In the last Congress a similar bill was reported, but owing to the pressure arising out of the Spanish war nothing further was done with it.

Our organization has not thought it necessary to attempt to send any large delegation here to speak on this measure, as it is so well known in its previous history and general character. We, however, would like to present a few considerations as to the advantages of this mode of restriction.

Perhaps I may assume that the committee is pretty familiar with the general line of arguments in reference to the restriction of immigration. I will address myself, therefore, to the question of this particular method rather than go at any great length into the general question.

The CHAIRMAN. You can submit in writing anything you wish in addition to what you may now state to the committee. You can suit your convenience about that.

Mr. HALL. I hoped to have here some pamphlets which I have sent for.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be glad to receive all the enlightenment you can give us.

Mr. HALL. Mr. Chairman, the principal reason why we have selected the educational test, and the reason why we wish to concentrate our attention on it, is because of the fact that entirely apart from the value of an immigrant being able to read, it so happens that the people who are undesirable for other reasons will be those, in fact, who will be shut out by an educational test.

The CHAIRMAN. What nations would be chiefly affected by the educational test?

Mr. HALL. The immigration from southern and eastern countries of Europe and from Asia.

The CHAIRMAN. What percentage of the total immigration does that at present amount to, approximately, if you can give us an idea? Mr. HALL. I call attention first to the figures on page 3 of this pamphlet.

The CHAIRMAN. Can you tell me what percentage of the total immigration would be kept out by an educational test?

Mr. HALL. The total immigration of persons over 14 years of age is given at the bottom of page 6, in paragraph 5, where there will be found some figures showing what percentages of the total immigration over 14 or 15 years of age would have been excluded in the last few years.

It should be borne in mind, however, that both Senate bill 1891, which I understand has the approval of the Commissioner of Immigration, and our own bill, prepared by the league, Senate bill 222, makes certain exceptions. Senate bill 222 provides that—

An admissible immigrant or a person now in or hereafter admitted to this country may bring in or send for his wife, his children under 18 years of age, and his parents or grandparents over 50 years of age, if they are otherwise admissible, whether they are so able to read or not.

In respect to those races which bring a large percentage of women with them, married couples, of course under this bill the women from those races would be very largely admitted. So the total percentage of 27.7 shown for 1901 would be in fact considerably reduced as far as women, the wives of immigrants, are concerned. Just what proportion that would be it is impossible to say.

The CHAIRMAN. I understood Senator Lodge to say it would be

pretty nearly 60 per cent. He may have been speaking in round figures.

Mr. HALL. We estimate that probably the total effect under this bill would be somewhere from 15 to 20 per cent of the total immigration; certainly not more than that.

I call your attention particularly to the change in the nationality of immigrants since the year 1880, as shown on page 3 of this pamphlet, from which it appears that in 1869 the immigration from eastern Europe was practically nothing and the immigration from the kindred races was nearly three-fourths of the total, whereas in the last year the percentage from eastern Europe has risen to nearly seven-tenths of the total and that from western Europe has fallen to less than onequarter. In other words, the immigration has very rapidly increased, and is now chiefly coming from the races which are very largely illiterate, as shown on pages 7 and 8 of the pamphlet, where it is shown that the illiteracy of the races of western Europe averages 5.6 per cent and from eastern Europe, with Spain and Portugal, 43 per cent, or over eight times as large.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there any particular explanation given, outside of the general causes, for this change in the character of immigration? Mr. HALL. There are several reasons. One is the spread of communication in the Mediterranean; and in this connection I may say that recently a steamship line has been established directly to the Levant, touching at Smyrna, which will have the effect of stimulating, and is already beginning to increase, Asiatic immigration. It is also due to the spread of steamship agencies through the eastern part of Europe, and better railroad communication, and the fact that the immigration from western Europe has lately been declining to come here in competition with the more recent immigrants from eastern Europe. They find that they can not compete with the immigrants of that character, and they turn their attention a good deal to South America and Australia, and other places.

The CHAIRMAN. They are kept away by cheap labor?

Mr. HALL. Precisely.

Senator FAIRBANKS. Are the statistics which you have presented in this pamphlet taken entirely from Government publications? • Mr. HALL. Yes, sir.

Senator FAIRBANKS. These deductions are made from Government statistics?

