The Denver Jewish news., 1924-05-01

history of the United States Congress.
81 Senator has been bold enough to in
truduce II frankly anti-.lcwiSh measure.
However. Senator Stcrling'S amend
mcnt. directly aimed To cut OF Jewish
immigration by requiring III" quotas
10 hc allotted to different racial groups
within each foreign country, was over
whelmngly defeated by the senate yes
tcrday, although no record vote was
taken The decisive defeat Of this
peril to the Jews was accomplished
mainly by last minute reversal of
stand toward the amendment by Sen
atOr Reed of Pennsylvania. in charge
of the immigration bill who had orig
inally promised Senator Sterling that
he would support his amendment.
On tile open expressions. however, of
Reed, in explaining his stand. there
is little comfort for the Jews. After
Senator Sterling had declared that the
Pennsylvania Senator supported his
amendment. Reed. in taking the floor
to deny this, did not base his reversal
Of attitude on the discriminatory
feature of the amendment. He ad-
mitted that originally when consulted
by Sterling he had approved the
amendment. bur stated: My only ap-
prehcnsion is that il is uhworkable."
Later. in fuller statement. he added
my objection does not lie % the idea
Of the Senator from Sou Ii Dakota. l
think his idea would ic fine IL it
could he worked ont He then ey-
plained the practical difficulty that
would he attendant upon an investiga-
iion of the racinl groups in foreign
countries, and the determination of the
race of each immigrant. Therefore.
1t seems. that although the idea OF
keeping Jews out pleAscs certain Sem
aiors. the only reason that the amend
-r~ntswns not nd6::acii wig rtifrfs <fts
imprac Liability.
Senator Sterling, in his speech Sup.
porting the amendment. stated:
The object of this amendment. In
a word. is to npportion the quota to
which any nation will he entitled I'M.
der the law among the commonly rec
ognize,l well defined and distinct racial
groups In the particular nation which
IL entitled to the quota. II does not
discriminate against any nation. 1t
lo,sS not discriminate agains, any racial
group in any nation. The object is
simply to allow each racial group
within the confines of any nation to
have its true and just npportionment
in the quota assigned to the nation.
by way of illustration, l might
give an example of what present CON
ditionS are. and what they permit: The
quota for Poland for 1921 and 1922
was 25.SOO: yet during July and
August of that year 2.OSS Poles cnme
10 America and S.471 Jews, or four
Jews for every Pole. The quota for
Poland was exhausted in December.
1921. and the Poles, it is said, were
mourning bitterly because they had
no been given "A square deal. nor had
they. for the population of Poland is
something 17,OOO,OOO Poles and 3.O0O,-
OOO Jews
This Illustrates. Mr.. President. the
reason and the justice of applying this
principle of appcrtfOnment of the quota
among the wel-detined and wcll-rec-
ognizcd racial groups.
"1Hke- another illustration: Rou-
mania's admissible quoa for 1921 was
T.414. During July and August Of
1921. the first two months OF the fiscal
year. there were 2,O14 persons admitted
for that country. OF this number. 137
we're Magyars. 226 were Germans. 2I1
we're Roumaninns, 1.411 were Jews.
and 30 were from scattered nationalities
in Roumania The Jews in Roumania
re in the minority.
Russia is another example, Mr..
President, where l understand there
are 81 Slavs to 1 Jew.
1T is to permit the other racial
groups in the several nations to have
their just and fair apportionment Of
the quota among them that this amend
ment is submitted.
81 have conferred with the Senator
who has charge of this bill. and l un-
,lerstand that he has no objection to
the amendment | believe it ought TO
appeal to the reason of every Senator
here as being just and reasonable"
II was at this point that Senator
Reed interrupted to say that he would
explain his objection to the amend
ment.
Although it was apparent after SEN
ator Reeds objection that it would be
defeated, Senator Spencer of Missouri,