ALIENS LEAVE AMERICA

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLV, Issue 11855, 11 June 1919, Page 5

ALIENS LEAVE AMERICA

AN ALARMING EXODUS. CONCERN OP BANKERS. YAST SUMS BEING REMOYED. Employers of labour and bankers are greatly alarmed o TT er the heavy emigration of aliens, and fear serious consequences unless the movement is checked, wrote a correspondent from Washington under date April 12th. Since the armistice was signed emigrants have been crowding every outgoing ship, tlie only limit being the capacity of the vessels. At the present time, in the transition period between war and peace, there is a surplus of labour, so that the loss of emigrants works no hardship. With the revival of industry, however, which American business men believe to be not far distant, the shortage of labour will be distinctly felt, and will tend to keep up wages, which employers insist must be lowered if the prices of commodities are to be reduced. Bankers are interested in this extraordinary movement because of the drain it is making upon the cash resources of the country. The American Bankers’ Association has sent a circular letter to savings banks throughout the country urging them to use their influence to dissuade aliens from emigrating. An alarming proportion of the 14,000,000 foreign-born aliens, says the circular, are returning ’to Europe. The New York Customhouse authorities announce that emigrants are carrying with them from £4OO to £3OOO eacii in United States currency. The astounding statement is made in the circular that 1,300,000 aliens cannot be stopped from going, and that they will carry with them nearly £BOO,000,000, or four-fifths of the total currency in circulation and in reserve in the United States before the war. It is estimated . that unless vigorous action is taken over six million aliens may be lured abroad, taking with them cash equal to the total present currency resources of the United States. It is alleged bv- the Bankers’ Association that this movement is due to Bolshevist propaganda, and that aliens have been urged to sell their Liberty - bonds and property and draw their savings from the banks, so as to return to their native country and enjoy free lands and unrestricted personal liberty. No doubt the passage of the “prohibition and other laws makes these men believe that their personal liberty is being infringed, and that they will enjoy greater freedom in Europe. Bankers believe that not only do the Bolsheviks want to get these men where they can be used as an aggressive force, but that the money they will carry with them will go a long wa y towards helping to finance Bolshevism.