tments of agriculture and immigration.

[Illustration: Born in Ireland--Resident in the United States 1900

The small dots grouped about N.Y. City, include, also, the totals of
Conn. and N.J.--Chart Boston: of Mass. and R.I.

Reproduced by special permission of "The World's Work." Copyright
1909.]

[Illustration: Born in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium,
Luxembourg. Resident in the U.S. 1900

Reproduced by special permission from "The World's Work." Copyright
1903.]

The leading railway lines promise active cooeperation, as their interests
lie positively in this direction. Some, indeed, have actively engaged in
the work of securing distribution.

[Sidenote: New Zealand Plan]

The suggestion is a good one that we might study with profit, in this
connection, the methods of New Zealand.[47] There the established
Department of Labor has regarded as "its vital duty the practical task
of finding where labor was wanted and depositing there the labor running
elsewhere to waste." To this end a widely extended system of agencies is
maintained for bringing workers and work together, the unemployed are
scattered through the colony, and charity is refused. The experience
there shows that city people and men of trades have been successful as
farmers and farm workers. Mr. Lord says: "It may be a novel function of
government to undertake the distributing of labor, but it is none the
less more rational than an edict of exclusion would be, or the tolerance
of congestion and slums now is."

[Sidenote: Information Before Embarking]

One thing that government can do is to make sure that intending
immigrants are fully informed, in their own countries, before they
start, concerning the laws of the United States, the conditions of the
various sections, the advantages and drawbacks, the demand for labor and
of what kind. An official bureau of correspondence and information would
help check undesirable immigrants from coming, and distribute desirable
ones when they do come.

[Sidenote: Looking on the Bright Side]

While the question of distribution has only recently been taken up in
earnest, its importance is now realized, and there is every reason to
believe that it will receive henceforth large attention, and that wise
measures will be vigorously pushed. Remedied congestion will mean
increased assimilation and decreased danger. As we review the situation,
while there is much in it that requires serious consideration and wi