President Hoover today issued the proclamation provided by the Immigration Law calling into effect the National Origins Clause of the Immigration Act July 1, 1929.
Together with the proclamation, the President at a press conference today issued the following statement:
“The Attorney General has advised me in the failure of Congress to suspend action, it is now mandatory upon me under the Immigration Act to issue the proclamation establishing ‘National Origins’ as the basis of immigration quotas. The proclamation must be issued prior to April 1, and will be issued at once. It will go into effect July 1, unless action is taken by Congress in the meantime.
“While I am strongly in favor of restricted and selected immigration, I have opposed the ‘National Origins’ basis. I therefore naturally dislike the duty of issuing the proclamation, installing the new basis, but the President of the United States must be the first to obey the law.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.