MILLIONS OF EUROPEANS TO FLOOD USA
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On November 23, 1920, the New York Herald reported that F. A. Wallis*, Commissioner of Immigration at Ellis Island, told the National Press Club that "millions of Europeans (were) preparing to remove to the United States."
The New York Herald stated that "never since the early days of barbarian Europe has there been such wholesale migrations of populations...with the United States as the destination."
The Commissioner said that Germany was preparing to send 8 million, Italy 5 million, with more coming from other European nations. Steerage bookings were full a year in advance.
The Herald stated that this "immense tide" of immigration presented a "most far-reaching problem" for the United States.
The Emergency Immigration Act of 1921 introduced limits on European immigration to the USA for the first time in history. Immigrants from a European nation could be no more than 3% of that country's residents according to the 1910 census.
The National Origins Acts of 1924 lowered the limit to 2% based on the 1890 census.
*Frederick A. Wallis was Deputy Police Commissioner of New York when appointed in April 1920 Commissioner of Immigration at Ellis Island by President Woodrow Wilson.
SOURCES
"Aliens To Flood United States," The New York Herald, November 23, 1920, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
"Nativism and fundamentalism in the 1920s," Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/
