Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1917-04-29
Measure Which Was Passed by Congress Over Presi-
 dents Veto, Is Strong.
LITERACY TEST
 IS BIG FEATURE
Any Admissible Alien May. However, Bring in Certain Specified Rela- lives, Whether They Gan
 Read or Write, or Not.

Washington, D. C., April 2S.-On Tuesday next there will come into ef- feet the first immigration act, con taining literacy test provision, ever to pass the congress of the United States; bill enacted into law only after the veto of President Wilson had supersede practically all of the i'm migration laws that have been palced on the statute books in the last thir- teen years.
 The new law is identical in many re- spects with the bill passed by the 63rd congress which was vetoed by Presi- dent Wilson and failed to pass over his veto by only a few votes. It is more famous for it's literacy clause than for any other feature, but while this may be it's most sensational claim to public notice, it is qualification and re-enactment of tumble of immigra- tion laws on the statute books. Were the literacy test not in the measure the law still would be one of the greatest importance for the reforms in the immigration service which it prescribes.
 The literacy test proposes in brief the exclusion of aliens who cannot read in some language or dialect, and was aimed at class of immigrants far different from the same group which might have been affected by the same exclusion test years ago, when the best muscle and some of the best brain of Europe, notably from Ire land, were seeking a new abode in America.
 The Literary Test.
 The test applies only to aliens over sixteen years of age, and it is pro- vided that any admissible alien, or any alien heretofore or hereafter le- gally admitted, or any citizen of the United States, may bring in or send for his father or grandfather over fifty-five years of age, his wife, his mother, his grandmother OF his un- married or widowed daughter, if other wise admissible, whether such rela- tives can read or not.
 ous. Aliens avoiding religious perse- cution in the country of their last permanent residence are exempted from the literary test, "whether such persecution be evidenced by overt acts or by law or governmental regulations that discriminate against the alien or the race to which he belongs because of his religious faith" Aliens who have lived continuously in the United States for five years gain the right to go abroad and return within six months from the date of departure.
 The American Federation of Labor has assiduously urged the adoption of the literacy test and it is doubtful if this much disputed feature could have been retained in the bill had organized labor been opposed to it. A new pro- vision which may not please the un- ions as much but is regarded as a nec- essary offset to the exclusions com pelled by the literacy test, is one per- hitting skilled labor, if otherwise ad- missible, to be imported if labor of like kind unemployed cannot be found in this country. The question of the necessity of importing such skilled la bor may be determined by the secre- tary of labor, but application must be made before such importation and the secretary of labor must have rendered a decision after full hearing and in-