CLOSING THE DOORS

On the first of next month, the recently signed immigration bill, on certain features of which there has been so much critical comment, will go into effect. It will have the result of reducing the flood of immigrants entering the United States from three per cent of the total foreign born population in the country in 1910 to two per cent of that population in 1890, virtually eliminating all immigration from the nations of Southern and Eastern Europe, whose representatives have shown themselves to be least susceptible to rapid and complete assimilation.

After it is admitted that there are no grounds for objection to continued immigration on ethnic or engenic grounds, two very potent arguments for restriction still remain unshradded. In the latter portion of the last century, when large numbers of immigrants first began coming to this country, there was a vast quantity of free land which could not be cultivated because of the smallness of the population. This land has now been almost completely occupied, and a continued admission of new arrivals will accomplish little but an approximation of the crowded state of the agricultural areas of Europe.

When it is also realized that there are now over fourteen million foreign born in the United States, the necessity of immediate and drastic restriction in order to preserve the national homogeueity will be obvious. Whatever may be its benevolent humanitarian desire, this country can no longer afford to endanger its own future as a united nation by a blindly generous welcome of all those who present themselves at its gates. The more instinct of self-preservation alone must force a reluctant closing of the doors.