Mr. HALL. Yes, sir. At the head of each paragraph the source of authority is stated.

Senator FAIRBANKS. You have made no independent examinations? Mr. HALL. There are one or two tables which are the result of a visit to Ellis Island and the examination of manifests. I call your attention to the table at the bottom of page 8 and the table as to the destination of certain illiterates, on page 13. Those were made up from practical examinations of manifests at the port of New York by members of our committee. With that exception, I think the most of it is taken exactly from the statistical publications of the Government. The character of the immigration which has been coming in recently is shown also by the relative amount of money brought in by the different races, which appears on page 5 of the pamphlet, where you will see a progression from those bringing the most money to those bringing the least, generally similar to that which occurs in the case of illiteracy. Those who are best educated bring the most money on the average. Those who are least educated bring the least money. course there are some variations, but in general that is true.

Of

It appears from tables on page 6 that of recent immigration 83 per cent was practically unskilled labor, having no occupation whatever, which is the general fact; and while it has no special relation to illiteracy, most of those having no occupation—that is, no knowledge of a trade or occupation-come also very naturally from the races which are ignorant of their own language. Those two things in general go together.

Then we come to the effects of immigration in the United States, on page 9. I call attention to the extract from Senate report No. 290, Fifty-fourth Congress, first session, which shows a parallelism between the criminal tendencies and the illiteracy of immigrants of the same races. You will see, although the arithmetical progression is not precisely the same, that in general the distinction between western Europe and eastern Europe holds true, and there is a progression between criminal tendencies and illiteracy.

We find, further, that the illiterate immigrants as a rule tend to settle on the Atlantic seaboard. Very few go to the South and West. That appears on page 13; in fact, pages 11 to 13. It shows the congestion in the cities.

Senator FAIRBANKS. To what do you attribute that?

Mr. HALL. It is very largely due, I think, to the fact that these people are not progressive enough to go out into the country regions and settle them as was the case with the earlier immigration to the Northwest. They are not the same kind of people. In the early days it took considerable energy to come over. Considerable hardship was entailed on the longer voyage, and the men who came then were pioneers, men who were prepared to strike out and build up the Western States. At the present time the immigration that comes in is of a character which tends to settle right in the cities. The immigrants have not the energy to progress farther, and having settled there, perhaps for lack of money to go farther, they then form ties which tend to keep them there, and they do not push out into the country regions.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you any data as to how many undesirable immigrants stay here only temporarily and then return to their own countries?

Mr. HALL. The percentage of all immigrants who have heretofore been in the United States is shown on page 5. But it appears at the bottom of page 8 that the percentage of southern Italian immigrants, for example, who have been here before and return, frequently is more than twice as large as the average of all immigrants. That I believe to be usually true of the recent immigration.

The CHAIRMAN. In other words, a large number of the undesirable immigrants come in only temporarily?

Mr. HALL. And return.

The CHAIRMAN. Their notion is to return to their own country? Mr. HALL. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. That is a redeeming feature in the situation.

Mr. HALL. To a certain extent it is; but, on the other hand, they are just as much a social and moral burden when they are here, and they frequently return again; and while they are here they form no permanent interest with the country. It is a floating population, which reaps the benefits without sharing the burdens in any great degree.

Senator FAIRBANKS. Can you give the percentage of those who annually return? Do you know what is the total number of those?

Mr. HALL. I think probably Mr. Commons can tell you. I have not myself the figures here. It appears in the report of the Commissioner-General for last year.

Senator FAIRBANKS. We can consult that publication and ascertain. I did not know but that you had the figures before you.

The CHAIRMAN. I should like to know approximately what percentage return.

Senator FAIRBANKS. That was my wish.

Mr. HALL. I may say that in examining manifests of Italian immigrants at Ellis Island personally I found that a considerable number had been in the United States before as often as six or eight times. It does not appear in the Government reports, but it does appear in answers on manifests. I think it is generally admitted that there is a large floating population of that character.

The CHAIRMAN. You have no idea-say from Italy-what proportion are temporary sojourners and what proportion desire to become naturalized citizens?

Mr. HALL. The matter of naturalization is dealt with somewhat at the top of page 16. It does not go into separate nationalities. You will see there was a very large difference between the kindred races and the recent immigration in respect to naturalization.

