The Colorado statesman., 1924-03-08
POLITICIANS FEAR
THE ALIEN BILL
JOHNSON MEASURE, APPROVED
BY COMMITTEE, MAY BE MADE
LESS RESTRICTIVE.
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK


signs of fear that immigration legisla-
ton as framed may lnjure their chance
of success in the presidential election.
The nature of the proposed restrictive
bill is making some of the members
tremble.
Democratic members of house and
senate who happen to represent dis
tricts outside the great cities seeming
ly are as strongly in favor of restric-
tive legislation as are the Republicans
from districts usually called rural, but
the majority party In congress must
bear the brunt of possible antagonism
from certain voters next year. be
cause even If the legislation goes
through by a non-partisan vote. the
dominant party naturally will be held
responsible.
Rumors have been floating about
recently to the effect that the Re
publlcans will insist on changes in the
Johnson bill which will rob II of some
of its restrictive features and which
presumably might save to the party
the votes of some Americans whose
hearts In the half part at least are
over the water. Belief is fairly
strong here, however, that party pol
itics will have little or nothing to do
with the voting in congress when the
bill reaches the stage of action. There
have been developments in American
life in the past few years which make
1t appear the question of immigration
40 longer is party one.
johnson Bill Is Commended.
The house committee on immigra-
ton has reported the Johnson bill
favorably by a majority all-sufficlent
to. give 1t standing. In reporting the
bill the majority members of the COM
mittee have said that it meets every
requirement which investigation has
developed and that its terms meet
everything which the experience of
the immigration bureau have shown to
be proper.
The basic law of 1917 is maintained
in Representative Johnson's measure,
but 1t must be remembered that this
law has no percentage quota provision
within it. If the provision should be
dropped out of the new law the
chances are that the United States
grants within the next year or so. This
is provided against however, in the
Johnson measure by the retention of
the numerical limitation given in the
act of May 10, 1921, but the basis of
the quota of that law is changed from
the census of 1910 to the census of
1890
1t readily can be seen how this will
act on the quotas of the different
countries of the OLD world. The num-
Der of the southern Europeans which
can enter the country If the johnson
measure shall become a law will be
materially reduced, while the number
from the northern countries who will
be admitted will be considerably in
creased. This is probably what the
advocates of the new immigration law
are driving at.
New York State Interested
In New York state there is an
actual drive on to bring pressure to
bear to defeat the Johnson bill. New
York cities have hundreds of thou
sands of voters who, II is believed. will
be influenced in the next election more
by what happens to the immigration
bill than by what happens TO the tax
reduction bill.
Nevertheless, this insistence on the
part of thousands of the voters in the
big cities that the immigration law
shall be framed to let more voters in,
is making other communities more in
sistent that the foreigners should be
kept out. If congress should vote as
its members feel on this subject. the
Johnson bill probably would go
through with few negative votes.
However, the matter seems to have
become one of fear to the party poll
ticians, and 1t may be that the fact
that this is presidential year will
act to prevent the passage of the bill
in its present form. 1t can be taken
for granted, however. that congress
will not vote for anything which will
give admittance TO more immigrants
than are allowed to come in under the
present law.
Tax Reduction Fight Stubborn.
There is hard continuing fight
today in the lower house of con-
gress between the different schools
of thought on the best methods
of reducing taxes. There are growing
evidences that despite the known pref
erence of President Coolidge for the
Mellon plan as at first proposed, he
will sign q bill which. if otherwise
satisfactory, shall provide COM
promise which will place the surtaxes
at figure considerably higher than
that at which the. secretary of the
treasury would like to see them fixed.
In letters from Washington recent
ly 1t was predicted that the administra-
ton would accept compromise in
this matter. There were those who
believed that the prediction was base
less, but recent letter written by