THE Immigration Act of 1924, “to limit the immigration of aliens into the United States, and for other purposes,” which came into force July 1, has achieved the object of its framers and sponsors who were mainly concerned about excluding undesirable racial strains. Not only was this accomplished by securing a reduction of non-Nordic Europeans in favor of Nordics, but what is of vital importance to American Negroes, by a palpable discrimination which singled out for quota restriction only those sections of the New World from which any appreciable number of Negroes had come and was likely to come in the future. That this latter achievement is among the “other purposes” of the Act seems of little doubt when the facts are studied and a comparison is made between the present Act and its predecessor of 1921.

The Act of 1921, entitled “An Act to limit the immigration of aliens into the United States,” made a perpendicular distinction between immigrants who were eligible to enter the country without special treaty regulations. Those from the Old World were restricted to 3 per cent of their number in the United States in 1910, while those from the New World were admitted on a non-quota basis. In neither case were the immigrants affected by the political status of the country or colony from which they came.

Section 2 of the 1921 Act, dealing with “excepted classes” or non-quota immigrants, included aliens from “the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, the Republic of Cuba, the Republic of Mexico, countries of Central and South America, or adjacent islands.” Under this provision immigrants from all parts of the Americas were on an equal non-quota basis.

The Act of 1924, section 4 (c), defines the term “non-quota immigrant” as “an immigrant who was born in the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, the Republic of Haiti, the Republic of Mexico, the Republic of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, the Canal Zone, or an independent country of Central and South America.” By specifically naming Canada and Newfoundland for exemption from quota, placing the word “independent” before countries, and omitting the words “adjacent islands,” the framers of the Act very adroitly excluded from the non-quota classes those European colonies in the Caribbean Sea from which American Negroes had been receiving any numerical increase. Conclusive proof that the Act, which was passed by the present Republican Administration, was intended to erect a barrier against the comparatively slight immigration of people of African descent from the West Indies is found in President Coolidge’s Proclamation of June 30. Subdivision 6 of the Proclamation states: “In contrast with the law of 1921 the Immigration Act of 1924 provides that persons born in the colonies or dependencies of European countries situated in Central America and South Ameri[c]a or the islands adjacent to the American continents * * * will be charged to the quota of the country to which such colony or dependency belongs.” The language is clear and unmistakable. It makes a horizontal distinction between British North America and other European colonial possessions in the New World. The distinction is significant in view of the reason that inspired the Act and the racial stock of immigrants from both groups of colonies.

The law to limit immigration into the United States was agitated for and defended on two main grounds: race and culture of recent immigrants and inability of the country to absorb the huge number seeking admission from Europe. The grounds were qualitative and quantitative. To achieve both ends the Census of 1890 was used as the basis to determine the 2 per cent to be admitted yearly until 1927, after which the maximum will be 150,000 annually. Whether or not a colony is self-governing does not affect the issue. In Europe, England, the Mother Country, the Irish Free State, whose status is similar to that of Canada, Malta, having a form of government like that of Jamaica or Barbados, and Gibraltar, a Crown Colony like Antigua and St. Kitts, are subject to a 2 per cent quota, regardless of their varying degrees of autonomy. The same equality of quota exists between truly independent and powerful countries like England and France and vassal states like Hungary and Poland. In the Western World the law makes no distinction between independent countries like Brazil and Argentina and nominally independent countries like Cuba and Costa Rica. It is only when colonial possessions are dealt with that a distinction is made. All British North American possessions are on a non-quota basis, while other European possessions are subject to restriction. In practice this means that only those places in the Western World from which any noticeable number of Negro immigrants had been coming are singled out for quota restrictions! With the uniform treatment accorded to British subjects in Europe it cannot be successfully contended that “self-government” inspired the in- equality of treatment given to British subjects in the New World. Nor can it be seriously claimed that the number of immigrants coming from the restricted colonies, compared with the number from Canada and Newfoundland, justified restricting the former and not the latter. The contrary is the truth.

According to the World Almanac (1924) the principal sources of immigrants from the New World in 1923 were British North America, 117,011; Mexico, 63,768; and the West Indies, 13,181 (mostly Negroes). If number constitutes a reason for restriction then Canada, rather than the West Indies, furnished the justification. Stating it differently, of the 199,972 immigrants from the American continents who entered the United States in 1923, only 13,181 or less than 7 per cent were from countries with Negro majorities. And as not an inconsiderable portion of the 13,181 were Caucasians, it is clear that the proportion of Negro immigrants who remain in America is less than the proportion that American Negroes bear to the total population. More white immigrants came from Canada and Newfoundland in 1923 than the total number of foreign-born Negroes in the United States that year! Despite this fact and the further fact that while 4,183 West Indians left the United States that year only 2,775 British North Americans and 2,660 Mexicans departed, the former are restricted while the latter are not.

It is nowhere claimed that language or culture constituted the reason for exempting all other American peoples while restricting West Indians. With the exception of English-speaking Canadians, there are no people in the Western World more culturally and linguistically akin to Americans than British West Indians. The great difference between the West Indies and the favored British possessions of North America is that a majority of the inhabitants of the former colonies are of African descent. And this difference explains why the comparatively slight stream of immigration from these islands called for restriction.

Allied by blood to the 12,000,000 Negroes of this country, who have a deep interest in keeping the door of Negro immigration open in these days of discussion of the population question; when everything is being done to make America approximate the Ku Klux ideal of a white man’s country by keeping Negroes in a hopeless minority, West Indians can only look to their brothers "of the mainland to emulate the late Booker T. Washington who, in 1914, succeeded with the cooperation of other far-sighted leaders in defeating the attempt made at the time to exclude from entry people of African descent. The present law, less frank than the one of ten years ago, has nevertheless achieved the same end, for it means in effect that while the number of immigrants coming from countries that formerly sent a few Negroes will be limited to a couple of hundred yearly, white immigrants will come from Europe to the extent of half a million annually until 1927, and 150,000 after then, while those from Canada and other parts of the American continent will be unlimited. In such a situation, if Negroes are not by their silence to acquiesce in racial discrimination by the Federal government, they will use their influence to see that all immigrants in the Western World are placed upon a quota or none; that the principle of equality among colonies in Europe be applied to colonies in the Americas.

Regardless of explanations and apologies, the bald fact stands out that the present Immigration Act, which is designed to be selective racially, by deliberate discrimination against those countries in the New World from which Negroes had been coming to any extent, while exempting those from which Caucasians are still coming without limit, places Negro blood in despite and serves notice upon American Negroes that they cannot hope to increase their number by immigration. In so many words, they are told that against their natural increase will be pitted not only the natural increase of white America but a constant entry of European immigrants. Such an outlook should engage the serious consideration of the best minds of the Negro race in America.