The Princeton union. [volume], October 03, 1907, Page 2, Image 2

About The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976

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government toward benevolent assim
ilation of foreigners who are admitted
under the laws, and must be admitted
no matter whether we want them or
not, until the laws are altered. It is a
highly important movement. Now for
the first time the national government
has opened its eyes to the fact.that a
serious situation, not a scientific the
ory, confronts us. This new creation
in Secretary Straus' department, au
thorized by an act of the last congress,
Is a step toward controlling that seri
ous situation.
Heretofore all our immigrants have
come into the country in a haphazard,
blundering way, looking out for them
selves altogether, preys of sharks and
crooks, many of them practically help
less and hopeless. With the United
States admitting them through the El
lis island gates, it has been a pitiable
case of the blind leading the blind.
Uncle Sam has been blind to the perils
of the situation and blind to the op
portunities presented him in properly
handling his incoming wards. He has
been a careless and. inefficient guard
ian. Everybody who has made even
a casual study of the immigration
problem is aware of this fact, which
is not creditable to the government.
Without direction or advice other
than that afforded by the steamship
companies and the birds of prey who
infest the lower end of Manhattan Is
3Glcl what becomes of the immigrants
,"iho.now' reach our shores to the num
iber" of more than a million a year?
SVell, most of them stay In three or
four of the biggest cities. New York
catches and..holds in the neighborhood
a quarter of a. million a year. Chi
.ac assimilates Into its slums a hun-
jh-o/l thousand, or more. Philadelphia
jtets many, Boston, moreIthan^the Back
Hay district can stand fory.wItn'
Distribution Immigrants
HOW UNCLE SAM INTENDS TO PROPERLY HANDLE HIS
INCOMING WARDS.
The Department of Commerce and Labor's New Division of
InformationAccomplishments of Terence V. Powderly,
Official Head of the National Employment Bureau.
Why Organized Labor Opposes It.
ROBERTUS LOVE.
THtiony
E latest phase of the immigra
problem seems to be stir
ring up something of a hornets'
nest In some parts of theBlack
country the forces of organized labor
are up in arms against the work of the
new division of information in the de
partment of commerce and labor. This
division is apart of the bureau of im
migration. The man in charge of it is
Terence V. Powderly, than whom no
individual in labor circles is better
kiiown throughout the world.
It seems somewhat anomalous that
organized labor should oppose a move
ment officially headed by the man who
for fourteen years was grand master
workman of the Knights of Labor, the
biggest and most powerful organiza
tion of workingmen ever formed on
the globe. With more than a million
members the Knights of Labor force
for years wielded a remarkable influ
ence upon American commerce and In
dustry.
Why, then, is this thus?
Mr. Powderly, as chief of the divi
sion of information, is really the man
ager of Uncle Sam's big new free em
ployment bureau. He is, in fact, much
i more than that, but he is that, and for
that reason certain labor leaders de
cry the division of information. Over
and beyond the fact that this new sec
tion of the bureau of immigration is a
free employment bureau of national
scope floats ever in view the still more
important fact that the primary object
of the innovation in government serv
ice ts to distribute the hordes of Immi
grants who come to the United States
to points where they will do the most
good for themselves and for the coun
try which has accepted them and must
assimilate them.
Highly Important Movement.
Boiled right down to its bare bones,
the division of information is an in
telligent effort upon the part of this
TERENCE V. POWDERLY AND SECRETARY OSCAR S. &T8ATJ&
equa
nimity, and smaller cities catch more
-than their full quota. Only a compar
atively small number of the incomers
^o out to the liberal farming countries,
iaorth, south and southwest, and inherit
11t
the part of the earth that is coming to
themif they find it out.
Thus we have in New York such
flourishing cutthroat societies as theucation.
Hand, with its branches in the
other cities. We have great slum dis
tricts almost exclusively settled by the
pauper outcasts of Europe, who drop
even lower in the social scale here
than the pits into which they were
born at home. They produce large
and swarming hives of children, who
grow up dirty, ignorant, depraved and
utterly unfit for American citizenship.
This Is speaking, of course, in a gener
al way. Everybody knows that some
of these city staying immigrants rise
above their surroundings and make
good citizens. But the tendency is the
other way.
Gasping For Settlers.
