goods, and then banished from the kingdom. Later on they were allowed
to return, though still compelled to suffer certain disabilities. At
one time the popular prejudice against foreigners was so great that
their lives and property were always in danger, and they suffered much
unfair treatment. The wise policy of Edward III. removed many of these
disabilities, and a special Act was passed in the reign of Richard II.
by which they were relieved still more. These Acts were those rather of
the king and the upper classes than of the common people, among whom
the animus against the foreigner was still so strong that that bulwark
of English liberty, trial by jury, was to the alien of no avail,
since any charge brought against him, whether true or false, almost
invariably resulted in his conviction by a British jury. To do away
with this injustice the Enactment of 1430 was passed, which provided
that an alien, if he so wished, might be tried by a mixed jury, of whom
half were to be Englishmen and the other half foreigners. This singular
Statute remained in force until 1870, when the Naturalization Act of
that year abolished the privilege of the alien to claim a mixed jury.
This Act also repealed all previous Acts except the now well-known Act
of 6 & 7 William IV. cap. II., which provides for the registration of
aliens, and to which further allusion will be made later on.

Harsh and unnecessary as some of the enactments which were directed
against aliens during the reigns of the Plantagenet kings appear to
us now, we may congratulate ourselves on the fact that even in the
reigns of the Plantagenet kings our Statute Book was never disgraced
by such an unjust measure as the French _Droit d'Aubaine_, which
confiscated to the Crown the whole of the property of an alien, thus
leaving him destitute in a foreign country. This Statute was repealed
in 1791. It was revived by the Code Napoleon, but only for a brief
space, and was finally abolished the year after Napoleon's downfall at
Waterloo. The _Droit d'Aubaine_ was of considerable antiquity, having
been doubtless modelled on the alien laws of ancient Athens, under
which similar confiscations of the property of an alien took place,
though, in spite of the severity of their laws, the Athenians always
welcomed the foreign craftsmen and the artists and skilled workmen
of other nationalities. In Rome under the Republic somewhat similar
laws to those of Athens existed against the alien, but with the Empire
all disabilities were swept away, and Rome gladly welcomed all who
ministered to her luxuries and to her pleasures.

It is hardly necessary to say that no unprejudiced person would
desire England to revert to the harsh measures of the Plantagenet and
Tudor kings, still less to stain her Statute Book by such a measure
as the _Droit d'Aubaine_, however great might be the provocation.
Yet the memory of those acts need not prevent us from considering
dispassionately, and with due regard to the changed circumstances
of our age and country, the advisability of passing some wise and
judicious measure for the sifting of alien immigration at the present
time. The objection to all the measures to which allusion has been made
is, that they were directed against foreigners simply because they were
foreigners, and not for the reason their presence militated to any
considerable extent against the well-being of the English community,
and certainly not because they added to overcrowding, to destitution,
or to disease. The Flemings and the Huguenots have their parallels
to-day in the foreign teachers of languages, in the French cooks and
milliners, in the German clerks, cabinet-makers, and waiters; in the
Italian cooks, manufacturers of Venetian glass, &c.; in the skilled
craftsmen of whatever nationality who arrive upon our shores. Against
these no reasonable objection can be urged. They are useful members of
the community, we gain by their presence among us, and their advent is
a welcome one. But it cannot be seriously contended that the Flemings
and the Huguenots have their parallel in the destitute and degraded
immigrants from East of Europe, or the vagrant and vicious aliens from
the South. Whatever our sympathies towards these people may be, there
is every reason why we should not welcome them here. As things are,
these new arrivals add in a manner altogether out of proportion to
their numbers to the miseries of our poor in the congested districts
of our great towns, to which they invariably drift. There are many
practical ways in which we can show our sympathy with the persecuted
Russian Jews if we wish to do so, notably by combining to divert the
stream of immigration from our own densely populated little island, and
by helping the would-be immigrants to move on to some new land beyond
the seas. This we may do; but for their own sake, and for the sake of
our people, we should try to prevent them from coming here.

With an imperfect knowledge of the facts we are hardly in a position
to judge of the action which the Russian Government has seen fit to
take against its Jewish subjects. On the surface it certainly appears
that a great wrong has been done, a wrong which is also a blunder,
but we must remember that we have not yet heard what there is to be
urged on the other side. We can scarcely be expected to credit without
adequate proof all the hearsay tales of Russian oppression. Isolated
instances do not suffice. If a Russian were to make a collection of
all the instances of murder, outrage, and misery which unhappily still
stain the annals of our law-courts, he would hardly present to his
compatriots a faithful picture of English life. Is there not just
a possibility that we may be condemning Russia on somewhat similar
evidence? It is said,--one cannot say how truly,--that the system of
usury and extortion practised by many of the Russian Jews upon the
peasantry has, in a large measure, tended to bring about the present
state of things. Again we are told that the increase of Russian Jews
has of late been so rapid that there is a danger, if things go on at
the present rate, of the orthodox Slavs being swamped by a section of
the population little in sympathy with the Government under which they
live. These are some of the reasons, we are informed, which have led
to the adoption of harsh measures against the Russian Jews. On the
surface such reasons seem very inadequate, and with the measures which
are said to flow from them no right-thinking man can have sympathy. For
her difficulties with her Jewish population Russia has only herself to
thank. The long years of oppression to which they have been subjected
have degraded them, until their ignorance and dislike of their masters
have become a danger to the State. Anything which savours of a
religious persecution is abhorrent to all liberal-minded men; and if it
be true, as alleged, that the present sufferings of the Russian Jews
are inflicted upon them because of their faith, then our sympathies
with the victims of such an unholy persecution cannot be too great.
At the same time we are not in a position to dictate to Russia. Some
zealous and well-meaning people tried the experiment at a meeting at
the Mansion House last year, with the result that they were virtually
told to mind their own business. The "protest," however, had one
unfortunate consequence. The repressive measures were made more drastic
than before, and the unfortunate Hebrews, naturally interpreting the
sympathy shown to them as an inducement to come here, have since
arrived upon our hospitable shores in greater numbers than before. In
support of this opinion may be quoted the following paragraph which
appeared in the supplement of the _St. Petersburger Zeitung_ last June.

"We hear that a charitable association has been formed, with the
praiseworthy object of assisting the Russian Jews out of their present
miserable situation. An opportunity is to be given them of emigrating
to those countries where sympathy has been publicly expressed for
them. The first thing this association intends doing is to send the
Jews by Libau and Riga to London, where public opinion has clearly
enough shown itself to be on their side. For this purpose four steamers
are to be chartered to carry these Jews to the banks of the Thames at
the lowest possible rates, and it is expected that it will take the
whole of the summer to carry out this plan. The philanthropists in St.
Petersburg hope that the friends of the Jews in England will give them
their hearty support, and help to provide for these poor creatures when
they arrive in London."

This is taking us at our word with a vengeance! Surely for the sake
of these poor immigrants themselves it is high time that some means
should be found to prevent their arriving here in such numbers. The
miseries which many of the Russian Jews undergo in the East End of
London and some of our large provincial cities must be as bad as those
which they have endured in the inhospitable land from whence they
came. In some cases their lot here must be even worse. Quite recently
an instance of the sufferings which these poor creatures undergo came
to light in Whitechapel. Adolphe Cashneer, a Russo-Jewish immigrant,
was summoned before the coroner of East London[4] to give evidence as
to the death of his infant child. The man, who was unable to speak a
word of English, stated that he had been out of work for six weeks--he
worked in the cheap tailoring trade--that the mother had received
no medical attention except a midwife at confinement, no food but
three-halfpennyworth of milk a day, and a share of a fowl which lasted
them five days, and for which the husband had pawned his trousers. The
deceased child had no clothes but a napkin to cover it. It lived only
one week and then died of starvation! The doctor in describing the
wretched room where these poor people lived, said there were no sheets
or blankets on the bed, the mother had no proper clothing, and there
was no food beyond some sour milk in a dirty glass, quite unfit for
human consumption. A more impressive object-lesson of the evils of our
present system of unchecked and pauper immigration than that unfolded
in this tale of sordid misery it would be impossible to conceive. And
yet this is by no means an isolated case. Dr. Dukes stated that he
continually came across such cases. He went on to say in his evidence
at the inquest:--"I continually come across such cases as this....
The poverty in the East End is terrible." Instances like this cannot
but strengthen the argument against admitting destitute aliens here.
Strangers in a strange land, these miserable new-comers find themselves
worse off than they were before. They are not themselves benefited, and
the only result is that they intensify the awful struggle for existence
which is going on daily and hourly among the poor in our large cities.

It has been said that to limit this influx would be to endanger that
right of asylum which has ever been one of England's boasts and
glories. It is not so. Were a careful and judicious measure passed
for the sifting of alien immigration, it would be quite possible to
insert a clause, similar to that which has been inserted in the new
American Act, which runs as follows:--"That nothing in this Act shall
be construed to apply to or exclude persons convicted of a political
offence, notwithstanding the said political offence may be designated
as a 'felony, crime, infamous crime, or misdemeanour involving moral
turpitude,' by the laws of the land whence he came, or by the court
convicting."

Such is the law in the "land of the free." England, no less than
America, is the home of civil and religious liberty She has great
and glorious traditions; they are illustrated by her treatment of the
Walloons, the Huguenots, the slave-traffic, and all political refugees
from time immemorial. Yet in the past she has not hesitated from time
to time to pass such laws as need and occasion required. To this the
Statute Book is a witness,[5] and her traditions would not be reversed
because in the present day she found it necessary, in the interests
of her own people, to adopt some means for checking this latter-day
invasion. What is asked for is not an offensive but a defensive measure.

England has gained much in the past by her generous treatment of
political refugees. But it must be apparent to every thoughtful man
that the question assumes a very different aspect when we have to deal
not with the influx of a few thousands of skilled workmen at isolated
periods of our history, but with the invasion of some thirty or forty
thousand every year of the class which under ordinary circumstances
would go to fill the poor-houses and penitentiaries of Eastern
Europe. Such a constant pouring in of unskilled labour of necessity
disorganizes the labour market, and compels the displacement of English
workmen who are unable to compete on equal terms with rivals such
as these. The results are plainly shown in the trades and districts
chiefly affected. These immigrants undo by their presence in our midst
all the good which our philanthropists and social reformers have been
labouring for ages to create. It may be true that in the strictly
legal sense of the word comparatively few of them are paupers, since,
as Lord Derby has recently expressed it, "they are quite able to make
their own living." But what a "living" is it? The living of a savage
or a dog, and certainly not one which we like to see Englishmen or
Englishwomen degraded to, or forced into competition with, in the land
that gave them birth. Boast as we may of the succour which we are ever
ready to afford to the oppressed ones of the earth, it is obvious that
we must first look to the interests of our own people. Our supineness
in this matter has allowed the evil to grow to a magnitude it ought
never to have reached, and thus the difficulties surrounding it have
been greatly increased. The Government of the day will incur a grave
responsibility if they do not speedily devote their earnest attention
to this matter.

