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amended by striking out the increased head-tax provision and the provision for a literacy test, by inserting a section creating the Immigration Commission, and by adopting the so-called Littauer amendment which provided as follows:

That an immigrant who proves that he is seeking admission to this country solely to avoid prosecution or punishment on religious or political grounds, for an offense of a political character, or prosecution involving danger of punishment, or danger to life or limb on account of religious belief, shall not be deported because of want of means or the probability of his being unable to earn a livelihood.

In conference the Senate receded from its provision relative to a literacy test; the House receded from the Littauer amendment; the head-tax provision was compromised by making it $4, instead of $5 as provided by the Senate, and $2 as provided by the House; the House amendment creating the Immigration Commission was agreed to with an amendment, which provided that the Commission should consist of three Senators, three members of the House of Representatives, and three persons to be appointed by the President of the United States, instead of two Senators, three members of the House, and two citizen members, as was provided in the House amendment. The Commission was directed to make a complete investigation and to report its findings to Congress. The President was also authorized at his discretion to call an international conference for the purpose of regulating immigration.

The conferees also added a new section (Sec. 42) to the bill amending Section I of the passenger act of 1882 relative to air space allotted steerage passen

gers, and amended Section 1 of the immigration bill under consideration by inserting the following provision:

That whenever the President shall be satisfied that passports issued by any foreign government to its citizens to go to any country other than the United States, or to any insular possession of the United States, or to the Canal Zone, are being used for the purpose of enabling the holders to come to the continental territory of the United States to the detriment of labor conditions therein, the President may refuse to permit such citizens of the country issuing such passports to enter the continental territory of the United States from any other country or from such insular possessions or from the Canal Zone.

Later this provision of the law was utilized for the purpose of excluding Japanese and Korean laborers from the United States. This bill was approved February 20, 1907, and is the present law on the subject of immigration.

Legislation for the Suppression of the White-Slave

Traffic

By the act of March 26, 1910, sections two and three of the immigration law of February 20, 1907, were amended to prevent more effectively the importation of women and girls for immoral purposes and their control by importers and others after their admission to the United States, following recommendations of the Immigration Commission on that subject.

By the act of March 26th the following were added to the classes excluded by Section 2 of the Immigration Act: "Persons who are supported by or

receive in full or in part the proceeds of prostitution." Under the terms of the act of 1907 "women or girls coming into the United States for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose," were specifically excluded from the United States. Under that law, however, there was no specific provision for the exclusion of that particularly reprehensible class of persons referred to in the act of March 26, 1910. By the amendment of Section 3 of the law of 1907, additional means were provided for the punishment and deportation of aliens who in any way profited by or derived benefit from the proceeds of prostitution. The agitation regarding the white-slave traffic also resulted in the enactment of a law prohibiting the transportation of persons from one State to another for the purposes of prostitution, providing for drastic punishment of those engaged in this awful traffic.

The Dillingham-Barnett Bill

After the report of the Immigration Commission, recommending emphatically restriction of immigration with the purpose of maintaining among wage-earners in the United States a high standard of living, and indicating the literacy test as the most feasible method of restriction, a bill was passed by Congress incorporating the literacy test, but was vetoed by President Taft.*

The Second Dillingham Bill

After the failure of the Dillingham-Burnett bill further study of the question led Senator Dillingham to suggest a new method of restriction of immigration which should not be open to the objections to the See Chapter 28 for detailed information.

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literacy test raised by President Taft. He, therefore,' on June 2, 1913, introduced a bill regarding which he made the following statement explaining its method, purpose and probable results:"

"This bill, if enacted into law, will materially reduce immigration from southern and eastern Europe and western Asia. The bill is similar in many respects to the Dillingham-Burnett bill which was vetoed by President Taft at the last session of Congress on the ground that it provided for the exclusion of illiterate immigrants. The literacy test for immigrants is omitted from the present bill, however, and as a substitute means of restricting immigration of the class referred to, it is provided that the number of aliens of any nationality, exclusive of temporary visitors, who may be admitted to the United States in any fiscal year shall not exceed 10 per cent. of the number of persons of such nationality resident in the United States at the time of the United States Census next preceding, but the minimum number of any nationality admissible in any fiscal year shall not be less than 5,000. Countries of the western hemisphere are exempted from the operation of the provision. According to the bill, nationality is to be determined by country of birth rather than of residence, but the term country does not include colonies or dependencies, which are considered as separate countries.

"The bill provides that when the maximum number of any nationality have been admitted, all other aliens. of such nationality who may apply for admission during the same fiscal year shall be excluded, except that aliens returning from a temporary visit abroad, and aliens coming to join near relatives, as well as

members of professional and business classes, may be admitted without reference to such maximum number. It is also provided that the Secretary of Labor may admit aliens in excess of the maximum number when, in his opinion, such action is justifiable as a measure of humanity. Transportation companies are subject to a fine of $100 for each alien brought to the United States in excess of the maximum number allowed.

"Based on the immigration experience of the past ten years, the proposed law would not reduce immigration from western Europe, but it would result in a very material reduction of the movement from various countries of southern and eastern Europe. How the various countries of the two sections of Europe referred to would be affected by the law may be seen from the following compilation:

SOUTHERN AND EASTERN EUROPE

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