Second. It is feared that agriculture along the south and southwest border of the United States will suffer if deprived of Mexican labor which. it is claimed. it needs to plant and harvest the seasonal .crops of that section. The first argument falls when we consider that all nations concede that it is the right of any nation to restrict immigration within its borders. Practically every nation employs some system of restrictions. When we were about to apply the quota law to Europe in 1921 we heard the same argument. and when we were about to apply the nationalorigins system of quotas in 1928 and 1929 we heard the same argument. but in neither case did any complications develop. None will develop if restriction is applied to the countries of the Western Hemisphere. Canada has restriction laws and no doubt will enact others as her economic and political needs manifest themselves. The second question presents two aspects. It is very doubtful that there is any shortage of agricultural labor in that section. and if there is it presents no different question than was presented to many branches of industry when previous immigration laws were enacted. A shortage in one branch is not to be supplied from other countries if there is a great surplus in a hundred other branches in our own country. Adjustment is the remedy in that situation.
Keywords matched
immigration quota law