Spain for 1921 showed a surplus of births over deaths of 192,746 and an emigration of 92,504. Her emigration is largely to Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, and Mexico. In Spain the emigration by years is quite variable. For 1920 there was a total emigration of 185,918, while that same year the surplus of births over deaths was only 128,178.

In Italy the surplus of births over deaths for 1920 was practically the same as in 1921, whereas in 1919 this surplus was only 77,645. Italy has a hard time trying to dig a living out of agriculturally limited soil. The result is that she must export something. The Italians have no great quantity of manufactured products for export; they are thus unlike Germany, England, and France. The only available Italian export, that will bring money on the foreign markets, is labor.

In Naples I visited the great emigration plant that the Government has established there under authority of Rome. For Italian interests it is splendid. I found that according to the system established 88 per cent of the Italian immigrants leave on Italian ships, and under the Italian law no ship over 20 years old can be engaged in carrying them. The new emigrant ships which Italy is building are being constructed on the dormitory plan, for the convenient carrying of male wage earners from and back to Italy.

If Italy in exporting labor did not maintain some sentimental, preferably family, connection between the laborer leaving Italy and the homeland, her people who leave would be emigrants in the true sense. For Italian interests she must look carefully to this connection, else wages in return for exported labor would not return. Nationally considered, labor can be made a money-producing export, just as definitely as exported manufactured goods tend toward a favorable international trade balance.

The CHAIRMAN. Did you secure any report in Italy analogous to the one which you have reported for the State Institute for RaceBiology in Sweden?

Doctor LAUGHLIN. In collaboration with American consuls I secured much valuable information which, with the consent of the Departments of Labor and State, I hope to be able to analyze later in a specific report for the use of this committee. The Italian Government has no institute for race-biology, but it has as a part of its foreign office what must be considered probably the finest emigration service that the world has ever seen. The service, although only about 20 years old, seems to play the same part in Italian polity that the colonial office does in British administration. I had a very interesting conference with de Michaelis, during which he offered to prepare a memorandum covering the points of human migration between Italy and the United States in which we were mutually interested. Up to the present time I have not received the memorandum. I trust that it will arrive later in order that it may be included in a future report. The Italian service arouses the admiration of anyone who likes patriotic and effective government. From the Italian point of view, the Italian emigration service is well designed and vigorously administered for promoting Italian interests. If you ask an Italian, "What is the population of Italy?," he will answer, "We now have about 39,000,000 here and eight or nine millions abroad." Although these individuals have left the country,

they are still regarded as Italians. They represent exported labor, many of whom are expected to return to Italy. If Italy can build up this system of exporting young Italian laborers for a limited number of years, then have them return with their savings to their families in Italy, her national exports will replenish the treasuries of the Italian people, just as surely as if Italy were a great exporter of manufactured goods. In this policy the United States has an interest because so many Italians come to the United States. The Italian Government does the selecting of her emigrants. The United States as the importer must, by the proper investigation of each would-be immigrant, secure data adequate to sound judgment. The United States consuls must grant or refuse the visé of the immigrant's passport in accordance with American immigration laws and standards.

In northern Europe the attitude toward population is different. Germany, for instance, does not claim her emigrants after they leave their home country. In the United States they become naturalized and assimilated. From the German point of view, the export represents German blood which, assimilated in other countries, will promote basic Germanic ideals but will not bring to. the mother country any great amount of returned wages of the emigrants. Each nation has its own emigration policy, the principal element in which, we can be assured, is the welfare of the particular exporting nation.

The young Italian is not inclined to go to the Italian colonies to seek his fortune, because these colonies are relatively small, are few in number, and are not developed industrially. High wages and great labor demand in the United States make of this country the greatest attraction for the emigrant. On the other hand, the British emigrant has a wide choice of English-speaking dominions and nations, which are demanding settlers, to which he may go. The Spanish emigrant is welcome into any of a large number of rapidly developing Spanish-founded nations. For Italy the situation is critical; she must, in order to thrive, export either manufactures or labor.

