ID# 1143:
"Europe as an emigrant-exporting continent," Harry H. Laughlin testimony before the House Committee, including Immigration Restriction Act
Date:
1924
Pages: (1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15)
Source:
The Harry H. Laughlin Papers, Truman State University, papers, C-2-6,6

&quote;Europe as an emigrant-exporting continent,&quote;  Harry H. Laughlin testimony before the House Committee, including Immigration Restriction Act

1238 Europe as an Emigrant-Exporting Continent History shows, also, that in the development of American immigration policy several basic rules have held. These are, first, that the door is always open as wide and as freely as condition will permit. Second, we have never anticipated danger, but have always waited until symptoms of injury were apparent; then tardily legislated to meet further development of the impending ill. Conditions and not theories have always forced our immigration laws and regulations. Third, we have never exercised our full sovereign rights in rigidly filtering the immigrant stream in our own interests. Thus far our policy has been largely negatively restrictive rather than actively selective. If "America is to remain American," we shall have to perfect the principle of selective immigration based upon high family stock standards. By national eugenics we shall have to correct the errors of past national policies of immigration, but by new statutes which are sound biologically we can cause future immigration to improve our native family stocks. Contrasted Economic Conditions in Europe and the United States In examining the reports of the Commissioner General of Immigration we are able to compare the number of immigrant aliens admitted with the emigrant aliens departed for the 16 years between 1908 and 1923. During this interval there were 9,949,740 aliens admitted, while 3,498,195 departed, leaving an excess of arrivals over departures of 6,451,555 - roughly, about three admissions to one departure. We are thus, and always have been primarily an importer of immigrants. For many decades to come our immigration will, no doubt, greatly exceed in numbers our emigration. The primary causes of present-day human migration are generally economic - that is, a movement on the part of the individual from poorer to better wages and their accompanying freedom and better social opportunities. Religion and race play secondary roles. The principal causes or springs of migration are economic, but the principal consequences are biological or racial; economic consequences are only secondary. If we contrast the present population and economic situations in Europe as a whole with those of the United States, we shall see why the economic pressure of a certain type is working strongly for the open door for emigration to America. Table No. 1 (p. 1239) sets forth these fundamental facts in parallel columns for ready comparison. The ease and cheapness of transportation facilities also must be considered as important factors. We have under way a research showing the relation between the cost of trans-Atlantic passage and the number of immigrants who have come to America in different periods.

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