Endowments; Emigration and immigration law; Emigration and immigration--Government policy; New Jersey; New Jersey. Commission of Immigration; National Liberal Immigration League (U.S.)
Format
correspondence
Genre
Business correspondence
Date
[between May 21, 1913 and February 26, 1914]
Physical Description
microfilm, 16 mm, b&w
Note (Reel no.)
Reel 80, 83
Note
PDF may contain multiple grant documents.
Liberal Immigration League
The National Liberal Immigration League was formally organized in July 1906, following the successful mass meetings held in New York and Boston in June 1906 to protest the bill introduced by Senator Gardner of Massachusetts aimed at restricting immigr ation... The purpose of the first wave of protest movements was to defeat the 1906 immigration bill, which included, among other restrictive provisions, a literacy test. The League demanded that a federal commission be established to investigate all aspects of the immigration problem... In December 1910, the Immigration Commission published its preliminary report. The evidence upon which the Commission had based its conclusions and the recommendations contained in it were not included in the report. The Commission's thesis was that immigration restriction was an economic necessity required to protect the welfare of the American working class, and recommended a literacy test as the best method for implementing a reduction in the volume of unskilled labor. Restrictionists responded immediately by introducing new immigration bills, the Burnett bill in the House and the Dillingham bill in the Senate. Both were based upon the economic thesis of the Commission and provided for a literacy test... The League decided that the best tactics would be to postpone legislation until the Commission's data had been thoroughly examined by Congress and the public... At the same time, the League started a propaganda campaign to prove to Congress and the public that, contrary to the Commission's thesis, immigration was still an economic blessing, that immigrant labor did not endanger the welfare of the working class, and that a literacy test was an un-American measure in the sense that its aim was to 'discriminate arbitrarily against...any healthy and honest immigrant who may seek to land,' and was thus inconsistent with the country's traditions... In its efforts to persuade the public that immigration was an economic blessing to America, and at the same time to enlist the financial and public support of the business sector for its activities, the League sent speakers to address chambers of commerce and manufacturers' associations. To advance this effort, the League published the views of Andrew Carnegie, and F. Y. Anderson of Birmingham, Alabama, both League members representing the interests of industry and the South in immigration... Despite the intensive propaganda and lobbying in Congress, and the numerous petitions sent to members of Congress by immigrant organizations, the Dillingham bill was passed by the Senate in April 1912... " [SOURCE: Lissak, Rivka Shpak. "The National Liberal Immigration League and Immigration Restriction, 1906-1917." American Jewish Archives Journal, vol. 46, no. 2, 1994, pp. 207, 223-228. http://americanjewisharchives.org/journal/index.php?y=1994&v=46&n=2. Accessed 5 Oct. 2018. ] "REPORT State of New Jersey. Commission of Immigration. Honorable James F. Fielder, Governor: SIR - Under Chapter 362 of the Laws of 1911 of the State of New Jersey, this Commission was appointed by Governor Wilson to make full inquiry examination and investigation into the conditions welfare distribution and industrial opportunities of aliens in this State... ...At the 1913 session of the Legislature a bill was passed and signed by you as Acting Governor appropriating $5,000 for the work of the Commission. The Appropriation Committee, however, failed to include this amount or any other sum in the appropriation bill, and the Commission was again compelled to rely on the same sources as before for financial support...A list of contributors who made the work of the Commission possible is given in the appendix to this report... APPENDIX X. STATEMENT OF DONATIONS RECEIVED FOR THE WORK OF THE NEW JERSEY STATE COMMISSION OF IMMIGRATION... ...Andrew Carnegie - $1,000.00 [SOURCE: New Jersey. Commission of Immigration. Report of the Commission of Immigration of the State of New Jersey Appointed Pursuant to the Provisions of Chapter 362 of the Laws of 1911. MacCrellish & Quigley, state printers, 1914, pp. 9-10, 201. Google Books, https://books.google.cg/books?id=aMULAAAAYAAJ. Accessed 5 Oct. 2018.]