All this is offered with no intention of contradicting representations of shortage in labor of some kinds and at some places. That such shortage exists is evinced by the fact that employers have had to increase wages to get the labor they need, which they would not do unless they had to. I find it difficult, however, to attribute that condition solely to curtailment of immigration by the terms of the Dillingham law which has been in operation for only little more than a year. During that year the net immigration was higher than in three other years since 1913 during which the United States was making a larger production than in 1922 without there being any serious complaint of labor shortage. Moreover the transition from the first quarter of 1922, when unemployment was at the maximum, to the suppositious conditions of the fourth quarter is rather too kaleidoscopic.

The House committee had before it many witnesses on the labor phase of the immigration problem (hearings, 5-C, 67th Cong., 4th sess., pp. 227-599) and received letters, telegrams, statements, and arguments from many others. (Hearings, Serial 6-C, 1923.) Those who advocated the admission of laborers were unable to solve the problem of quantity or the problem of when to admit these laborers' wives and dependents. This is the very problem that has led to the inclusion of the relatives provision in the House measure. The committee was unable to concur in the arguments of James A. Emery, representing the National Association of Manufacturers, that laborers in bulk might be brought here from certain countries, to be placed at certain points, and to be sent back at a definite time. The recommendation of the Manufacturers' Association that "the United States assert the right to register, distribute, educate, and otherwise supervise the alien during the period of his alienage" can not be sustained for the reason that "distribution" and "supervision" might develop a system of peonage abhorrent to the institutions of the United States.

The prosperity of the United States does not depend upon additional unskilled immigrants coming to this country. There are 1,500,000 unemployed now here. Quotas from northwestern Europe are not exhausted. There are 250,000 coal miners who are unemployed regularly due to overabundance of workers in that occupation. Aliens who leave this country temporarily may return within six months outside of quotas. If work was so plentiful, why did more male immigrants go back to their native lands than came here in the fiscal year ended June 30, 1922?

During the first six months of the present fiscal year (ending June 30, 1923) immigrants exceed emigrants by approximately 220,000, with a great increase from northwestern Europe.

The natural resources of the United States-coal, oil, gas, iron, and other minerals, timber, etc.-are not inexhaustible.

William J. Faux, president of the Logan Coal Co., says (hearings, Serial 6-C):

My preference is that the immigration law should be more drastic than at present. I do not believe it necessary for the United States to make all the goods in the world, and we are certainly producing our share when we produce two thirds. We have got enough of the immigrants of southern Europe to last for the next 50 years, if we are to maintain our Americanism.

The committee agrees with the statement of Daniel Willard, president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (hearings, Serial 6-C), who says, in part:

I am in favor of a broad policy of selective immigration, but I am not quite able to harmonize such a policy with the latter part of the statement wherein you say that the National Association of Manufacturers is in favor of letting down the bars suffi

ciently to give our industries and our agriculture the immigrant labor it previously has had to draw from. Previously in our country there was little in our immigration policy of a selective nature. The bars were so thoroughly let down as to permit everybody to come in, the good, bad, and indifferent, and I should regret very much to see that policy resumed."

I believe, however, that it is for the best interests of all in this country that there should be a reasonable incoming of immigration, partly in order to supply the common labor necessary in connection with agriculture and other basic industries, but I would much prefer to see the supply of such labor held at a point less than the actual requirements, if necessary, rather than to remove or lower the proper standard of admission.

The American Federation of Labor, which has a dues-paying membership of over 3,000,000 members, June 30, 1921, at Denver, and again in 1922, urged Congress to "forbid the importation of labor from any country until such time as conditions in our country become stabilized and relations of life more normal."

FARM LABOR.

Concerning common labor in connection with agriculture, E. B. Reid, assistant Washington representative of the American Farm Bureau Federation, appeared before the House Committee on Immigration (hearings, p. 283, serial 5-c) with a resolution of that federation adopted at Chicago December 11-14, 1922, as follows:

"We believe there exists a continuing shortage of farm and industrial labor which gravely imperils efficient and economical agricultural production; that, in the national interest, the Congress ought immediately to authorize the Secretary of Labor, upon demonstration of such conditions, to admit otherwise admissible aliens in excess of existing quotas to such extent as is necessary to meet the established needs of agriculture and industry. In estimating quotas fixed by law, due consideration should be given to ascertained immigration. It is, furthermore, essential that, so far as practical, provision should be made to determine the admissibility of aliens either where their passports are viséed or at the principal ports of embarkation.".

The CHAIRMAN. Does the American Farm Bureau Federation believe there is an overproduction of farm products this year?

Mr. REID. I think it does, from the statements it has issued.

The CHAIRMAN. They need more laborers just the same.

