Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-30
EMIGRATION HELD
INSULAR PROBLEM
Virgin Isles and Porto Rico
Now Escape U. S. Rules
Pa for. Entry Quotas. a
By MARK SULLIVAN.

The aspect of the Virgin Islands
Porto Rico and our other dependencies,
which Is likely soon to come to public
attention, Is their relation to our gen.
eral immigration policy. AS respects
immigration, Porto Rico, for example, is
an integral part of the United States,
and the citizens of that island are as
free IS the citizens Of Georgia or Iowa
to move to New York or to any other
point within the United States. Up
ward Of a hundred thousand Porto
Ricans have already done so, and the
number might readily increase by $4,000
or more annually.
Most Of the Porto RicanS who have
come to the United States have settled,
like most immigrants, in New York City,
adding yet another diverse element to
the melting pot of races. which the
American metropolis Is. New York, al
ready the largest or the second largest
or the third largest Italian city and
Polish city, and German city, and Irish
city, and Hebrew CITY, and Czecho-
slovakian city. has lately become also
the second Porto Rican city.
The number OF Porto Ricans Is sure to
increase very greatly just as soon as an
other tide of prosperity creates a de-
mand for labor. Porto Rico, with nearly
100000 Inhabitants, is seriously over
populated, which means that If q mil
lion of them should go to the United
States both the migrating million and
the million remaining would be better
of. The migration. following an eco
nomic law, is in fact under way, and is
approved or encouraged by Porto Rican
leaders.
Same With FilipinOs.
The same phenomenon has occurred
with respect to the Filipinos on the
Pacific Coast, especially in California.
The increasing numbers OF Filipinos able
to enter without restriction has led to
the familiar social, economic and po-
litical results. Much of the PACING
Coast agitation for setting the Philip
pine Islands free comes from labor
leaders and others who wish to set up
bars or limitations against Filipino i'm
migration. This situation is certain
soon to engage the attention OF those
individuals and forces that have pro-
NOTED our general immigration policy.
AS a result of that policy we hold that
quotas of German Irish, Swedish,
Italian, Norwegian and other lmni-
grants strictly down to few thousand
a year, while at the same time placing
no restriction whatever on Porto Rico
and the Virgin ISLANDS, or otner DE-
Tendencies.
The concrete result Of this is that we
take in several times as many Porto
Ricans as Germans, for example. This
condition is certain to be examined by
leaders of our immigration restriction
policy with relation to its logic and to
the broad principles underlying our gen.
eral restriction policy. One OF these
principles has to do with racial homo
geneity or racial assimilability. The
Filipinos are, Of course, q wholly Asiatic
race.
COIored in Majority.
The population of the Virgin Islands
IL about 90 per cent colored to 10 per
cent white. The ratio of colored and
white population in Porto Rico is some
thing like two-thirds colored to one
. third white, the former having the
lower economic status and swelling the
ranks Of Immigrants to the United
States
So long as these dependencies retain
the relation of dependencies it will be
difficult 10 set up immigration bars
against them. independence granted to
any of them would enable US, of course,
to treat them as foreign nations with
respect 70 immigration and everything
else. Colonial policy in its bearing on
immigration Is fermenting strongly in
Congress