New-York tribune., 1922-11-07
New Law Keeps
OutHalf Million
Aliens in Year
Department of Labor Bureau
Cites Figures Showing De-
crease in Number From
Southern, Eastern Europe
Northern Quotas Untitled
Officials Call 8 Per Cent
Ruling Generally Sue
cessful Despite Hardships
From The Tribune's Washington Burcou

FROM The Tribune's Washington Bnreau
WASHINGTON. Nov. GA half mil
lion immigrants have been kept out Of
the United States in the last fiscal year
oy the operation Of the per cent i'm
migration law. according to the Bureau
OF immigration of the Department of
Labor.
The Bureau of immigration rave out
these figures in issuing for publica-
tion an analysis of the operation o1 the
percentum law which is included in
one OF the radio talks of the bureau.
me bureau statement says:
1t is impossible to say how many
immigrants have been kept out of the
country during the last fiscal year as
the result of the percentum limit act,
but the number has been variously
estimated at from 100000 to 1000 900.
The latter estimate is probably an ex-
aggeration, although 1t is perhaps safe
TO say that 100000 have been kept back
by the operation of the law.
Some Quotas Not Filled
The countries of northern and west
ern Europe, however, have not taken
advantage of the quota allotted to them,
as during the last fiscal year only as
per cent of those who might have come
nave actually been admitted. On the
other hand, 9b per cent of the years
quota of southern and eastern Europe
and Asiatic Turkey were admitted, and
the quotas of practically every country
except Russia and Austria were ex-
hausted early in the year. Only 219,-
l66 immigrant aliens had been admit
ted from Europe and Asiatic Turkey,
compared with 1,081,012 for the year
1874.
The operation of the law has had
tion of immigrants coming from the
sections of Europe under discussion.
While in the fiscal year 1924 only
10 per cent of the immigrants came
from nortke-a and western Europe and
S6 per cent from southern and east
ern European countries and Asiatic
Turkey, in the last fiscal year 36 per
cent came from northern and western
Europe and Ga per cent from the south
ern and eastern European countries, in
Guiding Asiatic Turkey.
Although the change in this respect
is not all that might have been antici-
pated because Of the relatively small
number who have come from the old
sources, nevertheless, the fact that the
proportion coming from such sources
has increased from Is to a6 per cent
is pretty clear indication that the
law is accomplishing what it was in
tended to accomplish in this respect.
Therefore, if the so~caled Nordic
stock is preferable to that of the
newer sources of immigration, as seems
to be so generally believed, there has
been very decided Improvement in
the character of the movement over
pre-war years.
Plan Successful
at is needless to say that the ad-
ministration of the percentum limit
law has been attended with many diff
culties, but all in all, it is doubtful
whether any plan of restriction which
might be applied would have given
less trouble. In June, 1921, when the
law first went into effect, nearly II 900
aliens in excess of the admissible
quota applied for admission at our
ports. The situation thus created was
an utterly impossible one and in order
to avoid hardships inflicted Secretary
Davis admitted the excess thousands
temporarily and subsequently Congress Is
legalized his act and made their ad-
mission permanent.
Somewhat less than 4,2O0 came in
excess of the quotas during the last
year, and of these about 2,5O8 were ad-
mltted temporarily in the interests of
humanity, while only 1862 were actu-
ally rejected as excess quota durin.
the fiscal period"