Mr. REID. Yes, sir; they want to produce crops cheaper.

The CHAIRMAN. They want to produce crops cheaper whether they can dispose of them or not.

J. R. Howard, then president of the Farm Bureau Federation, in a speech at Buffalo, said:

Immigration restriction is undoubtedly affecting the prosperity of the country, and particularly of the farmer.

Mr. Howard declared the present law was limiting the amount of manual labor in this country, and one of its natural and inevitable results was a shifting of labor from the country to the city, presenting a tremendous handicap to the farmer in production.

Another phase of the question mentioned by Mr. Howard was that the restrictive law forced prospective immigrants to seek other shores and become natural competitors of American farmers, adding still more to the depression they had been fighting for three years. Later he seems to have modified his views, for he says (hearings, Serial 6-C):

Some interests are discussing the letting down of immigration bars on the ground that it is demanded by the agricultural interests. Cheap labor is not what the farmer wants. He himself is a laborer. and the number of those gainfully employed in agriculture indicates that approximately one-half the farms of the country are manned by the farm family itself. To cheapen labor on the farm would be to cheapen the labor of these farmers and their families. The welfare of the country demands that

this be not done, because it would eventually lower the standards of citizenship on our farms. In a democracy like ours the will of the majority rules, and the Nation is infinitely safer with a well-to-do and contented agricultural husbandry than it would be were the manhood and womanhood on our farms lowered in its level through the introduction of cheaper labor from any source whatsoever.

The National Grange, also known as the Patrons of Husbandry, with 1,000,000 dues-paying, farm-home-owning members, in Portland, Oreg., November 16, 1921, adopted the following resolution, which is in line with its previous attitude:

Resolved, That the grange approves the principles of the immigration restriction laws (3 per cent quota law) recently passed by Congress as emergency legislation and urges Congress to consider the principles which have been heretofore stated by the National Grange as controlling in this problem; namely, that legislation be provided so that immigration privileges shall be granted to persons who declare their intention of becoming American citizens, and deportation be made possible of all foreigners who do not carry out such declaration and who have not taken out naturalization papers after a limited stated period of residence here and of all persons who seek to destroy the American form of government.

This resolution was reaffirmed at the recent annual (1922) meeting of the Grange in Wichita, Kans.

Resolutions of the American Legion, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Patriotic Order Sons of America, and the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, and many other organizations in favor of continued restriction will be found in the printed reports of various hearings by the committee.

SKILLED CONTRACT LABOR.

Paragraph (f) of section 4 exempts from the quota the following: (f) An immigrant who is a skilled labore". if labor of like kind unemployed can not be found in this country, and the question of the necessity of importing such skilled labor in any particular instance shall be determined by the Secretary upon the written application of any person interested; such application to be made before the issuance of the immigration certificate, and such determination by the Secretary to be reached after a full hearing and an investigation into the facts of the case.

This is the wording of the Burnett Act (1917), except that the word "may" is changed to "shall," making it mandatory upon the Secretary of Labor to determine the necessity of importing individual highly skilled laborers in any particular instance.

This provision does not apply to the admission of skilled laborers who may come under the present 3 per cent quota limit, or any future quota limit.

CONTRACT LABORERS REJECTED.

Examination at the Department of Labor by members of the committee show that so few skilled laborers have been admitted within the past 10 years on account of the provisions of the contract-labor sections of the immigration laws that no statistical records have been kept. One application to admit three or four architectural modelers under contract is now pending.

Numerous aliens arrive at ports of the United States under petty contracts, and because of these contracts are denied admission. The report of the Commissioner General for 1922 says:

During the year 809 alien contract laborers were debarred, as compared with 993 in 1921. During this same period 71 aliens of this class were arrested and deported after having unlawfully entered the country. The number arrested and deported in 1921 for like cause was 152.

Those debarred had in many cases received letters from relatives offering them positions as dressmakers, clerks, butchers, farm hands, etc. Such letters create a violation of the contract-labor provisions of the immigration laws.

Just what classes came in for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1922, is shown by occupations in the following table:

Departures for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1922, of emigrant aliens, classified by occupations, are shown in the following table:

14

94

Editors.

The following condensed table shows naturalized citizens permanently departed during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1922, by occupations:

Professional:

Actors.

Architects..

Clergy.

CITIZENS PERMANENTLY DEPARTED.

In addition, 70,126 native-born citizens permanently departed for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1922. They comprised 2,302 of the professional classes, 2,725 of the skilled labor classes, 8,714 of the miscellaneous-labor classes, and 56,385 of no occupation (including women and children). These native-born departures were by races or peoples, as follows:

78952-24-SER 1A-3