Evening star., 1928-12-08
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

that almost one-quarter of the present
population of the United States has
immigrated since 1890, you realize why
the problem of restriction Is such an
important political issue today"
HIN! Yes-it is a botherSome issue
in my State" muses. the statesman. The
votes of the Hyphen Societies are cut
ting into majorities. They declare that
our immigration restriction Is cruel and
inhuman; for we separate families, and
bar their relatives who have as much
right to come over when there IS room
in the steera ge- as our forefatherS had to
come over in the Mayflower and the
Dove and be Scalped by the native
Indians. But, after all, the present
msthod, based on the foreign born 1890
census, takes no account of. the descend
ants of the passengers of the Mayf1oweI
and Dove. The people born in America
don't count at all In the q per cent of
each nations foreign born living in
America in $780, It looks as If only
the foreigners had any part in this I'M
migration restriction law, anyhow What
about us whose parents and grand
of Virginia, or claim Priscilla as their
maternal. ancestor? After all, maybe
the Balkan stone-throwers are not the
only obStrepeIous newcomers who fail TO
see any rights of Americans to hold a
part In law protecting America fol
Americans. What-eh?-the Senator
from Pennsylvania is saying something,
and what came we here for to see? A
Reed shaken in the wind? The gentle
man from Pennsylvania does not appear
very Shaky right now, although the wind
is clustering, and might blow UP a
storm"
The Senator from Pennsylvania i.
quoting resolution of the American
Legion supporting the 1924 law on i'm
migration restriction. Maj. Reed is
himself Legionnaire and so has re-
Spect for the sentiment of that element
of the population which offered life it
self to make the world safe for Cemoc-
racy-Spelled with a small ID"
Senator King OF Utah, rises and
remarks:
Mr.. President, I would like to ask
the Senator from Pennsylvania If he
understands that the resolution is aimed
at Mr.. Hoover, who. as 1 understand,
opposed the national origins provision,
and whether he understands that it
includes Mr.. Hoover in the category of
alien blocs, who are seeking to emas-
culate the provisions of the law"
Mr.. Reed of Pennsylvania: II am
not sure whether it is aimed at Mr..
Hoover or Mr.. Smith, who opposed all
restriction based on anything but the
foreign born of 1920 / fancy the
resolution Is aimed at anybody who
tries to weaken the present immigration
policy of the Nation. The number
admitted by the quota Is 164,66 per-
sons. but our total immigration is over
400, 900 annually. On the first of next
TIlIV us0 hA Ia WI from
any change, the enforcement of the
national origins provision will reduce
the quota number to 153,685, reduc-
ton of more than IL 900 in the quotas.
THE reason of the agitation" con-
tinues Senator Reed, against the ma
tional origins plan IS that it cuts down
the quotas of certain groups who are
now receiving far more than they are
entitled to. At the present time Ger
many has a quota of 51,277. or nearly
one-third of all the quota immigration
into the United States. According to
the census of 1920. the proportion of
persons in this country of German
origin was only 1921 per cent.
have not heard anybody suggest a
fairer scheme. The temporary law of
1921 fixed the quota at 3 per cent of
the foreign born in 1910, ignoring
everybody born in this country in the
calculation of the quota. The present
law with its temporary basis, fixes the
quota at 2 per cent of the foreign born
in 1890; in other words, saying that we
will determine the composition Of our
future citizenship, not by looking to
the blood that made America and
saved America, In its repeated wars,
but by taking account only Of foreign
born and naturalized citizens-both--
q apportioning the future quotas. If
Ame recently arrived alien who is not
vt naturalized has right to have his
oAod reflected in the quotas of our i'm
mtration, I say that we, whose an
cesLnS made this country and fought
fortt in every war, have at least an
equa right with that recently arrived.
unnauralized immigrant; and that is
all MT national origin does-to take
us aipnto account. native and foreign
born. itizen and alien. all Of us alike.
ana oSe the quotas on the blood of
tne wble population that was In
Amerlcaat the latest available census,
that of e20"
x 4 ~
over II fire there has stood a pot
througnou the last 80 years. 1t has
seemed an boned over at times, but
now someody is upSetting 1t and it is
oolilng ory md may crack. What had
v>o."2 V"' 0io "iel'uls
The play Hoses, and the audience
5 out In DIP reflection, for. like the
Is OF some 4 the standard novelists,
ne ne story Is Y without conclusive
'caOrs'ah.- Il ;. By Paul v. cs.us.1