IMMIGRATION RESTRICTION 



AND WORLD EUGENICS 



Prescott F. Hall 



THERE is one aspect of immigra- 

 tion restriction in the various 

 countries which does not often 

 receive much attention, namely, 

 the possibiHty of its use as a method of 

 world eugenics. Most persons think of 

 migration in terms of space, — as the 

 moving of a certain number of people 

 from one part of the earth's surface to 

 another. Whereas the much more im- 

 portant aspect of it is that of a func- 

 tioning in time. 



This comes from two facts. The first 

 is that the vacuum left in any country 

 by emigration is rapidly filled up 

 through a rise in the birth rate. There 

 are more people in England today than 

 in the time of Elizabeth, in spite of the 

 ■enormous emigration from that country, 

 to all parts of the world; and there are 

 just as many sparrows in England today 

 in spite of the unfortunate spread of 

 those birds in the United States. The 

 vacuum is chiefly filled by the breeding 

 of the lower classes. The vacuum is 

 chiefly filled by the breeding of the 

 lower classes. Thus, according to Pro- 

 fessor Pearson, more than one-half the 

 births in England are now from the 

 lowest one-sixth of the population. 

 In Italy, a similar condition fills the 

 A'acuum left by the very large emigra- 

 tion from there to North and South 

 America. 



The second fact is that immigration 

 to any country of a given stratum of 

 population tends to sterilize all strata 

 of higher social and economic levels 

 already in that country. vSo true is this 

 that nearly all students of the matter are 

 agreed that the United States would 

 have a larger population today if there 

 had been no immigration since 1820; 

 and, it is needless to add, a much more 

 homogeneous population. As long as 



the people of any community are rela- 

 tively homogeneous, what differences of 

 wealth and social position there may 

 be do not affect the birth rate, or do so 

 only after a considerable time. But 

 put into that community a number of 

 immigrants, inferior mentally, socially 

 and economically, and the natives are 

 unwilling to have their children asso- 

 ciate with them in work or social life. 

 They then limit the number of their 

 children in order to give them the capi- 

 tal or education to enter occupations in 

 which they will not be brought into 

 contact with the new arrivals. This 

 result is quite apparent in New England 

 where successive waves of immigration 

 from lower and lower levels have been 

 coming in for eighty years. In the west, 

 the same New Englarid stock has a 

 much higher birth rate, showing that its 

 fertility has in no way diminished. In 

 the south, where until very recently 

 there was no immigration at all, and the 

 only socially inferior race was clearly 

 separated by the accident of color, the 

 birth rate has remained very high, and 

 the very large families of the colonial 

 period are even now not uncommon. 



This is not to say that other causes 

 do not contribute to lower the birth rate 

 of a country ; for that is an almost world- 

 wide phenomenon. But the desire to 

 be separated from inferiors is as strong 

 a motive to birth control as the desire 

 for luxury or to ape one's economic 

 superiors. Races follow Gresham's law 

 as to money; the poorer of two kinds in 

 the same place tends to supplant the 

 better. Mark you supplant, not drive 

 out. One of the most common fallacies 

 is the idea that the natives whose places 

 are taken by lower immigration are 

 "driven up" to more responsible posi- 

 tions. A few may be pushed up; more 



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