THE MEDICAL SIDE OF IMMIGRATION 



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with our body politic. No race is desirable -which does not tend to lose 

 its distinctive traits in the process of blending with our own social body. 

 It would seem from history that the Jew only blends inadvertently and 

 against his conscious endeavor and desire. Hence the process of true 

 assimilation must be very backward. Moreover, in origin, racial traits, 

 instincts and point of view, the Hebrew race is essentially oriental, and 

 altogether there is at least ground for objection to unrestricted Jewish 

 immigration. 



No one can mistake the pressing necessity for a solution of the immi- 

 gration problem. The problem of New York City in this respect is 

 unique and differs from that of the rest of the country, because as 

 Walter Laidlaw* points out. New York City is in reality a foreign city, 

 inasmuch as in 1910 the native-born of native parents numbered only 

 193 in every 1,000 inhabitants. This preponderating foreign element 

 is due to the concentration of arrested immigration in New York. 

 For the country as a whole, great interest attaches to the influence 

 which the Panama Canal will exert in diverting immigration lines to 

 southern and Pacific coast points. New local problems will of course 

 arise, but the basic proposition remains always the same. Immigration 

 should be restricted absolutely to such races as will amalgamate, without 

 lowering the standard of our own national life. 



In general, immigrants from the Mediterranean countries should be 

 excluded, especially those from Greece, South Italy and Syria, as well 

 as most Hebrews, Magyars, Armenians and Turks. Strict enforcement 



Negroes feom the West Indies. 

 *Laidlaw, Walter, New York Times, December, 1911. 



