Great Britain -- Emigration and immigration; Noncitizens -- Great Britain
returns be considered satisfactory? If they really want us to know the
exact dimensions of the extent of alien immigration, there can be no
difficulty in the way. The Act exists; it is only for the Government to
put it into force; it is only a question of method, of means, and of
men. But if they do not want us to know, that is another matter, and
pressure should be brought to bear until the required information is
forthcoming.
Such then is the remedy, such are the difficulties in the way of its
being applied. They are easily surmounted. The real _crux_ of the
question is this. Is such a remedy justified by the circumstances of
the disease? I submit, for reasons already given, that it is. State
intervention is an extreme measure; as a rule it is better to let
natural laws take their course, to see what can be done by individual
effort, mutual help, organization, and combination. Men of the school
of thought of Mr. Herbert Spencer and Mr. Auberon Herbert would
probably denounce such a measure as "socialistic," in that it would
limit the freedom of the individual, and limit the utility of his
individual capital by forbidding him to employ it in certain ways.
I admit the plausibility of their strictures in many instances, but
not in this one. The key-note of such a measure as that which I have
indicated, would be to help the weak, and to protect those who are not
able to help themselves. Speaking generally, I am not a believer in
what is termed "grandmotherly legislation." You cannot make men sober,
religious, industrious, or moral by Acts of Parliament. The experiment
has been tried, and failed. But you can at least remove all the
stumbling-blocks in the way of their becoming so. In this particular
instance, individual effort has been tried and failed. It has been
found to be useless in stemming the tide of pauperism and degradation
which pours in upon us from abroad. Therefore, in the last extremity,
we resort to the State as the natural protector of our people.
It has been urged as an objection to such a measure that it would
violate the principles of Free Trade. The fact that this movement is
supported by many whose fidelity to Free Trade principles is above
suspicion, is a sufficient answer to that objection.[37] But even were
it otherwise--what then? Free Trade is not a fetish. It was made for
man, and not man for it. There is no such thing as Free Trade in human
bodies. You cannot argue that the economic laws which are applicable to
goods should govern man. You cannot confuse humanity with commodities.
You may exclude commodities by a tariff if you please--that is not an
immoral principle. You may let in commodities freely if you choose; but
to let in human bodies to compete with those who are natives of the
soil, who are your flesh and blood, and who already have the greatest
difficulty in supporting life--to allow this, because to shut them
out would be violating the principle of Free Trade, is to sacrifice a
principle to a name.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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