be,
the tremendous consequences of the wide-spread movement have not
passed unnoticed. Wage-earners already here have felt the effects of
low-grade competition and have clamored for restrictive legislation.
On race rather than economic grounds Asiatics have been excluded
except for the few already here. Federal regulation has been increased
with reference to all immigrant traffic. This has been based
increasingly on investigation by private effort and government
commission, and governments and churches have established bureaus on
immigration. Aid associations maintain agents to safeguard the
newcomer from exploitation, both on the journey and in port. From all
these sources a body of information has been gathered that throws
light on the causes and effects of immigration.

236. =Causes and Effects.=--The primary cause is industrial. The
desire of the people to improve their economic and social condition is
the compelling motive that drives them, in spite of homesickness and
ignorance, to venture into an unknown country and to face dangers and
difficulties that could not be foreseen. Three out of four who come
are males, pioneers oftentimes of a family that looks forward to a
larger migration later on. Friends on this side encourage others and
commonly supply the necessary funds. Eighty per cent of all who come
into Massachusetts make the venture in hope of finding better
industrial conditions or to join relatives or friends. In some
countries, like Russia, religious and political oppression are
expelling causes, and the military service required by the European
Powers drives young men away. It has been demonstrated that forty per
cent of the immigration is not permanent, but that for various reasons
individuals return for a season, some permanently.

Immigration has its good and bad effects. There are certain good
qualities in many of the immigrant strains that are valuable to
American character, and it cannot be denied that the exploitation of
national resources and the execution of public works could not have
been accomplished so rapidly without the immigrant. But the bad
effects furnish a problem that is not easily solved. Immigrants come
now in such large numbers that they tend to form alien groups of
increasing proportions in the midst of the great cities. There is
danger that the city will become a collection of districts--little
Italy, little Hungary, and little Syria--and the sense of civic unity
be destroye