The general characteristic of the United States immigration laws is, that whoever enters in vio lation of the law is to be returned to the point of departure at the expense of the steamship company which brought him, and that this lia bility extends in all cases for a period of one year after arrival. The machinery for the en forcement of the law has been progressively im proved. The number of immigrants who have been returned is as follows: The main reason for the return of immigrants is pauperism.
One of the great difficulties in the way of the thorough administration of the law is the com parative ease with which persons of the undesir able classes obtain access to the United States through Canada. Arrangements have recently been perfected between the Canadian Government and the immigration service establishing an in spection in Canada. The effmt is made to in spect not only the immigrants who give the United States as their destination, though arriv ing at Canadian ports, but also those who give Canada as their destination, but conic into the United States. The fact that of less than 5000 persons of the latter class inspected, 2000 were turned back, indicates clearly that the ineligible classes have been coming into the United States over the Canadian border.
The present immigration laws represent little more than sanitary measures designed to protect our society from the introduction of positively vicious and undesirable elements. The demand has been heard, and has been supported by a wealth of argument, that we should be more liberal in our internyetation of the word 'unde sirable,' and exclude also such immigrants a,. by reason' of incapacity and ignorance, give the least promise of assimilation.
The question of still further restricting immi gration made its appearance in the early nine ties. It was felt that many persons were ad
mitted into the United States who were not desirable acquisitions to our population. The de mand was heard in many quarters that the illit erate should be excluded, and the question was actively agitated in Congress until 1S97. In that year a bill passed both Houses of Congress which excluded from admission to the United States all foreign persons over sixteen years of age who could not read or write the English or some other language, except parents or grandparents accom panying persons otherwise qualified. or coming to join relatives already in the United States. The bill was vetoed in the closing hours of Con gress, March 3, 1897. by President Cleveland. on grounds of general policy, as well as for material defects in the measure, such as the exclusion of the illiterate wives of qualified persons. The bill was reconsidered in the House of Representatives and passed over the President's veto by the con stitutional majority of two-thirds; but as it passed the Senate by a narrow margin, no attempt was made to force a vote in that body, and the veto message was simply referred to the appropriate committee. In the following years the agitation subsided in view of the decreased number of immigrants. See ClIINESE IMMIGRATION.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Official Documents: Reports of Bibliography. Official Documents: Reports of Bureau of Immigration. 1891-92: Senate Report 1333, 52d Congress, 2d Session (1893) ; Report of the Immigration Commission to the Secre tary of the Treasury (1895) ; Veto Message of President Cleveland, Senate Document 1S5. 54th Congress. 2d Session (1897) : Vol. xv. of the Report of the United States Industrial Commis sion on Immigration (1902). See EMIGRATION ; MIGRATION. For temporary movements of popu lation. see POPUL-ATION.