There are signs all around us that before long something will have to
be done. At a time when the country is being convulsed with conflicts
of labour against capital, and when thousands of our wage-earning
classes are looking in vain for work; at a time when the condition of
the poor in our great cities is engaging the active attention of our
philanthropists, and the columns of the press teem with appeals for the
aid of the homeless and suffering; this ever-increasing addition to the
ranks of our unemployed, with its inevitable tendency to aggravate our
social evils, is calculated to inspire feelings of alarm and dismay
among all those who have the welfare of our people seriously at heart.

CHAPTER II.

THE INCREASE AND EXTENT.

That the immigration of destitute and undesirable aliens takes place
on a large and increasing scale, is a fact placed beyond the reach of
controversy or denial. The Select Committee of the House of Commons
appointed to inquire into the subject, reported that the immigration
of aliens into this country had been greater since the date of the
last Census (1881) than at any recent period of our history; an
opinion which they arrived at from the evidence of a number of eminent
authorities. Mr. John Burnett, Labour Correspondent of the Board of
Trade, who was specially deputed in August 1887 to make inquiries into
the Sweating System in the East End of London, reported that matters
were much worse there of late years, because of "the enormous influx
of pauper foreigners," an opinion which he arrived at from his own
personal observation, and from the statements of the people themselves.
Mr. Burnett's report was corroborated in its main features by Dr. Ogle,
whose work it is to prepare the statistical part of the Census, and
whose opinion on all such matters stands deservedly high.

Let us also take the opinion of people who have lived in the invaded
districts, and who can therefore speak from practical experience.
Mr. Henry Dejonge, a cigar-maker, who had lived in the East End for
fifty years, said before the Immigration Committee:--"The increase
has taken place since the Russian War of 1856. Since then it has been
gradual, but sure; there has been a very large increase the last eight
years.... In a certain street in Whitechapel the shops are mostly
kept by foreigners. In Wentworth Street, out of eighty-five shops,
there are forty-eight in the hands of Russian and Polish Jews." Mr.
Simmons, a dress-trimming maker, said that he was born in Spitalfields,
and could date back in his recollection, "and where there were then
two Jews, there are forty now, or even more--say sixty. I know a
street which when I was a boy there was not a Jew in, and now it is
completely full of them." The agent to the Whitechapel Committee of
the Charity Organization Society (Mr. Thurston) was of opinion that
the population in the district of Whitechapel would be half foreign
and half British. "Some of the streets that were occupied by British
workpeople have been entirely cleared, and are now occupied by Jews."
The Rev. H. A. Mason, Vicar of All Saints, Stepney, a well-known and
devoted clergyman, who has laboured for the last eighteen years among
the lowest of the London poor, reckons that there has been an increase
of 1000 foreign Jews in his parish during the last seven years, and
this at the sacrifice of the British population. He also testified
to the ill-feeling existing between them and the British part of the
population who found themselves being thus ousted. The Bishop of
Bedford, Dr. Billing, referring to Spitalfields, where he had laboured
for twenty years, said:--"I know that during the last four years whole
streets have become entirely occupied by Jews, foreign Jews, where
there was not a Jew before." The Report of the Committee of Guardians
of the Whitechapel Union stated in 1887:--"There can be no doubt that
the number of foreign residents--chiefly very poor--in the Whitechapel
Union and adjacent districts, is largely on the increase, and that each
year sees some new locality, or localities, invaded by the foreigner
and abandoned by the English poor. No statistics are needed in support
of this statement, since it is obvious to every one who knows the East
End. It is not a mere redistribution of poor, and the substitution of
one class for another in a certain locality; it is the immigration into
the district of a class of foreign poor, who seem heretofore to have
existed on the mere border-land of civilization, who are content with
any shelter, and to share that shelter with as many of their class as
can be crowded into it."

A mass of similar evidence might be given by experts whose opinions
are above contradiction or cavil. But it is unnecessary to multiply
witnesses. A visit to East London will give one the best of all
possible evidence--that of one's own eyes. In Whitechapel, the increase
during the last ten years has been enormous. Whole streets are now
filled with foreign Jews, notably Old Montague Street, Chicksand
Street, Booth Street, Hanbury Street, and the teeming courts and alleys
adjoining. It is easy to imagine oneself to be in a foreign city.
Strange habits and customs, and foreign faces surround one; and a
foreign language is heard on every side. There are multitudes of little
eating-houses with Hebrew letters on the windows, signifying thus
"Kosher"--meat prepared in the Jewish fashion--is there supplied. There
are foreign Jewish tradesmen who drive a thriving trade in catering to
the peculiar wants of this foreign population, supplying every need,
even down to "smoked beef and sausages from Warsaw," a delicacy which
the Polish and Russian Jew especially affects. There is even a foreign
newspaper half printed in "Yiddish," and the sentiments expressed
therein are often of the most dangerous order. On the walls and other
available spaces, one sees advertisements in Yiddish, and enterprising
tradesmen go in for Yiddish handbills. There are Yiddish clubs and
gambling-hells, and little Jewish lodging-houses without end. In fact
everywhere the signs of this foreign invasion are dominant, to the
complete--or almost complete--exclusion of the English element. That
particular quarter of London is like the Ghetto of a continental city.

The Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police stated in his last
Report that "a growing number of such passengers (viz. destitute
foreigners) arrive in London, chiefly on board vessels running under
the German flag." After noticing that by one line plying between
Hamburg and Tilbury, no less than 4000 such passengers, 80 per cent. of
whom appeared to be quite destitute, arrived in 1890, as compared with
2390 in 1889, the Chief Commissioner notices that "from 4000 to 5000
additional arrived in London in 1890," and adds, "Though some of these
only pass through London on their way to America, it may be taken that
the majority of them settle there." His conclusion is:--"The police
reports unanimously state that there has been a marked increase of late
in the number of arrivals in this country." This report is dated 17th
January, 1891.

The increase is by no means confined to London alone. The Chief
Constable at Manchester reported (29th December, 1890), as the result
of inquiries of several shopkeepers and housekeepers from Poland and
Russia who have resided in Manchester for some years, that "all are
unanimously of opinion that the numbers of their countrymen who have
immigrated into the city have increased during the last few months."
He reports farther (10th January, 1891), "that there are said to be
15,000 to 16,000 Jews in Manchester, and of their number it has been
estimated that at least 70 per cent. are said to be Russian Poles. No
correct information can be obtained as to the proportionate number of
the whole who are in destitute circumstances, or of the total increase
in the numbers of these classes which has actually taken place in the
year 1890; but there can be no doubt that the Jewish people have very
largely increased in numbers in this city during the last few years."

The Liverpool Chief Constable reported (January 1891):--"There is no
doubt, as far as can be ascertained, that the immigration of destitute
Polish and Russian Jews into this city has somewhat increased during
the past twelve months." The Chief Constable at Glasgow reports, on the
authority of the honorary treasurer of the Jewish Board of Guardians,
that about 200 poor Polish immigrants arrive in that city yearly. There
are a good many foreign Jews settled in Glasgow.

In Leeds, the Chief Constable reported (December 1890), that there
is a continuous immigration of destitute aliens--Polish and Russian
Jews. A member of the Jewish Board of Guardians informed him "that the
number of Jewish immigrants arriving in Leeds during the last twelve
months would, in his opinion, be about 2000 persons"; but on this there
appears to be a difference of opinion.

Leeds is a place which calls for more than a mere passing notice,
since it is probably more directly interested in the question of alien
immigration than any other provincial town in England. The incoming
tide flows on unchecked, and helps to swell the poorer population
of Leeds to an alarming extent. In a Report of the Sweating System
at Leeds, Mr. Burnett, Labour Correspondent to the Board of Trade,
wrote:--"As elsewhere these people (the Jews) may be almost said to
form a foreign colony in the heart of an English town, and Leeds
has now its Jewish quarter just as the East End of London has. They
have settled down in a district called the Leylands, and they have
taken such complete possession of it, that in the Board School of the
locality, 75 per cent. of the children are Jews. The streets in the
Leylands are beginning to assume distinctly foreign characteristics.
The names above the shops are foreign, and the notices in the windows
are printed in Hebrew characters. The words spoken are unintelligible
to English ears, and about the race of the children in the streets and
the people at the doors there can be no mistake."

More recent evidence is afforded by the _Yorkshire Post_ "The great
majority of the arrivals," writes this journal,[6] "are Russian and
Polish Jews, who on landing upon English soil, at once move to the
centre of the clothing industry, most of them with little or no money
in their pockets, many of them without a trade in their hands, and not
a few of them trusting for safe dealings to their English vocabulary,
which is limited to one word, 'Leeds.' ... It is quite evident that
there has been an increase during the present year. The persecution of
the Semitic race in Russia has driven immense numbers to seek in this
country the hospitable shelter that is denied them in the land of their
birth, and a not inconsiderable proportion of them having heard of
Leeds as an earthly Paradise for outcasts and wanderers, direct their
steps towards the West Riding capital immediately the Hamburg boat
lands them at Hull."

Among the evidences of the greater influx into the Jewish colony of
Leeds is the increased number of applications for help that are being
received almost every week by the Jewish Board of Guardians, and by
those who have the control of the relief funds connected with the
various Hebrew congregations of the town.

