Evening Star Newspaper, March 25, 1925, Page 10

U.S. LAW MAY SHUT OUT INDIANS OF LATIN AMERICA BY RACE TEST 41l But W hite Men, Negroes and Persons of “African Nativity” Barred Under New Immigration Law Court Ruling Narrows Meaning of ‘W hite.”” (Continued from First Page.) - would wish to settle in the United States permanently, and if he came as a visitor or student the rule would not apply. Has Discussed Matter. Commissioner General Husband has discussed the matter with Dr. Daniel Folkmar, cthn of the Depart- ynent of Commerce and author of the “Dictionary of R published by the sus in_ 1911, which Government races. In this case, he said, it was the opinion that if such an issue arose over a Mexican Indian it might come under the terms of a special treaty signed with Mexico at the conclusien of the Mexican War, so e racial question could be This would be a matter of on, however, Mr. Husband said, and other Central American na- ould present the same prob- he ban might even apply Indians, although here complications might arise through earlier treaties with the va- rious tribes under which some of them still claim special privileges in entering the United States. can Indian Outline of Situation. The present situation, in brief, as explained by Mr. Husband, is as fol- 16 By a statute passed in 1790 the right of naturalizatia Ameri- an citizens was restricted to ‘“free white persons.” Following the Civil War this was amended to read, “and to aliens of African nativity and per- sons of African descent. The 1924 mmigration law forbids entrance to he United States of persons inellgi- ble to become cit ns. Thus, the lists apparently are closed to all but p sons of unquestionable white blood, negroes and persons of other races sorn fn Africa. A peculiar twist of the present law, wecording to Raymond F. Crist, com- nissioner of the Bureau of Natural- zation, is that while a Japanese born ‘n Europa or Canada and whose an- cestors ght have lived there for senerations would be barred, a Japa- lese born in Africa probably would eligible to citizenship. and hence ble to enter the country, since a pecial exception is made for “aliens of African nativity.” Many Delicate Questions. , Labor Department , ‘opens up the pos- delicate legal ques- lead to international ard feelings if the ever reach the rourt Even the eligibility of some nhabitants of Minor, uch as \rmenians, has bee stioned and ould be the occasion of a hard bat- framers of the law in 1790, long be- fore anthropologists had devised a racial table, actually meant by “white,” with due consideration for their 'limited knowledge of science. “If the applicant is a white person Within the meaning of this section,” the decision reads, “he is entitled to naturalizition; otherwise not. * & ~ The provision is, not that any par- ticular class of persons shall be ex- cluded, but it is in effect that only white persons shall be fwcluded. The intention was to confer the privilege of citizenship upon that class of peo- ple whom the fathers knew as white and to deny it to all who could not be so classified. It is not enough to say that the framers did not have in mind the brown or yellow races of Asia. It is necessary to go [further and be able to say that hal these particular races been suggested the language of.the act would have been so varied as to include them. Meant Raclal Test. . “Following a long line of decisions in the lower, Federal courts, we held that the words imported a racial and not an individual test and were meant to indicate only persons of what is popularly known as the Cau- casian race. But the conclusion that the phrase ‘white person’ and the word Caucasian are synonymous does not end the matter. Mere ability on the part of an applicant for naturali- zation to establish a line of descent from a Caucasian ancester will not ipso facto conclude the inquiry. Cau- casian is a conventional word of much flexibility, and it and the words ‘white persons’ are not of identical meaning. “We must keep in mind that it (the statute) does not employ the word Caucasfan, but the words ‘white per- sons’ and these are words of common speech and not of scientific origin. The word Caucasian not only was not employed in the law, but was ’proba- bly wholly unfamiliar to the original framers of the statute in 1790. In- deed, as used in the science of eth- nology, the connotation of the word is by no means clear and the use of it in its scientific sense would simply mean the substitution of one per- plexity for another. The words of the statute are to be interpreted in ac- cordance with the vocabulary of the common man, from whose vocabulary they were taken. may be true that the blond THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. ¢ Scandinavian and the brown Hindoo have a common ancestor in the dim reaches of antiquity but the average man knows petfectly well that there are unmistakable and profound dif- ferences between them today, and it is not impossible that if the common ancestor could be materialized in the flesh we should discover that he was himself sufficiently differentiated from both of his descendants to preclude his racial classification with either. In 1790 the Adamite theory of crea- tion—which gave a common ancestor to all mankind, was generally ac- Gepted and it is not at all probable that it was intended by the legislators of that day to submit the question of the application of the words ‘white persons' to the mere test of an in- definitely remote common ancestry without regard to the extent of the subsequent divergence. “It would seem reasonably clear that mere resemblance In language, indicating a common linguistic root burled in remotely ancient sofl,’is al- together inadequate to prove common racial origin. Our own history has witnessed the adoption