A PUBLICATION OF THE CALVIN COOLIDGE PRESIDENTIAL FOUNDATION COOLIDGE August 2018 • volume 2 • issue 2 IMMIGRATIon—THEN AND NOW By mAtthew DenhArt AnD roB hAmmer “There is ample evidence that, at the rate they have been coming, they cannot readily be assimilated. […] American interests, not foreign influence, must prevail.” The preceding lines sound as if they were pulled from an immigration debate on cable news in the year 2018. But, in fact, the lines actually appeared almost a century ago in an April 1924 article of the Chicago Daily Tribune weighing the pros and cons of an immigration bill then attracting wide- spread support on Capitol Hill. The drafters of the 1924 Immigration Act, Con- gressman Albert Johnson (left) and Senator The bill soon became law as the Im- David Reed (right). The “Johnson-Reed” Act greatly reduced the influx of immigration, par- migration Act of 1924, also known as ticularly from Asia and Southern/Eastern the “Johnson-Reed Act,” named for its Europe. (Image courtesy of Library of Congress) sponsors Congressman Albert Johnson (R-WA) and Senator David Reed (R-PA). The law’s National Origins Today’s concerns with immigration Quota greatly curtailed immigration gen- in many ways echo the impulses that erally and skewed the preference for the drove the restrictionist action of the few available slots toward Western Euro- 1920s. Three major concerns about immi- peans. Furthermore, the Act left in place gration are evident in Coolidge’s era and earlier restrictions on immigrants from our own. These include: fear of violent in- Asia and placed new explicit bans on im- ternational unrest, a perception that im- migration to the U.S. by the Japanese. migrants would not assimilate, and Johnson-Reed proved highly popular, concern that immigrants posed a threat to passing the Senate with only a handful of natives’ economic well-being. dissenting votes and likewise clearing the First, Americans feared that interna- House of Representatives 323 to 71. Pres- tional unrest of revolution abroad could ident Coolidge favored the law as a whole spread to the U.S. This concern was under- but expressed apprehension about the standable. By the time Coolidge appeared clause that excluded Japanese immigrants. on the national stage, the Bolsheviks had He called this particular exclusion “un- just consolidated power in Russia, major necessary and deplorable,” and said that labor strikes were taking place across “If the exclusion provision stood alone, I America, and anarchists threatened cher- should disapprove it without hesitation.” ished political institutions. Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation • CoolidgeFoundation.org • 802-672-3389 COOLIDGE QUARTERLY As governor of Massachusetts, The second parallel between Coolidge personally dealt with extrem- Coolidge’s time and our own is the ism. In 1919 Boston police abandoned broader fear that newcomers do not as- their posts, declaring a strike. Chaos similate. This certainly was a concern ensued. Coolidge responded forcefully, of President Coolidge, who in his First refusing to countenance the rehiring of Annual Message informed Congress that: the striking policemen and responding “New arrivals should be limited to our to American Federation of Labor (AFL) capacity to absorb them into the ranks of President Samuel Gompers, himself good citizenship.” He continued firmly: an immigrant, that there was “no right “Those who do not want to be partakers to strike against the public safety by of the American spirit ought not to settle anybody, anywhere, any time.” in America.” In May 1920, Italian-born anar- By the 1920s, economic opportuni- chists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo ties had pulled eastern and southern Eu- Vanzetti captured the attention of the ropeans to America’s growing industrial country when they were arrested for centers. These immigrants came from dif- murdering a shoe factory guard and a ferent cultures, spoke different languages, paymaster in Braintree, Massachusetts. and in many cases held different religious Just a few months later, in September and political beliefs than previous waves 1920, a bomb exploded on Wall Street, of immigrants, who came primarily from killing dozens and injuring more. The Western Europe. Americans wondered case was never solved, but Americans if these newcomers would learn English suspected Italian-born anarchists perpe- and come to respect and support Ameri- trated this attack as well. ca’s political and cultural institutions. Deportation was seen as one solution. The third parallel is an especially In September 1919, some 249 alleged an- poignant one: the economy and employ- archists and communists, including activist ment. According to economists Timothy Emma Goldman, were loaded on the Hatton and Jeffrey Williamson, immi- USAT Buford, dubbed the “Red Ark,” and gration was accompanied by significant deported to the Soviet Union. capital investment flows from Europe Too Much, Not Enough, or Just