And yet far from the madding crowd
In these big cities virgin areas are sim
ply gasping for settlers. In the south
ern states, beginning with Maryland
and Virginia and continuing through
the Carollnas, Georgia and Alabama,
there Is a constant cry for more peo
ple, more farmers, more laborers, more
mill hands. Labor skilled and unskill
ed is wanted, and men are wanted to
settle on the unimproved lands and
make them blossom productively.
A similar condition obtains In the
southwestern states, though perhaps
not to alike degree of urgency. South
ern Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana
Texas, Oklahoma and Indian Territory
present splendid opportunities for set
tlers, particularly for those who come
from the southern countries of Europe
and therefore will be acclimated the
moment they step off the train. It is a
well known fact that some of ourtelligent
northwestern statesMinnesota and
Wisconsin, for instancehave been
settled largely by immigrants from the
Scandinavian countries, who fancy a
little cold weather now and then be-
cause it reminds them of home. These
states have flourisned amazingly un
der the Scandinavian farmer's tillage.
Heretofore the average would be im
migrant with a yearning toward Amer
ica, the land of the free and the home
of the brave, has heard of nothing
more in this country than New York
city and perhaps a small fringe of the
Atlantic coast running northward
therefrom. The rest of the United
States to him is without form and
void. Yet many thousands of these
Immigrants are small farmers In Italy
and other countries, pitifully cramped
for land, who would be gloriously glad
to know that they can obtain at a
cheap price a few acres of good farm
ing land in America.
The new division of information fa
thered by Secretary Straus and man
aged by M*. Powderly simply pro
poses to inform the immigrant as to
his opportunities, to point out to himare
that America is considerably larger
than the city of New York and the en
virons of Buzzards Bay.
The work really began about a year
ago. Mr. Powderly had been making
a study of the matter of distributing
Immigration. He quietly made trips
through the south and a voyage to
Europe in furtherance of his theories.
Then Secretary Straus appointed him
to his present position.
"I appointed. Mr. Powderly," says
the secretary, "because I know him
to be one of the best informed and
most enlightened men in the United
States."
Tribute Not to Bs Despised.
This tribute from Oscar S. Straus,
who is beyond question the most schol
arly man in. the president's cabinet, is
not to despised. I is a tribute not
otily to Terence V. Powderly, but to
Organized labor, with which Mr. Pow
derly has been associated prominently
from his boyhood.
Mr. Powderly was,born of#Irish par
cntr.ue In northern Pennsylvania fifty-
eight years ago. He was bred to toll.
He was a graduate machinist when he
reached twenty-one and the head ot a
local labor union. Then when the
Knights of Labor began to flourish
this young Pennsylvania workman
was elected time and time again to the
head of that vast body. He was elect
ed three times mayor of Scranton, Pa.,
his home town. During McKinley's
administration he was the commis
sioner of immigration. In that post
he had opportunity to study the immi
gration problem in all its phases, and
it appears that the matter of proper
distribution appealed most strongly to
him. Mr. Powderly Is also a lawyer
and has practiced before the supreme
court of the United States. As to ed
ucationwell, the present writer not
long ago heard him tell this little
story:
"When I was commissioner of im
migration an important looking per
son came into my office and made a
remark to the effect that a man in my
position ought to have a university ed
I wheeled around in my chair
and replied something like this:
"*Yes, sir, he ought, and I have a
university education. I matriculated
very early in the university of hard
knocks, of honest toil, of practical ex
perience. I took all the regular courses
and most of the elective combinations.
I passed the examinations without
cramming. I never flunked. I got my
diploma, and then I was elected tc
several professorships in the same uni
versity. I now hold the chair of immi
gration. How do you like me?'
"Whereupon," concluded Mr. Pow
derly, with that fine smile of his that
won't wear off, "my supercilious vis
itor folded his tents like the Arabs
and as silently stole away."
Mr. Powderly attended a country
school for a few months, but had to
qnlt when he was thirteen owing to
defective eyesight He declares that
fie never saw the stars and never beH.
lieved in them except as a fairy tale
for children until he was eighteen
years old. Then he got a strong pair
of spectacles and felt like Christopher
Columbus discovering anew world, ex
cept that Powderly discovered a mul
tiplicity of worlds.
Objects of the Bureau.
