of one year since there has been little or no immigration up to the passage of the restrictive act. It has been unlawful for either individuals or the State to induce immigration or to make prospective labor contracts with aliens before their arrival in the United States. Further, during recent years, the movement of alien labor from the United States has been greater than its movement into the country. Thus, in 1921-1922, the first year of the operation of the present act, the net loss to the United States through emigration of laborers was roughly about 67,000 while the net gain during that period in adult male immigration was only 6,518. The chief net gain was in trading and commercial classes. It must be apparent that with substantially six years without immigration and only one year with considerable immigration under the act of 1917, before the passage of the restrictive act, the normal labor supply through immigration shows a serious loss. It is Manufacturing industries are not the only ones feeling the loss. manifest in agriculture, construction, and transportation. To be more specific as to manufacture, a recent survey made by the National Association of Manufacturers shows there is an actual shortage of skilled labor reported in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, New York. Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Common labor is reported short in New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, and Washington. These shortages do not follow any general lines, and are variously estimated to run anywhere from slight to as high as 30 per cent. They affect many of the industries, but are most noticeable in furniture, automobiles, metal trades, collar and shirt, iron and steel, chemical, machinery, glove, tanning, cordage, twine, building, mines, and silk. The automobile industry reports the greatest shortage, although predictions of unusual shortages in the building trades are made for the spring, when this industry assumes its full operation. EDUCATION, THE MOST VITAL NECESSITY. [By William H. Woodin, president American Car & Foundry Co.] Statements in regard to immigration, whether they be from the point of view of the employers or from the point of view of the workers, are too much inclined to discuss immigrants in terms of "labor power" or man power' rather than to discuss immigrants as human beings in family relationships, as potential consumers, potential citizens, and potential factors in our American life. 66 Whatever the final plan of this country may be in regard to an immigration policy, whether it be for a liberal, a restricted, or a selected immigration, it can not, in my opinion, be repeated too often, that the principal concern of Americans should be to prepare for the assimilation of these immigrants in a thorough, scientific, and humane fashion. Perhaps the greatest contribution which America has made to civilization has been its high ideal of public education, and there is no force in our common life which can be utilized more effectively in a program of assimilation than that of education. Education not only in the English language and in the civics of our American commonwealth should be offered to the incoming immigrant but as much education as he needs and can utilize in all other fields. Not only the public-school systems but the educational and philanthropic organizations throughout the country can be enlisted in a cooperative scheme for the education of our newly arrived immigrants in America. Even a casual survey in any moderate sized American community will show unutilized educational resources which, if properly coordinated with other activities in the same community, could be made available for a greatly increased program of immigrant education. It is not sufficient merely to offer to the immigrant these educational opportunities, which often sound rather terrifying to the almost illiterate man or woman. We must be prepared to urge and persuade immigrants to take advantage of these opportunities, and for this program we must penetrate, in a cooperative way, into the organizations and religious institutions in which they have faith. Certain reforms must be brought about in our attitude and to the ndividuals tracts with recent year greater the of the themi t period a in trading tially sit igration normal e loss ! more y Associatio rreporte New New Connect and We e var ent B utomo ery, e indus procedure in regard to immigrant education. Most of the red tape of the school system must be eliminated. Teaching services, especially trained for dealing with adult minds, must be provided. More informal schemes for meeting the educational needs must be developed and more elasticity in the handling of individual students. All these are matters in the improvement which can be effected only by the sincerest cooperation between public educational authorities, private philanthropic agencies, religious bodies, civic organizations, and organizations of foreign-born people. The success of the council on immigrant education in the city of New York in coordinating these five types of organizations and focusing their interest upon an enlarged, improved, and intensified scheme of immigrant education has prompted me to recommend to other communities a similar effort. SHOULD MAKE OUR SELECTIONS ABROAD. [By William Butterworth, president Deere & Co.] In response to your request for an expression from me on the question of immigration, I beg to say that the subject is one of vital importance to the employers of labor. The present percentage law does not admit enough immigrants to take the places of those who leave the country to say nothing of those common laborers who ambitiously desire to be promoted from a roustabout job to something better. I know of very few employers who favor a wide-open door. The almost unanimous wish is for a selective system by which the eligibility of an immigrant would be determined in the country from which he comes. This is my own view. It will take some time to work out the details of a permanent law, which should be given the most careful attention and a great deal of study. As a temporary aid to agriculture and industry, a suggestion has been made which appeals to me; that is: First. A definite effort be made by our Government to fill the quotas from those countries that are now unfilled, which could be done by agents sent over into those countries, as Canada does, or we might do it through the United States consuls, by giving them the right kind of information to give out in their respective