IMMIGRATION AND THE THREE PER 

 CENT RESTRICTIVE LAW 



Robert De C. Ward 



Harvard University 



THE NEW LAW AND ITS ENACTMENT 



THE new 3% immigration restric- 

 tion act was designed to meet 

 post-war conditions which our 

 previous laws were never intended to 

 cope with. It passed both Houses of 

 Congress by tremendous majorities, 

 and, after being "pocket-vetoed" by 

 President Wilson, was again passed by 

 similarly large majorities and promptly 

 approved by President Harding. The 

 backbone of the new law is as follows 

 (Sec. 2): — "That the number of aliens 

 of any nationality who may be admit- 

 ted under the immigration laws to the 

 United States in any fiscal year shall be 

 limited to 3 per centum of the number 

 of foreign-born persons of such nation- 

 ality resident in the Ignited States as 

 determined by the United States 

 census of 1910." Eight classes of aliens 

 are excepted from this provision, in- 

 cluding "(8) aliens under the age of 

 eighteen who are children of citizens of 

 the United States." Provision is made 

 for the determination of the exact 

 numbers of aliens of the different 

 nationalities who may be admitted. 

 The number of any nationality that 

 may be admitted in any one month 

 shall not exceed 20% of the total num- 

 ber of aliens of such nationality who 

 are admissible in that fiscal year. 

 Preference shall be given, "so far as 

 possible," to wives, parents, brothers, 

 sisters, children under 18 years of age 

 and fiancees of citizens, of those who 

 have applied for citizenship, and of 

 persons eligible for citizenship who were 

 in the service of the United States 

 during the war, and were honorably 

 discharged. Provision is further made 

 for the preparation of rules and regula- 

 tions necessary to carry the Act into 

 efifect, and for the publication of state- 



ments showing the exact numbers who 

 may be admitted. The Act continues 

 in force until June 30, 1922. 



THE REASONS FOR THE NEW LAW 



The enormous majorities by which 

 Congress passed this bill clearly 

 reflected the firm conviction of the 

 great mass of our people that immedi- 

 ate- and effective restriction was impera- 

 tive. There has never been a time in 

 the history of immigration legislation 

 when the popular demand was so 

 widespread and so vehement. The 

 practically unanimous opinion of 

 Government immigration officials and 

 of all unprejudiced experts was that 

 immigration was certain to increase, 

 and increase rapidly, to numbers 

 greatly exceeding those of pre-war 

 days, and that the quality of the bulk 

 of the newcomers would be distinctly 

 inferior. Very important testimony 

 along these lines was received from 

 United States consular officers at 

 numerous foreign ports and submitted 

 by the Department of State to Con- 

 gress. These reports, coming from 

 many different men, and many differ- 

 ent places, are distinctly to be regarded 

 as unprejudiced and authoritative. 

 They practically all agree in certifying 

 that the majority of the prospective 

 immigrants are both physically and 

 mentally undesirable. Such expres- 

 sions as "physically deficient," "men- 

 tally deficient"; "economically undesir- 

 able"; "socially undesirable"; "of low 

 standards of living," "not of the most 

 desirable class," occur again and again. 

 Furthermore, numerous competent and 

 unprejudiced observers who had been 

 making a first-hand study of the condi- 

 tions in Europe fully concurred in the 

 views expressed by our own consular 

 officers. 



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