of the English tongue by millions of negroes whose descendants can never be classified with the descendants of ‘white per- sons." Included in “Caucasian.” “The term Caucasian Includes not only the Hindus but some of the Poly- nesians and the Hamites of Africa upon the ground of the Caucasic cast of their features, though in color they range from brown to black. We ven- ture to think that the average, well informed white American would learn with some ‘degree of astonishment that the race to which he belongs is made up of such heterogeneous ele- ments. “What we now hold is that the words ‘free white persons’ are words of common speech, to be interpreted in accordance with the understanding of the common man, synonymous with the word Caucasian only as that word Is popularly understood. As so understood and used, whatever may be the speculations of the ethnologist, it does not include the body of people to whom the appellee belongs. It is familiar observation and knowledge that the physical characteristics of the Hindus render them easily dis- tinguishable from the various groups of persons in this country commonly reCognized as white. It cannot be doubted that the children born in this country of Hindu parents would re- tain indefinitely the evidence of their ancestry. It is very far from our thought to suggest the slightest ques- tion of raclal superiority. What we suggest is merely racial difference.” With this decision in mind, Mr. Husband said, the question of eligi- bility reverts in any contested case to the .opinion of a court as to whethér any group of individuals con- stituting a nation are “white” at the Chas. Schwartz & Son Graduate Optometrists WEDNESDAY, present, and all learned arguments|They are of African descent. The tracing them back to the same origin | pure Castilian individuals, who in the as the people of northern Kurope, for | past have constituted the ruling class instance, go for nothing. The framers|of most Latin American republics,| Mr. of the statute of 1790 would have|could, of course, come in without looked at a Hindu and pronounced |question. But the great blocks of him brown merely from the color of [ pure-blood Indians and the still his skin, without taking his cephalic|greater blocks of half-breeds might| against index or the length-breadth ratio of [ be kept out if anybody took the ques; country, his nose. tion to the courts. all Dr. Folkmar, in his official gnide of | Commissioner Husb; said that races, pronounces the American In-!the case probably would not fall to dian tribes, Both North and South, the Bureau of Immigration to de- as Mongolians of the same primary|fend. All New World peoples are racial stock as the Japanese or|outside the quota regulations, but a Chinese, although with great modi-| special non-quota vise must be ob- fications due to their long residence|tained from the consul at the port in the New World. Therefore, they|of embarkation, and this man would are certainly not white and they have|be a State Department employe. no relationship whatsoever o the|Hence the original responsibility black men of Afric: -~ | would be upon the State Department Members of the great negro popu-|for issuing a vise. When the man lation of Brazil probably could enter|reached an American port, he ‘be- the United States without difficulty. | lieved, the Bureau of Immig: manent whife Indfan ation | stray b such a case. and MARCH 25, could fall back upon the State De- partment vise. The present wording of the law, Husband admitted, was chiefly dangerous in that it gave an oppor- tunity for a ticularly some person with a grudge South to bring a test case, the bitterness certain to attend |of the arguments and the possible per- hard feeling grant was barred. make certaln of the legal grounds on this point that the inquiries have been made. Fortunately the larger Latin Ameri- can nations would be unaffected by Brazil's population is negro, contingent, reached the culture of the and is very unlikely indeed ever to some nd trouble It is largely to which 1925. white populations. predominantly white. other West Indfan are wijte..or black. maker, par- American | popujations”, Dr. fross The, Indi race ‘untg “himself, if the immi- presumed to have with a small | not remedy; has not |be possibl others | no such-tHing. insist ountry. Chile | Davis 4t. was e and Argentina have almost entirely Uruguay also is Cuba countries But such na- tions as Bolivia, Paraguay and five or six others have -large half-bre Folkmar with | statelthag=40 per cent of the people Nt '%&vé Bozwhite blood. ‘Jong . clas the official ither himself now ha: mefged with the vellow race in most , an anthropotogical classifications: come He is| the originally from Asia and to have been part of the same stock as the Chinese. any amendment of the law providing | the for admisston of, the “red atters, sin that Hence race might | dy would | At the oflice of Secret. stated t bor | great quiries concerning the racl of the Tndian are not to be consid e commissioner labor ' s for : comprehensive study > questior not antic He doesn't agricu members population, such South American Indiz wish to turn from the veloped lands of Latin settle meantime, ramite-like poter For in Pre it Calles o is | Mexico, repute a full-blocded Indian, although one of the world statesmen, might be barre in- | from ever residing in the United States le if it reached trial, , in itself, carries with it Delivers any Refrigerator to Your Home-- The classic ¢ Tusband s se of this nature, Mr. o Qi o i the assurance that your particular case will be correctly diagnosed and— the proper FITTING —which is the fundamental strength or weakness in Eyeglasses—is bound to result if you trust your ese troubles to us, . 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