countries. Second. The wives of naturalized aliens might be admitted without being counted against the quota. Third. Where an alien family comes into this country, it might be counted as a unit against the quota-that is, the man and his wife and children under 16 years of age to be counted as one; those children over 16 to be counted individually. By taking these steps we might very materially increase our immigration without any material change in the law. I believe the general consensus of opinion is that selection should be made abroad, if it is possibe to do so. If the law is changed, an important improvement would cover the distribution of immigrants after they get here, by seeing that they are landed in places where they are needed and not where there is already congestion. A provision requiring the immigrant to learn to read, write, and talk the English language would be valuable, in that it would then throw the burden upon the immigrant himself and not upon our people, who may or may not be interested in his development. It would be very helpful if we could have such a provision. Any legislation or action by the Government which would give relief would be helpful, but a law which will govern immigration over a period of years requires, as I have already said, very serious study, which should be made by a commission something similar to that of 1907-10, who should study the problem with reference to the needs of industry and the country generally. SUGGESTS PERIOD OF FIVE YEARS' RESIDENCE. [By Finley P. Mount, president Advance-Rumely Co.] I favor such a change in our immigration laws as will not restrict the total number of immigrants, but definitely limit all immigration to those whose mental, moral, physical, financial qualifications and political history have been 32893-23-SER 6-C- -4 examined into and favorably passed on by a board of United States examiners sitting in the country where the immigrant has lived the five years preceding his application to such board for vise to embark. I would not have a literacy test or financial qualification greater than reasonably to insure against becoming a public charge. As a condition precedent to entering the United States, would require a registration of the immigrant and application for United States citizenship, with an undertaking to report to the immigration bureau every six months until full citizenship is acquired; a further undertaking to refrain from voting or attempting to vote in any State or municipal election until granted full citizenship in the United States. Would require a period of five years' residence and compliance of above undertaking before granting citizenship. Any failure to report as required, or violation of undertaking, or conviction of felony automatically to result in depor tation, the deportation power to be exercised by the immigration board, with right of appeal to United States district courts. These provisions would, in my judgment, remove the greatest evils now attending our immigration problems and would go far toward making acquired citizenship in the United States a possession too highly prized to be jeopardized. IMMIGRATION A QUESTION OF DESIRABLE OR NOT. [By E. J. Miller, president St. Louis Screw Co.] My view on immigration relationship to a nation is the same as employee relationship to a business. Would any sane business man restrict the progress and growth of his institution by restricting the number of his assistants or helpers, particularly on a percentage basis? Human beings to a nation may be classified, as all nature's creations, into assets and liabilities; therefore limitation should be applied to the latter only if we aim at greater prosperity. 'We should welcome with open arms all who can assist in developing our resources and who are found by examination to have the attributes and desire for good citizenship. It was such a people and their descendents who founded this Nation and developed its prosperity. The question, then, resolves itself into a determination of the desirable or undesirable, and not a fixed percentage of either. This determination must be based on a consideration of the intelligence and physical qualifications, as well as the racial tendency, of the applicant, in order that we may encourage thrifty, self-supporting producers instead of traders, and further consideration of his record and connections in order that we may eliminate the criminal and dangerous ultra radical. It is to be regretted that minds inspired by selfishness have created the many uneconomic conditions under which we are laboring, and which we find it hard to eradicate. NEED FOR PRACTICAL IMMIGRATION MEASURE. [By Nelson J. Bowker, manager and treasurer Pettebone-Cataract Paper Co.] Anyone who has gone into the matter of immigration into the United States for several years past knowns that the laws which have governed the same have not been to the great benefit of the public interest. The literacy test is a failure in so far as determining the quality of an alien for entering this country, and the practice of making a physical and mental test after arriving at the ports of this country is most inefficient and unjust, both to the immigrant and to our own country. By all means this Government should adopt some such practical immigration regulations as are in vogue in other countries and adopt the recommendations which have been made by an association of honorable business men, and also many private citizens, together with representatives of farm bureau federations. I believe much can be done at the present session of Congress, providing the House committee in charge of this important matter will heed some of the suggestions of those who have a thorough understanding of the situation and are 1 States years prete eater than ition prece he immire to repor isa ote in s ed States of short quired, result in in bear advising for the best interest of the whole country. Surely we, as a people, can not expect to progress and develop as we should without the proper kind of immigration rightly divided. Taking as an example the Italian population in my own city, double the number have returned to Europe as have come to this city (Niagara Falls) in the past five years, and the shortage of labor in this city, both skilled and unskilled, is becoming more acute each day. PRESENT LAW SHOULD BE CHANGED. [By E. H. Gary, chairman United States Steel Corporation.] Just at this time it is generally recognized there is a shortage of labor, although now and generally there are considerable numbers