New-York tribune., 1906-04-11
IMMIGRATION LAW REVISION.

,...-o,s will only be responding to q gen
- Jn,o,d if II undertakes at this session 10
broaden and improve our lInhlsi aIioii ia
The need of improvement ls appdien'' ioi
influx of aliens-and of aliens OF he ieSS u"
sirable SORTS rapidly increasing ana ne" m, Ne
strctons on the right or entry are ata1
oct OF 1909 was considered n piece oi raui1'i ~,
,ociSIotion inasnuch as it greatly enlarged uie
nroscrihad classes of immigrants, laid heau
fax and renuirpd each new arrlVal 10 haNe d
certain sum of money in his possession "'
these deterrents have failed to reduce o tile o
ume of immigration In the nScal !eai io0D ~, :
the number of arrivals fell OH sllshu'' -,
total for 19O2-'O3 had been So',o4o' ano . 20
1ao3,o4 total sank 10 S12,S1O. But in l9o4-oo
a new high record was made, aunllssloho p"eD
ing the million mark for the first tilhe III Jul
history In 19O5-'O6 il is estimated, ahotheI
million of applicants will obtain entrance dt
our ports two-thirds of whom Will come from
the three European countries when nave re-
Gently been making this country al On" liiiiiS
ASYLUM for their surplus population-hussia'
Italy and Austria Hungary
1t is time TO call a halt on Immigration oi
this sort-the least assimilabe and most dlfi1-
cult to distribute with which we nave 10 ueai'
Both the Senate and the House Immigration
con,r,ittaes are working on measures to raise
our standards of admission But the senate
committee has been first to report Dill, ana
il is understood that this bill will be cohSiuereu
some time after the Railroad Rate act mas peeh
disposed Of The Dillingham; measure, ho" oh
tbe Senate calendar. begins by raising the en-
trance head tax from s. to 50. though why 1t
should not be made SO instead OF % Is hot
aDDarent The bill also widenS the classes suo-
iect to exclusion by barring persons admitting
their belief in the practice of polygamy the
feeble minded as we'll as the actually insane or
imbecile persons coming here for immoral pur-
poses, persons admitting their commission or q
crime involving moral turpitude and persons
found on surgical examination 10 be physically
or mentally defective the defect being or a
nature to affect the applicants ability to earn
n livelihood These provisions will give the in
spection service greater latitude in rejecting
undesirable persons and make the transporta-
tion companies more careful about accepting
doubtful steera ge risks. Mr.. DillinghamS meas
ure also provides that aliens returning nome
must be registered and their names and ad-
dresses reported by outgoing shpmasters TO the
Commissioner General of Immigration-a pre-
caution which will help to straighten out many
disputes over naturalization.
Perhaps the greatest defect in present
immigration system is its failure to eradicate
pestiferous foreign colonies and to distribute
the newcomers to points where they really
needed Hundreds of thousands of immigrants
herd together in our larger cities, where they
become a prey to exploiters of their own nation
ality and remain more or less impervious to
Americanizing influences. Yet many sections
of the country clamoring for farm laborers.
Under the Dillingham; bill an information bu-
reau would he established TO instruct immi-
grants to general labor conditions here and
TO cooperate with the representatives of state
and territorial governments in diverting arriv-
ais from city slumS to the farms and planta-
tions where they he made Immediately
helpful. We can assimilate the ambitious and
able bodied of all the European natiOnalites
who likely TO knock at our gates. But here
tofore have not gone about the task judi
ciously. If we make the wedding out inspec-
ton a little more rigorous, and then distribute
the raw material properly we shall have no
very serious immigration problem left