IHE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL BANKING AND INVESTMENT SERVICE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD The National City Bank of New York and Affiliated Institutions THE NATIONAL CITY BANK OF NEW YORK HEAD OFFICE: 55 WALL STREET. NEW YORK Foreign Branches in ARGENTINA . BELGIUM . BRAZIL . CHILE . CHINA . COLOMBIA . CUBA DOMINICAN REPUBLIC . ENGLAND . INDIA . ITALY . JAPAN . MANCHURIA . MEXICO . PERU . PHILIPPINE ISLANDS . PORTO RICO . REPUBLIC OF PANAMA . STRAITS SETTLEMENTS . URUGUAY . VENEZUELA. THE NATIONAL CITY BANK OF NEW YORK (FRANCE) S. A. Paris 41 BOULEVARD HAUSSMANN 44 AVENUE DES CHAMPS ELYSEES Nice 6 JARDIN du ROI ALBERT 1 er INTERNATIONAL BANKING CORPORATION Head Office: 55 WALL STREET, NEW YORK Foreign and Domestic Branches in UNITED STATES . SPAIN . ENGLAND and Representatives in The National City Bank Chinese Branches BANQUE NATIONALE DE LA REPUBLIQUE D’HAITI Head Office: PORT AU-PRINCE, HAITI CITY BANK FARMERS TRUST COMPANY Head Office: 22 WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK THE NATIONAL CITY COMPANY HEAD OFFICE OFFICES IN 50 LEADING 55 WALL STREET, NEW YORK AMERICAN CITIES Foreign Offices: LONDON . AMSTERDAM . GENEVA . TOKIO . SHANGHAI Canadian Offices: MONTREAL . TORONTO The National City Company, through its offices and affiliations in the United States and abroad, offers a world-wide investment service to those interested in Dollar Securities. London Offices 34, BISHOPSGATE, E. C. 2 11, WATERLOO PLACE, S. W. 1 THE FOREIGN S VOL. VIII, No. 2 WASHINGTON, D. C. FEBRUARY, 1931 Extension of Administrative Authority in Immigration Regulation By A. DANA HODGDON, Chief of the Visa Office, Department of State (Address before the Conference on Immigration Policy, New York City, December 6, 1930) IT IS thought appropriate before discussing to the colonies at the expense of the home gov¬ in detail the subject of my address today, ernment. that is, the so-called “extension of adminis¬ In later days Mr. Jefferson, in his “Notes on trative authority in immigration regulation,” to Virginia,” indicated his opposition to unregulated review briefly the immigration policy of the immigration into this country, and Mr. Washing¬ United States from its conception until today. ton once wrote to a friend, “I have no intention to This historical background, which seems to in¬ invite immigration even if there are no restrictive dicate that there has been considerable restrictive acts against it. I am opposed to it altogether.” thought as evidenced by statements made by prom¬ Benjamin Franklin pointed out that we have a inent citizens and by the passage of restrictive right to restrict immigration whenever it appears legislation in the United States even during the likely to prove hurtful to the best interest of the early days of the country’s history, is interesting American people. at the present time when there is so much pub¬ As the development of the country proceeded licity being given in the press and otherwise as and immigration increased there were from time to the advisability of introducing legislation to to time sporadic outbursts in various parts of the restrict further immigration into the United country against the increasing number of foreign¬ States. ers which were expressed in the form of state Opposition to the free entry of strangers into legislation as well as a few Federal acts. How¬ this country was developed during early colonial ever, no definite policy favoring a general re¬ days. The first restrictions were usually on re¬ striction of immigration was crystallized until ligious grounds. For example, Virginia forbade a radical change took place in the type and source the entry of Quakers under penalty of heavy fine of immigration to this country coupled with a and imprisonment and other colonies passed tremendous increase in its volume. harsh legislation forbidding the entry of Cath¬ The great bulk of the newcomers in the early olics. Still other colonies barred persons of na¬ days of the republic were from the British Islands or belonged to races which were closely tionalities other than that of the mother country. allied to the English. They were largely pioneers, In addition most colonies had excluding provi¬ settlers, and home-makers who rather than re¬ sions based on sounder reasons than the foregoing maining in our increasingly congested cities in the form of ordinances against the entry of pushed their way through to the new country in criminals, vagrants and other ne’er-do-wells sent the West. 4S In the early 1840’s there was an abnormal wave stitution, implies an involuntary act on the part of of Irish immigration due to the potato famine and the person imported. the resulting political disturbances in Ireland, fol¬ The first act of Congress relating to the exclu¬ lowed by a wave from Germany and the other sion and expulsion of aliens was the famous Alien central European countries in 1849 and early part and Sedition Act of 1798. The act