of idle men who do not ask for or desire steady work. For various reasons many workmen have returned to their homes in foreign countries. Business here was dull, and besides, these men on account of very large wage rates had accumulated money and believed themselves to be independent. The shortage in labor, however, has come principally as the result of the percentage immigration laws which have limited the number of workmen who would now come to this country if not prevented by the laws referred to. After some experience these laws are now believed by large numbers to be unreasonable. Ostensibly, at least, they were aimed at the sudden and large increases in the foreigners who were locating here, many of them entertaining views hostile to the ideas of our Government. These laws ought to be promptly changed. The restrictions upon immigration should be directed to the question of quality rather than numbers of foreigners coming to this country. Measures for limiting the number of immigrants to those who are clearly shown to be healthy, morally, politically, and physically, ought to be clear, strict, and enforceable; but the number allowed to come here should be equal to the necessities of our industries. The administration of the law should be under the control of a competent and impartial governmental commission or department, to be managed for the benefit of the general public and not for the protection of any special class or the exploitation of any impractical or injurious theory. This is one of the most important questions now being debated throughout the United States. NOT WHOLLY AN ECONOMIC PROBLEM. [By Guy E. Tripp, chairman Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.] The immigration problem is not wholly an economic one; man being very much the product of his environment, there arise social and political factors in the assimilation of the immigrant, which must be given consideration in order that we may determine the reciprocal influence of the alien on our institutions, and of our people on the alien, It is a splendid indication of the growing social consciousness of our industrialists that employers in their discussisons of immigration are giving increasing attention to the social factors of the problem. Immigration itself is a stream. Any immigration law that fixes limitations or restrictions on free migration is a dam. Most people are agreed that the dam is necessary to keep out such groups as the criminal, the insane, the pauper, the anarchist, and those likely to have a detrimental influence on our welfare. On the other hand, there is equal agreement that any legislative proposal that attempts to restrict the flow of migration by setting up a mathematical ratio without regard to selection or distribution of the immigrant, the needs of our industries, and other necessary aspects, is undesirable as either a short time or as a permanent solution. The present per cent limit act was definitely passed by Congress with the understanding that it was temporary and would be replaced by more permanent legislation before its expiration. This act has been extended until June 30, 1924, but new legislation will be required before that time. As to the course to be pursued in relief of the present situation pending a complete revision of the per cent limit act, I can not do better than to quote some of the suggestions recently put forward by representatives of the (c) Alien families coming together to be counted as one unit against the quota. Families to mean father and mother accompanied by children under 16 years of age or mother accompanied by children under 16 years of age; children over 16 years of age to be counted against the quota, and the same with all other relatives of aliens in the United States. INTELLIGENT SELECTION GREATEST NEED. [By Lee J. Eastman, president Packard Motor Car Co., of New York.] Our immigration policy has played a very important part in our past his tory. It promises to play even a more important part in our future. It seems to me that what is required is not so much a policy of arbitrary restriction as the formulation of a policy and method of procedure that has for its basis intelligent selection of the more desirable types of emigrant at the port of embarkation. Taking both immigrants and nonimmigrant aliens admitted to and departing from this country, this first fiscal year shows a net loss of 11,687 males to this country. The largest net immigration was of English, French, German, Hebrew, Mexican, and Scandinavian people; in short, of the races from which the skilled rather than the common labor of American industry has been recruited. Of the Hebrews, who are chiefly clerks and traders, etc., 53,524 entered while only 830 left. The following races have hitherto supplied the bulk of common labor: Bohemians, Czechs, Bulgarians, Serbians, Crotians, Slovenians, Poles, Greeks, Italians, Lithuanians, Magyars. More people of these latter races have left the country this fiscal year than have entered. Against 41,154 Italians admitted, 54,000 left the country. During this same period I understand only 6,357 Poles entered, while 31,004 left the country. Selection of the proper type required at the point of embarkation together with the routing of those classes best able to assimilate them would help this condition that so adversely affects American industry. This would seem to me to be a more forward-looking policy than the policy now in operation. The present method puts the burden of whether a man is a desirable type for admission, not so much on: Of what stock is he? Is there a place for him in our present economic condition? Is he the type that will make a good citizen? Not so much on these important qualifications, but rather place the possibility of acceptance on the ability of the captain and the efficiency of the engineering staff of this ship on which the emigrant is a passenger to make port on the first day of the month. When the selection of our immigrants is a matter of skill on the part of a ship's captain, or the grade of coal this ship is burning, then there is room, very much room, for improvement from any angle that one may care to approach the question, economic, idealistic, or humanitarian. WANT IMMIGRANTS OF THE INDUSTRIOUS TYPE. [By B. F. Dulweber, president Kraetzer-Cured Lumber Co.] We are opposed to unrestricted immigration, but there is unquestionably a shortage of labor, and we favor an amendment of the present laws that will admit the better class of immigrants who have sufficient intelligence to appre |