Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-12-05
IMMIGRATION FLOOD
CALLS FOR A POLICY
Commissioner Wallis Declares Foreign
Influx Presents Most Pressing Problem
Of Day-Solutions Suggested.

frankly and immediately. We I'M
doubtedly need a great many OF these
people; but where? Our farms. 1or
instance, can take care Of great num-
bers, for the farmers are crying Tor
help all the time. Our coal mines
need men; so do our cotton fields and
a great many other places where SOL
id. sober and substantial people OF
good intent will be welcome. But
then, our whole country is. in the
process of readjustment-thousands
of people getting out Of the war
emergency work and going into othe-
channels. It undoubtedly would be a
good thing if we could establish some
sort of preferential selective scheme
for the admission Of these immigrants
for instance. the admission OF thou
sands who would go to the farms
and exclude the barterers and the
mostly make for radicalism. We need
the man Of good intentions. but we
cannot establish any sort Of prefer
entail admission without first amend
ing the Constitution Of the United
States.
Numerous suggestions have been
made for the handling Of the coming
millions and there are many bills
before Congress on the subject. But
it is tremendous question. Some
very, sane and sober persons are in
favor Of shutting down entirely on
immigration for stated period
until the country can readjust itself
to the new conditions which have
followed in the wake Of the war.
But it is very debatabIe question
whether this is desirable.
p Others would limit it to immediate
blood relationships: others put 1t on
a percentage basis. In my opinion
we are undoubtedly receiving today
many Of the very best type Of i'm
this country. They are Of all the
nations on the face of the earth.
The greater part of them say they
are coming to get away from the
conditions Of unrest and dissension
in their native lands. This very fact
should be sufficient guarantee that
these people are mostly desirable.
There are Rumanians. Greeks. Ital-
ians. Jews, French. British, Persians.
Indians; Czechoslovaks Poles. Ara
bans, Turks, Serbians, Norwegians,
Firms, Danes and West Indians The
other day about 500 West Indians,
black as tar, and some of them out
fitted In perfectly grotesque style.
arrived; and they were just about
as clean looking lot as have
seen in many day. Then we had
in line fifty Norwegians, great, sun
ny-faced men, with clear blue eyes
hulking shoulders and radiating per-
feet health, all headed for the lum-
her camps OF the northwest. Back
of. them came a group from north
central Europe, narrow-chested, bent
and miserable in comparison with
the Norsemen ahead of them. and.
while they were obviously within the
law of admission, they would never
make constructive citizens. They
we're Of a class that can be nothing
more thanrparasites.
HAPPY Moment Tor Manys
Look into the faces Of the great
majority of these people and you can
plainly see that they are arriving
at one Of the happiest moments OF
their lives-their entrance into the
United States. Question any one OF
them and they will all say they are
coming here to, get away from their
own countries because OF the dis
turbances; because they cannot ind
work and cannot support their fam
lilies. All Of them evince q willing
ness and happiness to go to work
at the tasks for which they are set
down on the ships manifests-as me-
chanics, farmers. .tailors. miners. pot
ters, shoemakers, laborers, lumber
jacks bricklayers and SO on to the
end Of the list.
But will they do SO? That is the
pivotal question and the one on which
the whole treatment and solution Of
the menace depends. II they were
taken hold of Immediately on leaving
Ellis Island and led into the right
environment they could be taught
| that this country means their future
happiness and prosperity. If they live
according to the laws Of the land;
! that the country welcomes the i'm
| migrant who is determined to work.
either with brain or Drawn; that the
country stands for industry and free
! dom; that it rewards thrift; that it
offers an equal opportunity to them
| to make their way as they choose |;
that it wants the worker and does
! not want the laggard and the dis
I, contented.