Speech #700190941

It would not make a very great difference. Note that Doctor Hill says thatthat portion which came from the 1790 stock forms only a relatively small part of the total quotaAnd that wemight have a considerable margin of error in that part without affecting the total very much. The report of each census following 1890. the history of emigration from the countries contributing to our population stock. the history of the elements of population In Louisiana. in Florida. in Texas. and all information from all sources constitute the basis of the nationalorigins quota ascertainment. The purpose is to proportion our immigration to the racial stocks in America. computing native born along with all the rest. as the basis of our quotas as distinguished from a foreignborn basis. It is- distinctively American in character. That is one of the chief causes of objection to it. Everyone who is opposed to the restrictive features of the immigration law is opposing national origins and supporting this proposition. not because the proposition will not work. but because it will work. Informed supporters of the immigration laws have from the first known the difficulty of maintaining the quota system with the census of 1890 as a permanent basis. That date is receding and will recede too far into the past. Because that and other weaknesses in that basis were recognized when the act of 1924 was written. the nationalorigins provisions were made the permanent basis and the keystone of the arch of the quota system. When you remove It you imperil the whole structure. Some of us will try to hold the- pieces together. but there will be difficulty.