Causes

No attempt to summarize the causes of emigration in a single phrase can be successful. They are as numerous as the motives which determine conduct. At one time it is the spirit of adventure which calls men forth to seek their fortunes in the unknown.

This is peculiarly the case with the gold-seekers, whether they followed the Spanish arms to the conquest of Mexico and Peru, or flocked to the mines of California and of Australia, or in our own day bear the hardships of an arctic climate in the Klondike and at Nome.

Religious oppression has been a powerful element in causing emigration, as illustrated in our own early history, and today in the influx of Russian and Rumanian Jews. Crop failures like the potato famine in Ireland, and industrial depression at home, are potent factors in determining men to emigrate. The hope of economic betterment, the attraction of cheap land, and the prospect of becoming land-owners, the solicitation and representations of friends or relatives who have preceded them--in short, an infinite variety of circumstances may have a deciding influence.

Effects

As to the effect of emigration upon the mother country, opinions are most diverse, and if no general agreement has been reached it is because the elements in the problem are so complex. Emigration seems on the face of it to retard the growth of population, and in Ireland it has caused a large decrease in the number of inhabitants. The following table, compiled by the Italian Statistical Office, is offered in evidence:

Country:                                                             

The table shows in its first column a large absolute emigration from England and Wales, Italy and Germany; but turning to the second column we observe that these countries do not show the largest relative emigration , being exceeded by Ireland, which has quite an exceptional position, and by Norway, Sweden, and Scotland. On the other hand, it cannot but be observed from the second column that even in Ireland and much more so in the other countries the figures are very small as compared with the population. Nor should it be forgotten that the loss often is offset not only by the natural growth of population, but sometimes, as in France, by immigration. Again, on the theory that emigration carries off the surplus population, it is thought by some that were there no emigration the excess of births over deaths would not be so large as it actually is. All this is speculation and we are brought back to the starting-point that emigration involves a loss of population.

The Loss By Emigration

But opinion is by no means unanimous that such a loss is an evil. Increasing population may or may not be a national gain. In certain regions there can be no doubt that increase tends to overpopulation, but this cannot be asserted of Europe generally. It is, however, pointed out that emigrants are as a rule grown men in the active years of life. In fact, of the arrivals in the United States in 1900-01, 80.1 per cent. were adult males between the ages of fourteen and forty-five, while in the population at large there were in 1900 only 47.67 per cent. between the ages of fifteen and forty-four. Emigration means a loss of able-bodied workers. How great is the Loss? Various attempts have been made to estimate this.

One method, that of the celebrated German statistician Engel, reckons the value of an emigrant by the cost of his education and rearing. Other writers insist that his value should be reckoned by his productive capacity, and claim that either the annual income of a laboring man, or at least the excess of his production over his personal consumption, should be taken as a basis for calculating the capital which such income represents. Results will vary according to circumstances and methods of calculation, but they vary from a capitalized value of $200 to $2000 per head, which with an emigration of 100,000 persons would mean an annual loss of $20,000,000 to $200,000,000. Considerable as these figures are, they shrink into insignificance when compared with the national wealth of Great Britain or of Germany or even of Italy, the only countries which furnish an annual emigration of 100,000 persons. Moreover, it is not universally conceded that these calculations are right in principle, that men as such have a value to the community which represents a capital sum.

Still, if emigration is regarded as a positive loss, it must, on the other hand, be granted that it has compensation in helping build up new markets for the mother country. In short, the conditions which surround emigration are so complex that any general rule of its value or harmfulness to the mother country must be so guarded as to be practically valueless.

Relation of the Government To Emigration:

The attitude of the State toward emigration has been influenced not so much by economic considerations as by political and sentimental motives. It has ranged from positive encouragement to absolute indifference and positive opposition. The attitude of governments has been greatly influenced by the possession of colonies or by their absence. Whenever the State has had
distant colonies it has sought to direct the stream of emigration to them, and has offered particular inducements to intending colonists.

Before the establishment of self-government in the Australian colonies, Great Britain organized in 1837 a board of colonization commissioners, succeeded in 1840 by the Colonial Land and Emigration Board, whose chief function was to provide emigrants for the colonies, by spreading information and by assisting emigrants with passage money. France in like manner provides special encouragement for French settlers in Algeria, and Germany is entering the same path as respects its possessions in Africa. Colonization societies with the support of the Government authorities offer another opportunity for the State to show its interest in promoting emigration.

States which have no colonies of their own have either sought to discourage emigration or have remained indifferent to it. In the early days of last century emigration was an offense against the law in many countries of Continental Europe. Such restrictions have long since passed away, and were succeeded by complete indifference, emigration becoming a private matter which the State had to tolerate, but in which it took no part. The movement has, however, reached such proportions that most of the European States have passed laws designed to protect intending emigrants and to prevent reckless emigration. Such laws exist in England , in Belgium since 1876, Switzerland since 1888, Italy since 1889, Germany and Austria since 1897. These laws have many features in common.

The maritime nations prescribe rules for the transportation of emigrants, and establish inspecting officers to carry them out. These rules extend to the fitness of the vessels employed, their seaworthiness, their facilities for caring for emigrants, feeding them, and providing suitable medical attendance. They also prescribe rules for the sanitary inspection of vessels, the exclusion of persons suffering from contagious diseases, and kindred matters.

A second feature of these laws relates to immigration agents and the immigration contract. In all the agent requires the license of some Government authority for the prosecution of his business and is required to give bonds for his faithful observance of the law. He renders himself liable to fine or imprisonment by any false pretenses. In general these laws prescribe that the contract between the agent and the intending emigrant must be in writing. As an illustration of the scope of such laws it may be noted that in Germany any contract which contemplates the payment of the passage money after arrival is illegal, and that no contract can be entered into in which a foreign State or society pays any part of the passage money. In Switzerland contracts must be individual, and no agreement to furnish a given number of emigrants is valid.

A third feature of such legislation is the establishment of official bureaus of information for intending emigrants, which is a special feature of the Swiss and Belgian legislation, such officers to give no advice either for or against emigration, but to furnish the fullest possible authentic information upon any questions concerning foreign countries and transportation thereto which may be put to them. Such offices are intended as a corrective of the naturally glowing accounts furnished by interested agents, who, however strictly prohibited by the law from giving false information, cannot readily resist the temptation to increase their business operations.