No official return is kept of the number of foreign Jews who come into
Leeds, or of those who leave it; absolutely accurate information as to
the exact number of the foreign colony in Leeds is therefore not to be
obtained. But the Report of the Board of Trade, issued in the spring
of 1891, estimates the Jewish population at 10,000. There are those,
however, who put the number higher than that, the estimate going up as
high as 15,000, or even beyond it. Be that as it may, it is certain
that there has been a very large increase in 1891. How great is this
increase is shown by the following quotation from a circular recently
issued to the subscribers of the Leylands Gospel Temperance Mission,
signed by the Superintendent of the Mission. The Leylands is a district
of Leeds. The circular says:--"Careful inquiries have been made into
the great changes rapidly taking place in the Leylands, owing to the
enormously increased proportion of Jews settling there. As a result of
this, the Byron Street Wesleyan Chapel has been given up and sold to
the Jews, the Roman Catholic Chapel is also given up, and the English
and Irish portion of the district is removing. A carefully-prepared
estimate has been given of the changes during the past two years, as
follows:--In 1889 there were in the Leylands 1300 houses. Of these
621 were occupied by Jews. In 1890, 765 were occupied by Jews, an
increase in one year of 144 houses taken by Jews. At present, out of
1300 houses, 900 are occupied by Jews (between 30 and 40 of them as
workshops), only leaving about 400 houses in the district occupied by
English and Irish."

To return to London. In addition to the facts already quoted, we have
the evidence of the Jewish Board of Guardians, evidence surely above
suspicion, since that body is by no means prone to exaggerate the
evil of destitute immigration. In the Annual Report of the Board for
1890, it is stated that the total number of cases of foreign Jews
"entertained" during that year amounted to 3534. Taking ten years, we
find that in 1880, 2588 cases were relieved, _exclusive_ of Loan and
Industrial Departments, at a cost of £18,354; in 1890, 3351 cases were
relieved, _exclusive_ of Loan and Industrial Departments, at a cost
of £21,648. The total of absolute gifts in 1880 was £5528; in 1890,
it had run up to £10,776, or nearly double. Moreover, the Emigration
Committee of the Board testify to a decrease in the number of people
assisted to emigrate in 1890. They admit that, owing to the United
States Immigration Laws, they have to use the greatest circumspection
to prevent any cases being assisted that are likely to be refused
admission on the other side. The Russian Relief Fund Committee also
admit that owing to persecution in Russia they no longer assist Eastern
immigrants to return home even in cases where it is desirable to send
men back to look after their families. They state that a "large number"
of refugees have been assisted by them to settle here since 1882, and
that they succeed in gaining a livelihood in London.

From special inquiries which have been instituted by the Association
for preventing the Immigration of Destitute Aliens, it is computed
that during the spring, summer, and autumn months of the present year
(1891) some 500 a week of these alien immigrants have arrived at
the port of London alone. Of these nearly 80 per cent. appeared to
be in a destitute condition. It is to be noted that these figures do
not include those who are stated to be provided with through tickets
to other countries; and though some may possibly return again to the
land from whence they came, the probability is that most of them
remain to glut the already overcrowded labour market in the East of
London. A few, generally of the least destitute class, drift on to the
manufacturing centres in the North of England; but the alien population
of the provincial cities is mainly recruited from other ports--Hull,
Leith, Grimsby, and Southampton.

We now come to the last link in this chain of evidence as to the
increase and extent of alien immigration--the official returns of the
Board of Trade. I have purposely delayed considering these returns
until the last, as they are in many ways incomplete and unsatisfactory.
Still as they are so frequently appealed to by those who seek to
minimize this evil, one must refer to them also. As an instance of the
way in which they have been kept, it may be stated at the outset that,
excepting as to London and Hull, the information has only been obtained
from the various ports since the 1st of May 1890, and only as to London
and Hull is a comparison possible with the previous year. Still even
on this unsatisfactory basis we find that 29,885 aliens arrived from
the Continent, at twenty-one British ports, between May and December
1890, and at two others in the whole year, not intending to proceed
to America; whilst the arrivals in London were 4400 more in 1890 than
in 1889, and in Hull 1320 higher.[7] And this in spite of the fact
that nearly 1,000,000 persons were maintained under the Poor Law in
Great Britain during 1890! The returns issued by the Board of Trade
for 1891 are even more alarming. The total of aliens "not stated to be
_en route_ to America" who arrived in the United Kingdom during the
ten months ending the 31st of October, 1891, amounted to no less than
32,877.

These figures appear upon the showing of the official returns, and
taking them as they stand, how people, however optimistic, can derive
any consolation from them, it is not easy to imagine. But there is no
doubt that were these returns actually complete, carefully prepared,
and accurately checked, it would be found that the number of aliens
who arrived upon our shores would be very much in excess of the number
given.

The actual numerical work of compiling the returns is done at the Board
of Trade; but the collection of material is directed and superintended
by the Commissioners of Customs; and the efficiency of the work turns
upon the way in which the Alien Act of William IV. is administered.

Summing up briefly the chief provisions of that Act, which are given
_in extenso_ elsewhere,[8] it will be seen that--(_a_) The master of
a vessel arriving from a foreign port is to declare in writing to the
chief officer of the Customs at the port of arrival, the number of the
aliens who are on board, or have landed from his vessel; and to give
the names, rank, occupations, and description of such aliens, so far
as he shall be informed thereof; and if a master omits to make such
declaration, or wilfully makes a false one, he is liable to a penalty.
(_b_) Every alien on arrival is to declare in writing to the chief
officer of Customs at the port of debarkation, his name, description,
etc., and every such officer is to register the declaration, and
deliver to the alien a certificate, which is to be given up to the
chief officer of customs at the port of departure, when the alien
leaves the country. (_c_) The chief officer of Customs at every port is
to transmit to one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State--in
practice the Home Secretary--a copy of the master's declaration, a copy
of the certificate given to the alien, and the certificate which the
alien gives up on leaving the country.

This sounds all very well in theory, and there is no doubt that if the
provisions of the Act were carried out to the letter, we should be
in possession of what we have not now--actual statistics, which must
precede legislation. But the question is, what about the practice? Mr.
Lindsey, the chief of the Long-room at the London Custom-house, told
the Immigration Committee in 1888 that the Act had long since fallen
into desuetude; and that only at the ports of London and Hull did
the masters of vessels, at that date, report the number of aliens on
board, or make any declaration whatever, while no means at all existed
for checking the lists supplied. Indeed, it would be quite possible,
he considered, for vessels to land "thousands of aliens" without the
Customs authorities being able to find it out. No declarations were
made or certificates given to aliens on arrival, or received from them
on departure, as directed by sec. vi. of the Alien Act of William IV.
It is evident, therefore, that up to that date the Act had been allowed
to become practically obsolete.

After the Immigration Committee had used their Report in 1889, in
which they recommended that measures should be taken to secure with
more frequency and greater accuracy an estimate of the amount of alien
immigration into the United Kingdom, tardy steps were taken to obtain
certain statistics; but it was not till May 1890, and after questions
had been frequently asked in either House of Parliament, that alien
lists were taken at ports other than London and Hull. Even now, though
an attempt has been made to procure lists of aliens from a considerable
number of ports, yet on the face of the monthly returns the lists are,
admittedly, very imperfect. The lists received from Dover, Folkestone,
and Harwich are only partial; while other ports of considerable
importance, such as Lynn, Newhaven, Southampton, and many of the
western ports, are omitted altogether. In all cases the masters of the
vessels are perfectly able to shirk their duties if so inclined; so
that not only are the returns very incomplete, but even the statistics
given are very untrustworthy.

I have the best authority for making this charge as to the
untrustworthy nature of the statistics given, which is so strenuously
denied by those who put their faith in the official returns. My
authority is a letter written to me on the 23rd April, 1891, by the
Secretary of the Customs, in which he says:--"I am directed to acquaint
you that the Department does not undertake in any way to check the
returns of aliens made by the captains of the vessels, under the
requirements of the Act of William IV.; and that the Customs Boarding
Staff, as at present arranged, could not undertake such a duty without
additional expense to the public, even if directions to that effect
should be received from the Government."

This is perfectly natural and reasonable as coming from the Customs.
The letter is merely quoted here to show that it is impossible
to place faith in the present returns. It practically admits the
whole contention: the alien lists are unchecked, and therefore
unsatisfactory. A glance at the way in which they are prepared will
show how unsatisfactory they are.

As we have already seen, the provisions of the Alien Act of William IV.
have been allowed to fall into disuse, and the penalties for neglect
of carrying them out are never enforced. Hitherto even such returns as
have been sent in, have been loosely and carelessly prepared. In some
cases masters of ships have neglected to render any returns of the
aliens on board their vessels; in others, the duty, instead of being
performed by the captain or master of the vessel, as the Act requires,
has been delegated to some inferior officer, with the result that the
work has been performed in a hasty and perfunctory manner. But, however
carelessly these lists are prepared, the Custom House authorities
accept them just as they are, and no provision has been made for
checking them. It is obvious that statistics prepared in such a manner
are of no great value. Yet it is upon the authority of such returns as
these that we are asked to disbelieve the evidence of our own eyes,
and to admit that the matter is not of sufficient urgency to claim the
attention of the Government.

With regard to the steps which the Board of Trade are said to be
taking to ensure more accurate statistics, it was stated by Sir
Michael Hicks-Beach last session that in future the number of aliens
on board the incoming vessels would be every now and then counted,
and comparisons made with the master's returns. "Every now and then"
is very vague; and until a check is systematically and regularly
imposed upon the number of alien passengers on every ship arriving at
all the ports, we cannot be sure of obtaining accurate returns. This
vague promise on the part of the President of the Board of Trade was
made--it should be noted--after a prolonged correspondence had taken
place between that Department and the Association for Preventing the
Immigration of Destitute Aliens. The Association, on the strength of
the letter from the Secretary of the Customs, already quoted, had asked
the permission of the Board of Trade--as the returns were admittedly
unchecked--for its agent to be allowed, at the Association's expense,
to go on board the incoming vessels for the purpose of checking
the returns rendered by the masters. This request was met by _non
possumus_[9]; and the Board of Trade wrote to say that though they had
"no reason to believe that the returns hitherto received have been in
fact inaccurate, arrangements have been made for a further check to be
applied to the returns in future by the officers of the Customs when
on board the ships." How far these vague promises given on the part of
Sir Michael Hicks-Beach in the House of Commons, and by the Department
in the letter quoted, have been redeemed, it is impossible to say. The
promise of a "further check" is not more reassuring, than Sir Michael
Hicks-Beach's "every now and then," especially when we bear in mind
that it had been admitted that hitherto there had been absolutely no
check at all. All that one knows for certain is that up to the present
no action has been taken against the masters or owners of any ships, if
the lists have been found to be incorrect.

