The arguments here used may appear paradoxical, and have little
statistical support, but they seem to us sound and not in contradiction
with any known facts. If they are valid, the effect of such immigration
as the United States has been receiving is to reduce the birth-rate of
the unskilled labor with little or no effect on the employers and
managers of labor.
Since both the character and the volume of immigration are at fault,
remedial measures may be applied to either one or both of these
features. It is very desirable that we have a much more stringent
selection of immigrants than is made at the present time. But most of
the measures which have been actually proposed and urged in recent years
have been directed at a diminution of the volume, and at a change in
character only by somewhat indirect and indiscriminate means.
The Immigration Commission made a report to Congress on Dec. 5, 1910, in
which it suggested the following possible methods of restricting the
volume of immigration:
1. The exclusion of those unable to read and write in some language.
2. The reduction of the number of each race arriving each year to a
certain percentage of the average of that race arriving during a given
period of years.
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