Our Present Policy
The theory that America should be a refuge for the oppressed of all nations has been quite generally honored in shaping our immigration policy. However, the United States is no longer a refuge for the oppressed peoples of all the world in the same way as it was in the past.
Our present policy is that immigration shall be limited to a fixed number, that such immigrants shall be of good character and well disposed toward American institutions. For, in the words of former President Coolidge:
Whether one traces his Americanism back three centuries to the Mayflower or three years to the steerage is not half so important as whether his Americanism today is real and genuine. No matter on what various crafts we came here, we are all now in the same boat.
Ourselves and Our Neighbors
A recent dinner in Chicago with Catholic friends, whose parents came from Italy, a conference with a group of 25 cultured Negro men and women at Chicago University, and a visit in Des Moines, Iowa, with a close personal friend of mine, a rabbi, are a few personal experiences which show in a very real way how a relatively free society enables us to enrich our lives through fellowship with men of different races and religions.
In this Nation, to which more than 38,000,000 immigrants have come during the last 120 years, the struggle of people of all races and of many creeds has been and is consciously toward the goal of human understanding and tolerance. This is an effort to elevate human welfare, irrespective of race, color, or creed; and to rise to new heights of civilization with the help of all contributions to our culture. A distinguishing characteristic of a true American is that he measures men of all races and creeds by their achievement, their honesty of purpose, and their humility.
J. W. Studebaker,
Commissioner of Education.