Much has been said and written about the exact number of these alien immigrants, which, as has already been pointed out, in the present dearth of trustworthy statistics, cannot be accurately ascertained. It is not merely a question of numbers. I submit that it matters comparatively little to the main argument whether the arrivals in one particular year were a few thousands more or a few thousands less, or the precise numbers of "those who return again to the Continent," when there are already so many of these indigent foreigners in our midst. Even supposing for the sake of argument--I do not for one moment admit it--that the numbers arriving are comparatively small, they would still have a very bad effect upon the price of wages, in the trades and industries upon which they entered. The inflow of a comparatively small number into a neighbourhood where much of the work is low-skilled and irregular, will often produce an effect which seems quite out of proportion to the actual number of the invaders. From the native labourer's point of view, the mere fact of the presence of these low-living foreigners, ready as they are at any moment to step in and undersell his labour, constitutes a standing menace to his interests. In all the trades in which they are employed, the rate of wages is being perpetually beaten down. Thus it follows that any argument drawn from the number of these destitute aliens, as compared with the total population of the United Kingdom, is obviously wide of the mark. We must consider their distribution in particular localities and particular trades; more than that, in order to arrive at any valuable result, we must examine also into the local and trade distribution of foreign labour _conjointly_. In this connection the evidence comes almost entirely from the East End of London. As we have seen, the two trades principally affected are the cheap tailoring and boot-making. Let us consider the latter first.