Nearly every time we see an article in the contemporary Swedish press concerning immigration from Europe, our eyes encounter the phrase "undesirable immigrants." There is no need of a long search to find out who these undesirables are: the list includes Hungarians, Bohemians, Italians, and the rest of the nationalities from southern Europe. Northern Europeans are always welcome, the papers hasten to assure us.

Such is the information we obtain when we look at the matter from the point of view of the English, the Germans, or the Scandinavians. But is such an attitude justified?

To the native-born American, it does not make much difference whether 2the immigrants are from northern Europe or from southern Europe: in his opinion all of them are unnecessary, harmful to the country, enemies of the native worker. The native American will probably feel less kindly towards the immigrants from northern Europe than those from southern Europe. And the reason? Because the skilled and industrious people from the north [of Europe] are far more dangerous competitors of the native workers than are the children of the southern European countries..... The immigrants from northern Europe are, on the whole, trained mechanics or farmers, while those from the southern part of Europe are unskilled laborers. From this fact, one can only conclude that the man from southern Europe will be only slightly dangerous as a competitor of the man from northern Europe, whereas the latter, in his role of worker, will be a menace to the native American.....

But now as for the immigrants from northern Europe--why should they object to the immigrants from the southern countries in Europe? Only a few of the latter seek work as farm-laborers or as mechanics. For the most part, they find work in mines or in other industries where unskilled labor is required. In these industries, labor is poorly paid and it is to the man who has learned no trade--that is, to the man from southern Europe--that such work is assigned. The hard, strenuous work of the laborer must be done by somebody, and it is the Bohemians, the Hungarians, and the Italians who do the lion's share of the heavy work.

If we now consider the question from the point of view of the Italian-American, the Bohemian-American, the Hungarian-American, etc., then we must admit that these people have, in every way, as much justification for complaining about the immigration from northern Europe as, e.g., we 4Swedes have for complaining about immigration from the southern countries. They have ample reason for arguing as follows: "If these Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, Germans, and English were to cease coming to this country, then it might be possible for us to get ahead and to earn as big a wage as these people from northern Europe are now getting. Consequently, immigration from that part of the world is undesirable." These southern Europeans are about as justified in their denunciation of us as are we Swedes in our denunciation of them.

If we now consider the matter from the humanitarian standpoint, from the point of view of the brotherhood of man, then our attitude proves to be even more at fault. The Bohemians are human beings, no less so than the Swedes. The fact that he [the Bohemian] was born in a country which is controlled by a clergy inimical to freedom and education should not be held against him, just as no special merit should be ascribed to the 5man of northern Europe merely because he was born and reared in a country whose educational standards measure up to those of any nation in the world. Since he is a human being, the man from southern Europe is as fully entitled to be considered a "desirable citizen" in a country..... as is his brother from the north [of Europe]. If he is unable to measure up to the Swedish immigrants in knowledge and training for work, he is the one who will suffer the consequences. If, by chance, the more intelligent and better trained men from the northern part of Europe should be called on to help carry the burdens of those from the southern portion, they ought to do so gladly, being aware of their superior education and--as they themselves are convinced--of their "desirability as immigrants" to this country.