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IN SEARCH OJT WEALTH. I *rf!!”,'1 m'S”1”? f* _. reasons which brought mm to America ......“ I could give none, Ho camo here, hosaid, because others who had como from his village had done well, lie was going to Colorado or Nebraska where some of his relations had secured work for him _ on a railroad. A dull-looking Hungarian who stood near loft his fatherland because he wanted “to make money,” An Irishman gave tho same reason for expatriating himself, and a surly Pole intended to become a dweller in the land of the free because he wanted to get enough to eat.Please mark that not one of the persons interviewed was actuated by lofty motives in trans-Why Foreigners of Every Persuasion Come to America.They Arc Prompted by u Donlro to llottor Tholr Financial Condition—Interesting Talks with Representatives of Various Nationalities.ISpooial Chicago .Correspondence.!? ITHOUT fear of successful con-tradietion I venture to make the assertion that nine-tenths of the foreigners who annually arrive in the ■ United States have no clear idea of why they emigrated to America. The idea seems t o prevail in Europe—and more especially in the rural districts of the continent and in Ireland—that the streets of American cities are paved with gold, and that all the exertion necessary to acquire a fortune consists in picking up bricks of the yellow metal.The other day I went down to one of the principal railway stations to take a look at the latest addition to our population, consisting of an ill-assorted lot of thrifty-looking Germans and Scandinavians, jolly Irishmen, lean Russian Jews and filthy Italians and Huns. The odor produced in the small room set aside by the railroad company for their accommodation was almost as offensive as the smell produced by two score or more of pipes in various stages of glory and decrepitude; the former represented by a fat Teuton’s long silver-mounted porcelain boWl, the latter by a laughing Irishman’s dudeen.The crowd was good-natured, and a polyglot servant of the railroad company who seemed to have charge of this class of passenger traffic had no difficulty in securing information from the representatives of the n ationalities represented in his latest con- uf/Win signment.“Why did you come to America?” he asked a well-fed, middle-age d man, who was accompanied by his wife and seven children whose FR0M “oued sod.” ages ranged from seventeen down to three years. “1 came here to get rich,” replied the man, without a moment’s hesitation. “I came from Austria, where I owned several nice pieces of land. I have a ftother in Minneapolis who has grown rich, and if Hans can make money I’m sure I can make more. So I sold out my holdings and bought tickets for America.”‘Yes, yes,” interrupted another German who was a native of west Prussia, “in America one can get rich with-, out working hard. My wife’s cousin's brother came to thus, country seven years ago and now he owns a big farm in Minnesota and runs a .saloon in La Crosse, Wis. I’m going to La Crosse where they have ever so maiiy sawmills, and in a few years, says my wife’s cousin's brother, I can easily earn enough to buy one of those mills.”‘And I,” said a third member of the Teutonic group, “I’m going to take up some land in Dakota, where my wife has a brother. I have eight hundred mai'ks (two hundred dollars) and with that money I’m going to buy me a horse or two and build a bouse, and in a year or two I will have just as nice a farm as my brother-in-law, because you see I’m a farmer by trade and he was nothing but a day laborer in the old country.”A Scandinavian who was approached by my official acquaintance afforded me an opportunity to recover from the surprise caused by the replies already recorded. “I left my home in Sweden,” he said, “because I could not make more than a bare living. Tillable land in my native country is very high-priced and not within my reach. I worked a piece of ground for fourteen years for a hard master but managed to save nine hundred dollars. For the passage of myself and family I had to pay nearly two hundred dollars. By the time I arrive at my destination in North Dakota I will have seven hundred dollars left.I will homestead a piece of land and work it and perhaps I can accomplish more here than in Sweden.”‘I left Russia,” said an aged Hebrew With a forlorn countenance, “because I bad to. 1 am aTHE HEBREWferring his home to a foreign land. The desire to do better in a financial way was the common motive. There is, of course, n6 room for doubt that the Scandinavian w h o expressed himself so intelligently will become a good citizen of his adopted country, hut yet it was not dissatisfaction with the social and politicalof Sweden which brought him to our shores. His object, like that of the others, was to accumulate land and wealth. The Austrian wanted to make money; the two Germans were ambitious to own a sawmill and a saloon; the Pole wanted enough to eat, and the Irishman was probably looking for employment by some western municipality. The Russian Jew preferred Manitoba ‘to the United States, about whose institutions he knew absolutely nothing. He was told in London to go to the northwestern provinces of Canada and •he went without considering its constitutional limitations or social customs.People emigrate for the sole purpose of bettering their physical condition. Not one in ten thousand emigrants ever inquires whether the' country he goes to is a republic, a limited monarchy or an autocracy. The only consideration or question is whether Ms new home is so situated that by expending an amount of labor and industry equal to that expended in his native land he can enjoy more luxuries and acquire a competency.Among the peasantry of Europe the belief that America is the promised ,land has become Bo general that not even such governments as those of Germany, Scandinavia and Russia can stem the tide of emigration or direct it to other channels. And just as long as industrious foreigners succeed in making themselves financially independent in the United States will emigration be' directed to them. ' A NEAPOLITAN BEAUTY.In the course of time thrifty emigrants become good American citizens. They learn to admire a form of government which has given them an opportunity to rise from want to plenty and which recognizes the rights of even the humblest citizen. But all this Fourth of July, spread-eagle talk about America being the refuge of the oppressed who come from every land to seek shelter under its flag is nonsense. There may be one refugee among every ten thousand immigrants, but certainly' not more.The people who come here—and I have personally interrogated a great many of them—come with the intention of acquiring a sum large enough to render them comparatively independent in their native land. Every one tries to figure out how long it will he before he may be able to return. In the course of time this homesickness wears off, however, and by the time they have attained the coveted end they are glad enough to remain in the land of theirAbout the only class of foreigners who come here to seek a politically safe home are rampant socialists and anarchists who haive been expatriated by the governments of Europe; and the sooner the United States ceases to be a “refuge” for these fellows, the better for our social peace. A man who comes here to acquire property aud succeeds in his aim usually becomes a fairly good American citizen, but the professional agitator in search of a refuge is a type of humanity whose arrival should be followed by a1 return trip in the vessel which brought him hither.G. W. WeippArt.TUo First American Illustration.The fi: it printing press in thi3 country vs3 c.oo up in Harvard i 1 1309, and Mr. W. Let rLi Fraser, the artist-lecturer, finds that the first American-made illustration appeared in Tully’s almanac of Boston in 1698. Increase Mather’s “Ichabod,” published in 1708, contained an American copper plate portrait, and from 1720 hooks were regularly illustrated in this country by American workmen. Mr. Fraser says he has every reason to believe that Benjamin Franklin was* an engraver either on wood or type metal. If that is so, then three men who figured conspicuously in our revolutionary war were illustrators. Raul Revere was a copper plate engraver; Isaiah Thomas, the printer, who distinguished bimself at Lexington, was another, and Franklin Was the third.— Ns Y. Sun._About It.Goslin (who had missed part of her remarks)—What is Miss FHip talking about?Dolley—-About all tho time.—Jury,
Newspaper Details
Gloversville Daily Leader
Gloversville, New York, US
Tue, Jul 07, 1891
Page 3
Full Page
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Anonymous
MD, USA 08 May 2024
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Gloversville Daily Leader