Such then is a sketch of the way in which the Government figures are
obtained, and of the efforts which have been made to secure their
greater accuracy.

In compiling the alien lists in the future, some more definite
information should also be forthcoming as to the means, nationality,
and destination of the immigrants. The distinction "_en route_ to
America" is altogether inadequate for practical purposes. As matters
stand, it is the only clue afforded us for judging which of the
immigrants are merely birds of passage, or which come to settle here.
Of course some of those who are "not stated to be _en route_ to
America" return again to the Continent; but against that unknown and
altogether hypothetical number, may fairly be set the incomplete nature
of the returns, and the practice so generally followed in preparing
the alien lists of counting two children as one adult. As most of the
immigrants against whom complaint is chiefly made do not come here
alone, but with their families--and often large families--this is a
point to be noted in considering the actual numerical value of the
Board of Trade returns. Therefore, in making a rough estimate, I do not
think I shall be far wrong if I consider the number of aliens classed
in the Board of Trade returns as "not being _en route_ to America," as
practically representing about the number of those who remain here.

As matters stand, it is of course at present impossible to give the
exact number; but such an estimate would be approximately correct.
Nevertheless, in a letter to the _Times_ in the month of August
last, an official of the Board of Trade, writing under the _nom de
guerre_ of "Facts," did not hesitate to charge me with "attempted
misrepresentation," and "an intention to create prejudice," because
I estimated that the number of aliens quoted in the official returns
as "not being _en route_ to America," would probably represent about
the number of those who come here to settle. The animus displayed in
this letter was doubtless engendered by the remembrance of a previous
epistolary duel. Opinions may differ as to the importance to be
attached to this question of alien immigration; they may differ also as
to the value of the Board of Trade returns; but however this may be, to
write letters under a feigned name to the papers, deliberately accusing
one's opponent of bad faith, is a method of conducting or prolonging a
controversy happily rare. Though you may disagree with another man's
views, you have no right to accuse him of dishonesty because he happens
to differ from you.

After the correspondence in the _Times_ took place, a note was appended
to the monthly returns issued by the Board of Trade, to the effect
that it was not implied "that the aliens not stated to be _en route_
to America, come to this country for settlement; there being in fact
a large emigration of foreigners from this country, while many of the
aliens arriving from continental ports return again to the Continent."
This clears the ground a little, and so far the correspondence cannot
be said to have been altogether barren of results. The announcement
that there is a large emigration of foreigners from this country is
quite gratuitous, however, since we know that the number of aliens
who came here _en route_ to America, in the ten months ending 31st
October, 1891, amounted to no less than 88,617. That does not affect
the matter under consideration in the slightest. But the statement that
"many of the aliens arriving from continental ports return again to the
Continent" cannot be allowed to pass so easily. How is this conclusion
arrived at? No account of foreigners leaving this country for European
ports is taken. Of course many return, but who are they? Principally
tourists, business men, and the better class of foreigners, against
whom no complaint is made. But the great bulk of these _are not
included in the official returns at all_, for the alien lists received
from Dover, Folkestone, and Harwich, the three ports to which that
class of foreigner generally comes, "show only deck passengers, and
persons who on landing proceed by train as third-class passengers."[10]
In making a fair estimate, therefore, the better class of foreigner
can hardly be taken into consideration at all. This reduces the number
of those included in the official returns "who return again to the
Continent" to a _minimum_. Those against whom complaint is made--the
_residuum_, the worthless, and the unfit--remain with us. They could
not return to the Continent even if they wished to do so, for the
simple reason that they would not be received back again. The law, for
instance, in Hamburg is to the effect that no person without means
is to land at that port. Hamburg is the great port from which the
destitute aliens take ship to England; and therefore it is apparent
that though steamship companies may land upon our shores any number of
destitute or semi-destitute passengers they please, they dare not take
back these same passengers to Hamburg, even if they should wish to go.

Hence, it may be fairly said that this "immigrant emigration,"
upon which the Board of Trade appears to lay so much stress, is
inconsiderable, and at any rate does not touch the class against
which complaint is chiefly made. Against it, is to be set the
incomplete nature of the lists actually rendered; the fact that the
returns are not received from _all_ the ports of the United Kingdom;
the untrustworthiness of such as are received; and the practice in
preparing them of counting two children to one adult. If all these
considerations be balanced against the unknown number of aliens "who
return again to the Continent" or move on elsewhere, it certainly
cannot be said, that, in estimating the number of those who are stated
to be "not _en route_ to America," as the approximate number of those
who remain here, one is guilty of exaggeration. If anything, one
under-estimates rather than overstates the case.

The fact of the matter is, that all attempts to bolster up the
official returns, so long as they are compiled in the present manner,
is foredoomed to failure. They are about as unsatisfactory and as
inadequate as they can well be, and the distrust with which they are
viewed is widespread. The importance of trustworthy official statistics
upon this matter can hardly be overrated. So long as they are wanting,
there will always be a tendency to exaggerate the evil on the one hand,
and to minimize it on the other. Things are bad enough as they are,
and there is nothing to be gained by exaggeration. It is greatly to be
hoped that the present Government, which has done much in the way of
good and useful reform, will take steps to wipe away this reproach--for
it is nothing less than a reproach--that, while we have such admirable
statistics as to the imports of merchandise, the returns as to the
importation of human beings should remain in their present imperfect
state.

CHAPTER III.

JEWISH IMMIGRATION.

In this chapter I propose to consider the nature of the immigration. At
the outset of this particular aspect of the question, it is necessary
to make it clear that one is animated by no sentiments of racial or
religious animosity. Nothing could be more undesirable than to treat
this question as a sectarian question, or to cast any slur upon the
Hebrew faith. Nothing would harm the movement more than to create a
_Judenhetze_ in England, the home of religious liberty; and therefore
whenever the term "Jew" is used throughout this volume, it is used
merely to distinguish between other races and nationalities, and from
no desire to arouse the _odium theologicum_. This disclaimer may seem
unnecessary to some, but it is important to emphasize it, because
if there is one thing hateful to the people of this country, it is
religious intolerance; if there is one thing dear to them, it is that
liberality which in matters of this kind recognizes no distinctions of
faith or creed. It is perfectly true that a large proportion of these
undesirable visitors are Jewish by race and religion. But that has
nothing to do with the objection to them; it would be just the same
if they were Christians, Mahommedans, Buddhists, or sun-worshippers.
The objection to them is simply this, that by coming into certain
trades and industries in this country, they subject our own people to a
constant and unfair competition, which renders it impossible for them
to obtain a decent livelihood, and tends directly to militate against
their physical, financial, social, and moral well-being. In this
matter there is nothing of race, nothing of religion, except so far as
this, that we recognize that our first duty should be towards our own
nation, our own flesh and blood. Nor is this objection by any means
confined to destitute foreign Jews; it holds equally good with regard
to vagrant and vicious Italians, idle Hungarians, degraded Chinese, and
all the other undesirable specimens of those nationalities which go to
make up the motley horde. Still it is idle to deny, in dealing with
this question, that though the immigrants are of all nationalities,
by far the greater part of those objected to is composed of Russian,
Roumanian, and Polish Jews, drawn from the class which goes to swell
the poor-houses and penitentiaries of Eastern Europe.

In the previous chapter I have dwelt upon the numbers of this
particular class of alien immigrants. It is not necessary, therefore,
to go over the same ground again. It suffices to point out that this
increase, which would be undoubtedly serious if it were distributed
impartially throughout the United Kingdom, assumes a far more
formidable aspect when we consider its distribution in particular
localities and particular trades. The invading hordes of destitute Jews
appear to flock chiefly to our great centres of population, such as
the East End of London, and to the great manufacturing cities of the
North--Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle-on-Tyne,
Glasgow, Edinburgh, and some other Scotch towns. Now it is evident
that thickly-populated districts do not require immigration, but
emigration. It is evident also that the Jew in England is not pastoral,
but gregarious. Experts, whose opinions must be listened to with
all deference, tell us that many of the foreign Jews have in them
the making of good colonists and admirable agriculturalists. It may
be so; but those who come here appear to show a marked distaste for
agricultural and all pastoral pursuits. No one in England ever comes
across a Jewish farmer, or a Jewish agricultural labourer. These
immigrants invariably turn their backs on thinly-populated districts;
and wherever our people are most closely huddled together, wherever the
struggle for existence is keenest, there will the greatest number of
foreign Jews be found, with the inevitable result that the conditions
of life become even harder than before. It is very necessary to
consider the distribution of this unlimited immigration, if we are to
form an adequate idea of the injury it works upon our own people.

It is impossible not to feel compassion for these poor Jewish
immigrants, when we consider the condition in which the great majority
of them land upon our shores. They are often of poor physique, and
always scantily clad. In most instances, they are without money at all;
others have a few thalers, or roubles, or marks, as the case may be;
and of these they are quickly eased by the loafers, touts, and rascals
of all descriptions who hang about the docks waiting their arrival, and
professing to show them where to lodge for the night, or where to find
employment.

One ceases to wonder at the destitute condition in which these
unfortunate people arrive on our shores, when we consider the
discomforts and miseries which they have to undergo before they
arrive at our ports. So far as the Jewish immigrants are concerned,
it may be said that fully 70 per cent. of those who have arrived at
the port of London during the present year have come from Russia
or Poland. The edict in Russia has gone forth for their departure,
but before departing it is necessary for them to obtain a passport
and other official documents, which have to be paid for at the time
of application, and are subsequently required to be shown to the
Russian officials before crossing the frontier. I believe that some
negotiations are now pending with regard to relaxing the severity of
the passport regulations; but at present the possession of a passport
is a _sine quâ non_. To avoid the expense and trouble of obtaining
these documents, many subterfuges are resorted to, to enable the
Jews to leave unnoticed; but on arriving at the frontier _en route_
to Hamburg, and being found without these documents, many of the
emigrants are subjected to the grossest maltreatment and robbery. It
is said that many of them have been robbed of every coin, and almost
every article they possess, and are sent across the frontier in an
absolute state of beggary and destitution. Many cases are known to the
officials of the Jewish Charitable Institutions in London, where whole
families have had, in consequence of being thus robbed, to tramp on
foot through Germany ten or sixteen days, in order to reach Hamburg _en
route_ to London. When once they arrive at Hamburg, the departure of
these persons is by some mysterious means, which I have been unable to
ascertain, directly provided for. It is not an expensive journey, the
passage to London from Hamburg being about sixteen shillings English
money per head for the adults, and the children come half-price. These
are approximately the fares charged by Messrs Perlbach, who do a
thriving trade in bringing these people across. I say "approximately,"
for Messrs Perlbach have met all my requests for information with a
_non possumus_. Of course such a cheap rate does not admit of many
comforts. The emigrant has to find himself all food and bedding. In
most cases the boats are entirely devoid of sufficient accommodation
for passengers; and being under a foreign flag, they do not come under
our Board of Trade regulations here.

