Evening Star Newspaper, July 24, 1932, Page 57

Features Puzzles PART 7 he Sundy Star magasme WASHINGTON, D. ¢, JULY 24 1932 e — Fiction Books 16 PA(_,LS HOLDING the ALIEN in CHECK Report Just Made Public Shows That, for the First Time in History, the Number of Emigrants Exceeded the Number of Immigrants for the Past Fiscal Year— Fairness in Enforcement of Laws—The Spirit of Profection. UST a few weeks ago William N. Doak, United States Secretary of Labor, held a conference with an advisory council of leading Amer- ican racial organizations to discuss means of preventing aliens within our gates from becoming victims of frauds and racketeering in connection with the enforcement of immigration and natural- ization laws. This conference proves once more that the Bureau of Immigration of the De- partment of Labor does not feel that its function is the persecution of aliens, as is often asserted by certain radicals. On the other hand, it endeavors to carry out its real purpose and function—the pre- motion of the welfare of the American people by enforcing the laws made by Congress—with fairness to all concerned. It was with this idea in mind that Mr. Doak and his staff met with the represe- sentatives of Italian, Hebrew, Portuguese, Danish, Norwegian, Greek, Hungarian and other organizations to discuss plans Design by J. Scott Willlampr By Harry E. Hull United States Commissioner General of Immigration. for the dissemination of information that is badly needed by aliens for their own protection. While doing our utmost to be fair to the alien, however, we have not forgotten that the spirit of our immigration laws is one of protection for American workers and citizens generally against a human flood from abroad. And the continued wise application of that policy, we be- lieve, will help to restore our national welfare. The report of the Bureau of Immigration, just made public, shows for the first time in history the number of emigrants exceeding the number of im- migrants for a fiscal year. Complete figures are not available, but indications are that for every person coming to make his home in the United States during the fiscal year 1932 three people will leave to make their homes in foreign lands. The significance of this turn in the tide is obvious. FOR if the Navy is America’s first line of defense, the immigration service is our second line of defense. And with the Nation confronted by economic con- ditions scarcely less menacing than war, the “second line” must be held. Against the ramparts of this defense line there is constant, almost overwhelm- ing, pressure. For, unfortunate as our own economic si$uation i3, to millicns of people the Unitsd States suill appears more desirable than -their native lands. As late as a year ago there were on file 1,363,565 applications for visas to emigrate to the United States. And hun- dreds of thousands of applications of would-be immigrants are still pending. In 1929 nearly 270,000 immigrants were admitted to the United States; in 1930, more than 180,000. But in 1931, not be- cause of lack of pressure of applications, but because of our stricter requirements, only 43,353 immigrants legally entered. And we are throwing out, at a faster rate than ever, those who entered {lle- gally or are deportable on other grounds. So it is clear, without need of more detailed statistics, that our immigration line of defense is functioning effectively. Yet it is not clear to many of our peo- Ple, native as well as foreign born, what we are defending and why. It is for- gotten by’many that although there have been 10 years of immigration restriction we have in this country 13,000,000 foreign born and 25,000,000 people of foreign