Problems with Immigration

Introduction

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Permit me first of all to express my deep appreciation to the president of the Argentine Rural Society for his kind introduction.

I feel extremely honored to be speaking to this association, which has been of great service to Argentine agriculture.

My subject is “Problems with Immigration.”

There is no issue so closely tied to our economic future as that of immigration.

I need not bother to elaborate its advantages nor its influence on our country’s progress, for all agree on this point: in all social spheres, from the highest to the lowest, the conviction holds that our future grandeur, our wealth, our well-being depend upon immigration. This is why I have felt it to be of general interest to focus on related matters.

Why do people emigrate? Why abandon their native skies to come to our shores?

The causes are many: sometimes the reasons are political, sometimes religious, but most of the time, especially today, they are economic. Political emigrations have never been very numerous; in no country are the working classes very political.

Political emigrants are for the most part intellectuals. If their ideas can be influential, as was the case of the immigrants in Chile who left their mark on public education and on journalism, their influence on a nation’s economy has never been of much consequence. Migrations for religious reasons have been more numerous and more important. One example is the positive influence exercised by the Puritans, Quakers, Shakers, and so many other religious sects that, persecuted for their beliefs in their own countries, fled to the United States of America.

We too have examples of religious immigrations with successful outcomes, such as the Russian colonies in the south of Buenos Aires Province and the Jewish colonies in the provinces of Santa Fé and Entre Ríos that, despite many obstacles, are beginning to prosper. But the vast majority of our immigration is determined by the economic situation in the countries of origin.

We often hear it said that we should follow the example of the United States in order to boost immigration and organize the immigrant colonies. However, the economic conditions that inspired the great emigrations from Europe in the last century no longer prevail. Governments have been concerned to better the economic situation of small-time farmers in order to retain them, and often have been successful. It is therefore in our interest to study the methods previously used to avoid emigration.

No one abandons his native land, no one breaks away from his attachments, his friendships, his pleasures and customs in order to go to foreign lands, completely unknown to many, unless it is out of great necessity, to assure the well-being of one’s family, to profit in ways not possible in one’s homeland. This is why, in order to attract immigrants, we must offer them much more than they can obtain in their own countries. And this “much more” they will find in our temperate climate, in the vast zones of fertile, virgin, territory, in the great rivers that provide navigation and irrigation, in the Andean torrents that water and fertilize vast areas of prime land, at the same time providing fuel for power and light. They find it in our constitution and in our country’s laws, in the warm welcome that immigrants encounter in all social spheres. This last characteristic is important and unique to us, for there are South American countries that are proud of rejecting immigrants, of owing nothing to others, without realizing how far behind this leaves them as a consequence.

This lecture must be divided into two parts: in the first we will review the economic evolution occurring in Europe under the influence of social welfare programs. The great progress these programs have brought about is changing, little by little, the economic situation of small farmers, our particular focus. Their economic situation is so similar in all parts of the world that it behooves us to follow closely what is being done elsewhere to improve it.

Every country is unique in its customs and particular conditions, and, consequently, one cannot blindly copy institutions or laws. But if simple imitation is impossible, the principle, the basis for a practical application with positive results not only can but must be taken into account.

The shape of these measures may differ according to circumstances, without altering the principle on which they are based.

I may therefore hope that this first part of my lecture, which refers to what has been and is being done in Europe to better the farmer’s economic situation, will not be seen as digressing from the subject. It will serve us as the basis for steps we can adopt ourselves in order to assure the flow of immigration, the subject of the second part of my lecture. That is why I encourage your kind attention to the first part.