Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-08
IMMIGRATION BAR
| MEANING TANGLED
Origins Clause, Held Manda.
tory, Apparently Offers Hoo
YER Alternative Course.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

Due to lively parliamentary strategy
at the last moment, the national
origins" basis for immigration quotas
seems destined to go into effect. AS
Ss1s situation now stands. President
Hoover is required TO proclaim the ma
tional origins figures before April /.
Thereafter, the new figures will go
into effect July /. The statement that
President Hoover is required" to act
calls for some explanation The law
says the President shall proclaim and
make known the figures" At the
same time, the same law goes on in
later sentences to use phrases which
seem to contemplate alternatives.
One phrase reads, IF the proclama-
ton is not made" cts Another phrase
provides for the possibility of IAN error
OF fact Yet another phrase reads,
II for any reason"
Opinion May Be Asked.
The existence of these phrases has
given rise to question whether the law
is mandatory on the President. or
whether it is what lawyers call "direc-
tory or discretionary. The usual course
viii be for the President to procure an
official Interpretation of the law from
the Attorney General. President Hoo
yer personally does not prefer the ma
tlonal origins figures and prefers the
census OF 1890 figures now in use.
Mr.. Hoover, in his acceptance speech
last Summer, said. The basis now in
effect carries out the essential principle
of the law" OF course, President Hoo
yer would give no weight to his personal
position if the law is mandatory that
he shall proclaim the new figures
Much has been said in the congress
toe oh 1Nn \ In ,Ols
ical effect of putting the new national
origins figures into effect. From the
national point of view. there will be
no measurable effect. From the point
of view of local congressional districts.
there may be some effect. That is what
caused SO much of the connection in
Congress. Wherever a congressional
district is prevailingly German, Irish,
Swedish or Norwegian, there may be
some feeling against the new figures.
The principal change made by the
new figures is that the number of immi-
grants permitted from four countries
are reduced. The number from Ger
many will be reduced from 51,227 to
24,908. The number from the Irish
Free State will be reduced from 28,567
to 17,427. The number from Sweden
will be reduced from 1851 to 1899. The
number from Norway will be reduced
from 6,453 DOWN 10 Z, Aus.
In the case of one important country,
Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
there will be a large increase, from
34,007 to 1884. The changes as to
all other countries will be relatively I'M
important. The change made in immi-
grafton from Germany can be said to
argue for the greater fairness of the
new figures.
Germany Gets Third Now.
Under the present basis, Germany is
allowed to send in 51,227 immigrants
out of a total from all countries of
164.647. That is to say, Germany is
allowed to send about 81 per cent, or
nearly a third, of all the immigration
from all Europe. No one tries to argue
that Germany has contributed nearly
a third of the total population of the
United States.
The new national origins figures per-
NIT Germany to send about II per cent
of the total immigration from all coun-
tries. Seventeen per cent is a much
closer approximation to Germany's
ratio in the total composition of the
American people from the beginning.
AL the new national origins figures
are the result of painstaking effort
to estimate the ratio of each European
nation in the total stock of the Ameri-
can people from the beginning. The
strong argument against the new ma
tional origins figures lies in the admit
ted ifhcultly-indeed the admitted
guesswork involved in trying to esti-
mate just what are the national origins
of the American people.
The gross total admitted by the new
national origins figures is 10000, plus
q maximum of 100 or so from several
small countries making l53 Gas in all
This is a reduction of about 1900
from the gross total admitted by the
present census of 1890, which is 1874, 647
The parliamentary maneuvers which
prevented postponement of national
origins were extremely interesting. Last
Saturday the House suddenly notified
the Senate it would hold a session
Sunday morning to vote on postpone
n1ent. The House duly met and passed
the postponement resolution by 191 to
152. When the Senate met, however,