The accommodation on board the boats plying between Hamburg and London
is miserably insufficient; and doubtless it is no better between
Hamburg and other English ports. The voyage from Hamburg to London
usually occupies from forty to sixty hours, according to the weather;
and during the whole of this time these poor people are herded together
rather like cattle than human beings. Men, women, and children are
crowded together in the stifling atmosphere between the decks; some
lying on bundles of foul and dirty rags, others squatting on the
bare deck itself. It is a terrible picture of famished and suffering
humanity. No one thinks of taking off his clothes during the passage,
and few have either the inclination, or the opportunity, to wash
themselves or their children. The sanitary arrangements are simply
abominable. The following account, given by the special commissioner
of a London evening journal, which has done much to bring this evil
prominently before the public, and to which I gladly acknowledge
my indebtedness, may with advantage be quoted here. The special
commissioner travelled over from Hamburg as a "destitute alien" on
board Messrs. Perlbach and Co.'s steamship _Minerva_. In his report he
describes his experience as follows[11]--

"By the time I got on deck darkness had set in, and nearly all my
fellow-aliens had stowed away the pocket-handkerchiefs or canvas-bags
containing their belongings in one or other of the two holds, which
were to form their place of residence for the next two nights at any
rate. I saw some scores of eyes peering at me for the first minute
or two; then when curiosity as to the new arrival had abated, I sat
down in a dark corner and quietly examined my surroundings. The
greater portion of the deck was taken up by large boxes covered with
sheets of canvas, and extending to a height in some places of perhaps
eight or ten feet. On the top of these, and in the narrow passages
between them, the emigrants sat or stood, breaking the stillness of
the evening with the hollow laugh or clamorous chatter. Most of them
were young women, wearing shawls on their heads, and clad in soiled,
faded, and torn finery. Some of them were men, young or middle-aged,
but so enfeebled and spiritless that one might have fixed their age at
nearer seventy than thirty. A few were old women, bent, emaciated, and
almost lifeless. All, with few exceptions, were yellow with dirt, and
smelt foully.... I thought it to be about time to go and look after my
sleeping quarters. There were two places from which to choose. One of
these, according to the inscription on the entrance, was constructed
to hold thirty-four persons, the other twenty-nine. The German ships
are subject to practically no regulations as to space; and I inferred
there must be on board about one hundred deck passengers.... I made my
way to the larger of the two steerage cabins. When I got to the top of
the gangway, the stench which issued from the semi-darkness beneath
was pretty nearly unendurable, and it was even worse down-stairs, when
blended with the heat from the bodies of the emigrants. But the scene
which the place presented was still more disgusting. The apartment
was about the breadth of the ship near the narrow end in width,
and scarcely so long. In the centre a single oil-lamp was hanging,
which threw out a feeble, flickering light. On each side a couple of
platforms were erected, one over the other, with about two and a half
feet between them, divided into spaces in some places a little over
two feet broad, and not divided at all in others. Here men, women, and
children were lying on the bare boards partly undressed, some in one
direction, some in another. Young men lay abreast of young unmarried
women, chatting jocularly, and acting indecently, and young children
were witnesses of all that passed. The greater portion of the floor was
taken up with boxes, on which such of the emigrants of both sexes as
had not been able to obtain the ordinary sleeping accommodation were
reclining as best they might."

That was the first night of the voyage; the second is described by the
commissioner as follows:--

"My second night's experience in the hold I need say little about; the
horrors of the place were increased by the accumulation of filth, which
had taken place by the ever-increasing indisposition of the passengers
the longer we were at sea.... Through the long weary hours I sat
there sleepless, I was only too glad when the light of morning made a
promenade possible on deck."

Such are some of the miseries of the journey. It is small wonder then
that under such circumstances, when the vessels reach London, these
unfortunate people present a most squalid, dirty, and uninviting
appearance. The journey is a wretched one; and at the end of it things
are no better; for when London is reached, these poor creatures are
cast adrift to fight for themselves, in a population already teeming
with starving, dying thousands.

The steamers that bring these aliens to London always land them at one
of three places--Tilbury Docks, the Upper Pool, or St. Katherine's
Docks. Wapping is the worst of the three places of landing. Here the
steamers lie out in the middle of the Thames; the passengers are
bundled into boats, the watermen in charge of which will endeavour
before landing to get as much out of them as they possibly can. They
are landed in different places, their luggage is thrown out of the
boat, and they find themselves alone in a strange land unable to make
known where they wish to go. But they are not left long in their
loneliness. A number of human sharks, generally foreign Jews also,
surround them, anxious to see in what way they can take advantage of
their ignorance and friendlessness. The worst foes that have to be
contended against are some of the East End boarding-house keepers.
These men will meet the new-comers, address them in "Yiddish," say
that they are connected with some of the Jewish charities, and tell
them that they must allow their luggage to be collected. When this is
done, they get together as many as possible before being stopped by the
real agents of the Jewish Homes, and march them off, not to where the
unfortunates think they are going, but to some of the boarding-houses
in Spitalfields. Arrived there, the aliens undergo a process of
sifting. Those who are absolutely destitute, and without money or
baggage, from whom there is nothing to be got, are quickly dismissed,
and sent in charge of a child to the Poor Jews' Temporary Shelter in
Leman Street. But those who have money and baggage are advised to stay
a day or two until they can "look about them." Then the fleecing
commences. A charge is made of from two shillings to five shillings
a week for a wretched shake-down bed; but the lodger has to pay the
full week if he only stays one night. Food is charged in proportion.
The next morning, as soon as the lodger has finished his breakfast, a
man is deputed to go with him in search of employment. This man will
tramp his victim all round London, it need scarcely be said with no
success; in the evening he will bring him back to the boarding-house,
saying they must try again the next day. The following morning the
same routine is gone through, and with the same result. For each day's
service a charge of five shillings is made. These gross charges are
made day after day until the unfortunate individual has nothing left
but his luggage. The boarding-house keeper sympathizes with his dupe;
he tells him he is not an unkindly man, and will lend him a trifle on
his luggage. This little is soon swallowed up in the cost of living,
and when it is all gone the boarding-house keeper informs him he is
very sorry, but he must have his room for some one else. The man is
turned into the street, friendless, penniless, and homeless, and finds
himself in very truth a "destitute alien."

Thus such an one becomes in a few weeks precisely in the same plight
as those who arrive with literally nothing at all. Of those, said the
Bishop of Bedford in his evidence before the House of Lords' Committee,
"They almost stand in the market after arrival with barely any clothes
to cover them, and without a penny in their pockets." In this veritable
slave-market they hang about in droves, waiting for the sweater to come
and hire them, which he does sometimes in person, sometimes by means of
an agent, and sometimes by means of his wife. (What a terrible type of
womanhood must be a sweater's wife!) Of course these poor creatures
are at the sweater's mercy. They are ignorant of the country, of its
language, of its laws, and are compelled to take any terms he may offer.

To call the place where these transactions are carried on a
"slave-market" is perhaps an abuse of terms, since, in a strictly
literal sense, nobody buys and nobody sells; but that it is a traffic
in human beings cannot be denied. Almost any Sunday morning during
the spring, summer, and autumn months, at the corner of Goulston
Street, Whitechapel, for instance, may be seen a varying number of men
drawn up in a line against the wall. In front of them stands a man
who engages--I will not say sells--them to the sweater, who gets his
victims to sign a paper, binding them to work for so many weeks and
at so much money in the sweating dens. It is a pitiful sight. Most of
these men are newly-arrived foreign paupers, chiefly Polish Jews. The
boat from Hamburg arrives every Saturday at the docks, and the agent
who meets them conveys them to some Jewish shelter where they remain
until Sunday morning, when he leads them to this place. Most of them
as they stand there have the high boots and fur cap distinctive of the
Russian peasant. Want and long service are plainly written on their
emaciated forms, and along with these a certain patient and dogged
intention of purpose. Often the sweater will give them at first only
their food and lodgings, such as it is. The salary given them varies
from two to three shillings per week; their food is horrible, so is
their lodging. They will work fourteen, sixteen, and eighteen hours a
day, and they will sleep in the den in which the work is done. They
suffer hunger, cold, heat, and vermin. They are without the help of
relations, acquaintances, or protection. They agree to pay back a
certain sum if they break their engagement; and as this is impossible
for them to do, they remain practically slaves, working for nothing, or
next to nothing.

Most of them have to learn a trade at first, during which period they
earn nothing, and are glad to submit to any terms the sweater may think
fit to impose. The slang term for such persons is "greener," and in
many respects the condition of a "greener" is worse than that of a
slave. By and by when he has learnt his business, which in the cheap
tailoring trade, for instance, would be the machine work, he receives
a small wage, from six to seven shillings a week, barely sufficient to
maintain existence. As a rule the "greeners" are very quick to learn,
and as they progress they earn a little more; but their position is
precarious, being liable to be discharged at a moment's notice. The
work is precarious too, and the wages are irregularly paid. Sometimes
there is nothing to do for weeks and weeks. Their food is of the
scantiest, the refuse of fish and a little bread being the principal
articles of diet. The length of hours for which they work--I speak now
of the cheap tailoring trade--averages from fourteen to fifteen hours a
day, or 100 hours a week. The Bishop of Bedford said:--"I have myself
seen these poor creatures at work up till two in the morning, and I
have found that they were again at work, the same people in the same
room, at seven o'clock in the morning." Again he said:--"You can tell
work is being done on the Sabbath, by the blinds being drawn. There is
no holiday at all." Moreover, the surroundings amid which they work are
deplorable and filthy in the extreme. That, however, will be touched
upon more fully in a subsequent chapter.

