The Booker T. Washington Papers, Vol.13, page 209, Jan. 1915, U. of Illinois Press

The page presentation framework of the Booker T. Washington papers is designed to provide researchers worldwide with searchable access to the thousands of pages comprising the fourteen volumes, most of which are out of print. Adapted from the National Academy Press's Open Book framework, this framework allows searching down to the page level, provides sorting of search results chronologically, enables easy navigation across multiple volumes, and allows page-by-page local printing (via PDF) of every page.

[ Top of Page ]

[ Home ]

[ Contact Us ]

[ Help ]

OCRed data provided for searching only.
JANUARY ISIS To the Editor of the New York Woria, Tuskegee Institute, Ala., Jan. 2 [19153 FAIR PLAY FOR NEGRO ALIENS To the Editor of The World: Through your newspaper ~ desire- to appeal to the American Congress and to the people of the United States in favor of fair play and justice in connection with the Immigration Bill now pending before the United States Senate, which by amendment excludes from coming into this country any person of African descent. The bill, in my opinion, Is unjust, unreasonable and unnecessary. It is unnecessary because only a few thousand people of African descent enter this country annually. Practically aD of these that do come are mainly from the West Indies and almost none from the continent of Africa. It is evident that many of those who come into this country do not remain permanently, but ~ find, according to the census of ~ 9 ~ a, there were in the United States only 40,3 ~ 9 negroes who were foreign born and only 473 of these had come from Africa. The big puts an unnecessary slight upon colored people by classing them with alien criminals. The biD in its present form would seem to prohibit citizens from the Republics of Liberia, Cuba and Hayti, and also from Porto Rico and Santo Domingo, entering this country, thus placing an unnecessary hardship upon these smaller countnes, which would not be done, in my opinion, if they were stronger. In a personal conversation with a high officer of the Panama Canal Commission he told me that the services of the Jamaican negroes were invaluable in building the Panama Canal. Now that we are celebrating the completion of this great canal, it seems most unjust and unreasonable that the people who contributed in so large a measure toward it should be slapped in the face and told that they cannot enter this country even when they meet the requirements of our Government. An investigation will show that the colored people who have come to this country from the West Indian Islands and from other foreign countries have proved as a whole to be a law-abiding, intelligent, industrious claw. They have never become Anarchists or as a class given trouble to the Government. 209