Outlines of the Proposals of the 
 National Committee for Con¬ 
 structive Immigration 
 Legislation 
 
 The urgent need of revising our immi¬ 
 gration laws is widely recognized. Our 
 present laws do not meet the situation— 
 they are obsolete. After a brief period of 
 emigration, many anticipate a fresh flood 
 of immigration whose proportions no one 
 can forecast. Labor unrest is increasing. 
 Organized labor is demanding complete 
 stoppage of immigration. 
 
 Pre-war immigration produced many 
 serious problems. We admitted immi¬ 
 grants regardless of our economic condi¬ 
 tions and needs. We did not concern 
 ourselves with their relative capacities to 
 live wholesomely here. We had among 
 us vast masses of aliens of many 
 nationalities and we made no effective 
 provisions for fitting them for life here as 
 a part of our democracy. For a generation 
 we have been enacting and enforcing 
 laws violating treaties with China. These 
 laws have been producing international 
 irritation. For lack of suitable laws the 
 United States is not able to fulfil its 
 treaty obligations for the protection of 
 aliens of any land. 
 
 America now needs a sound scientific 
 policy for dealing comprehensively and 
 constructively with all these problems. 
 
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Principles 
 
 Legislation dealing with these matters 
 should be controlled by the following 
 principles: 
 
 1. The United States should so regu¬ 
 late, and, where necessary, restrict 
 immigration as to provide that only 
 so many immigrants of each race or 
 people may be admitted as can be 
 wholesomely Americanized. 
 
 2. The number of those individuals 
 of each race or people already in 
 the United States who have become 
 Americanized affords the best basis 
 of the measure for the further im¬ 
 migration of that people. 
 
 3. American standards of living should 
 be protected from the dangerous 
 economic competition of immi¬ 
 grants, whether from Europe or 
 from Asia. 
 
 4. No larger amount of total immigra¬ 
 tion should be admitted than we 
 can steadily employ. 
 
 5. Such provision for the care of aliens 
 residing among us should be made 
 as will promote their rapid and 
 genuine Americanization and thus 
 maintain intact our democratic in¬ 
 stitutions and national unity. 
 
 6. The Federal Government should be 
 empowered by Congress to protect 
 the lives and property of aliens. 
 
 3 
 
Program for Legislation 
 
 On the basis of these principles, the 
 National Committee for Constructive Im¬ 
 migration Legislation has formulated a 
 number of specific proposals for legis¬ 
 lation. 
 
 1. Regulation of the Rate of Immigration 
 
 The maximum permissible annual im¬ 
 migration from any people should be 
 a definite per cent (say between three 
 and ten) of those from that people who 
 have already become citizens. 
 
 2. Registration of Aliens 
 
 All resident aliens should be required 
 to register and to keep registered until 
 they become American citizens or leave 
 the country. 
 
 3. Distribution of Aliens 
 
 Effective plans should be formed for 
 the wholesome distribution of aliens. 
 
 4. The Education of Aliens for Citizen¬ 
 
 ship 
 
 The Federal Government should under¬ 
 take more effective methods for the 
 training of aliens for citizenship than 
 the present laws provide. Adequate 
 funds, moreover, should be provided 
 for this important task. 
 
 5. Higher Standards for Naturalization 
 The naturalization laws should be 
 amended so as to include among other 
 requirements at least the ability to read 
 
 4 
 
an ordinary American newspaper and 
 a knowledge of the history of America, 
 the practices and ideals of our democ¬ 
 racy and the rights and duties of citi¬ 
 zens. 
 
 6. Equal Treatment for all Peoples 
 Under the foregoing provisions and 
 rigid limitations as to numbers and 
 qualifications, the right to acquire citi¬ 
 zenship should be given to all who 
 qualify, regardless of race. 
 
