Debate Hoover’s Probable Action on the National Origins Clause

While Washington circles are debating the question of whether or not it is mandatory under the law for President Hoover to issue a proclamation on April 1 putting into effect the National Origins clause of the Immigration Act. Commissioner of Immigration Harry E. Hull has issued a statement putting forth the claim that the United States is one of the most liberal nations of the world in its immigration policy. The statement was designed to show how the American working man is being protected through the restrictive immigration policy of the government.

No other country, Mr. Hull stated, is absorbing so many immigrants as is the United States, and there are few countries but that discriminate against certain trades and occupations.

Since the passage of the Act of 1924, the sum total of immigration has been reduced from approximately 1,000,000 a year to 300,000 a year, and the effects of the present immigration policies upon our labor market are of marked significance, when present conditions are even briefly compared with those which existed prior to the introduction of the selective and numerical regulation of immigration, the Commissioner contended.

Advocating strict immigration measures, Mr. Hull declared:

“With labor-saving devices being rapidly installed in industry, thus displacing many workers annually, whose future and whose earning power must be safeguarded by the utilization of their skill and experience gained in their past years of useful service, the country has a sacred obligation to protect them against unemployment; and one of the surest ways in which to throw such protection about them is by the strict compliance with the immigration law, with limitations and qualifications which must be met by all those who seek American shores and their attendant benefits.”

Delay in putting into effect the National Origins clause in the immigration act, which would severely limit the influx of aliens from all countries except those of this country’s early stock, ap- (Continued on Page 4)

pears a certainty, according to a statement today by the People’s Legislative Service. It holds that a proclamation of the law’s effect on April 1 is not mandatory.

The People’s Legislative Service believes, if the Attorney General’s opinion leaves it to the President’s discretion, he will not issue the proclamation.

If the delay is possible, Mr. Hoover is expected to ask for action by the extra session of Congress which may lead to putting off the National Origins for another year to enable further study, or possibly the abandonment of the whole idea. The President, it is understood, favors scrapping the National Origins clause for more feasible restrictions.

At any rate, it is possible that Mr. Hoover will make known the Attorney General’s opinion this week, and will then announce what course he will take.

Although it is expected that Attorney General Mitchell will follow the ruling of his predecessor and decide that it is mandatory for President Hoover to issue the proclamation, it is felt in some circles that the President will issue the proclamation on April 1st and then, at the special session of Congress on April 15th, ask Congress for postponement of the clause, pending further legislation. It is believed that with the increased Republican majority in the Senate, postponement of the clause, as desired by the President, will be granted.