Abases  due  to  contracts  involving  deductions  from  wages,  by  reason  of  advances  made  to
workers  to  enable  them  to  emigrate,  are  many  and  various.  It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  the  actual
number  of  cases,  because  victims  are  often  prevented  from  making  complaints  and  compelled  to
conceal  the  facts,  on  pain  of  exposing  themselves  to  the  penalties  provided  by  immigration  laws,
which  sometimes  prohibit  such  advances.
The  principal  forms  in  which  such'  advances  are  made  and  the  statutory  measures  relating  to
them  are  given  below: —


1.  —  Advances  made  for  the  Purpose  of  Trans-oceanic  Emigration.
Trade  Unions  in  the  United  States,  Canada,  and  various  other  countries  of  immigration
report  that  many  immigrant  workers  would  be  unable  to  leave  their  own  country  were  it  not  for
the  money  advanced  to  them  for  the  journey  Such  advances  are  made  under  conditions  which
vary  according  to  the  country,  the  lender,  and  the  occupation  of  the  emigrants;  but  the  contracts
usually  involve  the  obligation  to  refund  such  advances  by  means  of  deductions  from  wages.  Such
an  obligation  may  sometimes  constitute  a  tie  binding  the  worker  too  closely  to  his  employer,  and
may  prejudice  the  economic  independence  of  the  worker  from  the  very  beginning  of  his  life  in
the  new  country.
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The  conviction  that  immigration  is  often  artificially  stimulated  and  encouraged  by  payments
in  money  or  other  advantages  given  or  promised,  with  the  object  of  introducing  labour  conditions
inferior  to  those  existing  in  the  country  of  immigration,  is  one  of  the  causes  of  the  opposition
shown  by  the  workers  of  certain  countries  towards  immigration.
