The state library association, the state Young Men's Christian and associAssociation, Young Women's Christian Association, Knights of ations. Columbus, Young Men's Hebrew Association, and other semi-public institutions, the Boy and Girl Scouts, the social workers, the churches and the church organizations — all of these should be interested in the work. Of an importance which is very great are the racial organizations. Many of the local racial societies are formed into state groups, and if the interest, sympathy, and support of the latter are once secured, that of the former will naturally follow. coördination. In bringing all of these active agencies into a common program, Necessity of great tact on the part of the state committee or director will be required. Many of these agencies are already at work in the field. It will not be an easy task to incorporate them into a common program, but it can be done. Americani zation. With vision, sympathy, tolerance, and a sincere friendliness toward The goal of the foreign-born by those in authority within the States, with adequate funds for the provision of educational facilities for their needs, and with earnest and cordial coöperation on the part of all the powerful forces of the Nation, State, and community, America can within a decade weld all of its various peoples into one great, harmonious, homogeneous whole and the words of its national motto be at last achieved-"One out of many." 1 120. A proposed immigration policy 1 Following the conclusion of the World War, there was a growing demand for a definite immigration policy on the part of the United States. By many it was declared that immigration to America, interrupted by the war, would recommence in such volume as to render impossible the assimilation of the newcomers. While uncertain as to the volume of post-war immigration, many others admitted that the country could not effectively meet its post-war adjustment problems unless immigration were drastically restricted. In 1921, when the question of an immigration policy was being generally discussed, 1 From the National Committee for Constructive Immigration Legislation, Program. Printed in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. XCIII. Philadelphia, 1921; pp. 213-214. Question of an immigra tion policy after the World War. Attitude of the National Com mittee for the National Committee for Constructive Immigration Legislation proposed the following immigration policy: [The Committee] advocates the scientific regulation of immigration. It does not propose either the complete stoppage of immigration or its unlimited admittance. It urges that the amount of Constructive immigration which may be admitted wisely in any given year depends Immigration Legislation. on facts which are not generally known, and which can not be known until patient, scientific investigation has been made of two distinct sets of factors; one social, the other economic. What is needed. Elements in the proposed program. Justice. Admittance of only as many immigrants as can be Americanized. Basis for restriction. Self-pro tection. Neither Congress nor the people as a whole has at present adequate knowledge on which to base a hard and fast immigration law that would be really wise and safe for us, or fair and friendly to the peoples clamoring for entrance. What is needed is a law that will define certain principles for the guidance of decisions, that will set up the requisite machinery for getting the needed facts; and that will provide an agency for evaluating those facts and for applying the principles in the light of the facts, so that the immigration allowed may be steadily adjusted to the ever-changing economic, industrial and social conditions. We contend that this policy, if adopted, will create an automatic barometer of admissibility of assimilable immigration. The policy and program advocated by the National Committee are based upon and embody the following General Principles: 1. That all legislation dealing with immigration and with resident aliens should be based on justice and good-will as well as on economic and political considerations. 2. That the United States should so regulate, and, where necessary, restrict immigration in order to provide that only so many immigrants of each race or people may be admitted as can be wholesomely Americanized. 3. That the number of those individuals of each race or people already in the United States who have already become Americanized affords the best practicable basis of measuring the further immigration of that people. 4. That American standards of living should be protected from the dangerous economic competition of immigrants, whether from Europe or from Asia. 5. That no larger amount of immigration of any given people should be admitted than can find steady employment and can fit wholesomely into our social, political and economic life. toward aliens per 6. That such provisions should be made for the care, education and Attitude distribution of aliens who come to live permanently among us as will promote their rapid and genuine transformation into American manently citizens and thus maintain intact our demòcratic institutions and national unity. resident here. Standards of naturali 7. That the standards of naturalization should be raised so as to include among other requirements at least the ability to read an zation. ordinary American newspaper, some real knowledge of the history of the United States, and an intelligent acceptance of the practices and ideals of our democracy. 8. That under careful regulation as to numbers and qualifications Citizenship. of permitted immigration from the various peoples, the privilege of acquiring citizenship by those who are lawfully here and are to remain a permanent part of our population should then be granted to all who actually qualify, regardless of race. Questions on the foregoing Readings 1. Which aspect of the immigration problem is probably the most fundamental? 2. What effect does lack of funds have upon the occupations of recent immigrants? 3. Explain what is meant by saying that the recently arrived immigrant often has a low standard of living. 4. To what extent is it true that the attitude of many recently arrived immigrants toward their employers is one of subserviency? 5. Name the cities in which the U. S. Immigration Commission conducted a survey of the living conditions among immigrant groups. 6. Discuss the prevalence of boarders and lodgers in the households of recent immigrants. 7. What can be said as to the cleanliness of the homes of the immigrant groups studied by the Commission? 8. Compare the various cities surveyed by the Commission with respect to congestion in immigrant quarters. 9. Name three Presidents who vetoed immigration bills embodying a literacy test. 10. What, in essence, is the provision for a literacy test in the immigration law of 1917? II. Name some classes which are excluded from the operation of the test. 12. What is the special significance of the problem of Japanese immi gration? 13. Discuss the economic objection to Japanese immigration. 14. What is the racial argument against Japanese immigration? 15. What is the attitude of California toward the Japanese question? 16. What is the prime purpose of our policy of restricting the immigration of Japanese to this country? 17. What effect did the World War have upon the question of Americanization? 18. Name some ways in which various state and local agencies could aid in the work of Americanization. 19. What is the goal of Americanization? 20. Discuss the movement toward the formulation of an immigration policy. 21. What is the attitude toward immigration of the National Committee for Constructive Immigration Legislation? 22. Enumerate some of the elements contained in the program proposed by this Committee. 23. What is the attitude of the Committee toward naturalization and citizenship? XXI CHAPTER XXI CRIME AND CORRECTION 1 121. Taft on the defects of criminal procedure 1 cedure in the United It is a notorious fact that procedure in the courts of the United Legal proStates is so defective as to impede rather than to guarantee justice. No one has more keenly realized this fact, and no one has more States is frankly expressed his disapproval of the existing situation, than faulty. William H. Taft, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. In April, 1908, the Chief Justice, then Secretary of War, delivered an address before the Civic Forum in New York City, in which he pointed out the delays and defects in the enforcement of law in this country. That part of his address which applies with particular force to criminal procedure follows: nature of this evil. If one were to be asked in what respect we had fallen furthest Serious short of ideal conditions in our whole government, I think he would be justified in answering, in spite of the glaring defects in our system of municipal government, that it is in our failure to secure expedition and thoroughness in the enforcement of public and private rights in our courts. I do not mean to say that the judges of the courts are lacking in either honesty, industry, or knowledge of the law, but I do mean to say that the machinery of which they are a part is so cumbersome and slow and expensive for the litigants — public and private that the whole judicial branch of the government fails in a marked way to accomplish certain of the purposes for which it was created. . . . Our criminal procedure a dis When we come to the administration of criminal law and the assertion of public right, which have a more direct bearing upon the welfare of the whole people than the settlement of private rights, grace to the injurious delays caused by the procedure provided by legislative 1 From William Howard Taft, Address delivered before the Civic Forum, in Carnegie Hall, New York City, April 28, 1908. civilization. |