IMMIGRATION AND INSANITY.

ALIENS EXCLUDED BECAUSE OF MENTAL UNSOUNDNESS.

Foreign-born persons of unsound mind have been excluded from the United States by federal legislation since 1882. The law of 1882 prohibited the immigration of idiots and lunatics", and that of 1891 excluded idiots and insane persons. The statutes since enacted have been more comprehensive in their terms. In 1903 a law was passed prohibiting the immigration of idiots, insane persons, persons insane within five years of the date of application for admission, and persons having had two or more previous attacks of insanity. The law of 1907 excludes idiots, imbeciles, feeble-minded persons, persons insane within five years of the date of application for admission, persons having had two or more previous attacks of insanity, and persons suffering from mental defects, not otherwise specified, sufficiently serious to affect ability to earn a living.

Through the operation of these statutory provisions many aliens have been excluded. The annual reports of the United States Commissioner-General of Immigration show, for the years since 1890, the number of aliens excluded from the United States in each year, together with the causes of exclusion. These data, so far as they relate to persons of deranged or defective mentality, are presented in the following table:

TABLE 1.-Number of persons of each specified class excluded from United States, by year. [Compiled from annual reports of the United States Commissioner-General of Immigration.]

It will be noted that the classification of persons mentally unsound differs from year to year. This variation is due to the changes in the wording of the statutes under which the aliens have been excluded. Since 1890 there has been a very marked increase in the number of persons prevented, by reason of mental diseases, from entering the United States. In 1908, 345, and in 1909, 322, foreignborn persons were excluded for the various causes specified in the table. Of those excluded in 1908, 159 are classified as insane, 20 as idiots, 45 as imbeciles, and 121 as feeble-minded persons, while of those excluded in 1909, 141 are classified as insane, 18 as idiots, 42 as imbeciles, and 121 as feeble-minded. Foreign-born persons to the number of 1,573 were debarred from entry into the United States for the causes specified in the captions of the table, during the period of 20 years from 1890 to 1909, inclusive. The returns of the table do not include persons suffering from mental diseases not included in the classification, but of a nature sufficiently grave to affect ability to earn a living.

In the following table the aliens debarred from entering the United States because of mental defects or diseases in the years 1908 and 1909 are classified by race or people:

TABLE 2.-Aliens debarred from entering United States because of mental defects or diseases, 1908 and 1909.

[Compiled from annual reports of the United States Commissioner-General of Immigration for 1908 and 1909. This table does not include aliens having mental defects not included in the classification which may affect ability to earn a living.]

It appears from the foregoing table that the number of persons excluded from the United States in 1908 because of mental unsoundness of any sort was largest in the case of the South Italians and Hebrews, the number of individuals of each of these races excluded being 56. The Irish with 44, the Germans with 40, the English with 27, and the Scandinavians with 22, ranked next in the number of persons debarred for all the specified causes. The Hebrews and South Italians, in the order mentioned, led in the number of imbeciles excluded; the South Italians, Hebrews, Irish, and Germans in the number of feeble-minded persons excluded; and the South Italians and Irish, the Hebrews, Germans, Scandinavians, and English in the number of insane persons excluded.

Of the 322 excluded as mentally deranged or defective in 1909, 50 were Irish, 42 South Italians, 37 English, 37 Hebrews, and 29 Germans. The South Italians and Hebrews, in the order mentioned, led in the number of imbeciles excluded in this year; the South Italians, Hebrews, Irish, and English led in the number of feeble-minded persons excluded; and the Irish, English, and Germans led in the number of insane persons excluded.

INSANE PERSONS DEPORTED AFTER LANDING.

Section 20 of the immigration act of February 20, 1907, provides in part as follows:

That any alien who shall enter the United States in violation of law, and such as become public charges from causes existing prior to landing, shall, upon the warrant of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, be taken into custody and deported to the country whence he came at any time within three years after the date of his entry into the United States.

The following statement shows the number of aliens deported on account of mental disorders, for the fiscal years 1906 to 1910, inclusive:

INSANE AND FEEBLE-MINDED ALIENS IN THE UNITED STATES.

Although the immigration of persons suffering from the more serious mental diseases has been prohibited by law during a period of twenty-eight years, and although, as has been seen, many would-be immigrants have been turned back at the ports of entry because of mental unsoundness, there are at the present time a large number of mentally unsound aliens in the United States. Data relative to this subject are supplied by the special report of the United States Census Bureau entitled Insane and feeble-minded in hospitals and institutions, 1904," and by the figures given in the report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1908.

The table following, compiled from the figures of the census. report, shows the insane in hospitals and institutions in continental United States in 1904.

TABLE 3.-Insane in hospitals in continental United States: 1904.

[Compiled from United States Census, Special Report, "Insane and feeble-minded in hospitals and institutions, 1904," Table VII, p. 15.]

a Having one parent native and the other foreign, or one parent unknown and the other either native or foreign. b Less than 0.05 per cent.

In this table the insane persons enumerated in hospitals on December 31, 1903, and the insane persons admitted to treatment during the year 1904 are classified according to race, general nativity, and parentage. Of the 150,151 insane persons enumerated in hospitals on December 31, 1903, 47,078, or 31.4 per cent, were foreignborn whites. The proportion of native-born whites of native parentage was 33.6 per cent, and the proportion of native-born whites of foreign parentage was 10 per cent. Only 6.6 per cent of all the insane persons enumerated were colored. In the year 1904, 49,622 insane persons were admitted to hospitals. Of these, 13,405, or 27 per cent, were foreign-born whites; 19,198, or 38.7 per cent, were native-born whites of native parentage; and 5,673, or 11.4 per cent, were native-born whites of foreign parentage.