Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1907-03-28
OUR IMMIGRATION Law.
Some SaIutary Restrictions on the
Influx of Aliens.


The new immigration law passed BY
Congress is important, not so much in
the extent OF the reforms provided as
in the fact that it reflects the purpose
OF the lawmaking body to place salu-
tary restrictions on the influx of aliens
to this country. Its salient features
are, that
1t increases the head tax from 81
to 81
1t adds restrictions to immigration,
making ineligible TO admission imbe-
Giles and Predetermined persons who do
not come legally under the classical
ton of idiots or insane persons; aliens
afflicted with tuberculosis or mentally
or physically incapacitated from earn
ing living; girls and women for i'm
moral purposes.
1t requires transportation companies
TO furnish a more complete accounting
for the passengers, and to pay the ex-
pense Of deporting those who were in
eligible at the time of embarking; also
to furnish more ample accommodations
for steerage passengers.
1t authorizes the President in his
discretion to refuse to allow aliens to
enter the continental territory of the
United States from foreign countries,
from our insular possessions or from
the canal zone.
1t establishes a bureau of informa.
ton for immigrants, with a view to
their better distribution and to check
the present tendency toward conges.
ton in the large centers Of population.
And finally, it creates commission,
consisting of three senators, three rep
resentatives and three executive ap
pointees, whose duty it shall be to
make a thorough investigation of the
subject of immigration and report its
findings with recommendations to Con-
gress.
The South especially hopes to profit
largely from the work of this bureau.
The exodus of colored people from that
section as q result of the race question
has created a serious industrial situa
ton. Cotton growers as well as man.
ufacturers are confronted with a labor
famine, and it has reached a point
where several States have organized
bureaus to promote the immigration of
desirable foreigners. In this branch
OF the work the national bureau ought
to be Of material assistance. The State
bureaus can supply information as to
labor conditions, and, armed with this,
the national bureau should be enabled
to make a distribution which will be
of benefit both to the immigrants and
to the industrial interests of the coun.
try.
If the commission takes up its work
seriously it ought to be an easy matter
for the next Congress to draft a new
law or amend the present one so as to
meet all objections to our method of
dealing with immigration. The opin-
ion is general that while the law just
passed Is step in the right direction,
it does not go far enough. Foreigners
are coming to the United States at
rate of a million year, and it is
doubtful if the added restrictions will
materially reduce the number. Nor do
VIC regard the influx itself as a menace,
but We are anxious that the govern
ment so hedge the movement with re-
strictions as to guarantee the quality
of this foreign citizenship. We would
bar not only the physically and mental
ly weak, but we would keep out those
whose sole aim in life is to disrupt and
eventually destroy society. We have
enough troubles of our own without
engaging to harbor the criminals and
anarchists of the world.