Again, in the cheap boot trade, the "greener" is at first put to work
as a "sew-round hand." If he does well at this, in a short time he
will proceed to "finishing," and he is advanced to other branches of
the work as his proficiency may warrant. The master bootmaker, who
in nine cases out of ten was once a "greener" himself, is called a
"boot-slosher." The "greener" will generally lodge at the house of the
"slosher" who employs him; and as many as sixteen or seventeen of these
"greeners" have been known to lodge in his house at the same time. The
daily food, as a rule, consists of a piece of hard stale bread, dipped
in salad oil. The bread is bought from a barrow in the street, and
consists of the stale unsaleable loaves collected from various bakers'
shops in the neighbourhood. The "greener" may supplement this possibly
with a little weak coffee or cocoa; or, if he wishes to indulge in an
unusual extravagance, he will invest in a piece of dried cucumber,
pickled in salt and water; or perhaps two or three "greeners," by
way of a treat, will go shares in a few Dutch herrings, also pickled
in salt. The dried pickled cucumber is known as "Wally-Wally," and a
herring is known as a "Deütcher." These articles are sold in large
quantities in the East End.

It must not be supposed, however, that these men remain always in this
position. When they have learned to speak the language and to know
their way about, they will make better terms for themselves. By degrees
they gradually get on. After being in the "slosher's" shop for six or
eight months, they learn sufficient to enable them to go into the boot
manufactories kept by foreigners, and to apply for work to take out in
large quantities. By a process of gradual development, the "greener"
becomes a "slosher" himself, and in the fulness of time he may be seen
walking about the East End, accosting and offering employment to the
first batch of recently-arrived immigrants he sees. More probably he
will meet them at the railway-station and waterside; or if in a more
extensive way of business, he will write to Hamburg to some of the
agencies there, stating that he can find work for so many men. When he
gets them into his clutches he treats them in precisely the same way as
that in which he himself has been treated. Thus does this evil system
go on and flourish.

After a time the foreign Jew begins to accumulate money; and though
he still continues his frugal diet of "Wally-Wally" and "Deütcher,"
he launches forth a little in other ways. The long Russian coat is
discarded, and with it the Hessian boots and fur cap. He bedizens
himself out with a quantity of cheap flashy jewellery, and possibly
goes in for mild theatrical amusements. There is a small theatre in a
certain small court in Whitechapel, where well-known English plays are
acted in "Yiddish." Here may be seen the smart young foreign Jews and
Jewesses, arrayed in all their glory, on every night of the week except
Friday, when the Hebrew Sabbath, which nearly all Hebrews outwardly
respect, commences. He may also perhaps join the "Chovevi Zion"--Hebrew
for "lovers of Zion"--a society which sprang into existence in the
East End of London about twelve months ago; or he may possibly--very
probably--join one of the many little gambling-hells so greatly
affected by the foreign Jew. Worst of all, he may drift into one of
the secret socialistic or foreign revolutionary societies which abound
in that part of the metropolis. That such societies exist cannot be
doubted. They are formed of the class of men who marched to Hyde Park
the other day, with a banner inscribed "Down with the Czar." These
societies have papers of their own circulated among themselves, written
in "Yiddish," breathing the vilest of political sentiments--Nihilism of
the most outrageous description.

Thus whole districts in the East of London are as foreign as in Warsaw,
or the Ghetto--when there was a Ghetto--in Rome.

In considering the nature of Jewish immigration, allusion should
also be made to a species of infamy which, I am credibly informed,
has been carried on for some time past at the London Docks. Many of
the immigrants are young women, Jewesses of considerable personal
attractions. Men-sharks, and female harpies of all descriptions, are on
the look-out for them as soon as they disembark. The young women are
approached, and asked in "Yiddish" whether they are in want of work.
The answer of course is in the affirmative, especially as many of these
young Jewesses arrive in a friendless condition. "Then," comes the
suggestion, "you had better come and stay with me until you get it,"
or "I can put you in the way of obtaining it." Of course this dodge
does not always succeed, for many young Jewesses are by no means so
guileless as they appear to be. But in two cases out of three it does.
The girl, friendless and unprotected, goes off with her interlocutor,
and then the old shameful story is repeated. She stays in the house
until the little she has is more than due for board; her efforts to
earn an honest living are in vain; and when she is destitute, she is
told she must either leave the place, minus even her little baggage,
or earn money at the expense of her virtue. Such a dilemma, in nine
cases out of ten, presents only one means of escape; and the girl goes
to swell the number of the lost and degraded of our great cities. One
of the worst features of this system is, that the decoy is largely
carried on by Englishmen and Englishwomen, and by no means confined to
foreigners alone. Happily, a Jewish Ladies' Rescue Society has been
recently formed, and its efforts have done something to mitigate the
evil. An official from this society goes down to the docks for the
purpose of warning female immigrants, and advising them where to find
employment. But the difficulty still remains, and a very serious one it
is.

When we come to inquire into the causes which bring so many of
these foreign Jews to our shores, we find that in addition to the
two principal reasons--the persecutions in Russia, and the American
Immigration Laws, which render their admission to that country
impracticable--there are other agencies at work as well. The existence
of these agencies is a disputed question; but from inquiries which
have been made, there is every reason to believe that many of the
East End sweaters have agents abroad working on their behalf. The
victims are caught by advertisements in the obscure Continental papers
inserted by the "greener slave-agent," who sends batch after batch
of poor Jews to this country, and they soon find their way into the
sweaters' dens by means of the addresses given them. This method of
advertisement is perhaps not so extensively carried on as formerly,
but it still exists. Again, there is also the suspicion, which deepens
almost into a certainty, of the existence of what is known in America
as "steamship-solicitation." It is highly probable that some of the
steamship companies principally concerned in bringing these people
to England, have agents on the Continent engaged in persuading poor
Jews, and poor foreigners generally, to come to this country with the
delusive idea that they will find plenty of employment, and plenty
of pecuniary assistance here. The notices which the Government have
recently caused to be posted up at some of the European ports, may
do something to nullify this; but the fact remains that there are
several German steamship lines doing an enormous business in bringing
these Jewish immigrants to our shores, and there are owners of British
vessels also engaged in the same traffic. In America, where it had
reached a very great extent, this "steamship-solicitation" has been
declared illegal. How far the steamship agencies act in collusion with
the sweaters' agents in England, it is not possible to say--or, indeed,
if they are in collusion at all. One can only notice that all things
work together in a very remarkable manner. A slight clue to the puzzle
is afforded by the fact that in Leeds (according to the Report of the
Chief Commissioner of Police) there exists a firm of money-lenders who
advance money to Jewish applicants having friends in Russia and Poland,
which is employed for the purpose of bringing them to this country.
This will explain how some, at any rate, of these destitute immigrants
manage to pay their passage-money to England.

There is another cause also, which is more controversial, but which
must be touched upon all the same, since it is a very potent one in
attracting destitute Jews to England. I allude to the well-known
munificence of the wealthy English Jews, who are ever ready to
help their poorer brethren. The admirably organized system of
benevolence which they have gradually built up by means of charitable
organizations, shelters, and similar institutions, constitutes nothing
less than an open advertisement to the poor Jews all over Europe to
come to England and have their wants supplied. I admit that these
institutions are not intended to have that effect, and that many
leading English Jews endeavour to discourage this immigration; but all
the same they tend to have the result of drawing people here.

In Leeds, for example, the Jewish Board of Guardians give the new
arrivals a small grant until they have obtained work, and if they know
no trade, and are willing to learn one, the Jewish Board will make them
an allowance until they are able to earn something for themselves. In
London, as I have before stated, the number of cases relieved by the
Jewish Board of Guardians in 1890, _exclusive_ of Loan and Industrial
Departments, was 3351, representing with dependent families 12,047
individuals, and this at a cost of £21,648. Of course, this refers to
the resident Jewish population as well, the operations of the Russian
and Board Conjoint Committee not being included in this statement.
In fairness it should be stated that the Jewish Board of Guardians
also assist many to emigrate, and generally endeavour to reduce the
mischievous effects of charitable agencies to a _minimum_. But there
are other _institutions_ whose philanthropic activity assumes a more
questionable shape. Such, for instance, is the "Poor Jews' Temporary
Shelter," which it can hardly be doubted attracts many destitute Jews
to this country, since in 1888 it provided board and lodging for a
period of from one to fourteen days to 1322 homeless immigrants.

A similar charge has been brought against the "London Society for
Promoting Christianity among the Jews." I have gone very carefully
into this charge, and find that it is a groundless one. Not only is
the Society opposed to the wholesale influx of foreign Jews, but the
number of Jews converted through its influence is incredibly small.
For instance, we learn from the last Annual Report that only 145 "young
Hebrew Christians" were presented to the Bishop for Confirmation by the
Chaplain during the ten years of his chaplaincy, or an average of about
five a year. The annual income of the Society is £35,000!

I write of what I know. There are agitators in the East End of London
who could arouse a _Judenhetze_ to-morrow by merely holding up a
finger. It is only the moderating influence of others which restrains
them. But this influence, already strained to its utmost, will not
avail for ever. If the ceaseless immigration of Russian and Polish
outcasts is not brought to an end, there will be an anti-Jewish
movement in Whitechapel, in Leeds, and the other centres of population
affected by this evil. The irritation will develop. This would be a
great social calamity, and one above all others to be avoided.

These are the principal considerations which occur to one in writing on
the subject of Jewish immigration. Again let me repeat, in endeavouring
to sift this apparently endless influx, there need be no anti-Semitic
feeling in the matter. There is a German proverb, "Every nation has
the Jew it deserves." We have these our native-born English Jews,
of whom we are all proud. Sober, thrifty, industrious, law-abiding
and patriotic, they are a valuable and an integral portion of our
community. But with these destitute foreigners it is widely different.
They bring bound up with them all the vices and habits generated by
centuries of oppression and degradation. Something must be done to
divert this stream before it swells into an overwhelming flood. How
long is this invasion to go on? Until Russia has emptied half--the
worst half--of her Jewish population on our shores? The question is
one for English Jews themselves. If an anti-Semitic feeling breaks
out in this country, it will be because of this Russian influx, which
apparently is being allowed to go on unchecked. What are the wealthy
and powerful English Jews doing to check it, to focus public opinion
upon it, to urge the intervention of Parliament? Apparently nothing.
Surely it is not too much to expect that a movement for judiciously
restricting and diverting this alien influx, should have the support
of the wealthy English Jews; and this not only because of their poor
co-religionists who come here to find only fresh misery awaiting them,
but also in gratitude to the country under whose enlightened rule they
have amassed their wealth, and attained their present influence. There
is another reason also for urgency. No one who has had any practical
experience in this matter can be blind to the growing dislike and
antagonism with which these destitute immigrants are viewed by the
native working population with whom they come in contact. This feeling
is gathering in intensity day by day.

