Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-24
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

with embarrassment for Congressman.
Their coming back is due largely to the
persistence of Senator David Reed OF
Pennsylvania. Senator Reed likes the
words and believes in what they stand
for His insistence on bringing ma
tional origins" back may not endear
him to Senator and Representative more
timid than himself but it is testimony
to his courage and to his force of per-
sonality. 1t is safe to say that more
than three-fourths of the members of
each House would have liked to get
those words out of the way forever.
They are words of trouble. But for
Senator Reed they would have been
kept away for at least another year and
possibly forever.
1t is going to be desirable for the
public to understand what national
origins" mean.
When Congress adopted the present
immigration restriction law there was
immense difficulty in finding a formula,
measuring rod, which should say how
many immigrants should be permitted
to come In from each country. There
was dif1iculty-and there was jealousy
and controversy In the end-and only
after much rancor and after an expert
ment baSing admissions on the census
of 1910-Congress took the census of
1890 as basis. They declared that
there should be admitted to the United
States 2 per cent of the number of
natives of each European country who
were already in America according to
the census OF 1880.
Germany an Example.
According to that census there were,
n a ia q G =
$50 natives Of Germany living in the
United States. Two per cent of that
number is 51,227. Consequently, 1,227
became Germany's quota" of immi-
grants permitted to come to the United
States each year. And so for all the
other European nations.
That basis is admittedly arbitrary
rough and ready rule accepted as a way
out of q difficult problem, and largely
for the purpose of getting something
done and done promptly.
At the time this basis-tf1e 1890 CEN
suS--was adopted, leaders of Congress
and others interested, felt there should
be more scientific basis. After much
discussion it was decided that sound
and defenSible basis would be one which
should be arrived at as follows:
First, fix limit OF 10000 (plus a
few others, making f53. 685 In alb as
the total number OF immigrants who
shall be admitted from all Europe. Then,
In order to find out what share of the
150, 900 shall come from each country,
make the following computation: Take
the entire population Of the United
States as 1t now exists. Find out what
portion Of the American people are of
English origin, what portion are of Irish
origin, what portion German. Scandi-
navian, Italian, Russian and so on.
Then. admit from Germany, for ex-
ample, as large portion of the annual
10000 immigrants as the portion of
German blood is In the total blood of
the United States. IT. for instance. it
turns out as it did later turn out (ac-
cording to one set of figures, that Ger
mans constitute 1921 per cent Of the
total blood Of the United States, then
allow Germany to send in 1871 per
cent Of the total yearly immigration
to the United States. And so on for
all the other European countries.
The process just described is called
the national origins basis for immi-
ration restriction.
A Congressional Expedient.
But at the time this immigration law
was passed, in 1924, there was no exist
ing computation about the strains of
national blood in the total blood of the
United States. Consequently, Congress
adopted an expedient. Congress enacted
that the immigration law should go
into effect with the census Of 1890 as
the basis of quotas, and that this basis
should be used until July /, 1927. In
the same bill Congress enacted that
the Census Bureau should produce an
estimate of the national origins OF the
total population of the United States
and that on July l, 1927, this national
origins basis should SuperSede the CEN
sus of 1890 basis.
Thus the law was passed. The census
experts went to work. They produced
an estimate. Necessarily it was very
much an estimate" The work OF arriv-
ing at it was difficult. 1t involved esti-
mating the national origin Of all the
people who ever came to America from
the earliest Colonial immigrants to the
latest ones. 1t involved estimating the
number of descendants of all our early
settlers and of all our later immigrants.
1t involved estimates of the results of
intermarriages between English and
German, Irish and Scandinavian and
so on.
The census experts produced their
estimate. They transmitted it, as the |
law required, to commission consist
ing of Secretary of State Kellogg, Secre- |
tary of Commerce Hoover and Secretary
of Labor DaviS--thoSe being the three
cabinet members who have most to do
with the census and with immigration. |
The three cabinet members, when |
they received the report from the census
statisticians, transmitted it to President
Coolidge and to Congress, as the law
dictated they should do. But the three
l..
mate, stated doubt about 1t. They |
said:
Doubt Basis Of Estimate.
although this is the best informa- |
ton we have been able to secure, we |
wish to state that in our opin- |
ion the statistical and historical infor- |
nation available raises grave doubts as |
to the whole value of these computa- |
lions as basis for the purpose in
tended"
That was heavy blow to the whole |
idea of national origins
Meantime, July /, 1927, came around, |
On that date. according to the law, the |
1890 census basis should end and the
national origin basis should take eff
feet. But the national origins basis was /
tainted by the doubts about the accu-
racy of the estimate.
In that embarrassing state of facts.
Congress, in February, 1927. postponed
for one year the taking effect of the
national origins basis, The year went
by and again in 1928 there was still
questioning and doubt about the accu-
racy Of the national origins figure. So
again, in February, 1928. Congress post
poned for one more year. the taking /
effect of the national origins basis.
That brings us up to the present ses-
sion. Again in this session Senator
Nye Of North Dakota introduced yet
another resolution to postpone the ma
tional origins basis for yet another year.
The resolution went to the Senate COM
mittee on immigration. Within that