regulation of interstate traffic by Congress. It would be easy to multiply examples of this, drawn not only from considerations like those presented above, but also from the actual interdependency of State and interstate rates.

The possible effect of the law upon traffic in goods imported from or exported to foreign countries, in its relation to purely domestic commerce, presents another important subject. Recent rulings of the Commission, as yet but little understood, will lead to great changes in existing trade relations if carried to their logical results. If the interpretation given by the Commission to the law in its present form is correct, and the statute makes illegal all through rates to and from foreign countries which are not made by adding to the ocean rate the local rate of each line to or from its seaboard terminal, the Interior and Western States will probably refuse to permit it to continue long without material modification.

It will be perceived that the foregoing review of the operation of the Interstate Commerce law has been written by a believer in its fundamental principles and in the propriety of federal legislation upon this subject. Changes in Congressional enactments are exceedingly difficult. The consideration of important commercial legislation is too often evaded upon purely political considerations, or pushed aside in favor of private or local matters. Sufficient time has elapsed to bring out the more obvious imperfections of the law, which has now been thoroughly tested, and has profoundly affected railway management in every part of the country. Among its indirect results may be noted a hesitation to engage in important railway construction, and an increased tendency toward the consolidation of lines and the unification of interests, arising largely from the severity of its pressure upon the weaker roads. Unregulated competition is essentially self-destructive."

ALDACE F. Walker.

ARE OUR IMMIGRANTS TO BLAME?

THE immense increase, during the last two decades, of the number of immigrants arriving in the United States-the number being twice as large in the last ten years as in the decade from 1870 to 1880-has deservedly attracted the public attention. Fears of its consequences are expressed by men animated with a desire to promote the public welfare and to prevent dangers to the future security and permanency of our institutions. The national legislature has appointed committees to investigate the subject and has proposed measures that may prevent, or at least mitigate, the evils arising from this source. The competition and the struggle of life, selfishness, and patriotism have increased the cry for protection against the evil of immigration and the demand for more or less stringent restrictions against it. The question is of so much importance, that every proposition or measure affecting it should be carefully weighed and examined to ascertain whether the evils complained of are really the results of our large immigration or can be attributed to other causes than those lying at the surface; or at least whether they are not aggravated by circumstances entirely independent of the size and character of the immigration. In short, it is to be carefully considered whether the remedies recommended may not increase the evil instead of mitigating it, and may not be worse than the disease to be cured by their application.

Men are always ready to shift to the shoulders of others the responsibility for the misfortunes which are the results of their own follies, and the American people may be only too willing to listen to appeals for the enactment of restrictive laws, especially if they appear clothed in the garb of patriotic phrases, although it may not be difficult to prove that they emanate from race prejudice, shortsightedness, and selfishness, or that their source is, to put it mildly, rather Chauvinism than patriotism.

The importance which immigration has played in the devel

opment of the United States can hardly be overlooked even by the most superficial observer. Considering only the size of our population, if the increase of it had been dependent entirely upon the natural increa e-that is, on the surplus of births over deaths -the population at present would be hardly more than one-third of what it is. The increase of the population of France was only one half of one per cent. during the six years preceding 1890. In Germany it was 1.006 per cent. The average increase in all the European states from 1820 to 1880 was one per cent. If the same progress had been made in the United States from the year 1790, when it showed a population of 3,929,214, it would be today only 14,734,551. Even taking into account the addition of Louisiana Territory, Florida, and Texas, and assuming the most favorable conditions for the increase of our numbers, the popula tion to-day, on a very liberal estimate, could not without immigration exceed 25,000,000. From all indications the prospects for the future are worse yet, and the publications of the tabular statements about the population from the census taken last year, may disclose facts that will alarm intelligent and patriotic citizens. Even taking into consideration the marvellous energy of the American people, their gigantic enterprise, their inventive genius and their eminent faculty for utilizing and applying inven tions, their astonishing talent of organization, the tenacity and perseverance with which they fight against seemingly insurmountable obstacles; with all these and other valuable gifts, which are justly considered the most prominent characteristics of the native citi zens of the United States, it would have been a physical impossi bility for them, unaided, to have controlled and subdued nearly the whole North American continent, to have built 170,000 miles of railroads, to have opened and improved enormous water-ways, and to have populated 1,500,000 square miles of territory, all within a single century. All that we see to-day in the American people their wealth, their immense achievements, their industrial enterprises-could certainly not have been accomplished to such an extent without the constant inflow of immigrants.

