CONTROL OF IMMIGRATION 



D. F. RAMOS 



Havana, Cuba 



At the present moment the control of immigration has become a matter of 

 supreme importance to all nations of the globe in its relation to economics 

 owing to its influence on the cost of labor; but efficient control is far more 

 important from the viewpoint of its influence on the biological constitution 

 of each country, since upon this are based its social, cultural and political 

 conditions. Unfortunately, not all statesmen are capable of seeing clearly 

 this last, and most important aspect of immigration control. 



I believe that it is not only a duty at this moment to present to you the 

 subject assigned to me for consideration in this congress, but that it is of 

 paramount importance to call the attention of all communities and Govern- 

 ment to the tremendous and far reaching effects that the scientific selection 

 of immigrants will have on their futures. 



I would like to submit two aspects of the problem in our discussion today. 

 First: The biological study necessary for the selection of the immigrant. 

 Second: A practical method to effect this selection. 



(a) biological study for the selection of the immigrant 



Eugenics, of course, pertains to biology with its greatest importance in 

 anthropology. In our biological study of immigration we could consider, 

 the influence of the introduction of new animals and plants in the fauna 

 and flora of a country, but this does not constitute at the moment, that 

 part of the subject which we wish to discuss. When we say Immigration, 

 we refer to the entry of men into a country where they intend to establish 

 themselves permanently; they, with their descendants, bringing as an al- 

 most fatal consequence the biological intermingling with the native popula- 

 tion. 



The newcomers will influence biologically the native population or rather 

 I should say, the population that will result from the intermingling of the 

 natives and immigrants, or the descendants of these, in turn, will be pro- 

 foundly affected in their characteristics, which will comprise in their total 

 and individual value, the distinct hereditary factor that primarily were 

 carried in the Germ Plasm of both groups. 



79 