 7. Adequate Protection for Aliens 
 Congress should enact a law enabling 
 the Federal Government to exer¬ 
 cise immediate jurisdiction in any case 
 involving the protection of and justice 
 to aliens. The treaties place this re¬ 
 sponsibility on the Federal Govern¬ 
 ment but no laws as yet give it this 
 power. 
 
 8. An Immigration Commission 
 
 For the administration of the above 
 measures the National Committee pro¬ 
 poses that Congress shall establish an 
 Immigration Commission to consist of 
 the Secretaries of Labor, Comrnerce, 
 Agriculture and Interior, the Chairmen 
 of the House and Senate Cornmittees 
 on Immigration, the Commissioner of 
 Education, nominees of organized labor 
 and of the Chamber of Commerce of 
 the United States and a representative 
 of the general public, the last three to 
 be appointed by the President. 
 
 5 
 
The foregoing statement, because of its 
 necessary brevity, leaves wholly unde¬ 
 fined many matters of detail, the right 
 settlement of which, however, is essential 
 to the success of the proposed policy. 
 These have been formulated and ex¬ 
 plained in two pamphlets for those who 
 desire more detailed information. 
 
 THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE 
 
 In the autumn of 1917 a small group of 
 students of immigration problems issued 
 a leaflet entitled “Tentative Proposals 
 for Constructive Immigration Legisla¬ 
 tion.” This was sent to selected individ¬ 
 uals who were invited to become mem¬ 
 bers of a National Committee to promote 
 this program in case “one thousand lead¬ 
 ing citizens in all parts of the United 
 States can be found who will endorse and 
 support these proposals.” 
 
 By the close of 1918 more than one 
 thousand had expressed this approval and 
 endorsement. In January, 1919, a two- 
 day conference of experts in immigration 
 and legislative matters was held in Wash¬ 
 ington to frame a draft of a bill embody¬ 
 ing the “Tentative Proposals.” The re¬ 
 sult was published in March in a pam¬ 
 phlet entitled “Our Immigration and 
 Naturalization Laws.” 
 
 In June, 1919, the Committee on Immi¬ 
 gration and Naturalization of the House 
 of Representatives gave six hearings to 
 the National Committee. The House 
 
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Committee was invited to adopt the prin¬ 
 ciples here advocated and to prepare a 
 bill of its own along these lines. 
 
 Equality of Race Treatment 
 
 The National Committee profoundly 
 realizes the seriousness of the problems 
 raised by race differences in matters of 
 immigration and naturalization. It recog¬ 
 nizes that the control of immigration is 
 a fundamental right of every nation; and 
 it holds that races markedly different 
 from those in effective possession of any 
 land ought not to emigrate to that land 
 in numbers so large as to cause economic, 
 political, or social disorders. For the 
 maintenance of good neighborliness be¬ 
 tween peoples racially different it should 
 be mutually recognized that emigration 
 of large numbers of either race to the 
 land of the other, is fraught with danger. 
 Such immigration should, therefore, be 
 regulated and rigidly restricted, if pos¬ 
 sible, by mutual consent. 
 
 For the purposes, however, of mutual 
 acquaintance and good will, for the re¬ 
 moval of race prejudice and for the mu¬ 
 tual exchange of each other’s industrial 
 and cultural achievements, it is impor¬ 
 tant that provision should be made for a 
 limited reciprocal immigration, especially 
 of the higher and better educated classes. 
 In order that such limited immigration 
 may secure its best results, the Commit¬ 
 tee holds that “most favored nation treat¬ 
 ment” should be accorded to all such 
 
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admitted aliens in matters of economic 
 opportunity and political rights. Differ¬ 
 ential and discriminatory treatment of 
 lawfully resident aliens based exclusively 
 on difference of race cannot fail to irritate 
 and humiliate not only the individuals 
 immediately affected but also the people 
 in their home land. 
 
 For the reasons thus briefly stated the 
 National Committee advocates a policy 
 on the one hand of regulation of immigra¬ 
 tion and on the other hand of full eco¬ 
 nomic and political opportunity to those 
 actually admitted. 
 
