FRANCIS AMASA WALKER

This quotation is historically important because it documents the radical change in agriculture that technology brought on. In this period it was steam power. There were steam powered tractors in addition to what he enumerated. The production cost and hence the prices of agricultural products became much lower increasing the standard of living for all consumers. However, the small farmer, without capitol and the scale of a large enough farm, was put in a position in that he could not compete with the major products of agriculture without huge investment in capital equipment and large enough farms. While many went out of business, many others shifted to specialized crops and raising animals where the automation was not as necessary. This process has been on going in American agriculture since the invention of mechanized farm implements, and the small farmer has gradually become more rare. But the process has been ongoing throughout American history.

The huge waves of Eastern European immigrants, and the severe recession of the nation began to change public attitudes on immigration. Wage rates were going down as a result of the depression and the terribly poor immigrants would work for any low pay and inadvertently, the immigrants help suppress wages. Ironocally, those same immigrants who would work for any pay and conditions were among the leaders of the labor movement and the strikes for better wages and working conditions. See {625086}

Although a very learned man, Walker was paranoid about Immigration. In this quotation he actually tried to argue that Americans would actually be more reluctant to have children if those children have to grow up and compete with immigrants. It seems funny to us today, but at the time, with few Americans educated, men like Walker had credibility even when they were absurd. No one else, even the most paranoid nativists ever suggested that immigration reduced the fertility rate of the existing American population. The lower fertility rates have always been associated with more affluence and the existence of a social safety net, where for most immigrants, conditions in their countries of origin realistically made their children the only social security and social safety net that they had.

This is a wonderful quotation in that the exact same argument has been made in every generation of American history: The new immigrants are not of the same quality as we, the previous immigrants, were.

Although generally a supporter of immigration, he began to oppose it when the very large numbers of immigrants who were ethnically and culturally different began to enter the United States. Northern Italians were OK but the Southern Italians were from a different social class. German Jews had made great contributions to America but the Russian Jews were peasants and serfs. Polish immigrants also. Walker was worried that for the first time in America there would be a social class division as the historical difference between rich and poor in America he believed was within ethnic groups and not between them.

Many people think that this is still a problem with economics. There is a new branch of economics—behavioral economics—which focuses on human economic actual behavior as opposed to theoretical behavior.

The huge waves of Eastern European immigrants, and the severe recession of the nation began to change public attitudes on immigration. Wage rates were going down as a result of the depression and the terribly poor immigrants would work for any low pay and inadvertently, the immigrants help suppress wages. Ironocally, those same immigrants who would work for any pay and conditions were among the leaders of the labor movement and the strikes for better wages and working conditions. See {625086}

Many people think that this is still a problem with economics. There is a new branch of economics—behavioral economics—which focuses on human economic actual behavior as opposed to theoretical behavior.

Although generally a supporter of immigration, he began to oppose it when the very large numbers of immigrants who were ethnically and culturally different began to enter the United States. Northern Italians were OK but the Southern Italians were from a different social class. German Jews had made great contributions to America but the Russian Jews were peasants and serfs. Polish immigrants also. Walker was worried that for the first time in America there would be a social class division as the historical difference between rich and poor in America he believed was within ethnic groups and not between them.

Although a very learned man, Walker was paranoid about Immigration. In this quotation he actually tried to argue that Americans would actually be more reluctant to have children if those children have to grow up and compete with immigrants. It seems funny to us today, but at the time, with few Americans educated, men like Walker had credibility even when they were absurd. No one else, even the most paranoid nativists ever suggested that immigration reduced the fertility rate of the existing American population. The lower fertility rates have always been associated with more affluence and the existence of a social safety net, where for most immigrants, conditions in their countries of origin realistically made their children the only social security and social safety net that they had.

This quotation is historically important because it documents the radical change in agriculture that technology brought on. In this period it was steam power. There were steam powered tractors in addition to what he enumerated. The production cost and hence the prices of agricultural products became much lower increasing the standard of living for all consumers. However, the small farmer, without capitol and the scale of a large enough farm, was put in a position in that he could not compete with the major products of agriculture without huge investment in capital equipment and large enough farms. While many went out of business, many others shifted to specialized crops and raising animals where the automation was not as necessary. This process has been on going in American agriculture since the invention of mechanized farm implements, and the small farmer has gradually become more rare. But the process has been ongoing throughout American history.

This is a wonderful quotation in that the exact same argument has been made in every generation of American history: The new immigrants are not of the same quality as we, the previous immigrants, were.