Evening star., 1952-05-25
Controversial Items


Having agreed that the above re-
visions in the American immigration
and naturalization system are steps
forward, critics of the bill 60 on to
enumerate long list of controversial
changes and deliberate avoidance of
change. The following are some Of
the principal controversial issues in
the bill.
!. NotionoI Origin Quotes \
The 1920 population is retained as
q basis for computing quotas, and
transfer Of unused quotas to over
subscribed countries is still prevented.
The Senate's two most prominent
critics of the bill, Lehman of, New
York and Humphrey Of Minnesota,
wanted to pool" unused places
in the total quota, and to use these
to admit religious or political refu-
gees. and certain displaced persons.
Such a pooling arrangement would
admit an additional $4,000 to 10000
persons annually. although, of course,
it would be within the proposed quo
taS.
The same two Senator's also wanted
to retain the quota system but to
use the 1850 census as basis. They
also wanted to provide quotas for
African Negroes-in order to add to
the size of the unused quotas pool,
which other nations could use. These
changes would have increased the
quota by about $4,000. they estimated.
Senator McCarran blasted these
schemes. He said: IF we scrap the
national origins formula we will, in
the course Of generation or so.
change the ethnic and cultural COM
position of this Nation. The times {.
are too perilous for us to tinker
blindly with our basic institutions" !"
z. on-Quota Coteeories
The present law provides mon
quota categories" for groups whose
admission, for one reason or another,
is considered particularly desirable.
The McCarran bill reduces the nom
quota categories, and gives these
groups preferential treatment under
the regular quotas. The effect is to
reduce the number of persons who
may be admitted from any given
country. Opponents of the bill attack
this as restrictive maneuver.
3. RocioI Discrimination
The old Oriental Exclusion Act al
ready has been whitfield down in the
last decade to admit some of our
allies of the last war-the Chinese,
the Indians and the Filipinos. But
other Orientals, like the japanese,
Koreans and Southeast Asians.
still are barred. The McCarran-
Walter bill would eliminate this dis
elimination within the Oriental
group.
The bill does use two discriminatory
devices against Asiatics, aside from
the 1920 base for computing quotas.
First. 2,000-man-a-year ceiling is
placed on immigration from all ORR
entail countries. No such limit is
placed on any other race.
The other device Ito prevent an in
fiux OF Orientals," as Senator McCar-
ran puts it. is to charge to Oriental
quotas other nationals who are as
much as so per cent Asiatic in origin.
Thus, citizens of Brazil, born of Japa-
neSe or Chinese parents, would be
charged to quotas of Japan or China
II they were to emigrate to America.
No such provision Is applied in the
bill to any other race.
In spite of these unique restrictions
aimed at them, Asiatics themselves
can be expected to welcome the
McCarran bill as a great improvement
over past legislation. They would
consider a presidential veto a slap in
the face. Critics of the bill, however,
insist that Asiatics should receive the
same treatment as any other foreign
nationals under our immigration laws.
There also have been charges that
the McCarran bill discriminates
against black races in colonial areas
like Jamaica, Trinidad, Martinique
and other colonies. Under present law
these natives have been eligible to fill
quotas of their mother countries. This
technically fllas provided them with
opportunities to take over unused
quota space, which in the case of
Great Britain amounts to 10000 to
10000 annually.
The McCarran bill removes such
colonial peoples from mother country
quotas and assigns them minimum
blocks of 100. This has the effect of
reducing the number Of colonials eli
gible for entry.
4. Mortgosing Quotas
Under the postwar Displaced Per-
sons Act. about 415.000 refugees from
Europe we're allowed to come to
America. They are being charged
against future quotas of the countries
in which they were citizens. The re-
suit has been that half the quotas
of some East and South European
countries are mortgaged into the
next century. For instance, Greek
refugees have been admitted In such
numbers that future Greek immi-
grants are limited to one-half the
normal quota until 2013. The Latvian
quota is 50-per-cent mortgaged un-
til 2274, the Hungarian to 1885. the
Estonian until alag, and the Polish
until 1899.
Senators Lehman and Humphrey
led fight to wipe out these mort
cages and start over. But Congress