UNITED STATES PEOPLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18176, 23 August 1922, Page 10

UNITED STATES PEOPLE.

ALIENS IN PttPULAirON. DANGERS .OF' ILLITERACY. Interesting aspects of conditions in the United States and'Cjanada were described W Mr. T.IJ. Wells. M.A., in » lecture at the Leys Institute last evening. Dr. T. W. Leys presided over a large attendance, s The speaker- outlined his recent tonr through those countries collectin e inforniation on behalf'of the New Zealand educational authorities, and interspersed his remarks with illustrative anecdotes. Americans gwsit alien problem was a subject that received particular attention. Mr. Wells stated that since 1890 a significant change bad come over the character of the tide of immigration from Europe. Before that year 90 per cent, of the people who landed, in the United States came from Teutonio countries such ■as Great Britain, Scandinavia, and Germany. Thin stock was easily assimilated, but since 1890, 83 per cent, of the immigrants came from the countries of So™" and South-eastern Europe, and only 17 per cent, from North-west Europe. These people of Southern Europe possessed totally different standards of living and social conduct from the ra«is of Northern Europe. They were very largely Uhter- ' ate and poor, "and the American capitalist and employer had not hesitated to exploit them. '; While the United States Senate had built up a tariff wall for the protection of industries it had allowed the free importation of an immense amount of foreign-born labour. For many years before the war the insu:c from Europe averaged over 1,000,000 per annum, and in 1914 numbered 1,250,000.

Relatioa to Law and Order. To further illustrate the position of the aliens in America, Mr. Wells stated that while only 1 per cent, of Scandinavian arid Scottish immigrants,, 2 per cent, of English, 3 of Irish, and 4 of German were illiterate, no less than 50 per cent, of the popple from Southern Europe were illiterate. Moreover, whilv people of northern stock tended to scatter over the country, couthemers seemed to congregate in -roe place. Thus in New York alone there wore 500,000 South- Italians to-day, arid over 1,000,000 Jews, mostly Polish and German. In one school he had visited 98 per cent, of the pupils were Polish Jews, and in another school 90 per cent, were Italians. While the i Northern European w,as a law-abiding citizen, the southerner frequently .earned national feuds, and the vendettas of his old country to the new. This fact accounted for the large proportion oi crime against ,tbe person prevalent in cities like New York. Unfortunately it conveyed a wrong impression to people of other countries, for the average American citizen was just as particular ahou* law and order as our own. Another point worth noting wa3 the fact that the male sex predominated among emigrants, with the result that at present m the United States (her© were between 2* and 3 million mora men than wtaien, a factor that did not make for social weU-bemg. Speaking off the negro, Mr. Wells sfeid that from his own observation he would say the negro, on the average, was ignorant, with a mentality not above that of a *oy of 12. The majority ■«■•«>• negroes who showed conspicuous ability, as some did. showed traces of white blood. Five per cent, of the negro population would be classed as part white, and these were the. ones who, being ambitious, stirred up strife. Seventy per cent, of the negroes lived in poverty, and were lazy and indolent. The negro who went on the land seemed to do best, and a solution of the difficulty lay probably m his education in handicraft and agriculture. Japanese in. Honolulu. The Japanese on the eastern coast were engasring successfully in many industries. In Honolulu they were taken Very seriously. Japanese children went to the American State schools, yet,he wa* told that before and 'after school - hours" they went to their own Japanese schools as well. It was impossible to assimilate a people like that. m m One had only to visit America, with its alien and" negro population, concluded Mr. Wells, to appreciate what it was like to live in a country like New Zealand, whore the -population was practically homogeneous, and one could only hope it would remain so. . Referring to the situation as regards prohibition - in' America. Mr- Wells said he believed, from the opinions he,had gathered, thiat if a vote were token on the subject te-merrowa, majority would vote for, a return to the; traffic jto New York, San Francisco, and possibly Chicago, but fir the great middle west a # tremendous majority would[favour prohibition. " The> great argument he had heard on his tour •was that "it's making for efficiency/*