gave the Pres¬ of the 1850’s following the revolutionary disturb¬ ident the power to order the deportation of all ances of 1848. aliens who in his opinion were dangerous to the Eighteen hundred and seventy-six saw the be¬ peace and safety of the United States. Persons ginning of the great migration from southern deported under the act were forbidden readmis¬ and eastern Europe urged on by over-population sion under penalty of three years’ imprisonment and economic distress which in a sense was one if found in this country. of the moving causes of our increasingly drastic The Act of 1819 simply regulated the carriage restrictive acts. The standards of living of these of steerage passengers but is important in that people were low and they were willing to sell their it first provided for the keeping of immigration labor at any price, no matter how cheap, and statistics and records. therefore brought with them not only the danger The Coolie Trade Acts of 1862 and 1869 for¬ of economic competition with our own working bade the involuntary importation of Chinese and men, especially in the congested city areas, but Japanese coolies and required the production of also the added problems of social assimilation. a Consular certificate to show that the migration It is interesting to observe that in 1820, the of the coolie was the result of his own voluntary first year in which immigration statistics were col¬ act. lected, 8,000 immigrants were admitted to the The Act of March 3, 1875, is our first impor¬ United States. During the following century the tant excluding statute forbidding the entry of total population of the United States was in¬ aliens undergoing a sentence for conviction in creased by nearly 34,000,000 immigrants. Over their own country of felonious crimes other than 18,000,000 entered between 1890 and 1920; that political or whose sentence had been remitted on is to say, more than one-half of our immigra¬ condition of their emigration, and also women im¬ tion arrived during one-third of the period 1820 ported for immoral purposes. to 1920. The Act of August 3, 1882, was our first gen¬ The policy of the United States on the subject eral immigration law. It established a head tax of immigration may be briefly stated: We have of 50 cents and forbade the admission of convicts, always regarded immigration as a purely domes¬ mental defectives, and “persons unable to take tic matter and have maintained that any immi¬ care of themselves without becoming public grant-receiving nation has the right to determine charges.” the volume and conditions under which immigra¬ The Act of July 4, 1864, passed upon the rec¬ tion may be received. ommendation of President Lincoln, provided that The source of the power of Congress to make contracts made in foreign countries whereby emi¬ provisions concerning the admission or exclusion grants to the United States pledged their services of aliens is two-fold; first, the power to regulate for a term not exceeding one year to pay the ex¬ foreign commerce conferred upon it by Section pense of immigration should be valid and should 8 of Article I of the Constitution of the United not in any way be considered as creating a condi¬ States and secondly, and more pertinently, Sec¬ tion of slavery or servitude. The law was re¬ tion 9 of Article I which reads, “The migration pealed in 1868, and it is worthy of note that the or importation of such persons as any of the Federal Government never again attempted the states now existing shall think proper to admit artificial stimulation of immigration. In fact, the shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to operation of the Act of 1864, and the agitation the year 1808, but a tax may be imposed on such growing therefrom, were among the factors which importation not exceeding $10 for such person.” led to the passage of the first law forbidding the The question was early raised as to whether this importation of aliens under contract to perform latter provision did not refer only to the importa¬ labor, that is the Act of February 26, 1885, as tion of slaves. However, the courts subsequently amended by the Acts of February 23, 1887, and held that it did give the Congress sole power to October 19, 1888. The intent of these three acts regulate all immigration, basing their decisions on as shown by their titles was primarily to prevent the use of the word “migration” which relates the importation and immigration of foreign labor. to a voluntary act as distinguished from the word Subsequent acts passed in 1891 and 1893, tight¬ “importation” which, in the sense used in the Con¬ ened the contract labor laws and added further 46 grounds for the exclusion of aliens, such as aliens tion to this country, it had many defects, the most whose ticket or passage was paid for with the serious of which was that, while consular visas money of another, aliens convicted of a crime were required of each alien, consular officers involving moral turpitude, and polygamists.