Rents.

Literacy.

History of the literacy test.

The Act of

1917.

Essence of the literacy

test provision.

Exception

in the case of certain near relatives.

9. Households of immigrants as compared with native-born white households pay, on the whole, higher rents per room but considerably lower rents per person. The lower rents per person among immigrants are, of course, due to the greater number of persons per room. The larger size of the households is due in considerable degree to the greater number of boarders and lodgers among immigrants. . . . 10. A great majority of foreign-born male heads of households who came to the United States before reaching 14 years of age are now able to speak English and to read and write. Practically all persons native-born of foreign father among those studied speak the English language and are able to read and write.

117. The literacy test1

The number and complexity of the problems to which immigration has given rise, has repeatedly raised the question of the exclusion of certain classes of immigrants. After the Civil War there was an increasing demand that illiterate immigrants be excluded from the United States. Between 1897 and 1915 Congress passed three different bills embodying a literacy test for immigrants, but each of these was vetoed by the President, the first by Cleveland in 1897, the second by Taft in 1913, and the third by Wilson in 1915. In 1917, however, a comprehensive immigration law was enacted, and in the third section of this statute there is provision for a literacy test, as follows:

[It is provided] that after three months from the passage of this Act, in addition to aliens who are by law now excluded from admission into the United States, the following persons shall also be excluded from admission thereto, to wit:

All aliens over sixteen years of age, physically capable of reading, who cannot read the English language, or some other language or dialect, including Hebrew or Yiddish:

Provided, That any admissible alien, or any alien heretofore or hereafter legally admitted, or any citizen of the United States, may bring in or send for his father or grandfather over fifty-five years of age, his wife, his mother, his grandmother, or his unmarried or widowed daughter, if otherwise admissible, whether such relative can read or not; and such relative shall be permitted to enter.

1 From the Statutes of the United States, Immigration Law of 1917, Section 3.

acy test.

That for the purpose of ascertaining whether aliens can read the The nature immigrant inspectors shall be furnished with slips of uniform size, of the literprepared under the direction of the Secretary of Labor, each containing not less than thirty nor more than forty words in ordinary use, printed in plainly legible type in some one of the various languages or dialects of immigrants. Each alien may designate the particular language or dialect in which he desires the examination to be made, and shall be required to read the words printed on the slip in such language or dialect.

That the following classes of persons shall be exempt from the Classes operation of the illiteracy test, to wit:

exempted from the

the test.

All aliens who shall prove to the satisfaction of the proper immi- operation of gration officer or to the Secretary of Labor that they are seeking admission to the United States to avoid religious persecution in the country of their last permanent residence. ; all aliens who have been lawfully admitted to the United States and who have resided therein continuously for five years and who return to the United States within six months from the date of their departure therefrom; all aliens in transit through the United States; all aliens who have been lawfully admitted to the United States and who later shall go in transit from one part of the United States to another through foreign contiguous territory: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall exclude, if otherwise admissible, persons convicted, or who teach or advocate the commission, of an offense purely political. . . .

118. Why California objects to the Japanese 1

The problem of Japanese immigration is of very recent origin, and Significance of Japanese in one sense is acute only on the Pacific Coast. Nevertheless, this immigration. phase of the general immigration question is a matter of national concern, involving not only economic, social and political problems at home, but also relations between the governments of Japan and the United States. At present heavy restrictions are imposed upon the immigration of Japanese into the United States, and it seems likely that such restrictions will be continued. In the following 1 From the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Annals. Vol. XCIII. Philadelphia, 1921; pp. 16-17.

Necessity of prompt action.

The economic objection to the Japa

nese.

The

racial question.

Exclusion of

the Japanese

a matter

of self-preser

vation.

selection, California's objections to the Japanese invasion are summed up by Hon. James D. Phelan, United States Senator from California: The solution of the Japanese' problem, growing out of the California situation, requires prompt action by Congress. It is charged with danger. The people of Japan, as well as the people of the eastern states, should be informed in a spirit of frankness. There should be no misunderstanding, because misunderstandings breed trouble.

Great numbers of Japanese, men and women, are in California, and are acquiring large tracts of agricultural land. The state law forbade ownership by aliens ineligible to citizenship, but the Japanese took deeds in the name of their children born on the soil, or in the name of corporations, and so circumvented the intent of the law. The initiative law adopted at the recent November elections will, it is hoped, prevent this circumvention, thus making further acquisition impossible.