The division of immigration Is inhall
constant correspondence with the gov
ernors of states and their immigration
officials. The object is to ascertain
where labor is wanted and where set
tlers are desired. Then the informa
tion division directs the Immigrants
to the jobs and the settlements. In
representatives are to mingle
with the immigrants on shipboard and
Inform them as to chances for employ
ment and for acquiring farm land.
Mr. Powderly states that his division
now has jobs waiting for approximate
ly a quarter of a million men, women
and children throughout the country.
There Is no lack of work, he says, for
anybody who wants to work, either
American or foreign import. If the
foreigners must be imported they mus',
be distributed. It is simply a matte
of distribution and assimilation or con
centration and stagnation.
This division of information estab
lished by Secretary Straus is not to
merely aid in distributing immigrants.
It will furnish American workingmen
as well as immigrants not only infor
mation where work may be obtained,
but it will actually obtain for them a
promise of employment before they
leave one part of the country for an
other.
Organized labor in some quarters has.
severely criticised Secretary Straus for
the creation of this so called free em
ployment agency. These critics hold
that Mr. Straus is not a friend to
union labor. They hold that the igno
rant European immigrant will work
more cheaply than the intelligent
American and therefore that the new
system of distribution will tend to cut
down the general scale of wages. As
to this point no doubt the divergence
of opinion will be wide.
A fierce fight against the new move
ment is imminent In the forthcoming
congress. Lined up alongside the ad
ministration will be many state gov
ernors and local immigration officials
who are trying to get settlers to take
their unoccupied lands. The railroads
also will have a hand in the matter.
They want to sell tickets and haul
produce. Also in line with the admin
istration will be the various charitable
organizations in the great cities. On
the other hand will be those earnest
persons who hold that America is for
Americans and the devil take the rank
outsider.
The problem has several distinct
phases. It is ethical, social and indus
trial. Are we our brothers' keepers or
are we merely our brothers' support
ers? Something must be done with the
immigrants. They are here, and they
coming by the million. From pres
ent indications the proposition will be
fought to some kind of finish on the
floors of congress to the exclusion of
the free seed problem and the tariff.
Lobster Monstrosity.
Charles A. Chase of Bath, Me., cap
tured a freak in the lobster line the
other afternoon while fishing ten miles
east of Seguin, Me., says the Kennebec
Journal. He hauled in a lobster which
measured thirty-two inches and weigh
ed thirteen pounds. The shell was cov
ered with barnacles and was judged
by old fishermen to be at least ten
years old. It was the largest lobster
caught in that vicinity for many years.
Swimming Match For Cripples.
The Paris Union of Cripples is ar
ranging a swimming match, open to
cripples only, to be held In the Seine.
Prospects of Sir Thomas.
When Liptonlcome*.to
lift the cup.
Though he's a gritty tar,
Instead, of getting that same cup
He'll get another Jar.
V P. Pitzer "in New York Sun.
MMMMMriMMil
pmnnnnntmi^^
American Society of Equity Directory
2^' ?ckmidt
No i
4
District, will meet the first
and third Friday of every month at the
Schmidt district school house No. 4. at 8 p. m.
GEORGE SCHMIDT, Pres. H. F. HOLTHUS, Sec.
No. 42T3. Bogus Brook, will meeet seconld
and fourth Friday of eactht at Emil
Jopp house. A. SCHMATZ, Sec.
No. 374, BerryJ,District, will meet the first
QFt7*?**
Br
rthe
schoo
hmonth
mo?th
a
v?r
house district 24, at 7:30 p. m.
O. D. ORN'E, Pres. L. A. HATCH, Sec.
No^
4 I% Wopdard Brook, will meet the first
and third Saturday of each month at the
Woodard Brook school house at 8
ALBERT RIEBE, Pres. FRANK MAGNUSON, Sec.
No. 4804, Blue Hill, will meet the first and third
Saturday of every month at the Wheeler school
house at 8 p.m.
JAMES DUGAN. Pres. FRED STEHL. Sec.
No. 4703, Greenbuah, will meet the second and
fourth Saturday of each month at the Aug.
Kines house, in school district 5, at 6 p.m.
S. E. TILLEY, Pres. E C. STARK, Sec.
No. 4991, Baldwin District, will meet the third
Saturday in every month ati the Baldwin town
hall, at 8 p. m.
