spirit behind many of these new colonies.) "Russian Jew colony in Alabama. The colony will consist of 40 Russian Jew families, and they propose to establish a manufacturing settlement, principally for the making of clothes." And so on, ad libitum. It is obvious that the establishment of such alien colonies is not conducive to thorough and rapid assimilation, and that, if this is the tendency of 'agricultural distribution,' the benefits to be derived from such distribution are certain to be much lessened.
The present view regarding our alien immigration is not that of criticism of, nor of prejudice against, any one nationality or group of foreigners. Hence the frequent outbreaks of impassioned defense of this or that nationality are both unnecessary and misleading. The sober thought regarding the dangers of immigration is that of apprehension that an ever-increasing mass of our alien population which keeps its identity is a great evil in our democracy. These alien colonies have for years been found in our city slums; the present movement is evidently going to plant them all over the country, in the farming districts. The thought of danger in alien colonies is, after all, not as new as many writers would have us believe. Washington, in a letter to John Adams, dated November 27, 1794, wrote as follows: "My opinion with respect to emigration [immigration] is that except of useful mechanics and some particular descriptions of men and professions, there is no need of encouragement, while the policy or advantage of its taking place in a body (I mean the settling of them in a body) may be much questioned; for by so doing they retain their language, habits, and principles, good or bad, which they bring with them." And Franklin expressed it as his belief that a homogeneous population is necessary to a successful democracy.
6. Effects upon the Sections in which the Distribution takes Place not always good.—To scatter among our rural communities large numbers of aliens whose standards of living are such that they are willing to work for the lowest possible wage, is to expose our native farming population to a competition which is distinctly undesirable. In the corn belt of the west, as Professor T. N. Carver has recently shown, the newer immigrants, because of their lower standards of living, have been able to put more money into land, buildings and equipment than the native American farmer; and hence have an advantage in the struggle for existence. Scattering our alien population of the more ignorant races simply spreads more widely the evils which result from exposing our own people to competition with the lower classes of foreigners. Again, in the case of the agricultural distribution of Italian and other alien laborers through the south, while it is perfectly true that these aliens will supplant the negroes in many—probably in most—occupations, the effect will undoubtedly be to cause a
