is so simple that almost anyone could fit himself to meet it in a short time if he so desired. Besides, there is always the possibility that if those who can not read are denied admission, those who can read will come in their stead, especially if the population pressure at home is strong and the inducements to immigration in this country sufficiently alluring. Moreover the number who may be entitled to admission under the various exceptions to the test is an unknown quantity and our immigration statistics afford no satisfactory basis for calculations in that respect. An admissable alien, for example, may bring in an illiterate father or grandfather who is more than fifty-five years of age, or he may bring in his wife, his mother, his grandmother, or his unmarried or widowed daughters without reference to their age or ability to read, but available records give no hint of the numerical importance of these various classes.

Ob

'As a matter of fact about the only available data which shed any light on the question are found in the Bureau of Immigration records which show the number of illiterate aliens of the various races, fourteen years of age and over, who can read but can not write, and the number who can neither read nor write. viously the latter but not the former are excluded by the law, which, as already stated, requires an examination only in reading. The following table shows the number of totally illiterate aliens fourteen years of age and over who were admitted to the country during the year ending June 30, 1914, which was the last year of immigration undisturbed by war, compared with the total influx of the various races during the same year:

ILLITERACY AMONG IMMIGRANTS ADMITTED TO THE UNITED STATES DURING THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1914, BY RACE

It should be explained that the figures, or more especially the per cents., in the foregoing table are not a fair measure of the relative illiteracy of the various races, for the reason that in some cases there are comparatively few persons under fourteen years of age among the immigrants, while in other cases they are comparatively numerous. To illustrate, only 4 per cent. of the Greeks, 7 per cent. of the Ruthenians, and 9 per cent. of the Croatians and Slovenians, are under

1,544

17

1.1

9,023

3,949

43.8

2,693

1,687

62.6

2,558

17

0.7

1,396

34

2.4

3,831

1,689

44.1

.1,218,480

260,152

21.4

fourteen years of age, as compared with 16 per cent. among the English, 17 per cent. among the Germans, and 22 per cent. among the Hebrews. When the per cent. of illiterates is based on the total immigration of a race, as is the case in this table, obviously the effect is to show an unduly large proportion of illiterates among races accompanied by a small number of children, as in the first three cases, while the opposite is true of races which bring a good many children, as among the English, Germans and Hebrews.

In some cases the percentage of illiterates is also more or less affected by the varying proportion of women among the immigrants of the different races, but taking the races as a whole the proportion of those who could neither read nor write was practically the same in both sexes in the year under consideration.

But inasmuch as the purpose of the table is to show what proportion of the total immigration might be affected by the reading test, rather than to show the relative illiteracy of the races, the discrepancies alluded to are of no particular importance in this instance. Another factor, which lessens any prophetic value the table may have, is that it shows the number of illiterates who are fourteen years of age and over, while the reading provision in the new law applies only to those over sixteen. On the whole, therefore, the table is chiefly valuable as an approximate indication of the effect the reading test might have on an immigration movement of the sort that prevailed for twenty-five years before the outbreak of the great war, because the influx in 1914 was fairly typical of the whole period.

The table shows very clearly that the application of the test in the year under consideration would have quite largely cut down the influx from Southern and

Eastern Europe and Turkey in Asia without appreciably affecting the movement from the Northern and Western countries. At least this is plain theoretically and no doubt it would have produced that result in actual practise as well.

A division of the immigration of 1914 into groups made up of the races coming from Southern and Eastern Europe and Asiatic Turkey, and those coming from Northern and Western Europe, with the number and proportion of illiterates in each group, will clearly illustrate this point:

ILLITERACY AMONG IMMIGRANTS ADMITTED TO THE UNITED
STATES DURING THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1914,
BY RACIAL GROUPS

(a) Includes-Armenian, Bohemian and Moravian, Bulgarian, Servian and Montenegrin, Croatian and Slovenian, Dalmatian, Bosnian and Herze govinian, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, North and South Italian, Lithuanian, Magyar, Polish, Portuguese, Roumanian, Russian, Ruthenian, Ślovak, Spanish, Syrian, Turkish,

(b) Includes-Dutch and Flemish, English, French, German, Irish, Scandinavian, Scotch, Welsh.

The geographical distribution of the races in the foregoing table is not strictly accurate in all cases, the chief discrepancies being found among the Germans and French. Both of these races are listed among Northern and Western Europeans, but as a matter of fact a considerable majority of the Germans came from Austria-Hungary and Russia rather than from Germany, and more than 10,000 of the French were French-Canadians, while fewer than 6,000 came from France. But these exceptions would have little influence on the situation as a whole, and the table shows as well as can be shown the comparative effect the reading test would have had on the immigration of

the racial groups concerned. With the qualifications before noted, it is also indicative of the probable effect the test will have on future immigration, which, as already stated, would be to check the influx from Southern and Eastern Europe and Turkey without diminishing the movement from the rest of Europe. There is reason to believe, however, that in some of the countries named the new law will stimulate primary education, so as to enable those desiring to go to America to pass the simple test.

EXCLUSION OF ASIATICS

Altho the reading test is the most discust feature of the new law its effect in the long run may be of less moment than the effect of the so-called latitude and longitude clause of the law, which awkwardly, but doubtless effectually, closes the door against pretty much all Asiatic immigration not already barred by the Chinese Exclusion Law and Treaty and the “gentlemen's agreement" with Japan. What is perhaps of equal importance, it provides for the exclusion of the Japanese in the event that the gentlemen's agreement should become inoperative. The clause referred to denies admission into the United States to the following class of aliens :

Unless otherwise provided for by existing treaties, persons who are natives of islands not possessed by the United States adjacent to the Continent of Asia, situate south of the twentieth parallel of latitude north, west of the one hundred and sixtieth meridian of longitude east from Greenwich, and north of the tenth parallel of latitude south, or who are natives of any country, province, or dependency situate on the Continent of Asia west of the one hundred and tenth meridian of longitude east from Greenwich and east of the fiftieth meridian of longitude east from Greenwich and south of the fiftieth parallel of latitude north, except that portion of said