B. FISK, Pres. R. E. HIGGIKS, Sec.
No. 4211, Oxlip, will meet the first and third
Tuesday of each month at the Gates school
house in Dist. No. 32, at 8 p. m.
GEO. TOMMNSOK, Pres. E. RADEKE, Sec.
No. 5057, West Branch, will meet thefirstand
third Saturday of each month at the school
houst, Dist. No. 4, at 8 p. m.
ARCHIE TAYLOR, Pres, J. L. WETSEL, Sec
No. 4117, Zimmerman, will meet the first and
third Saturday of each month in Woodman
at 1:30 p. m.
H. B. PRATT, Pres. J. L. FREELAUD, Sec.
iByers
Has Bargains
all the time
And carries continu
ally a large stock of
the very best
I General Merchandise I
D. BYERS
Bottom Price Cash Store.
IF IT ISN'T
A Victor
IT ISN'T THE BEST.
Prices of ($10, $17, $22, $30,
Hachlnes $40, $50, $60, $100.
Records 35c, 60c and $1.00.
All Supplies and Latest Records.
J. C. BORDEN,
Only Authorized Agent for Princeton.
T. J. KALIHER, Proprietor,
Princeton, Minn.
Single and Double Rigs
at a noments' Notice.
Commercial Travelers'Trade a Specialty.
The Rural
Telephone Co.
THE PEOPLE'S FAVORITE.
Lines to Dalbo, Cambridge, Santi
ago. Freer and Qlendorado.
Good Service in Princeton and to all
adjoining points. We connect with the
Northwestern Long Distance Telephone.
Patronize a Home Concern.
Service Day and Night.
^iUiituuttuitiituiUiUiituiiUiuuiaittiUiiUiUiuuiiutuiuuttutuiuuitutuutuiiutuiuiumS
M. S. RUTHERFORD
Siilid S&tiM<:tior 1
IN BIG CHUNKS
awaits the carpenter and builder who gets his 3
lumber from the Princeton Lumber Company. 3
You see it's well seasoned, the best to be had for 3
the price, and therefore "works up" well. The 3
owner and tenant of a house built of material 3
procured here knOws that warping and shrinking 3
will not annoy him as the days go by. 3
GEO. A. COATES, Manager. 1
First National Bank
of Princeton, Minnesota.
Paid up Capital, $30,000
A General Banking Busi
ness Transacted.
Loans Made on Approved
Security.
Interest Paid on Time De
posits.
Foreign and Domestic Ex
change.
S. S. PETTERSON, President.
T. H. CALEY, Vice Pres.
J. F. PETTERSON, Cashier.
Security State Bank
of Princeton, Minnesota.
Capital and Surplus, $33,000.
Buys and Sells Foreign Exchange.
Steamship Tickets to and from Europe,
insurance and Real Estate Loans.
Transacts a General Banking Business.
JOHN GOULDING, President. G. A. EATON, Cashier.
Dots a G*n*ral
BANE OF PRINCETON. I
J. J. SKAHEN, Cashier and Manager.
j..|. ,|.fr,i,-
MMM
Banking Business
Collecting and Farm and
Insurance. Village Loans.
,|.,t.,t,.j, ,t,, ,i,*++++
tJ,,t,,j, ,v .j,
W Make
A Specialty
Farm Loansof
Princeton, Minn.
,t,tf,,t $
E. L.
M. S. RUTHERFORD & CO. I
Odd Fellows Building,
*'&^*h*1&H*****^^ ,1, J, ,1, fl, ft, ,x, fl$
Ipeeeg&eeeeg eesseeeeeee^.
To My Patrons
And the Public Generally:
I gives me pleasure to announce that I am
now occupying my new store in the
Townsend block, on First street, and that I
am prepared to meet all demands for fine
shoes. The stock is all new and comprises
the best makes in Gentlemen's, Ladies' and
Children's Shoes that can be obtained from
American manufacturers. The variety is
complete in every detail and the prices are
the lowest possible. I respectfully solicit a
continuance of the public patronage, and take
this opportunity to thank my many patrons
for the favors which I have received from
them in the past. Everyone is cordially in
vited to call at my new place of business and
inspect my extensive stock.
Very respectfully,
Solomon Long
V&
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