An outbreak of this nature would be a disgrace and a reproach to our
vaunted civilization, and it would be almost certain to be followed by
that most dangerous phase of popular excitement--panic legislation.
Surely it would be wiser statesmanship to do something now, while the
matter can be considered reasonably and dispassionately, than to wait
until the smouldering embers of discontent burst into a blaze, the
flames of which it may be difficult to check.

CHAPTER IV.

ITALIAN IMMIGRATION.

Presiding at the annual meeting of the "Society of Friends of
Foreigners in Distress," which was held in April last (1891), Count
Deym, the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador, stated that "the charity was
founded as far back as 1806, and that the necessity for it had now
increased a hundredfold. During the past year the Society paid £2151 to
285 poor foreigners, in regular instalments of from two and sixpence
per week to five shillings per month, and £1357 in casual relief to
4264 persons of almost all nationalities." This is only one of the
many similar societies existing in London for the aid and relief of
poor and destitute foreigners--other than those which are exclusively
Jewish. Such Societies are the Société Française de Bienfaisance à
Londres, Société Belge de Bienfaisance à Londres, the German Society
of Benevolence, which relieves Germans, Austrians, and even Russians;
and the Italian Benevolent Society. It is unnecessary to enter into
detailed statistics as to the amount of money expended yearly by the
different Societies, or the number of members relieved; but some idea
of the extent of their operation may be gathered by the fact that over
£1100 was expended last year by the Italian Benevolent Society alone.

Of late years the immigration of Italians has increased to an alarming
extent. London and our large provincial cities are crowded with a class
of Italians who are for the most part non-producers. The Italians
were amongst the earliest immigrants here, and in many respects they
are the most undesirable. In this condemnation, I do not of course
include those Italians who upon arriving in England take up some
definite trade or employment, and who are skilled labourers, and
industrious, law-abiding citizens. Unfortunately the great bulk of
Italian immigrants differ widely from such as these; they are, for the
most part, the idle, the vicious, and the destitute, who come here
simply to pursue that nefarious course of vagrancy and begging which
is now so rigidly forbidden in their native land. They bring with them
slothful and degraded habits, and where they congregate to any extent,
their influence upon our own people cannot fail to be otherwise than
injurious.

Many of them arrive here absolutely destitute, and go at once to the
Italian Consulate and beg for alms, or ask how to be put in the way of
begging. The Consulate does everything in its power to discourage these
people from coming to England, but they come all the same. Some of
them are trained professional beggars, versed in every trick and dodge
of the trade of mendicancy. Others are socialists and revolutionists
of the worst type, who endeavour to use the liberty enjoyed by them
here, in forming secret revolutionary societies, and in preaching the
most dangerous doctrines. They work so secretly that few have any
knowledge of their real influence and numbers. I am informed by an
Italian gentleman, whose name I am not at liberty to give, but who
has exceptional opportunities of proving the truth of his statements,
that the increase of foreign and secret revolutionary societies in
the Metropolis has recently been very great. The same authority writes
to me in a recent letter:--"There is a large influx of destitute
Italians going on: there is no work for them to do here, and they
will not return home.... I believe there is a real danger in allowing
aliens of all nationalities to arrive so freely in such conditions,
while not socialism but anarchy is now preached in the open streets of
the quarters especially resorted to by them. The result will be some
serious trouble very soon, especially in winter."[12] These are not
the careless words of a superficial observer, but the deliberately
expressed opinion of one who holds an official position, and has
intimate knowledge of the facts. With the object lesson which the
recent Italian riots in the United States has presented to us, there
can be little doubt that in the rapid increase of these revolutionary
societies of indigent foreigners lurk the elements of a very grave
political and social danger.

Thus we seem to have drifted into a position somewhat analogous to
that of Rome in the closing days of her Empire. Juvenal in the second
of his _Satires_ complained that Rome had become a sink for the vices
and iniquity of the known world. Johnson imitated this _Satire_ in the
following vigorous lines:--

  "London, the needy villain's general home,
  The common sewer of Paris and of Rome;
  Condemned by fortune and resistless fate,
  Sucks in the dregs of each corrupted state."

Juvenal was not alone in his complaint. Horace had said somewhat the
same thing before. The Satirists had certainly ample opportunities of
observing the facts. When Rome was newly founded it was desirable
and even necessary to encourage immigration, because citizens and
soldiers were sorely needed to defend the infant State. But when Rome
had advanced to the height of her Imperial power, the immense influx
of foreigners attracted to the Eternal City by her wealth and by
her luxury, was most calamitous. The native population of Rome were
reduced to permanent pauperism, or were driven away to the colonies.
The yeomanry of Italy disappeared; they took service in the Legions,
and were sent away to distant settlements, their place in Rome being
taken by large bodies of imported slaves, who brought with them all the
habits and vices generated by long centuries of oppression and wrong.
"The salvation of a country lies in its middle class." Such was the
wise _dictum_ of Aristotle; but in the latter days of the Roman Empire
the middle class was wanting. How fatal was this, is clearly seen by
the different powers of resistance that Rome exhibited at different
periods of her history. Under the Republic, when the middle class was
dominant, though Italy was several times invaded, the native population
always proved too strong for the invaders. When under the latter days
of the Empire the middle class was wanting, and there was nothing but
fabulous wealth and prodigal luxury on the one hand, and abject poverty
and consequent misery on the other, the heart of the State became
corrupt; and as soon as the Barbarians had broken through the cordon of
Legions at the frontier, the mighty Roman Empire sank to rise no more.

Historical parallels are often misleading, and this analogy, like other
analogies, may of course be carried too far; but it is in some respects
a close one. When Rome in the height of her Imperial splendour welcomed
all nationalities who ministered to her profligacy and luxury, it was
a sign of the canker which in time ate away the heart of the Empire. So
too, England in the Victorian era--an era of prosperity unequalled even
by Imperial Rome--throws open wide her arms to receive the destitute,
the criminal, and the worthless of other lands, heedless of the injury
which the influx of such a class must work upon her own community, and
forgetful that the first duty of the State is towards its own people.

The saddest aspect of this question of Italian immigration is the
traffic in Italian children, which has been for so long carried on in
this country under the auspices of the _padroni_, and which continues
to flourish despite all the efforts which have been made to check
it. "Child-slavery in England" it has been called; and certainly the
condition of these poor children is in many respects little better
than that of slaves. I have spoken and written so much about this
matter,[13] that there is little now left to be said; still, in spite
of laying myself open to the charge of repeating an oft-told tale,
I must needs allude to it once more, since no treatise upon Italian
immigration would be otherwise complete.

The traffic is carried on in this wise:--The children are brought over
from Italy by men who obtain them from their parents upon payment of a
very small sum; for a few ducats annually (a ducat equals 3_s._ 6_d._),
and upon undertaking to clothe and feed them. The parents who thus
dispose of their children are for the most part poor peasants living
in Calabria, and the south of Italy. Sometimes the parents will bring
the children to England themselves, and sometimes they are confided to
relations; but often it is a traffic, and they sell their children
into what is a veritable slavery without troubling about their future,
and glad to be relieved of the responsibility and expense of their
maintenance and education. The _padroni_--that is the masters--having
thus gained possession of the children, they bring them to England.
Some travel by railway, but many of them actually journey on foot,
walking from town to town, village to village, all the way up to Dieppe
or Calais, and from thence crossing over to our shores.

The children are imported here simply for the purpose of following one
or the other of the vagrant professions in the streets of London and
throughout the country. They are sent out early in the morning with
an accordion, concertina, or other instrument, and told to sing or
play before houses, and then to wait for money. As a rule they do not
openly beg for alms, as this would bring them within the reach of law;
but they just stand and wait, and benevolent persons, attracted by
their picturesque appearance, are moved to compassion, and give them
money, ignorant or forgetful of the fact that this money benefits them
personally not at all, but the _padrone_ whose property they are.

The _padroni_ are often very severe, and treat the children just like
slaves. If they do not bring home a sufficient sum they are cruelly
beaten and ill-treated, kept without food or nourishment, and sent
hungry to bed. Very often these poor children do not get home from
their weary rounds until past midnight, and they are often found
utterly worn out, and fast asleep under an archway or upon a doorstep.
They are wretchedly lodged, huddled together, four or five sleeping in
a bed when they have one to sleep in at all; and being private houses,
their lodgings are not in any way open to inspection or improvement.

The traffic is most lucrative, and the gains the _padroni_ make out
of these children are very large--so much so indeed, that after a few
years they are able to retire to Italy and to live as country gentlemen
afterwards. Sometimes a child will bring home as much as 10_s._ or more
a day; and as often one _padrone_ has as many as fifty children under
his care, spread about in companies in London and in the country under
the supervision of his confederates, it will be seen that the total
amount of a number of small sums accumulating daily must be very large.
Of course sometimes the children bring home very little, and sometimes
nothing at all; but the penalty in this case is to be beaten and kept
without food, so fear stimulates their efforts, and they do not often
return quite empty-handed.

The effects of this evil system upon its victims is necessarily very
bad. They do not go to school, they become very idle, and begin
early to drink, smoke, and take all kinds of vices. They grow up
immoral, illiterate, vicious, and low; a degraded class, exercising
a most undesirable influence among the surrounding population. The
girls especially all go to the bad, because they are sent into low
drinking-shops, public-houses, and similar places. When they grow up,
they all become beggars and vagrants by profession, and always remain
so, for they have learned no other trade, and many can neither read
nor write. Some remain in England, but many go over to Italy, and
bring over children themselves. Sometimes, when they are seventeen or
eighteen years old, they run away from the _padrone_ and set up on
their own account.

Many efforts have been made to put a stop to this disgraceful traffic;
but hitherto everything seems to have fallen short of the mark. The
Italian Benevolent Society has been untiring in its efforts to stop
the trade. So long ago as 1876 the Society went on a deputation to the
London School Board, with the result that it was decided to compel
these children to go to school in the same way as if they had been
English children. But the _padrone_ was equal to the occasion. He
removed his _troupe_ from Saffron Hill, to the outlying districts of
Deptford, Greenwich, and Hammersmith. There the School Board takes no
action, and there the children dwell in large numbers, free to ply
their trade, and secure from compulsory education. The Children's
Protection Act was also another step in the right direction, and it has
certainly ameliorated the state of affairs; but for various reasons,
chiefly because the limit of age is rather too low, it does not seem to
go to the root of the evil.

