that the German element in the United States represents approximately only 14 per cent of the total population. It was discriminations such as this within the two great groups which unquestionably impelled the Senate to write into the law the national-origins provision, whereby all questions of that character would be forever eliminated in the computation of quotas. In its final form, as amended in conference, the bill passed both the House and Senate by overwhelming majorit.es. The reaction to the adoption of this system was as curious as it was unexpected by its proponents. No sooner was the act passed-and before any official determination of the quotas had been published-a bitter assault was made upon the national-origins system. The attack developed from two directions. First, there were the irreconcilable opponents of a policy of restriction upon immigration who, doubtless, saw in the enactment of a just and fair system of apportionment of quotas a feature which would be unassailable once definitely established in operation. Secondly, the section of the act embodying the new system was violently assailed by a group obsessed with rac.al and religious hatreds or allegiances imported from the land of their origin. These self-constituted spokesmen for racial blocs, whose nationals abroad are particularly favored by the circumstance that in the year 1890 there happened to be more foreign-born persons of their blood in the United States than at any other decennial enumeration, have attempted to throw discredit on the national-origins system by alleging that a racial analysis of the population is impracticable through a deficiency of data. They claim not only that there are great gaps in colonial records of immigration but, also, that the census of 1790, which forms the basis for the apportionment of the descendants of colonial stock, is crude, inaccurate, and the schedules were missing for five States. They also allege that the lack of an official record of immigration prior to 1820, and that the fact the census authorities only commenced a classification of foreign born in the country in 1850, constitute an insuperable bar to the compilation of data necessary in order to put the national-origins system into effect. 3 The fact of the matter is that 15 years before Senator Reed introduced his national-origins measure in the Senate the Census Bureau issued through the Government Printing Office a book entitled "A Century of Population Growth," which deals with all the problems hereinbefore referred to. This work from the date of its publication has been anathema to those who seek to perpetuate racial solidarities inimical to the national welfare, because the findings of the census experts did not substantiate their propaganda. It may be added that the committee of experts in the report of their provisional findings for the quotas under the provision of subsections (b), (c), (d), and (e) of section 11 of the immigration act of 1924 to the Secretaries of State, Commerce, and Labor, in commenting upon the apportionment of the colonial population prepared under Mr. Rossiter's direction for A Century of Population Growth says: "The work of making this classification was, however, carefully done by people who were by no means lacking in qualifications for the task, and who did not rely exclusively upon names but consulted histories and works on nomenclature to some extent. Moreover, the files of the Congressional Record show that it was the expectation of Congress that the 1790 classification here referred to would be used as a basis in carrying out the provisions of the act regarding the determination of national origin." This reference from the official report of the committee of experts demonstrates that the classification attacked by the opponents of the national-origins system was not only carefully done by men competent to do the work but, also, it makes evident that the charge frequently made that Congress was unaware at the time of the passage of the act as to how the analysis would be made is without foundation in fact. In his testimony before the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization last January Mr. Hill, the Assistant Director of the Census, even went so far as to say, when questioned upon the relative accuracy of the census of 1790 and that of more recent decennial enumerations that "My belief is it would be easier to take an accurate census in those days than now. They did not hurry but took their time, went from house to house. The population of these States amounted to approximately 111⁄2 per cent of the white population of the United States in 1790. The method of apportioning the population of this area adopted by Mr. Rossiter, of the Census Bureau, is described in A Century of Population Growth, referred to in the text. 'There were no big cities with a mixed, congested population at that time and, consequently, I feel it is more accurate." Furthermore, Mr. Hill not only pointed out that with the quotas of admissible immigrants limited to a total of 150,000, an error of 60,000 in a racial apportionment of the inhabitants of the United States would result in only a differsence of 100 in the quota of admissible immigrants, but also he testified "with regard to most nationalities that that portion which came from 1790 stock forms only a relatively small part of the total quota, and you might have a considerable margin of error in that part without affecting the total very much." The executive committee does not deem it necessary to discuss the methods by which the committee of Government experts have evolved their analysis of the population of the United States. This has been explained in detail to the *Committee on Immigration and Naturalization by the Assistant Director of the Census in the hearings to which reference has already been made. It will suffice to say that previous studies by experts of the Census Bureau, supplementing those embodied in A Century of Population Growth, and published in another volume entitled, "Increase of Population in the United States, 1910-1920," have been reviewed and revised. The perplexing difficulty of the differential