Speech #680069853

I desire to say a few words upon three phases of the present billvis6 certificates. quotas. and the exemption clauses which are outside the quotas. Tile sole constructive feature in the present bill resides in the vis(l certificates. in other words. in selection at the source or at the country of origin. It has long been felt that the immigration laws were defective owing to the fact that selection was only made at the port of entry. and lence that congestion would exist at those poits an(d that immigrants would be subjected to hardships which would amount in many cases to tragedies. That want was felt before tile enactment of the present quota law. but when the quota law was enacted the necessity for some form of selection at the source became of even greater moment. A quota law is a numerical restriction upon the number selected. Various numbers are allotted to the different countries. and no more than the allotted number can be admitted. It was natural. therefore. in the administration of the quota law that there should be great competition among the different immigrants to get to the port of inspection before the quota was exhausted. We know that in the adlministration of the present quota law -we have witnessed various scenes at Ellis Island which have caused the whole subject of immigration to be severely criticized. the racing of steamships to get ill at an appointed hour. the sudden congestion at the port of entry. the hardships and tragedies that were inflicted upon the aliens who were rejected or turned back for one reason or another. Therefore I want to repeat that the constructive provision in the present immnigration bill is that we have attempted to solve the hitherto unsolved problem of selection at the source or selection at the country of origin. Mr. President. there were difficulties surrounding the selection at the source. We could not transplant our immigration machinery to a foreign country and there examine and select our immigrants according to our own laws. Tle question of sovereignty here came in. It was thought at one time that we should have to resort to immigration treaties. but fortunately it was discovered upon investigation that through consular visas we could inaugurate a system of regulation which would virtually amount to selection in foreign countries. and. Mr. President. the first several pages of the pending bill relate to visa certificates by the consuls. I am not going to enter into details with regard to those certificates further than to say that the immigrant first files a petition before the consul. The character of the petition and the allegations which he must make are set forth in great detail in the bill. It is. in substance and effect. a questionnaire. If upon the examination of that petition the consul believes that the petitioner ias fulfilled the requireients of the law. then lie will issue a visa or consular certificate. That certificate will set forth not all the details but the general substantive facts contained in the petition and that visa. certificate. if the consul passes upon it favorably. is issued to the immigrant. Armed with that certificate. he can start on his voyage for America. It will be seen at once. Mr. President. that by the consul controlling those certificates we can regulate the number of immigrants. It will be seen at once that the vessels carrying immigrants are relieved of a great deal of embarrassment. for each immigrant must have a visa cetificate. That visa certificate does not do away with all the selective tests which are required under the act of 1917 upon the arrival of the immigrant. but it does do away with a number of those tests. The probability is that very few of the immigrants who have such certificates will be rejected upon arriving at the ports of the United States. We regard that as a most important improvement in our Immigration laws. I think I ought to say that the provisions contained in the pending Reed bill were taken largely from the provisions of the Johnson bill in the House of Representatives. I wish further to say that we have had the cooperation of the State Department in framing the provisions regarding the consular certificates. for the fact that those certificates would be issued on foreign territory. invaded the diplomatic field. and we could not. without negotiating new treaties. pass beyond tie power which the consul has. but the consul always viss passports. and the consul can well make as the condition of granting the permit the stipulation that the immigrant shall fulfill the requirements which are called for by this proposed law. The second important provision in the bill relates to quota. We had no quota law previous to 1921. We merely had the general immigration law of 1917. That immigration law was extremely selective in its provisions at the port of arrival. in other words. if one should read all of the classes which are rejected under tie act of 1917. he would probably reach the conclusion that if that act were enforced no alien could enter the United States unless he were mentally. morally. and physically sound. That was the intention of the framers of the basic act of 1917. but. in spite of those restrictions. at the close of the World War it was felt that there was a danger of a large flood of immigration to this country. Feeling that apprehension. the question was. How could that danger be met and overcome? The Dillingham law suggested the idea of a quota. which is a positive numerical restriction or limitation after selection. That quota law went intd effect in 1921. The basis of that law was 3 per cent of the number of nationals of each nationality in this country at the time the act was passed. Tie census of 1920 was not available at the time. So the census of 1910 was taken as the quota basis. and we have been operating on that 3 per cent basis according to the census of 1910 ever since. That quota law fulfilled its object. It positively reduced the number of immigrants. it positively regulated the number of immigrants admitted. That number can be increased or decreased at any time by simply changing the percentage. It has reduced the immigration from Europe. which was more than a million in 191314. to 357.201. Furthermoreand this is the important considerationit has reduced the immigration from southern and eastern Europe and Turkey from 915.974 in 191314 to 159.646.