Committee on Immigration of the Eugenics Section 



299 



Under the vote of the Association by 

 which the Committee on Immigration 

 was organized, it was given "authority 

 to co-operate with similar Committees 

 of other organizations in securing laws 

 which will be more effective in securing 

 immigrants who bring good health and 

 normal and superior heredity to this 

 country." Following these instructions, 

 the Secretary of this Committee at- 

 tended a Conference held in New York 

 City, Nov. 15, 1912, at which the most 

 important scientific bodies in the United 

 States which deal with the treatment 

 and prevention of insanity were repre- 

 sented, viz. : the American Medico- 

 Psychological Association ; National 

 Committee for Mental Hygiene; New 

 York Psychiatrical Society; New York 

 State Charities Aid Association; Com- 

 mittee of 100 on National Health; New 

 York State Hospital Commission. At 

 this conference the whole question of 

 the more effective detection, exclusion 

 and deportation of insane and mentally 

 defective aliens was discussed. The 

 results of these deliberations were 

 embodied in a series of Resolutions 

 which were transmitted to the President 

 and to Congress. The Immigration 

 Bill which passed Congress during the 

 winter of 1912-13 embodied several of 

 these recommendations. Two members 

 of this Committee (Messrs. Hall and 

 Ward) went to Washington to attend 

 the hearing which was given by Presi- 

 dent Taft on the Immigration Bill, and 

 urged that the Bill should become a law. 

 The President, as will be remembered, 

 vetoed the bill, which was at once 

 passed over the veto by the Senate 

 (72 to 18) and failed by half a dozen 

 votes of being passed over the veto by 

 the House. 



attitude of eugenists. 



The Chairman and the Secretary of 

 the Committee have further carried on 

 a considerable correspondence, and had 

 many conferences with immigration and 

 other public officials, and officers of the 

 Public Health Service, in regard to the 

 workings of the present law, and have 

 also given numerous addresses on the 

 eugenic aspects of immigration. 



In the present agitation concerning 

 pending immigration legislation the 



question naturally arises what attitude 

 those who are most interested in the 

 eugenic aspects of aUen immigration 

 should take in regard to any proposal 

 for a further restriction of immigration 

 by means of such a requirement as the 

 "reading test," embodied in the immi- 

 gration bill which was vetoed by 

 President Taft. It is clear that the 

 sentiment in Congress is strongly in 

 favor of combining more effective regu- 

 lations in regard to the mental and 

 physical condition of our incoming 

 aliens with a further amendment which 

 will be somewhat restrictive. When a 

 further restriction of immigration is 

 recommended, because "demanded by 

 economic, moral and social considera- 

 tions," by an unprejudiced and com- 

 petent body of experts like the U. S. 

 Immigration Commission, eight out of 

 nine of whose members recommended 

 the "illiteracy test," and by Congress, as 

 evidenced by the large majorities in 

 favor of such measures, then we must 

 have very excellent reasons for disagree- 

 ing with those conclusions. A decrease 

 in numbers, especially of those aliens 

 who are unskilled laborers, and who are 

 the most ignorant, will have a very 

 important and direct eugenic resulc in 

 relieving the congestion in our over- 

 crowded cities; in diminishing economic 

 stress, and therefore in improving the 

 mental and physical conditions of the 

 aliens who come to us. The more 

 skilled and the more intelligent the 

 alien, the less he tends to crowd into 

 our cities ; the less liable he is to become 

 insane or mentally unstable from the 

 strain and stress of the life in our con- 

 gested city districts. Dr. T. W. Salmon 

 has clearly pointed out that 'More will 

 be accomplished in the exclusion of 

 insane immigrants, and of those destined 

 to become insane a short time after 

 their arrival, by measures which broadly 

 restrict immigration than by any meas- 

 ures, however effective, which are 

 directed specifically against insane immi- 

 grants, for any measure which will 

 check the flow of immigration in 

 general must necessarily result in the 

 admission of fewer undesirable immi- 

 grants." Those who are particularly 

 interested in the eugenic aspects of our 

 immigration problem have many reasons 



