Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-05-09
BY CASTOR NERYAL.

TIME Secretary Of State has called
to the attention of Congress
the fact that the application
L Of immigration quotas and re-
strictions to the citizens of the other
American republics would be in con-
flict with President Roosevelt's good
neighbor policy. which Is gaining so
many friends for the United States in
Latin America.
A study OF the changes in the i'm
migration policies of the United
States shows, only once more, that
international relations are based much
more on pragmatic interests than
idealkts would care to admit
Among the principles which the
founders OF the United States an
nounced to the world, at the end Of
the eighteenth century was the right
Of every man to travel and change
residence At will. It was considered
indispensable to the enjoyment Of
those other three "inalienable rights.
life, liberty and the pursuit of hap
piness, which were recognized as the
foundations of the new Republic.
These United States were to be the
promised land for all the free men of
the world. The prohibitions and re-
strictions Of the old continent across
the seas would ind no room in this
new country where liberty and equality
Of opportunity were at last to reign
among human beings. The new Ma
ton was to be an asylum for political
and religious refugees and the socially
downtrodden.
New Blood Needed.
The rounding Fathers" were GER
tainly sincere in their convictions, but
perhaps the eagerness with which they
upheld their liberal principles had
something to do with the necessities
Of the United States at that particular
time The United States was very
much in need Of new blood, of more
people, Of foreign people who would
settle large parts Of its huge territory
and help in the building Of that
gigantic national experiment which
was one day to astonish the world with
| its success.
Immigrants were wanted for labor
in the Middle Atlantic States and In
the South; the slave trade was an ex-
IRENE example Of assisted immigra.
ton" for economic development. Land.
beyond the Coastal Plain were avail
able for settlement to persons Of small
means. Industrial opportunities were
created by the growth Of manufactures
in New England and the Middle At.
lantic States to such an extent that
laws were passed facilitating the i'm
portation Of contract laborers.
Before the demand for people t.
I'LL the Western lands had declined
industry began to respond to the slim
illus of an increased domestic market
and call arose for laborers In Goa
and iron mining, smelling and re-
fining Of ore for steel, the mechanical
industries and almost every branch o.
manufac curing and mining. Western
States flooded Europe with literature
containing alluring pictures OF the
advantages Of life within their borders
Large corporations maintained agents
abroad who recruited laborers by offer
ing prepaid tickets. Nearly 36,000,00f
people entered the United States ir
the nineteenth century to help develop
the country.
BY the end of the century, however
when most OF the land had beer
settled, when the industriahzation o.
| the country vas an Accomplished fact
when labor was no longer scarce bu
abundant, the desire began to taxi
shape to reserve the enjoyment o.
material welfare and blessed institu.
tions" to the descendants Of thos,
who had created them, and to then
alone. Under the alien contract labol
law Of 1885 and its amendments, trad
unions sought to restrict the recruit
ing Of cheap immigrant labor. which
was affecting wages and working con
! ditouS In basic INDUSTRIES Gradually