between native and immigrant fecundity has been overcome by what is characterized by Mr. Hill as a novel and scientific plan. The committee say in their report to the Secretaries of State, Commerce, and Labor, that while their work has not been completed, the figures, though provisional and subject to revision, indicate approximately what the result will be. For the information of the members of the chamber the quotas under the present system of basing immigration on 2 per cent of the foreign born in the United States in 1890, and the national-origins system, which has temporarily been suspended by action of Congress in the last session as a result of alien political agitation, are to be found in the appendix of this report. Finally, it seems to the executive committee that the following quotation from a memorial to the President, Senate, and House of Representatives, dated January 4, 1926, signed by 34 scientists, including biologists, physiologists, psychologists, sociologists, economists, etc., drawn from the leading institutions of the United States, should demonstrate to any layman the futility of arguments advanced by the protagonists of certain races in the United States: "2. We further urge the prompt putting into effect of that provision of the immigration act of 1924, whereby the quota, after July 1, 1927, at present determined by the number of foreign born of each nationality here in the year 1890, are to be adjusted so as to conform to the officially estimated number of persons, now in the country of each national origin, either by birth or descent. We believe that this permanent basis for fixing the quotas, already provided for by law, is sound in princ ple and fair to all elements in the population. Only by this method can that large proportion of our population which is descended from the colonist and other early settlers, as well as the members of the newer immigration, have their proper racial representation in the quotas. We believe that Congress wisely concluded that only by such a system of proportional representation in our future immigration could the racial status quo of the country be maintained or a reasonable degree of homogeneity secured. Without such basic homogeneity we firmly believe no civilization can have its best development." While it is impossible to foretell what action Congress will take in the premises, it is very significant that the chairman of the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization of the House of Representatives has announced his intention of meeting the alien agitation by the introduction of a bill cutting the quotas substantially in half, the reduction to be accomplished by gradual steps in the course of five years. Other restrictionists are advocating total suspension of all immigration, as the only solution of the Americanization problem. When the political activities of certain secret societies, credited with a large membership in a standard work of reference, are taken into consideration, there is much to be said in favor of this viewpoint. The executive committee, however, feels that the consistent and just attitude to take, is that the integrity of the present law, as passed in 1924, should be upheld in so far as it relates to the apportionment of quotas in accordance with contributions by all nations, to whom the quota principle is applied, since the establishment of the United States. This is much better than to abide by a purely arbitrary method to meet political exigencies, or to curtail, to a greater degree, immigration from Europe whereby the problem of reuniting families will be accentuated. EXAMINATION OF IMMIGRANTS ABROAD Before concluding this report, it is necessary to deal briefly with two other problems which have not been solved, or, at least, in the case of the first to be discussed, only partially covered by administrative action. The members of the chamber of commerce are probably aware that through the initiative of the Secretary of Labor, great advances have been made in the examination of immigrants abroad, which represents the accomplishment in part of an aspiration embodied in reports adopted by the chamber of commerce in years past. The full benefit of this system, however, is apparently not to be obtained without legislative direction, that the applicants for admission be not merely examined abroad, but that the best material be selected within each national quota and the priority rule be abolished. It is further suggested that the selective principle within each national quota be extended to permit the Secretary of Labor, in the case of heads of families, to secure preference in the assignment of future visas for members of acceptable immigrant families. IMMIGRANTS FROM MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA The second matter, completely unsolved, relates to the influx of a heterogeneous mass of immigrants from Mexico, the West Indies, and South America.. Great numbers of these people have spread as far Northeast as Cleveland, Detroit, and Pittsburgh. No one familiar with sanitary conditions in many of the countries south of the Rio Grande can fail to recognize the fact that this class of immigrant constitutes a perpetual menace to the health of the community. It is wholly illogical to limit the European entrants and admit these people outside the quota. The executive committee is well aware of the economic arguments which have been, and will be, advanced, by certain elements in our population, who seek to profit by peon labor in the field or in the shop, but the committee is confident from the previous action of this chamber that all its members recognize that national welfare transcends any temporary inconvenience or selfish consideration. The United States is not a mere geographical expression for an area devoted to intensive economic exploitation, but a nation of people in the aggregate inspired by high ideals of service to mankind at home or abroad. It is for the preservation of these ideals and our institutions and government, handed on to us in trust by our forbears, the founders of the Republic, that the executive committee urges the adoption of the