Immigration History – Old Magazine Articles

Explaining the 1924 Immigration Bill
(American Legion Monthly, 1929)

U.S. Senator David Reed (1880 – 1953) chose to take another victory lap as he recalled the glories of the legislation he co-authored in 1924 (the Johnson-Reed Bill, that placed restrictive quotas on immigration based on the 1890 Census). He explained why the legislation was introduced:

“The diagnosis showed that we were getting more immigrants than we could digest…we still harbor foreign colonies in our midst, animated by alien ideals, owing first loyalty to some other country, and giving only lip service – and not always that – to the land to which they have come to make their homes.”

Debating Immigration
(Time Magazine, 1923)

An occasion was provided to debate the pros and cons of American immigration policy at the National Immigration Conference that convened in New York City during December of 1923:

“Most of the speakers advocated restriction and selection, but as to the degree and variety of each there was no consensus of opinion. Especially, there were two different methods of attacking the problem – from the industrial standpoint, and from the standpoint of the welfare of the race and of citizenship.”

W.W. II-Era Immigrants and Americanization
(Newsweek Magazine, 1941)

“Convinced that the best way to combat fifth columnists is to teach aliens how to become good citizens, the Department of Justice announced a $14,000,000 program to expand Works Projects Administration classes in ‘Americanization’…”

W.W. I and Immigration
(Harper’s Weekly, 1915)

William B. Wilson (1862 – 1834) was the first to be appointed Secretary of Labor, and in this article he weighs the needs of Europe for fighting men and the needs of the United States for laborers. It is a very dry article and difficult to get through, but, happily, the most interesting factoids can be found in the opening paragraphs when he explains how many new immigrants chose to leave the United States in order to fight for their old countries in Europe.

‘Making the Immigrant Unwelcome”
(Literary Digest, 1921)

To read this 100-year-old article is to understand that the inhumane conditions of today’s alien detention centers on the Southwest border are a part of a larger continuum in American history. This article addressed the atrocious conditions and brutality that was the norm on Ellis Island in the Twenties.

But it is not the stupidity of the literacy test alone that is to be condemned. It is its inhumanity.

The Border Patrol
(Collier’s Magazine, 1940)

This article lays out the many responsibilities and challenges that made up the day of a U.S. Border Patrol officer stationed along the Rio Grande in 1940:

In one month these rookies must try to absorb French and Spanish, immigration law, criminal law, naturalization, citizenship and expatriation law, fingerprinting, criminal investigation, first aid, firearms and the laws of the open country through which refugees are tracked down in the desert and forest.

Deporting the Reds
(American Legion Weekly, 1920)

In this 1920 American Legion Weekly article the mojo of the Red Scare (1917 to 1920) is fully intact and beautifully encapsulated by W.L. Whittlesey who condemned the U.S. Government for ever having allowed large numbers of socialist immigrants to enter the country and spread their discontent throughout the fruited plane. On the other hand, the writer was grateful that the government was finally tending to the matter of deporting them in large numbers and doing so with every means available.

Quotas in 1923 Immigration
(Time Magazine, 1923)

The gross quota allowance of immigration for the new year is the same as for the last, 357,803, of which 20% or 71,000 is the maximum which may arrive in any single month… Germany has sent only 43,000 immigrants, although her quota was 67,000.

America’s First Brush With Multiculturalism

(American Legion Weekly, 1922)

Like many Americans in the Twenties, the journalist who penned the attached article was totally irked by the concept of an American territory – bound for statehood – having a majority Asian population. He wrote at a time when the nation was deeply concerned about assimilating America’s immigrants and his indignation can clearly be sensed.