European examination of would-be immigrants under the auspices of the American consuls. The American consul would not demand, nor would he insist, but when the emigrant wants to go to America, and has the passport of his home government, our consul would cooperate to the extent of having his technical staff of immigration attachés or vice consuls make the necessary examinations. The second parallel which I was able to find was not so old nor so clean-cut in its operation, but shows the manner in which international cooperation could work. I refer to the case in which the American consuls secure, in their own consular districts, extensive and very detailed information concerning the history, background and present conditions of veterans of the American Army in the World War, who are citizens of and living in European countries, and are veterans who have applied for pensions or other veterans' aid from the American Government. European Governments put no obstacle in the way of thorough investigation by the American consul. The applicant for aid, of course, carries the responsibility of supplying witnesses and reputable testimony to the satisfaction, in detail and reliability to the mind, of the American consul. When the interests of the country of the person about whom facts are wanted, are involved, such home country generally finds a way within international law, to permit compilation of the necessary data. The CHAIRMAN. Now inside of the authority of the United States Government, where is the line drawn between administrative functions of our different executive departments? Doctor LAUGHLIN. Domestically, immigration is administered not as a continuous function or process, but, so far as the individual immigrant is concerned, begins with the State Department. There it is carried to a certain point, then passes to the Departments of Treasury and Labor. The process is as follows: The State Department, which has charge of the Consular Service, has authority over the consuls in their visé work, and in any investigations which may be required to supply data upon, which the visé may be based. That is the present situation. Of course it is conceivable that American immigration attachés might be assigned from the American Immigration Service to the American consulates, but no such attachés exist at present. There are, however, a few officers of the United States Public Health Service who are assigned to American consulates for the purpose of advising them in reference to the sanitary conditions of emigrant ships, which conditions determine the clean bill of health necessary to be given by our consuls to such ships bound for American ports. It is conceivable also that these health officers and immigration officers could be made vice consuls, and thus the work of selective immigration would be kept entirely within the Consular Service of the State Department. The State Department thus represents American interests in immigration until the emigrant ship arrives in the American port, or the emigrant train or wagon at our border; then the American Public Health Service of the Treasury Department and the Bureau of Immigration of the Labor Department take charge of the immigrants. The work of these two latter services in the inspection and examination of immigrants, and in admitting and debarring, covers what, in American speech, is represented by the phrase "passing through Ellis Island." There is still another discontinuity of authority and responsibility in the matter of immigration control. The United States Federal Government has the whole authority to grant or to refuse the immigrant admission, while if the admitted immigrant later commits a crime, or becomes insane or otherwise undesirable, it is generally the individual State government which must maintain, as a public charge, the individual inadequate, although the particular State government had no voice in the admission of the particular defective. Further, the matters of deportation and naturalization, and finally of assimilation and Americanization, complete the chain of national activities in handling aliens. The whole thing is becoming so complicated that ultimately it seems that the United States will have to codify her laws on immigration and naturalization. When this is done, the governing principle in deportation will be found in the rule that, so far as law and administration are capable of compelling it, each nation or state, and indeed each community and family, which produces a defective, or otherwise socially inadequate individual, must care for that particular inadequate, and must receive, within its jurisdiction, such inadequate, if he be found in foreign parts, and his deportation attempted. THE CHAIRMAN. We propose to tighten the temporary 3 per cent quota law as much as we can, and then we will tackle the codification, if we can ever find the time. JEWISH IMMIGRATION Mr. Box. What is the situation in reference to the Hebrew group which represents a large percentage of the immigrants? Doctor LAUGHLIN. Since the subject of the present report is "Europe as an exporter and America as an importer of men," I will treat the incoming and outgoing streams of Jews from the standpoint of comparative statistics. By far the best American collection and analysis of Jewish statistics, including a record of the distribution of Jews in the several countries and cities of the world, and the movement of Jewish peoples as emigrants and immigrants, is published in the American Jewish Year Book. From volume 24, which is the latest edition, and which was published in 1922, I have abstracted data and constructed four charts (Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 6, pp. 1254, 1255, 1256, and 1257). this whole period 10.59 per cent of the total immigrants who came an average of 72,424 per year, came into the United States. During 1922, according to the best statistics available, 1,738,169 Jews, or years of this period who were Jews. During the 24 years ending the percentage of the total immigrants during each of the several United States for the 24 years from 1899 to 1922, and shows also Chart No. 3 shows graphically the Jewish immigration into the to the United States were Jews. 0 CHART NO. 3 Total: 1,738,167 in Average per year: Per JEWS DEPARTING FROM THE UNITED STATES, 1908-1922. 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 year, or that 1.51 per cent of all persons leaving the United States show that an average of 3,441 Jews left the United States each the total departing who were Jews. Since 1908 the Jewish statistics of Jews departing from the United States, and also the per cent of Chart No. 4 shows, graphically, year by year, the total number were Jews. Chart No. 5 shows the ratio of Jewish arrivals to Jewish departures. During the 15 years, 1908 to 1922, for every 100 persons of all nationalities who came into the United States, 36.24 persons left the country. During this same 15-year period, for every 100 Jews who came into the country, 5.68 Jews left the country. RATIO OF JEWISH DEPARTURES TO ADMISSIONS, 1908-1922. 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 All races: Total departures Total departing Jews ÷ total arriving Jews. CHART NO. 5. During 15 yrs, 36.24% of all arrivals left the country. During 15 yrs, 5.68% of total number of -Jews arriving left the country. |