We know in a general way that the immigrant is the possessor of much brawn and muscle. But it is characteristic of us that we think of him always as a _job hunter_, not as a producer. His may be the opportunity; but we never reflect that ours may be the profit. The big mine owner, the subway contractor, the chief engineer of the railroads, the canal builder have a practical knowledge of just where, and how largely, the immigrant comes into new America’s scheme. But the average American has no grasp of the full significance of the immigrant’s immediate and present service to him and to the nation, in a purely present and industrial way. He knows that a big army of immigrants armed with pick and shovel is down there in the subway cavity; and he knows that they build the roads over which he spins his motor. Still he does not really grasp the fact that the railroad that carries him, the clothes he wears, the cigars he smokes, the furniture he puts in his house are made by immigrant hands. Take iron and steel, the strategic industry, so to speak, in America to-day. The Federal Immigration Commission found that 57.7 per cent of the workmen in this industry were foreign born; and if you add the workmen of foreign-born parentage, the percentage mounts to 71.7. And so it goes through a long list of essential industries--in sugar refining, 85 per cent of the workmen are foreign born; in bituminous coal mining, 61.9 per cent; and so on. And there is no one to take his place. There are to-day three jobs for every two workmen, and we are calling out our reserve of women who have never before worked for wages. We often hear of the displaced American workmen, but when we look for them, we generally find they have moved up in the economic scale. _What other value are immigrants in American life?_ What percentage do they possess of the social opportunity and liberty of America? What percentage do they contribute to it? What percentage are they permitted to contribute to it? Some immigrants come to us with racial powers, instincts, and susceptibilities, which, however modified by years of peasant toil, have great potential value for America. Some come to us with vision trained for centuries in beauty of line and color, with the skilled hands of races that have been shaping arch or temple or cathedral for thousands of years. They feel beauty and mobility of outline as only those feel them who have lived with them for generations. What becomes of these capacities over here? Does America give immigrants the chance to use them? Does America even know they exist? Another illusion is that the present races coming to America are not easily assimilated, and should they be, they would give America an undesirable type.