THE LINE OF DEMARCATION IN AUTHORITY AND FUNCTION IN IMMIGRATION MATTERS

The CHAIRMAN. Where is the line drawn which separates the authority of the United States and of foreign governments in our consuls' work in reference to immigration, and how satisfactory is this work at present to the consul himself and to the United States?

Doctor LAUGHLIN. The line of demarcation between the authority of the European and the American Governments in immigration affairs is clear enough in theory, but it needs clarification and restatement in practice. With Europe it is the case of an emigrant-exporting group of nations, while America is an immigrantreceiving country. In other words, nationally considered, presentday human migrations across the Atlantic are largely a case of exporter and importer, and unless these two interests can get together on this elementary fact it will be very difficult to arrive at a satisfactory working basis.

The CHAIRMAN. I understand that you tested this border line of authority by practical experiments. What did you learn from first

hand trial in this matter?

Doctor LAUGHLIN. In general the home country decides whether or not an individual would-be emigrant may leave. If permission is granted, a passport is issued by the home country. Up to this point the United States has neither officially nor unofficially any function to exercise, and indeed if it should exercise any effort to control up to this time, such effort would properly be rated by the foreign country as an unfriendly act-the thing quite parallel to the type of activity in the United States which America so deeply resented during the war under the name of "foreign propaganda. But after the passport is granted it must be presented to an American consul for his visé. This is the beginning of American authority. The visé, if granted, completes the international authority necessary for the emigrant to proceed toward the American shore. If it is refused, then the international agreement is not complete and the would-be immigrant will not be admitted to America.

But in the matter of "exporting and importing," the granting of a passport of course presumes that the home country of the would-be emigrant has investigated the situation and decided that the particular emigrant may go. Whether behind this investigation the home country has urged the emigrant to go or has exiled or banished him or "dumped" him, as the action is sometimes called, or whether the initiative for his emigration rested with himself or with his government, the United States does not know. In all of this the foreign country is looking after its own interests. Now, when the passport is presented to our consul, the United States, as the emigrant-receiving country or the importer, must proceed to look after the interests of the American people. A perfunctory granting of the visé is not sufficient. Information of an accurate nature covering essential factors must be had. The United States consul may demand this of the would-be emigrant. Reputable witnesses, reliable testimony, and first-hand field investigations are necessary. If the emigrant does not cooperate, or if his government resents the activities of the American consul necessary to secure the facts which the American Nation as the importer of the immigrant needs to balance the investigation already made by the exporter, then the American consul may simply refuse to grant the visé. Thus automatically the home country of the emigrant, by her own refusal to collaborate, prevents the particular emigrant from leaving for America. This outline dispels the twilight zone, and, in its place draws a clean-cut line between the function of the American consul and of the foreign government to which he is accredited in the matter of selective immigration. It is thus within the power of each foreign nation to which our consuls are accredited to draw very sharply the line of demarcation in selective activities in each particular case of would-be emigration from her country to the United States.

The CHAIRMAN. In your talks with United States consuls in various places in Europe, have you discussed with them their opinion as to how other governments would receive a proposal for examinations there of prospective immigrants?

Doctor LAUGHLIN. It is commonly agreed that, concerning a would-be emigrant to the United States who has already been granted his passport by his home government, his home government can not logically object to inquiries by our consul before granting the visé. If the inquiry were made inside of American consulates by the

examination of witnesses, that the emigrant himself brought there, it would never be objectionable. At this stage, after the passport and before the visé, most foreign governments would aid the emigrant and our consuls by granting permission to our consular field workers to go to near-by villages to seek data from voluntary collaborators. But if such permission were lacking the field worker would not venture out; the cost to the applicant for a visé would be greatly increased by bringing witnesses to the consulate, and both time and labor would be extended. There is no doubt that all foreign nations are very jealous of their rights, and would rather not have any such provision in our immigration laws. They would rather do the entire selecting of emigrants. They look primarily after their own interests.

Mr. Box. Did the consuls discuss with you as to what they thought of the advisability of investigating prospective immigrants at the consular offices?

