“BACK DOOR” OF U.S.A.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17572, 24 June 1925, Page 4

“BACK DOOR” OF U.S.A.

TROUBLE LOOMING. MIGRANTS FROM THE SOUTH. SAN FRANCISCO, May 20. When the proposal of the Secretary of Labour, James J. Davis, to place an immigration quota in Latin America to “ shut the back door of the United States,” as he terms it, comes up for action by Congress, there will not be wanting a powerful smoke screen to cloud the issue in such a manner as to endanger the friendly relations between the United States and Latin America, J and on this subject a late despatch from Washington says:— Already in Washington it is bruited | about that we may shut out Latin j Americans of Indian blood—an element J that constitutes about 40 per cent of the population of the southern half of the western hemisphere. There is every possibility that if a Latin-American Indian should take his case before the United States Supreme Court the issue might be decided against him. But the : Asiatics and Europeans who cannot enter this country in the regular way, and who have therefore to use the “ back door,” are expected to work with their local friends to harp on the exclusion of the “ inferior Latin-American Indian” angle of the situation in order to keep the back door open until the front entrance becomes a L>it less formidable. TEST CASE NOT WELCOMED. Administration officials, particularly ; those in the bureau of immigration of ' the Labour Department and the Latin- , American division of the State De- . partment, are nervous these days lest a test case brought to determine whe- ! tlier the present immigration law bars i all persons with a preponderance of 1 American Indian blood from entering this country as immigrants. The danger of international differences with Mexico and the nations of j Central and South America that lurks I in this question is apparent from the j fact that in Mexico the Indian eonsti- j lutes more than 80 per cent of the population, and fully 40,000,000 of the j 100,000,000 Latin Americans may be j placed in this category. I The Government has had enough j trouble over Japanese exclusion, and j desires to steer clear of similar difficulj ties with Latin American countries. Thus far the question has been academic only, but it is admitted by the Department of Labour that inquiries already have been made of the State Department and the scientists of the Smithsonian Institution regarding the exact racial rnake-up of the Indians.