Speech #710175477

I have not any doubt at all but that the movement backward and forward across the international boundary line has been quite large. But through the Census Bureau we shall find out as of April. 1930. how many Mexicans there are in the United States. That will go a long way toward determining how much of a problem we face with respect to Mexican immigration. It will not be a matter of guesswork. it will be a matter of accurate statistics. I pointed out some days ago that the absence of reliable statistics made It exceedingly difficult to say what the effect of the enactment of the quota bill proposed by the Senator from Georgia would be. The only Information I have been able to find on the effect of the passage of a quota law upon Mexican immigration is in an article entitled "The Menace of Mexican Immigration." by Remsen Crawford. which appeared in the February. 1930. Issue of Current History. Mr. Crawford says: The difficulty in computing the quota for Mexicans under the national origins plan arises from lack of information as to the number of persons of "Mexican stock" residing in the United States in 1920. The census of 1920 placed the number as "born in Mexico" at 486.418. And. as I have pointed out before. persons born in Mexico do not constitute all who are of Mexican stock In this country. any more than persons born in Germany would constitute the entire Germanic stock of the United States.