New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-01-17
A Veto the Proper Answer to the
Literacy Test.

Rv retaining the literacy test Congress has
challenged President Wilson 10 veto the immigra-
ton bill. The President has let 1t be known tlat
he onnoses that test, and he owes it TO himself to
stand his ground. President Taft vetoed q SINH
lar BILL although it contained many minor modl-
fcations Of the immigration laws which the
Department Of Commerce and Labor favored
The report Of the Commissioner General OF I'M
migration, Just issued contains an Endorsement OF
many Of the new provisions and Administrative
features" Of the Burnett bill. But these should
he sacrificed II they can be secured only by COM
hitting the government 10 the unnecessary and
Objectionable literacy test
This test sets up thoroughly artificial stand
ard Of eligibility Most Of the immigrants whom
il would affect come here to 90 the work OF I'M
skilled laborers. A considerable proportion Of
them return home when the demand for unskilled
labor slackens. II can make little difference
whether they are lterate or not, so long as
thew meet the economic demand in response TO
which they flock 70 this country. Ability to read
and write does not guarantee any greater EN-
cheney or usefulness on the part of the men
who construct our railway roadbeds or dig our
tunnels A literacy examination will not smut
ont the vicious. the unruly and the incompetent,
while admitting the sober, the well disposed and
the ,esnectable. There can be no pretence that
literate immigrants will work harder and lead
more ORDERLY lives than will those who are unable
10 read few sentences or sign their names
The Burnett act imposes the literacy test at
the wrong stage in an immigrants contact with
American life If he is merely transient
laborer his capacity as a workman is all that
concerns US. If he r.eans to stay here and be-
come an American citizen the naturalization
laws can compel him to learn to read and write
before he gets a certificate of citizenship 1t Is
time enough to consider his intellectual quaifca-
tons when he seeks to become real American
with the right of suffrage. Literacy is political,
not an industrial. test, and the proper place TO
set il up is in the naturalization courts, not at
the biz labor gateway at Ellis Island.
How little the Senate supporters of the Bur
nett bill thought of the literacy test was shown
when they adopted the Belgian amendment, sus-
p.ndng the test in order TO facilitate the entry
into this country of Belgian war refugees. Here
were deserving and desirable immigrants, 1t was
argued. Why not let them in without reference
TO their teracy? Those who favor this test
want to use it, in fact, merely as check on i'm
migration, good or bad. They think we need a
strainer Of some sort and that the educational
qualification will answer their purpose. But they
forget that the European war is now acting as
such strainer. Belgium apart, there is hardly
country in Europe which is not holding It's
population at home and must continue to do so
until the war ends
There is less need now than ever Of an artificial
restriction of immigration. There should never
be any need Of the undiscriminating and insult
able literacy test