The CHAIRMAN. That is shown?

Mr. HALL. The report of the Commissioner-General, I think, shows for each race the percentage of those who have been in the United States before; but I have it not at hand at this moment.

In regard to where these people go when they get here, I have already spoken of their conjestion in the cities, which appears on pages 13 and 14 of the pamphlet. Owing to the character of the immigrants, when they go into the cities they tend to settle very largely in the slum portions of cities; that is, in addition to those who settle in the mining regions. Those are the two largest places where immigrants of this character congregate. That is summed up at the bottom of page 15.

Southeastern Europe furnishes three times as many inhabitants as northwestern Europe to the slums of Baltimore, nineteen times as many to the slums of New York, twenty times as many to the slums of Chicago, seventy-one times as many to the slums of Philadelphia.

The relative illiteracy of the two groups of immigration is shown below that is, in the slums. The character of some of this recent immigration of an undesirable character is shown also by some special evidence which I have here.

The CHAIRMAN. I should like to ask you whether you consider the educational test in this bill a sufficient educational test-that is, the requirement of reading a few words of the Constitution in any language? Mr. HALL. At different times there have been different forms of an educational test. At times it has included writing. I do not think writing is much of an addition. The difference between those who can not read and those who can not read and write is very small. So the reading test covers most of it.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you think there ought to be a more rigid educational test, or do you consider the test in this bill and other similar bills as sufficient?

Mr. HALL. I should like to have this test tried, to begin with, and see what the effect of it will be. I think it is desirable to go fairly slow and see what the result of this measure is before adopting a more radical method.

The effect of this kind of immigration upon the slum districts of cities is a thing which impresses itself upon everybody who has to deal with charitable and educational influences in the cities; and it is very striking that out of all the boards of associated charities in the United tates with which we have been in correspondence we have yet to find ne which is not eagerly asking for a measure of this character. That, of course, means that those persons who are actuated by the most humane and broad-minded principles feel the importance of this matter. That is shown by some of the indorsements on page 24 of the pamphlet.

We have collected at the end of this pamphlet a considerable number of indorsements of the educational test. Some of these are in response to suggestions made by us. A very considerable number were made independently of us. They simply represent those we have been able by chance to collect up to the present time. You will see at the top of page 22 that a number of State legislatures have asked for this restriction-California, Washington, Wyoming, and the house of representatives of the Arkansas legislature.

A feature to which we call special attention is the fact that practically every one of the associations of the Northwestern States engaged in promoting immigration into those States has indorsed the principle. Although they desire immigration, they do not desire the immigration which would be excluded by this bill.

Then we have a considerable number of labor organizations. I refer to pages 22 to 24. Beginning at the bottom of page 24, you will see mentioned a very large number of charitable organizations of the different States.

The CHAIRMAN. Is the educational test opposed by any labor organization in the United States that you know of?

Mr. HALL. I am not aware of any that is opposed to it at the present time. When it came up in 1896 I think the Boston Central Labor Union went on record against it, although a considerable number of local unions which sent delegates to the Central Labor Union voted in favor of it. It has been indorsed by the American Federation of Labor (p. 22) by a very large vote, 1,858 to 352, and the Knights of Labor have indorsed it three times. In addition to the organizations which are mentioned there, there have been quite a number since then of which I have here a list.

The CHAIRMAN. In your judgment, the majority sentiment among labor unions and organizations is in favor of an educational test?

Mr. HALL. Yes, sir; unquestionably. I think a considerable number would favor any measure for restriction, but would also favor this. But those we have mentioned in this particular place are specifically committed to this test.

Senator DILLINGHAM. I do not know but that you have answered the question, but if you have not I should like to have you direct me to the figures which indicate what proportion of those coming from eastern Europe, to which you have referred, would be debarred if this plan were adopted.

Mr. HALL. The percentages of illiteracy from eastern Europe are shown at the top of page 8 of this pamphlet and would represent the proportion to be excluded, subject to a certain deduction because of the wives of immigrants who would be allowed to come in under the terms of these bills-wives and children up to 18 years of age, under Senate bill 222-while in Senate bill 1891 the age is placed at 14 years in each place, so that there would not be that further exception. Senate bill 1891 is entirely acceptable, I understand, to our organization.