Evening star., 1939-12-15
Says Quote System
Is BosicoAIy Fair
National Origins Law
Likely to Remain,
Writer Believes

TO the Editor Of The Star:
Permit me to call attention to what
appears to be an error in the Associated
Press news story Refugee Tide Twists
National Origins immigration Theory"
which appeared in The Star, Decem-
Der 13. The writer Of that story appears
to have confused the present national
origins basis Of determining immigration
quotas with the former 1890 basis. This
is a rather common confusion, but 1t can
lead to considerable misunderstanding
and prejudice.
The writer says: "A juggler Of ideas
shut himself up with the 1890 census
and finally emerged with the theory Of
national origins. Each country was to
have quota -. The quota was to be
determined by the ratio which the
nationals from that country bore to the
total number of citizens in the United
States In 1890"
Now that is an interesting and simple
1t is little too simple, If not downright
misleading If that is the way our immi-
grafton system came into being, 1t is
indeed "cock-eyed," to borrow an express
sion from the writer. There may be q
lot of anti-restrictionists who would like
to leave the impression that the present
system Is such concoction and should
be repealed, but they are not likely to
succeed.
To get down to the facts OF the case,
in 1924 was passed the immigration Act
OF that year. At that time there was
nothing that resembled logical basis
for immigration quotas worked out, but
it was evident to Congress that countries
In Southern and Eastern Europe were
sending much larger proportion OF i'm
migrants to this country than such stock
in this country warranted. Thus Con-
gress arbitrarily based the quotas upon
the number Of alien nationals in this
country in 1890. Congress realized that
this was an arbitrary and alien (because
based upon foreign born only system,
and in the immigration Act of 1924 1t
inserted what is known as the national
origins provision
While the old 1890 basis Is founded
upon about 100000 foreign born in
this country IN 1890, the national origins
provision Is based upon some 30 O,OO0, 900
native born and foreign born in this
country in 1920, which was the last CEN
sus at that time. The 1890 basis was
to go into effect Immediately as a tenn
porary measure to provide opportunity
for the census experts to work out the
1920 national basis.
Using all census data from the BEGIN
ming of the Nation and other material
concerning population growth, ETC., the
census experts worked out a reasonably
fair and scientific quota basis. But in
the meantime certain nationalities, for
example the Germans, who were repre-
sented by a large number Of foreign
born in this country in 1890 and who
got an over-large quota. objected to the
permanent national origins quotas. For
instance, the Germans had q quota
nearly twice as large as that OF Eng
land, Scotland, Wales and North Ireland
combined. The 1890 basis frankly
Disseminated against countries in South
ern and Eastern Europe, but nationals
from those countries did not object very
much, because while the national
origins basis increased their quotas
slightly over the 1890 basis, the former
was permanent affair while the latter
basis was temporary and could be broken
down by cold reasoning if the national
origins basis could be defeated.
Under these circumstances a tremen-
dous pressure was brought to bear by
foreign born groups upon Herbert Hoover,
first as Secretary of Commerce and then
as President. to defeat the national
origins provision which, If it became law,
would put immigration restriction on
a basis that would be hard to crack.
Mr.. Hoover evidently weakened under
this pressure and fought the national
origins provision of the immigration Act
of 1924. AS result party lines were
broken and Mr.. Hoover suffered severe
defeat In 1929 at the hands Of Senator
Reed Of Pennsylvania, another Repub-
ncan. As the Associated Press writer
suggests, this fight over immigration
was not very friendly and coming at the
beginning of Mr.. Hoover's term as Presi-
dent it may have caused him trouble
during the following years.
The present national origins immigrat
ton law is not perfect, but it is the
fairest to all nationalities and the most
scientific quota system as regards guam
tity of immigration that any one has
thought Of. It is based upon all native
and foreign born alike, and even If the
census experts made mistake of q
million Of certain national origin in
this country, the number of people used
as a basis is so large it would make
only slight difference in the quota
Of that nationality. The number of
immigrants coming to this country can
be raised or lowered without affecting
the system. For this reason, and because
the system is fair and scientific, and
also because Congress knows that if this
system is changed there will be another
mad scramble for quotas, the national
origins system of immigration restric-
ton is likely to remain our permanent
quota law.
The suggestion made by your news
story that because some countries fill
their quotas while others do not the
national origins immigration theory is