El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-01-04
Favor Test For Aliens
Students of the immigration Cues
tiOn Have Many Problems
to Solve.

ASHTNGTON ID q.

~
/ w That there are still many I'M
solved problems in the han
{ ding of the immigrant tide coming to
America is a fact patent to every stu
! dent of the question. Some Of these
! problems are so 'knotty as to BATTLE
the most earnest attempts to settle
1 them fully and satisfactorily. Most
prominent among them is the ques-
/ ton of qualifications for entering the
| country.
The house of representatives insists
| that the situation demands an educa-
tional qualification for entrance. That
there is a very large percentage OF
/ ignorant immigrants coming into the
! United States from eastern and south
ern Europe, the figures of the bureau
of immi grafton prove. More than a
| third of the Syrians, Ruthenians, and
South Italians are unable to read; more
| than fourth of the Croatins, Russians
and Servians; and more than fifth OF
the Bulgarians, Greeks, L1thuan1ans
and Poles, are in the same category. A
literary test would keep these people
out.
Time to Choose Immigrants.
Those who favor the literary test
declare that our tide Of immigrants IS
now so large that there are difficulties
surrounding its assimilation, and that
the time has come when we can pick
our immigrants with greater care and
make it a select body rather than one
that has not been filtered of the un-
desirables.
They do not assert that every illite-
rate alien is bad citizen, or that even
the majority Of them are; they argue
that a good immigrant who can read
and write is better than good one
who cannot, and that there are enough
of the former without having to take
the latter.
But other methods have been pro-
posed to accomplish the same result.
One of theee is the limitation of the
number of immigrants admitted by re-
strictirg the number of each race to
certain percentage This would sim
ply accept all that come as now, liter
ate and illiterate, up to a certain num-
Der and prevent US from exercising a
preference for 1iterates over lliteraUes.
Favor Men With Families.
Still another proposition for restric-
ton is to exclude all unkilled labor
ers who do not come with their wives
or families. 1t is argued by those who
urge this method Of restriction. that
those who come UnaccOmpanied are
usually men who are coming over for
the purpose of working a few years
and then returning home. It is de-
clared that they tend to restrict the
opportunities of labOrers who come
with their wives and families 1t gene
rally is agreed that the man who comes
with his wife or his family comes with
the intent of making America his
hOme-an intent that tends to make a
good citizen Of him Those who oppose
this plan agree that there is much IN
what its advocates say, but. on the
other hand, there are so many labOrerS
who come over and get enough money
to bring their wives or families later
that the DrOVOisiOn would shut out
tens of thousands of the very people
it was meant to help-the men who
want to make America their home and
the home of their pOsterity.
+ir~.her method proposed for re-
SIS ng immigration is to limit the
nu --r of immigrants arriving at any
one port in any one year By this
method, it is urged, New York could be
saved from the great congestion that
exists there, and the tide of humanity
could be better distributed to all parts
of the country This plan is opposed
by others because it would throw the
immigrant traffic out of its natural
channels. Still another method pro-
posed is that of raising the head tax
on all immigrants or of raising it OH
those who are unaccOmpanied by their
wives or families The immigration
commission concluded unanimously
that restriction is demanded by eco
nOmic, moral and social considerations,
but it rejected every plan of restriction
except the literacy test.
Hard Life for the DePOrted.
It is generally conceded that the i'm
migrant handling business is such a
profitable one that the steamship COM
panies take many chances of being
fined 800, or of being required to carry
back an eXcludable Immigrant. 1t has
been recommended. that the fines be
made SO heavy for a lack of COM
pliance with the law, as to render It
dangerous thing for a steamship com
pany to accept passengers whom they
should not bring over, or even to con-
nive at the coming Of deportable per
sons The deported immigrant has
hard life of it He sas staked his all
to come, and when the steamship car
ries him back it is to dump him in
some foreign port, without funds, to
continue his journey home
Some have proposed that inspection
should be made at the ports of en-
barkatiOn, but the immigration author
tiles do not agree with this. They say
that it would be a case Of beginning
at the big end of the funnel Where
countries are willing 10 assist their
immigrants. as in Italy and Russia, the
public health service stations It's men
at the ports of embarkation, and their
recommendations as to who will be ad-
mitted and who are likely to be eX-
cluded, are accepted by the govern
ments in question and by the steam
ship companies. In this way the evils
of deportation are reduced to a mini
mum.
Problem of Distribution.
The problem of distribution of i'm
the cities and to lead them to the land
has had many solutions proposed, and
yet few of them seem likely to accom-
plish their purpose The most inter-
esting of these is the proposal to es-
tablish a zone of 100 miles radius
around each port of entry, and to ad-
NIT no alien who does not possess a /
railroad ticket for some point beyond
that zone. This proposition is objected
to by others on several grounds. one
is that the ports themselves would
hardly be willing to accept such con-
ditiOns. For instance overcrowded as
New York is today. does one suppose It
would be willing to let the immigrant
tide pass out Of its gates without a
fair toll of humanity from it? Another
objection is that this would be only
process of filling the Golfers OF the
railroads; that the immigrant might go !
beyond the zone in question, but would
likely drift back again
Detention Stations
4 serious problem from the stand
point of the immigrant is how to avert
tie unpleasant conditions OF the deten-
ti0n rooms of immigrant stations. In
most Of the stations the size of the
Hoo