RE-FORGING AMERICA : THE STORY OF OUR NATIONHOOD. By Lothrop
Stoddard. (Charles Scribnees Sons. 12s. 6d.)—Dr. Stoddard's able and interesting book is substantially a defence of the Immigration Act of 1924, under Which eventually no more than 150,000 immigrants will be admitted yearly, while three-fourths of them will come from _Northern and Western Europe. Dr. Stoddart shows by a rapid review of American history that up to about 1880 the 'white population was substantially uniform, mainly of British origin but reinforced by German, Dutch, and Scandinavian immigrants. Then began the " New Immigration " with hordes of people, often undesirables, from Southern and Eastern Europe and Asia Minor, flooding the North-Eastern States and upsetting and debasing the economic and social system. _ In 1913 1,427,000 persons entered America. The War made Americans realize the alien danger, and, when the return of peace threatened to bring still greater hordes of impoverished Europeans, Congress woke up and closed the gates. Dr. Stoddard declares that Mexicans are now entering in large_ numbers and that many aliens. are " boot-legged into America, but he is hopeful that in time the alien elements - —perhaps an eighth of the whole—Will be Americanized. On the negro problem he' is a consistent advocate of " bi-racial- .ism "—that is, of keeping white and black apart. The book is well worth reading as a thoughtful and temperate review of a most difficult question. Incidentally Dr. Stoddard commends Australia for her wisdom in steadily controlling immigration and holds her up as an example for the United States.
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