Ward: Immigration After the AVar 



151 



stream of immi*i;ration flows. All our 

 charitable organizations have had their 

 burdens lightened by the wide preval- 

 ence of "prosperity." With the reduc- 

 tion in the inflow of unskilled foreign 

 labor, and the extraordinary demand 

 for labor which has existed in many 

 industries as a result of the war, there 

 is now very little unemployment; wages 

 are high; the standard of living of our 

 working classes is rising. The line is 

 now clearly drawn between unrestricted 

 immigration, which means low wages, 

 cheap labor, and un-American stand- 

 ards of living; and a reasonable selec- 

 tion of immigration, w'hich means bet- 

 ter wages, more intelligent labor, and 

 American standards of living. 



Fortunately, a better selection will 

 henceforth be made. 



PASSAGE OF NEW LAW 



Early in February both houses of 

 Congress passed, by more than a two- 

 thirds majority, and over the Presi- 

 dent's veto, a new immigration act 

 embodying several eugenic provisions 

 which had been heartily endorsed by 

 the Immigration Committee of the 

 American Genetic Association. It is 

 a very great satisfaction to be able to 

 report the final enactment of this leg- 

 islation, which is of the greatest import- 

 ance for the future mental and physical 

 well-being of our people. 



Among other things, the new act 

 provides that every immigrant must 

 be able to read 30 or 40 words in his 

 ow^n language; but an exception is 

 made for those who on account of race 

 or religious persecution have had no 

 opportunity to get an education; and 

 admitted aliens may also bring in 

 relatives, even if the latter cannot read. 



This literacy test has attracted so 

 much attention that it is sometimes 

 supposed to be the principal feature of 

 the law. As a fact, it occupies only 



one or two of more than 60 pages of 

 the act as it was printed in customary 

 form for the use of Congress. With 

 the many exceptions which are made 

 in its aijplication, this provision seems 

 to the writer a rather unimportant 

 feature. The new law is, in its essen- 

 tials, a eugenic measure — perhaps the 

 most comprehensive and satisfactory 

 ever passed by Congress. The main 

 features of it were summarized in the 

 last report of the Immigration Com- 

 mittee of this Association,^ but it may 

 be useful to mention them again. 



To the classes formerly excluded the 

 bill adds persons of constitutional psy- 

 chopathic inferiority and persons with 

 chronic alcoholism. The desirability of 

 keeping out the latter is obvious. The 

 former phrase is a technical one which 

 designates persons who may be quite 

 sane in a certain environment, but who 

 are unable to readjust themselves to a 

 change in environment. They may 

 not be defective intellectually, but are 

 defective emotionally. Hospitals for 

 the insane, on the Atlantic seaboard, 

 have been filling up with immigrants in 

 recent years, partly because the change 

 to a new and more strenuous environ- 

 ment was too much for some aliens; 

 and it is believed that this new provi- 

 sion will permit the exclusion of many 

 who would become insane soon after 

 arrival, even though the}" are not actively 

 insane at the time of examination. 



SAFEGUARDS FOR ALIEN 



The new act excludes vagrants, and 

 persons afflicted with tuberculosis in 

 any form, and attempts to prevent the 

 embarkation of these and other ex- 

 cluded classes by imposing a heavier 

 fine on the steamship company if they 

 are brought. This should lead to a 

 more thorough examination at the 

 point of departure, and prevent hard- 

 ship on aliens w^ho make the trans- 



5 War, Immigration, Eugenics (Third Report of the Committee on Immigration, A. G. A.), 

 in the Journal of Heredity, Vol. vlii, pp. 243-248, June, 1916. See also: 



Second Report of the Committee on Immigration, Journal of Heredity, Vol. v, pp. 297- 

 300, 1914. 



First Report of the Committee on Immigration, American Breeders' Magazine, Vol. iii, pp. 249- 

 255, 1912; and 



Eugenic Immigration, by Robert De C. Ward; American Breeders' Magazine, Vol. iv, pp. 

 96-102, 1913. 



