Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-06
BY Frederic J. Haskin.

That there are still many unsolved
problems in the handling Of the immi-
grant tide coming to America Is, a fact
patent to every student Of the. question.
Some Of these problems are so knotty
as to bafiile the most earnest attempts
to settle 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
educational 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
immigration prove. More than a third
of the Syrians. Ruthenians and south
Italians are unable to read: more than
a fourth Of the Croatians, Russians and
Servians and more than. fifth OF the
Bulgarians. Greeks. Lithuanians and
Poles are in the same category. A lit
erary test would keep these people out.
! In the early days Of the American ma
ton tens Of thousands Of people who were
| unable to read or write came to the
United States and became the progen-
itors Of families who today form a part
of the bone and sinew or the nation. and
l
/ is but repeating itself, that among those
who are coming now. who cannot read or
write, there are tens of thousands who
will become the progenitors Of families
who will add much to our national hu-
man capital. 1t is claimed that it is not
the uneducated foreigner who becomes
our anarchist, our alien agitator or our
rebel against American institutions that
an illiterate man with an open mind
may be much more tit for admission
into our country than the illiterate and
with a mind filled with enmity against
our institutions.
| Those who favor the literary test de-
clare that our tide Of immigrants Is now
so large that there are difficulties sur
rounding its assimilation. and that the
time has come when we can pick our
Immigrants with greater care and make
1t select body rather than one that has
They contend that with our present sup
ply Of incoming foreigners it is better
that two fit persons be excluded than
that one unfit be admitted. They feel
that even with the restrictions drawn SO
close, as to keep out all illiterates we
still will have leeway enough to choose
a sufficient number of good immigrants
| to tax the assimiiable powers of the ma
ton. They do not assert that every illit-
crate alien IL q bad citizen. or that even
the majority Of them are: they argue that
| a good immigrant who can read and
write IL better than a good one who
i cannot, aud that there are enough Of the
former without having to take the latter.
| y
The majority Of those who favor a re-
stricted immigration predicated upon the
belief that
Favor Literacy Test the tide has
to Check Immigration. large for as as
sanitation to keep pace with expansion.
favor the literacy test as the best method
Of checking It. But other methods have
been proposed to accomplish the same re-
suit One Of these is the limitation OF the
number Of immigrants admitted by re-
stricting the number Of each race to a
certain percentage. This would simply ac-
cept all that come az now. nterates and
illiterates. up to q certain number and
prevent US from exercising a, preference
for lterates over illiterates.,
| Sull another proposition for restriction
10 tod exclude an unsiille6 la6oress who
do not come with their wives or far1i-