The Japanese also lease lands and work for a share of the crop, and when thus working for themselves are impossible competitors, and drive the white settlers, whose standards of living are different, from their farms. The white farmer is not free from cupidity when tempted by Japanese to sell out at high prices, and they do sell out and disappear. The state, therefore, is obliged as a simple matter of self-preservation to prevent the Japanese from absorbing the soil, because the future of the white race, American institutions, and western civilization are put in peril. The Japanese do not assimilate with our people and make a homogeneous population, and hence they cannot be naturalized and admitted to citizenship.

Therefore, the question is principally economic, and partly racial. Japan herself excluded Chinese in order to preserve her own people, and that is what California, Australia and Canada are doing. Japanese statesmen must surely, for these reasons, acquit Americans of race prejudice. We are willing to receive diplomats, scholars and travelers from Japan on terms of equality, but we do not want her laborers. We admire their industry and cleverness, but for that very reason, being a masterful people, they are more dangerous. They are not content to work for wages, as do the Chinese, who are excluded, but are always seeking control of the farm and of the crop.

tude of

California.

Immigration and naturalization are domestic questions, and no The attipeople can come to the United States except upon our own terms. We must preserve the soil for the Caucasian race. The Japanese, by crowding out our population, produce disorder and bolshevism among our own people, who properly look to our government to protect them against this destructive competition. California, by acting in time, before the evil becomes even greater, expects to prevent conflict and to maintain good relations with the Japanese Government. The American Government rests upon the free choice of the people, The purpose and a large majority of the people are engaged in farming pursuits. They form the backbone of every country the repository of morals, policy. patriotism and thrift, and in time of their country's danger spring to its defense. They represent its prosperity in peace and its security in war. The soil can not be taken from them. Their standards of living can not suffer from deterioration. Their presence is essential to the life of the state. I therefore urge the Japanese Government and people to put themselves in our place and to acquit us of any other purpose in the exclusion of oriental immigration than the preservation of our national life.

of our

exclusion

The people of Asia have a destiny of their own. We shall aid them Conclusion. by instruction and example, but we can not suffer them to overwhelm the civilization which has been established by pioneers and patriots and which we are dutifully bound to preserve.

119. Americanizing the immigrant 1

of the problem of assim

ilation.

Of recent years the assimilation or Americanization of the immigrant Growing has been of rapidly increasing importance. This is particularly true of the period which has elapsed since the outbreak of the World War in 1914. That struggle called our attention to the danger of tolerating large masses of unassimilated foreigners in our midst, and stimulated increased interest in the problem of Americanization. In the following passage, the United States Bureau of Education sums up some of the factors involved in an Americanization program for individual states:

1 From the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1919, No. 77. State Americanization, Washington, 1920; pp. 24-26.

The place
of local
communities

in Ameri-
canization
work.

The rôle of the state chamber of commerce,

labor organizations,

associations

of manufacturers,

educational agencies,

associations

of women,

and other organizations

The great task of educating, protecting, and assimilating our foreign-born people must be performed by the communities where these people live and work. These communities must be organized and set to work. It should be unnecessary to create any new machinery within a community, for every community has already of its own initiative formed organizations and societies which are ready for the work. The task is to bring them together in one united force.

The state chamber of commerce, wherever it exists, should be a powerful factor in bringing back of the state program the influential and representative bodies which compose its membership. . . .

The state federation of labor, with its hundreds of local unions, is a necessary factor, for through the unions direct influence may be brought to bear upon the non-English-speaking workmen to enter the classes wherever they may be formed. . . .

The state association of manufacturers represents a group which is indispensable in the work of Americanization. The active support and complete sympathy of the manufacturers must be secured by each community. . .

The state departments of education, of health, of industrial relations, and those other bureaus which are concerned in the broader aspects of Americanization should of course be brought into the plans. The state university, through its education extension work, can be of very great assistance not only in the educational phases of the work but in the social aspects as well. Through its traveling libraries, film service, community center, and other work, the extension division can directly assist the communities in practical Americanization.

The state federation of women's clubs and the women's patriotic organizations can start a great force at work in every community in the state, and they should be brought completely into the plans of the state committee.

The special educational branches, such as home economics, kindergarten, and school nursing, can through their state leaders be of material assistance. The state organizations of the doctors, visiting nurses, lawyers, bankers, dentists, architects, and others can not only render direct assistance, but they can in turn spur their individual members to proffer their help to the local committees.