The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-01-25
|LL|TERACY TEST
FOR IMMIGRANTS
Measure Affecting Aliens Re-
com m n d e d to
House.
Especial to The Times-Dispatch.l

lie
washington. January 24.-The House
Committee on immigration and Nat
uralization, to which was referred
,ioill to amend and regulate the i'm
migration of aliens into the United
states, approved February 90, 1907.
! mas reported 1t without amendment,
ana recommends that it be passed
Ihis bill provides that all alien i'm
migrants over sixteen years of age
must be able to read. The wording of
the bill Is substantially the same as
that OF section 80 OF the general i'm
ln m bill, presented to the House
or representatives in 1906. At that
time the House felt that an immigra-
ton commission ought to report on
'nls question before an illiteracy test
should be adopted, and for that reason
It substituted paragraph providing
for such a commission III lieu Of the
paragraph providing a nilltteracy test
The immigration commission has
Just reported to Congress. and while
1t suggests several other ways Of ac-
comprising restrictions should Con-
gress see fit to adopt them. 1t recon-
menus the illiteracy test "as the most
feasible single method Of restricting
undesirable immigration"
Ihat the illiteracy test is a complete
method of sitting out undesira BILE i'm
migrants tho committee by no means
contends. The committee admits the
truth, but not the force, of the state
lneht that an honest though ignorant
workman Will make a better citizen
than a highly educated rascal
10 form general conclusion from n
rev specific cases is notoriously un-
SOUND argument. The real question
Is this: Is 1t probable that 200, 900
men who cannot read will make as
good citizens as 100000 men who are
anie TO DO SO? To answer that 9ues-
'he American common school system
Not Sufficiently Drastic.
The Commtssioner-G General Of 1m,ni
grafton feels that the illiteracy test is
not sufficiently drastic. SO does the
writer OF this report, but the House is
not called upon TO decide the cues
tion at this moment The House must
oeclde, hrst, whether desires sub
stantial restriction at ALL second.
whether the illiterarcy test is stem
In favor Of substantial restriction.
The Commissioner-Gener of Immi-
grafton feels that the difficulties in
the way Of enforcemeD this test are
great
Perhaps he may be correct but the
experience of this test in Australasia
by no means indicates that the diff
culties are unsurmountablc or even eS-
IcessiNe. The committee feels that the
dlfiiculties already surmounted bv the
United states in enforcing exclusion
ana in limiting immigration exceed in
nerpleNlty the complications likely To
arise from an illiteracy test
The illtcracy test in general and
ms bill In particular has been tie
/ SUBJECT Of many favorable memorials
TO congress and Of many Favorable
resolutions passed by trade unions and
other organizations. Owing TO the fact
! that it is impossible TO guess how
many Immigrants deceived the inspec-
4 Tors as to their ability to read and
write, no one is competent to say how
many immigrants would have been
excluded under an ilitcracy test had
any existed during tho last year
Percentagc OF illiteracy among adult
hiiens Of ten races represented:
/ south Italians ;,
/ : 1851 '....... 81
ii, ccit,W IS
J Magyar -.
ottii ilallan $500.
I German ...
Irish I'LL
English
! scandinavian ..............
!