Possibility of Delay in Passage of Immigration Bill

A possibility of delay in the adoption of the immigration bill as reported by the joint conference looked up today when vigorous opposition to the postponement of the Japanese exclusion provision was expressed by a number of Senators, including Borah, Johnson of California, Robinson of Arkansas, Shortridge and Ashurst. Senator Harris, one of the conferees who was opposed to the postponement stated that a poll of both House and Senate showed that the newly drafted bill will be rejected because of the opposition to the President’s postponement proposal. Senator Reed, formerly one of the exponents of Japanese exclusion, defended postponment.

An attack on the reported bill of the joint conference was made today by Congressman Sabath of Chicago in a statement which he circulated among the members of the House. In particular he points out that the joint bill is an altogether new one, not agreed upon by the House, and conflicting with the bill already passed by the House. He calls attention to the fact that the national origins plan, included in the joint bill, was rejected by the House when offered by Congressman Rogers of Massachusetts, and states that in the opinion of the best statisticians, the national origins plan cannot be worked out, and will at best be based only on guess work. He declares that the entire bill is “still more objectionable and discriminatory than the bill that was passed by the House,” and that the national origins plan is extremely favorable to Great Britain at the expense of the East and South European countries.