Right? Foreign-Born Proportion of the U.S. Population, 1850-2016 15% 14% 13% 12% 11% 10% popula1on 9% total 8% 7% 6% 5% Foreign-born % of 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2016 Year Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850-2000; U.S. Census Bureau, 2016 American Community Survey 2 Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation • CoolidgeFoundation.org • 802-672-3389 IMMIGRATIon—THEN AND NOW prior to 1913, which helped offset wage immigration policy remained at bay. This reductions from increased labor supply all changed, however, when Congress and probably blunted anti-immigrant overrode President Wilson’s veto of sentiment. This slowed during and after the Immigration Act of 1917. This law World War I, and research by Harvard required immigrants to pass a literacy economist Claudia test and, through its Goldin suggests that Barred Asiatic Zone as American wage- provision, forbade growth stagnated, IMMIGRATION nearly all Asian im- political support for ACT OF 1924 migration. Soon af- immigration restric- terward, in 1921, the The Immigration Act of 1924 tion grew. Emergency Quota curtailed yearly immigration to Act put national Immigrants the United States by extending were not the only restrictions on im- and making more restrictive the migration and laid threat that American nationality-based quota system workers perceived. the blueprint for the already in place under the Im- 1924 Act. The turn of the migration Act of 1921. Under century witnessed the 1924 Act, the annual number Thus, John- immense techno- of new immigrants from any son-Reed was the logical innovation one country was capped at two apogee of a number both in the city and percent of that nationality’s rep- of largely bipartisan on the farm. While legislative efforts resentation in the 1890 Census. these changes mea- aimed at restricting This formula was to remain in surably improved immigration. The effect until July 1927. Thereafter, people’s lives, disper- effect of the 1924 another clause of the 1924 Act sion of capital inno- Act was tremen- was to come into effect placing vations also rendered dous. Between the certain kinds of an 150,000 annual cap on the 1920s and 1930s, labor obsolete and total number of new immigrants immigration de- made others easily and tying the country-specific creased by 84%. In replaceable. For the yearly quota calculation to 1920 fact, annual immi- average native-born population estimates. The im- grant arrivals would factory worker, im- plementation of this clause was not surpass the 1924 migrants not only delayed and instead became ef- level (706,896) until threatened their fective in 1929. 1989, a 65-year wages, but also their In addition, the 1924 Act explic- period when world collective bargaining itly barred Japanese immigrants population more power by providing and maintained the ban on im- than doubled. cheap labor to break migration from most Asian coun- *** strikes. Similar re- tries that had been in place since With the sentment fueled an the Immigration Act of 1917. benefit of hind- often-violent animus The Act allowed continued unre- toward African- sight, what should stricted immigration from coun- one make of the Americans arriving tries in the Western Hemisphere. from the South in concerns Americans search of work. expressed about im- *** migration during Coolidge’s time? Against this backdrop, restrictive The concern about revolution in the legislation had been a long time coming. U.S. proved exaggerated. Yet, considering The House and Senate both passed im- that Soviet-containment and the Cold migration restrictions in 1897, 1912, War dominated America’s foreign policy and 1915. It was only through vetoes by for much of the twentieth century, the three separate sitting presidents (Cleve- threat was certainly not unreal. land, Taft, and Wilson) that restrictive Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation • CoolidgeFoundation.org • 802-672-3389 3 COOLIDGE QUARTERLY any good qualities behind, but they are rather required to strengthen and fortify them and supplement them with such ad- ditional good qualities as they find among us.” Just as immigrants in Coolidge’s day came to partake in American culture, America itself has adapted and evolved thanks to immigrants. The economic concerns too were overstated, especially when considering Immigrants disembark from a ferry at Ellis Island the big picture. To be sure, the large inflow circa 1920 in the hope of a better life. (Image cour- tesy of Library of Congress) of foreign-born workers likely intro- duced labor market competition that put negative pressure on American citizens’ The concern about assimilation wages. Even so, economists today find that proved exaggerated as well. Assimilation immigrants tend to increase productivity can be difficult to measure, but one indi- and contribute to economic growth. cator is the percentage of immigrants in Finally, given the productive nature the U.S. who become naturalized citizens.