Part 7

In the meantime, during the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt, a Gentlemen’s Agreement had been made with Japan in 1907, whereby Japan undertook to check the emigration of Japanese laborers to the United States.

Immigration from Europe was largely suspended during the World War, but it rapidly increased thereafter until it was checked by the temporary Quota Limit Law of 1921 and definitely limited by the permanent Quota Limit Law of 1924. By this law, immigration was restricted to 150,000 annually, with quotas allotted to the various nations based on the Census of 1890. In 1929, the quota based on the Census of 1920 went into effect, bringing the total immigration quota to about 153,000 annually.

Our Present Policy

The theory that America should be a refuge for the oppressed of all nations has been quite generally honored in shaping our immigration policy. However, the United States is no longer a refuge for the oppressed peoples of all the world in the same way as it was in the past.

Our present policy is that immigration shall be limited to a fixed number, that such immigrants shall be of good character and well disposed toward American institutions. For, in the words of former President Coolidge:

Whether one traces his Americanism back three centuries to the Mayflower or three years to the steerage is not half so important as whether his Americanism today is real and genuine. No matter on what various crafts we came here, we are all now in the same boat.

Ourselves and Our Neighbors

A recent dinner in Chicago with Catholic friends, whose parents came from Italy, a conference with a group of 25 cultured Negro men and women at Chicago University, and a visit in Des Moines, Iowa, with a close personal friend of mine, a rabbi, are a few personal experiences which show in a very real way how a relatively free society enables us to enrich our lives through fellowship with men of different races and religions.

In this Nation, to which more than 38,000,000 immigrants have come during the last 120 years, the struggle of people of all races and of many creeds has been and is consciously toward the goal of human understanding and tolerance. This is an effort to elevate human welfare, irrespective of race, color, or creed; and to rise to new heights of civilization with the help of all contributions to our culture. A distinguishing characteristic of a true American is that he measures men of all races and creeds by their achievement, their honesty of purpose, and their humility.

J. W. STUDEBAKER, Commissioner of Education.

The Immigrant and Our Economic Progress

The greatest wealth of any nation is its people.—ALLEN H. EATON.

To paint an adequate picture of the part which the immigrant has played in the economic progress of the United States, it would be necessary, as Rudyard Kipling says, “to splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of comet’s hair.” The industrial and agricultural greatness of the United States has been made possible by the brawn and brain of the immigrants and their children.

Cotton

The important part played by the Negro in the agricultural life of the South is nowhere more vividly portrayed than by the story of King Cotton. Cotton production, which amounted to 85,000,000 lb. in 1810, doubled every ten years for the following three decades. By 1840, two-thirds of the world’s cotton supply was produced in the South and, by 1850, cotton valued at $98,000,000 was raised. In 1937-1938, the United States produced four times as much cotton as the rest of the world.

U.S.A. 18,946,000 BALES BRAZIL 2,107,839 BALES ]

Much of the credit for this amazing achievement goes to the Negro whose labor has been the foundation of our Cotton Kingdom.

Tobacco

The story of tobacco is, too, largely the achievement of Negro labor. In 1618, the Virginia planters exported 20 lb. of tobacco, which increased to 1,500,000 lb. in 1639 and reached a total of 53,000,000 lb. in 1773. In 1937, the United States raised more than one-fourth of the world’s tobacco supply.

U.S.A. 1,553,000,000 LB. CHINA 1,400,000,000 LB. INDIA 1,200,000,000 LB. ]

In addition to his labor in the cotton and tobacco fields, the Negro has also helped to make profitable the production of rice and sugar.

Railroads

The railroad played a great part in the settling of the West. With the completion of the Erie Canal, the Irish transferred their energy and labor to building tracks for the transcontinental railroad. The Chinese also labored on the western end. Today, Irish, Chinese, Italian, and Mexican laborers help to maintain the railroads. In 1937, almost one-half the world’s miles of railways were in our country.

U.S.A. 238,539 MI. RUSSIA 52,425 MI. INDIA 43,128 MI. ]

Automobiles

Natural resources and inventive genius have enabled us to produce each year three times as many automobiles as the rest of the world put together. The work of the Poles, Slavs, Mexicans, and other groups has been an important factor in this phenomenal growth.

U.S.A. 4,808,974 BRITAIN 490,366 GERMANY 331,894 ]

Steel