Doctor LAUGHLIN. Yes, sir, they did; but the State Department made the request that the consular officers abstain from forwarding opinions through the Department of Labor. If the committee desires such opinions they will have to come through the Department of State. As a member of the Department of Labor, I collected many data and opinions on immigration. I trust that ultimately authority will be granted me jointly by the Departments of Labor and State to analyze the data collected and to present the analysis to this committee. I should like also to analyze the opinions that come along with the data.

The CHAIRMAN. I have refrained as far as possible, and so have other members, from asking you as many questions as we pleased. We would like to speak to you as a representative of the Department of Labor, and also as an observer who went abroad and who could report his findings to this committee. I am doubtful if we can do that. It is clear to me, following suggestions that have been made to this committee by other Members of the House, that if a country were inclined to protest against our sending out from the consular offices for verification of statements made by the prospective immigrant and his witnesses, protests of that kind would result in no visé being issued to the prospective immigrant to the United States.

Doctor LAUGHLIN. That is undoubtedly good international law. Automatically that country would reduce its quota to zero until it consented to let the examination be made. The issue is simple. We demand nothing; we simply wait for permission. We are not in a hurry for the immigrant.

The CHAIRMAN. Exactly; and there would be no force or coercion or anything of the kind, except that clause of the treaty permitting the subjects of the contracting parties to travel without let or hindrance.

Doctor LAUGHLIN. Practically, as well as legally, it would seem to work out that way. The great difficulty is that if you consider the United States as the receiver of immigrants and most of the other nations as sending nations, you have the two interests, and if the United States does not look after her own interests certainly no other nation will.

The CHAIRMAN. That is exactly it. Now, the United States must look after its interests at both ends of the immigration stream from Europe. The Congress of the United States is fully warranted in

going a little in advance of treaties, it being the duty of Congress to protect the internal matters of the United States. I will not ask you to answer this; it is clear to me. It is a statement of my own.

Now, then, inasmuch as Italy is engaged in the emigration business and has a very active commissioner and an emigration system (I will not ask you to answer this), it is quite natural for that Government and all the members of their emigration commission to place themselves in a position to protest in every way they can against any law of the United States that would restrict immigration into the United States from Italy; and it is quite natural for those officers of that Government to call upon the easiest place of approach to the United States, which is the organized Italian from Italy.

Mr. Box. The majority of whom maintain their citizenship in Italy, and who still claim their citizenship in Italy. In this connection, I want to file with the committee a statement taken from the United States census showing the percentage of people from these countries who have been naturalized as American citizens and who have renounced their citizenship in those countries and have taken up ours.

The CHAIRMAN. If you will prepare that, we should be very glad to have it.

Doctor LAUGHLIN. Mr. Chairman, this record already appears as Formula XIII of Table No. 5, entitled "Alternative Immigration Quota Formulas" (opposite p. 1290), which I will present to the committee.

Mr. Box. I thank you for calling my attention to this formula. It seems to cover the matter which I had in mind, and it will not, therefore, be necessary for me to make the compilation which I had

in mind.

The CHAIRMAN. During your observations what precedent, if any, did you find for legalizing by international law the collaboration between foreign and American offices in foreign ports?

Doctor LAUGHLIN. Mr. Chairman, I found two specific activities of American consuls which would be closely analogous to the examination of immigrants by the American consuls; first, the securing of information which the consul must have before he grants a clean bill of health to an outgoing ship bound for an American port. Information to the satisfaction of the American consul is necessary. The foreign nation can, as it sometimes does, refuse to collaborate or to cooperate, with the result that the ship sails for America without the American consul's clean bill of health. The ship arrives at our port, but must go into quarantine for 14 days. This is both humiliating and expensive, and, besides that, a ship which attempts to come into an American port without a clean bill of health is subject to a fine of $5,000. Thus, in drawing the line of demarcation between American and foreign authority in this respect mutual interest has demanded cooperation; so that as a rule, after a few experiences in quarantine and fines, the foreign government generally requests a a health officer from the United States Public Health Service, who is attached to the Consular Service, to examine the emigrant-carrying ship, and readily collaborates in supplying all data necessary so that the American health officer can advise the American consul whether or not a clean bill of health should be issued.

To this process, satisfactorily worked out in international law, a parallel, which is quite exact from start to finish, is that of the