 1. The regulation of immigration 
 should be provided for by a method 
 which, while applicable equally to all 
 peoples and therefore free from invidious 
 discrimination in principle, shall also 
 recognize and provide for those impor¬ 
 tant differences in the adaptability to 
 Americanization of diverse races and peo¬ 
 ples, which are widely acknowledged. 
 
 (a) As large an opportunity for im¬ 
 migration should be given to peoples 
 closely related to us ethnologically and 
 therefore easily Americanized and in¬ 
 corporated into our body politic, as 
 economic conditions may justify, and 
 no more. 
 
 (b) Only so much of an opportu¬ 
 nity for immigration should be given 
 to peoples markedly unlike us ethno¬ 
 logically and therefore difficult of 
 Americanization and incorporation into 
 
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our body politic, as their proven capa¬ 
 city for the same may make feasible 
 and no more. 
 
 2. Under the foregoing provisions and 
 limitations full economic and political op¬ 
 portunity should be granted to every per¬ 
 manently resident alien who qualifies for 
 such privileges, regardless of his race. 
 
 ♦ ♦ ♦ 
 
 The National Committee believes that 
 its concrete proposals for Constructive 
 Immigration Legislation embody the 
 above principles and will secure the de¬ 
 sired results. The plan is scientific and 
 flexible, capable of continuous adjust¬ 
 ment to our changing economic condi¬ 
 tions. It will in practice place no restric¬ 
 tion on immigration from Northwest 
 Europe, it will restrain immigration from 
 South, Central and Eastern Europe, vary¬ 
 ing according to the actual percentage 
 rate adopted, and it will permit only a 
 small, practically negligible immigration 
 from China and Japan, both now and in 
 the future. 
 
 In a word, the proposed law will admit 
 as immigrants, only as many from each 
 people as we can hope to Americanize 
 and steadily employ. It will help protect 
 American labor, prevent sudden influx 
 from any new people, stabilize business, 
 raise standards of citizenship and pro¬ 
 mote intelligent patriotism. 
 
 It will at the same time harmonize 
 America’s treatment of Chinese with our 
 
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treaty obligations, which obligations are 
 violated by some of our present laws, 
 according to the judgment of the Supreme 
 Court of the United States. The time 
 has surely come to repeal our treaty¬ 
 breaking laws and to apply the Golden 
 Rule and the plain principles of interna¬ 
 tional honor to our relations with the 
 Chinese and with every people. 
 
 Invitation to Membership 
 
 Every American citizen who believes 
 in the foregoing proposals for the scien¬ 
 tific regulation of immigration and desires 
 to co-operate in its enactment into law is 
 invited to become a member of this 
 Movement. There are no prescribed 
 membership dues. Each member is asked 
 to spread the knowledge of this plan and 
 to aid in securing new members. The ex¬ 
 tent and energy of our campaign of edu¬ 
 cation depends, of course, on the interest 
 and contributions of those who believe 
 in it. 
 
 Correspondence is invited. Pamphlets 
 presenting our proposals in full detail will 
 be sent on application. 
 
 Executive Committee 
 
 Bremer, Mrs. Harry M. Houston| Herbert S. 
 
 Collier, John Lawson, Albert G. 
 
 Cumberson, Mrs. C. E. Lewis, Burdette G. 
 
 Day, Dwight H. Mangano, A. 
 
 Duggan, Prof. Stephen P. Panunzio, C. 
 
 Fairchild, Prof. H. P. Stelzle, Charles 
 
 Faunce, President W. H. P. Strau.s, Hon. Oscar S. 
 Forbes, Mrs. J. Malcolm Taylor, Graham 
 Golden, John Tyson, Prof. Francis 
 
 Holt, Hamilton Willsie, Mrs. Honorc 
 
 GULICK. SIDNEY L., Secretary 
 105 East 22nd Street, New York City