following preamble and resolutions: PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTIONS Whereas the members of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York are advised that alien groups are seeking by political pressure upon individual representatives of the people to influence the action of Congress, in behalf of special interests of their own, or of the Nation from which they have sprung; and Whereas the members of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York believe these activities tend to the perpetuation of race solidarity and political feuds or jealousies, wholly foreign to our national interests; and Whereas the American people have throughout the history of the Nation accepted immigrants on a basis of equality, one with another and with themselves, it is expedient that the old and the new stocks be treated on a basis of this same equality in the apportionment of whatever immigration quotas may be considered assimilable in the future; and Whereas it is illogical and inequitable to apply the quota system to the countries of Europe whence the bulk of our population has been derived and leave wide open our gates to immigrants from the independent countries of North and South America and the Islands of the West Indies: Therefore be it Resolved, That the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York indorses the immigration act of 1924 and urges that the immigration quotas be revised in accordance with the final report of the committee of Government experts, and put into effect July 1, 1928; and be it further Resolved, That it is also the sense of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York that the quota system embodied in the immigration act of 1924 be extended by supplementary legislation to the independent countries of North and South America and the islands of the West Indies; and be it further Resolved, That it is also the sense of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, that authorization by new legislation should be extended to the Secretary of Labor, to abandon the right of priority of application as a basis for admission, and substitute therefor selection within the quotas among the applicants for visas; and be it further Resolved, That it is also the sense of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, that the Secretary of Labor should be authorized by new legislation, in making selection within the quotas, to make provision in the selection of heads of families, for the subsequent prompt admission of the wives and families of the applicants; and be it further Resolved, That the president of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York be hereby authorized to take such steps as may be deemed expedient and proper to bring these resolutions to the attention of the President of the United States, the Congress, and the American people. National origins provision, immigration act of 1924, immigration quotas [Provisional immigration quotas based on national origin as provided by the immigration act of 1924, compared with present immigration quotas as based on 1890 foreign-born population] Mr. TREVOR. I also just received a letter this morning from the general manager of the New York Board of Trade, 41 Park Road, New York City, which says [reading]: NEW YORK BOARD OF TRADE (INC.), Mr. JOHN B. TREVOR, Hotel Carlton, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: At a meeting of the executive committee of the New York Board of Trade held to-day I was instructed to inform you that the board of trade reaffirmed its position in favor of the national-origins provisions of the immigration law. Very truly yours, M. D. GRIFFITH, General Manager. I would like to submit that, if I may, for the record. I also represent the American Defense Society, the Government Club of New York, the Americanization committee of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, the Massachusetts Public Interests League, the Industrial Defense Society of Boston, Chapter 68 of the Sojourners of New York, the New York Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the National Society of Patriotic Women, and the Daughters of Colonial Wars. I also have received a letter this morning, but I have mislaid it for the moment; if you will permit me later to submit it to the stenographer? The CHAIRMAN. Very well. Mr. TREVOR. This is from another important organization in Boston, which has asked me to represent it here at this meeting. The CHAIRMAN. When you find it, you may insert it in the record. Mr. TREVOR. I would like to confine myself strictly to the merits of this proposition, Mr. Chairman, as I think it is unfortunate that anything should be added to create racial disharmony in our country. It has already been said to you that efforts have been made by certain organizations to mislead the public in general and gentlemen in public life upon the fundamental proposition of this national-origins provision. Perhaps you are aware that I am somewhat familiar with it, because of the fact that a great many of the statistics originally before Congress and published in the Congressional Record were compiled by me; and I would like to say in connection with those figures that they were submitted before my studies on the question had been completed and I had not yet reached a definite conclusion, although I had proceeded far enough to believe that the only fair method of apportioning immigration into the United States was on the basis of all the people and not an arbitrary census basis, which inevitably discriminates in behalf of certain races and discriminates adversely against other races. It does not seem to me, and I know that the members of the organizations that I represent feel that it is not consonant with our democracy, that an aristocracy of race should be declared by law simply because it so happens that more of some element happens to be in the United States at any given census-and it makes no difference whether that census was 1890 or 1790. The organizations I represent believe that the man who arrived after 1890 is just as much entitled to representation in the apportionment of the quota as the |