Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-07-02
The Immigration Problem

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three per cent immigration law IN
practice is developing complications that
will necessitate its revision if not repeal.
The quota of foreign entrants legally al
lowed for the month of June has oeen ex-
cseded by more than eight thousand, ana
future excuses are probable unless the plan
and machinery Of the present statute are
improved.
Much of the trouble comes, it seems, from
ATTEMPTS to apply the quota limitation" on
this side Of the water instead Of at, the Euro
pean ports Of embarkation. of American or
ficials were stationed there writes one OBJ
server with authority to grant imm1gra-
ton permits up to the prescribed NUMBER,
the provisions of the present law would
work smoothly enough" Certainly after a
multitude of human beings, including women
and children, have reached our ports and are
in peril Of death from disease or starvation
unless suffered to land, it becomes exceed
ingly difficult to carry out the letter OF the
law. Yet, if exceptions are made they will
soon be the rule, and regulation" will prove
but travesty. Consider, too, such case
al the Chicago Journal supposes: 1.-TWO
port for America. One boat breaks FRO
pelIer and is delayed. Her passengers are
denied admittance, while those on the other
vessel come in without let or hindrance. To
offer American citizenship as the prize IN a
steamship race is rather curious PROPOSE
ton. Those who are admitted should be Sc
lected on the other side. not put to the less
Of coming here and being sent back" There
are sundry other lines along which. 1t is COM
monty conceded, the ''three per cent law
must be altered and supplemented If it is to
work.
That strict control of immigration is need
full at this juncture of Americas and the
worlds affair goes almost without saying.
To admit more immigrants than we can eco
nomically absorb, much less make into COM
petent citizens, is a grave injustice to the
nation and no help to the unfortunate of
other lands. Too long was this principle over
overlooked in the times before the World War
when hundreds of thousands more than con-
ditions warranted were let through the gates
to serve no better ambition than the quick
getting of riches-not so much on the part
OF those who came as those who brought
them. It was the ancient root of all evil
cropping out again. Now more than ever do
we need to remember that the problem is not
merely to get job for the alien but to make
an American of him-not an American in
narrow formality, but in vital spirit that is.
LA
which this republic stands and hence in re-
spect for her laws and basic institutions.
Well has it been said that "the chapter on
immigration which argues for as much as
business can stand" must be closed forever,
and that the new book should have to do with
'as much as the Constitution of the United
States can stand" To assimilate millions of
newcomers economically without assimilat-
ing them politically and socially is fearfully
dangerous.
This country has now approximately elev-
total population, while numbers of the
total population, while numbers who are
formally naturalized become citizens only in
name. Districts there are, particularly in
the industrial centers of the East, that are
entirely and utterly foreign-masses who
in their present condition are virtually i'm
peryious to American influences, not know
ing the country's speech, not reading its
literature, not understanding it's statutes
and institutions, not capable of catching its
spirit. A tremendous task and solemn
duty it is to educate all these, not simply in
terms Of intellect, but in that genius of
freedom joined with self-control and of
knowledge Joined with reverence for !ife's
sanctities, which constitutes true American
ism. Until this is accomplished due restric-
tions ought to be maintained in the matter of
further admissions; elsewise the problem
will wax graver both for the immigrant ard
for America.
Restrictions which are merely drastic
however, will not suffice; they must be in.
telligent as we'll, and to be intelligent they
must be just. The present troublous law is
a warning against slipshod legislation. Let
the next effort be thoroughgoing.
AT