Quotas Closed

W. W. Husband, Commissioner General of Immigration, in a speech in Manhattan, declared that "we are now receiving a better class of immigrants as a whole than we have done in 35 years."

The meaning of his statement is that the bulk of our immigration is now coming from the countries of northern and western Europe. It appears that nearly every nation will fill its quota of immigrants before June 30, or that out of a total of 358,000 immigrants allowed by law, approximately 200,000 will come from northern and western Europe. Of the 200,000, 177,000 have already arrived. These immigrants the commissioner regards as superior because they are racially similar to the original stock of the country, because they tend more than southern Europeans to become citizens, because their assimilation is easier.

The North Atlantic Passenger Conference lines ceased booking immigrants from Great Britain because the British quota will be filled by present bookings in May. The Swedish quota will probably be filled in June. This is a great difference from last year when only about 47% of the quotas from northwestern Europe was filled. It is ample evidence that the immigration law is more than a restrictive measure. The labor demand in this country, not being satisfied by the allowed number of southern European immigrants, attracts from the north more immigrants than would come under unrestricted immigration.

While this is going on with respect to northern European immigration, southern Europe has already filled its quotas. But this does not mean at all that southern Europeans are being added to the population in proportion to their quotas. The reverse is the fact because of a greater number leaving the country. Italy, for example, has filled her quota of 42,000 immigrants, but judging by immigration in the last two years, about 50,000 Italians will return to their native country, leaving a net decrease of 8,000 in the Italian population here.