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The Turning T;de oflmmigrationBy Dominick Lamonicaf\\-t ) lle\\'s items wlrielr apfl,*,tr'",1 rpeent ll jn thp-lurerican press, lvhen viewecli rgetller, are so pregnant rvitli:rlr-aning ancl hisl,or.iczri sigr-iticance,ttrat the1. clemarrrli.'ine thoughtful consideration,*::]-'eciallt- b"v those of foreigni,irth or descent.( )ne of the stories, rviilr a\l-ashington ciate line, stated,in the unaclorned, matter-oftactprose of ,:\meriean iourrialism,that according to the{ 'e}rsus Bur.eau, tlrel,e are nroreItalians than any other foreignl','t'll \\'llites in Ncw York State.Tirev rrumbered, as of rlpril1st, 1930, 629,322, out of a totallf 3,191,549 foreign-bornwhites, r,vith Russians seconclancl Poles thircl.These figures are interestingarr,l informative, brrt more importantis the phrase containeclin the report : ', . : . for most ofthe countries the number offoreign-born whites in 1930was larger than in 1920.,'The other storv, originatingirr \ieu- York CitS-, narrated tlrprieparture from that citv of anItalian liner, of whosL jb00passengers more than 1100represented a large group ofentire Italian families leavingthis country for Ital;,-, an incirlentt;'pical of man;' others.The two news stories denotethat, the high tide of imnfgrationha,ring been r.eachedancl passed, its ebb is now beginningto set in.R'\fi"u,,T"".'if ;rl:i" ?;i H;flor,r'. Particularll is this trueof the great ticlal r,vave of immig'rationthat came to thiscountry during the latter parl.rf tlre previous ccntrrrr-arrrl tlrcearly .r ears of the present centurl'.And now we are rvitnessingthe beginning of its ebb.\\rhat was former.ll- a greatrushing torrent, to change therrnetaphor, has graduallS. ,h"irrdleddou,'n tilt toda.v it is but amere trickle.Ever since 1917, when Congressbegan limiting ancl restrictingthe number of incomingaliens, the force of the ticlehas been diminishing. The Actof Feb. it,l.917 provided for theexclusion of our aiien residentstty classes. Among theseclasses are the diseased, stotaways,paupers, illiterates, anarchistsarrd criminals. The lawprovicles that when these arefound in the countrv the;. g1ru11be taken irrto custod.r' and deported.In 1924 the Johnson-Reed act 'was passed, rvhichplaced a nu,m,er,ical restrictionon incoming aliens. Accorclingto this act, sometimes referred1o as tlre " national origins "quota sl stem, a quota is fi-redfor each riationality, based onthe number of their people inthe Lrnited States according totlre 1890 census. However, tlLeapplication of this pror.'isiorrwas c'leferred for some time, untilthe President, in his pro-55clamation of March 22, lg2g,definitel;,- fixed the quotas forthe fiscai year beginning Julyl. I931. arrd tlrose f ollowirrg.It is rrn,ler tlris proelamaliorrthat our immigration is nou'operating.In this respect, it must notbe forgotten that, at least asfar as Italy is concerned, emigrantsare not being encolrragedto lear,'e their native land.Ever;-thing is being done inItalv to keep tirc Itaiians athome, where the countr)' canmake use of their man-power.It is therefore on both sides ofthe Atlantic that immigrationto America is being cliscouraged'r( :)* *N spite of the fact tlrat peo-f t ptn lrave sensetlvaguel-v that immigration "aihe, isfalling off, it is startling indeedto be told by Mr. Harry E.Hull, United States CommissionerGeneral of Tmmigration,that, for the first time in 70,\.ears, the number of imrnigrantslast year was well belou'100,000. Compare this figurewith the 1,000,000 that came tothese shores in 1914 !I;ess startling, but eyeryrvhit as significant, is a comparisonof the character of theimmigration then ancl now. In1914 almost 515,000 immigrantsclescribecl themselves as laborers;last year there were only8000 such. It is a case of therestriction by numbers operat-