Several suggestions to remedy this state of affairs have been made, all
worthy of consideration. One is that there should be a tightening of
the compulsory action of the School Boards all over the country. It is
illogical that these children should be compelled to go to school in
London, and in the country allowed to roam where they please. Doubtless
this would have a very good effect, and the gains of the _padroni_
would be sensibly diminished. Another suggestion is, to increase the
limit of age laid down in the Children's Protection Act to eighteen
years of age in the case of persons of both sexes, thus bringing
the Act into accord with a drastic law which was passed in Italy in
1873,[14] and which has been found very effectual there. This course,
however, is obviously open to objection, since it might press hardly
upon individual cases. The most effectual remedy would be to adopt the
plan followed in America, namely, to stop these children at the port
of arrival, and the _padroni_, and send them all back at once to their
own country. In all European countries they are expelled, or refused
admission. Such a course, however, would require a special law, and
that necessarily will be some time in coming. The question is:--what is
to be done in the meantime? That the evil still continues to flourish
there can be no manner of doubt. The _padroni_ do not confine their
attentions only to children, but frequently bring over whole families
as well. A case came to light in Birmingham this year,[15] of a
_padrone_ named Delicato, who had brought over an Italian family--a
father, a mother, and two daughters. At the end of two years the record
of that unfortunate family was as follows:--The father was paid £2
for two years' work and discharged; the mother had previously been
sent back to Italy, because from ill-health she had become practically
useless to her master. One of the daughters Delicato had seduced,
and she is still living with him; the other daughter ran away and
married, and her husband brought an action to recover her earnings.
When the case came before the Court, the whole transaction was exposed.
Inquiries were also instituted as to the antecedents of Delicato, and
it was found that he had been carrying on this nefarious trade for
years, and had three separate establishments in different parts of the
country. It was found that this man had seduced no less than three
young girls who had been committed to his care, and then abandoned
them. This is no uncommon occurrence, for the _padroni_ are men utterly
without principle, and thoroughly bad in every way.

The parents are almost as bad as the _padroni_, as the following
instance will show:--An Italian named Mancini was recently[16] charged
before the Bow Street Police Court for causing a child to solicit alms.
It was a case of heartless cruelty. The little girl, his daughter,
was engaged in dragging a heavy barrel-organ about the streets. At
intervals she stopped and turned the handle, her father meanwhile
standing a little way off to see what coppers she obtained. It was
raining at the time the man was taken in charge, and the child's boots
were saturated with water, and her clothes literally drenched. She
was only nine years of age. Another instance of the rapacity of the
_padroni_ is illustrated by the following case, of even more recent
date.[17] A young ice-cream vendor named Romano brought an action
against his master, Auguste Pampa, at the Brompton County Court,
for the recovery of four months' wages. It appeared that Romano had
arrived in this country in a state of absolute destitution. Pampa, a
compatriot, agreed to give him work, and an agreement was drawn up
between them. It set forth that Pampa engaged Romano for one year to
sell ice-cream in the streets of London; that he should be paid £1
2_s._ a month, and that Pampa should board and lodge him, and provide
him with clothes. The plaintiff said that the defendant used to send
him out in rags in all sorts of weather, and that he literally had
no clothes to cover him. The judge gave a verdict for the plaintiff.
The case throws a strong light upon the fate of Italian immigrants in
London, and upon the class of Italians who come here.

The best way to put down this infamous traffic, in default of
restrictive legislation, is undoubtedly to lose no opportunities of
bringing the painful facts before the public. If once the charitable
public could be made to understand that the money they give to those
little ones benefits them personally not at all, but goes to swell
the gains of the rapacious _padrone_, who laughs and grows rich upon
the sufferings of his victims, the supplies would be cut off at their
source, and the dream of the _padrone_ to return to sunny Italy and
live there as a country gentleman, vanish for ever.

Few have any conception of the extent or nature of Italian immigration.
Signor Righetti, the Secretary of the Italian Benevolent Society,
estimates the number of Italians in London alone at upwards of 9000.
In this estimate his opinion is corroborated by Signor Roncoroni,
Secretary of the _Societá dei Cuochi e Camerieri_, who states that
out of this 9000, 2000 are employed as Italian cooks and waiters in
London. These of course can in no sense be objected to, because they
are skilled labourers. Of the remaining 7000, the vast majority are
either organ-grinders or ice-cream vendors. The head-quarters of the
organ-grinders is--or was--at Eyre Street Hill, a steep and narrow
thoroughfare forming a connecting link between Leather Lane and Coppice
Row in Clerkenwell. There are a few minor settlements in Kensington,
another in Notting Hill, a third in Somers Town; but the principal
foreign colony is situated at Eyre Street Hill. Eyre Street Hill has
tortuous ins and outs, and numerous blind alleys, in each and all of
which Italians swarm.

The Italian ice-cream barrow has become as familiar a picture in
London street-trading as the apple-stall, baked chestnuts, or baked
potato stove. The profits derived from the sale of this unwholesome
compound are said to be very satisfactory; and certainly the quantity
manufactured must be enormous. There is a depôt for ice on Eyre
Street Hill. All day long, during the summer months, may be seen
there waggon-loads of ice-cubes, which are afterwards broken up for
the purpose required. Also the vendor of lemons does a brisk business
in the same locality, and likewise the milkman--or rather, I should
say, the man who sells what passes for milk. The ingredients of the
ice-cream may possibly be found harmless enough; but the way in which
the compound is prepared is in the last degree objectionable. The
manufacture is often carried on in the living-room of the family,
the condition of which is filthy and disgusting in the extreme. Near
Leather Lane there is one short street of high black houses, the
windows of which are patched and plugged with paper and rags. The
passages and stairs are dilapidated and filthy, and the sanitary
conditions simply abominable. In almost every room of each of these
houses, resides at least one ice-cream maker, and vendor. Such a room
will serve as a living and sleeping room for a whole family--the man,
his wife, and a numerous progeny.

The inhabitants of this foreign colony work all the week with their
ice-barrows or their barrel-organs, but Saturday evening is, with
them, a time of relaxation and pastime. With the natives of the sunny
South, not to enjoy is not to live; and though I do not include in the
numbers of those who amuse themselves, the miserable little victims of
the _padroni_, the comparatively well-to-do Italians always go in for
amusing themselves as soon as they can afford it. Dancing is the chief
pastime of these people. On Saturday nights they regularly assemble
together for this purpose, the women arrayed in the picturesque
attire of their native country, and the men in their holiday garments
likewise. As I have never been to one, I cannot say how these
gatherings are conducted. They are not carried on in licensed premises,
but in the cellars and kitchens of private houses, where admission to
strangers is denied. Probably they are harmless enough. One thing is
tolerably certain, refreshments are not supplied on the premises. There
are plenty of public-houses hard by; and an observant person standing
in the bar of one of them while the dancing is going on in an adjoining
house, will note from time to time a sudden inrush of several couples
still flushed and panting from the Terpsichorean exercise in which
they have been indulging; who after a hearty draught of something in
a pewter pot will rush off, and dance away again. On Saturday night
the tap-rooms of the taverns in the vicinity of Saffron Hill are well
filled; and brisk business is done in drinkables. The company, however,
is not exclusively Italian; there being a goodly number of Irish
besides.

The Italians are credited as a race with having a sensitive ear for
music. One can only say that those of their countrymen who come
over here and inflict upon us the ear-torturing melodies of their
barrel-organs and accordions sadly belie the reputation of their
country. When once asked in the House of Commons if he could do
anything to put down this nuisance, Mr. Goschen replied that it was
a difficult matter, inasmuch as many derived great pleasure from the
music of the barrel-organ. Such an answer leads one to suppose that Mr.
Goschen has not such a keen ear for music as he has an eye to finance,
and also that he is ignorant of the true facts.

Even on a superficial aspect the nuisance is intolerable; but that is
the least part of the evil. When we come to look beneath the surface
of the seemingly careless existence of these Italian street musicians,
and see the cruelty, hardships, and injustice which is undoubtedly
bound up with the system, we shall recognize that it is high time
that something was done to put down what is not only an intolerable
nuisance, but also an evil trade.

For a nation which was foremost in abolishing the slave-trade, to
tamely tolerate in its midst an inhuman traffic like this, is something
worse than an anachronism--it is a disgrace, and a reproach upon our
vaunted civilization.

CHAPTER V.

ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS.

The economic aspect of this many-sided question is undoubtedly one of
the gravest and most worthy of consideration. The unlimited influx of
cheap, destitute, foreign labour, cannot but exercise a prejudicial
effect upon the wages of the native working-classes. It forces the
decent British workman to compete on unequal terms with those who are
willing to work for any wage--however meagre--for any number of hours,
and amid surroundings filthy and disgusting in the extreme. I do not
of course say that it has this effect upon wages in all industries,
but only in those trades which the evil has yet reached. These are not
great trades, perhaps, in the sense of the textile or metal industries,
but they are considerable industries all the same, and they give
employment to hundreds of thousands of men and women.

In the trades and districts chiefly affected, this is the agency
which reduces the price of labour to a level below that upon which
Englishmen and Englishwomen can with decency and self-respect exist,
and which renders effectual combination impossible. Every one with
any practical knowledge of business, will admit that it is the lowest
price which rules the market. If then we have a body of men combining
together for the purpose of getting what they consider to be a fair
wage, how can they maintain that combination, if, when a strike occurs,
or any little dispute arises between employer and employed, by which
the employed hope to get a little better terms for themselves, the
destitute foreigner steps in ready to undersell them, and to work
for little or next to nothing at all? Nor, as things stand, can the
employers be greatly blamed either. In these trades few of them are
great capitalists, the battle of life is pretty hard on them too, and
in struggling to better themselves, they naturally seize every legal
means that offers.

One of the worst features of this system is the "multiplication of
small masters." The subject is a tempting one, but space forbids me to
dwell on it. I would only say that the competition among these small
employers is almost as fierce as the competition among the employed.
Much indignation has been directed against the "sweater," the bloated
human spider, who, according to _Alton Locke_, sucks the life-blood