But all the advantages above indicated-even if they were greater than they are and could be attributed to a greater extent to the assistance of immigration than the facts justify

would have been too dearly bought, if it could be proved that immigration has tended to deteriorate the national character of the people of the United States, and consequently endangers the future and the permanency of our free institutions. On the first view it would appear to be dangerous to introduce annually into the body politic a large foreign element; and without the mys terious and phenomenal power of assimilation possessed by the people of the United States, there is no doubt that this constant and great inflow of foreigners would already have swamped and annihilated the most valuable features of the American character.

I have a very lively remembrance of the impressions I received on the occasion of my arrival in the United States about forty years ago. I had become an ardent admirer of American institutions, from what I had learned of them in my college studies. The ship that brought me over was scarcely fastened at the dock before I ran up the nearest street, and, standing in Broadway near the Astor House, observed the passers-by. From their appearance they were mostly men who worked for a living, but nearly every one of them bore himself as if he was a sovereign. The expression of their eyes seemed to say, "I am second to none; there is nothing so great and so high that I cannot accomplish it, and I intend to fight my way." Not speaking English, I saw that it would be impossible for me to obtain a situation where I could utilize the knowledge acquired during my university studies; and having no means to speak of, I took a few days later a position as common laborer in a factory, although I had never done a stroke of manual work in my life before. After a few hours my fingers were full of blisters, and in a few hours more the blood was running down my hands; but I had been inspired with the energy that I saw in the eyes. of those men on my arrival, and I continued, not disheartened by pains or difficulties in my work. I had received the baptism of the real American spirit, and I was never so proud of anything as of the blisters on my hands in consequence of my labor.

I mention these facts to show in a concrete case the really incomprehensible power and influence of the American atmosphere in the assimilation of foreign elements. It may have taken a little more time for others to have experienced the same effects,

but the result was the same with all, unless they were depraved and became the victims of vice and dissipation. That the admiration and loyalty of these adopted citizens of the United States were something more than mere words was proved during the civil war, when they answered the call for the preservation of the Union as willingly as the native-born citizens, and sacrificed their lives for their adopted country. It is impossible to ascertain the exact proportion of adopted citizens that served in the Union army, but it can certainly be asserted that they were inspired with as much patriotism as the native-born Americans and fought as gallantly for the preservation of the Union as their comrades who had been to the manner born. Even the State of Wisconsin, more than one-half of whose inhabitants are foreign-born citizens, and which General Grosvenor called a European province, furnished as many regiments to the Union army, in proportion to its population, as any other State.

But, nevertheless, it cannot be denied that symptoms are appearing in our public and private life of a decay in the character of our people. The only question is: Are they the results of the influence of immigrants, or of other causes which corrupt the native-born citizen as well as the immigrant? The tendency toward the centralization of wealth and power is the most characteristic symptom that has appeared in the development of our public and economic life during the last thirty years. It has undermined the self-reliance of our citizens and induced them to look to the government as a paternal power for help and assistance. It has induced them to engage in a vile chase for success, irrespective of principle and virtue. It has beguiled them into aping foreign customs and habits. It has made them forget that American citizenship is the highest type and has caused them so far to lose their self-respect that they importune our ministers in Europe for introductions at court, and consider it their greatest ambition to splurge in all sorts of extravagances. This degeneration certainly cannot be traced to the influence of immigration. A dozen titled adventurers coming over here from Europe, who are introduced into the best circles, who turn the heads of the belles of society and who induce our "dudes" to imitate their snobbish follies, contribute more to corrupt the