The New York herald (New York [N.Y.]), January 30, 1912 Letters to the Editor
Japanese Immigration –
To The Editor of the Herald :- Do you realize that there is a provision in the Dillingham bill reported favorably by the Committee on Immigration to the Senate, January 18, which if enacted, will exclude the Japanese from the United States as the Chinese are now excluded? How will Japan take this new slap in the face? Lesser insults have led to war.
The dangerous paragraph is this:-
“Section 3.- The following classes of aliens shall be excluded from admission into the United States:- All idiots, imbeciles, prostitutes, contract laborers, persons who are not eligible to become citizens of the United States by naturalization.”
The important thing is that instead of excluding Chinese by name it widens the exclusion by saying, “persons not eligible to become citizens by naturalization.” Now, who are these not eligible to become citizens by naturalization? They are Chinese, as every one knows, but they are also Japanese, Hindus and Malays.
HAMILTON HOLT – New York City, Jan. 29, 1912
A 1911 Report Set America On a Path of Screening Out ‘Undesirable’ Immigrants
The Dillingham Commission - https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1911-report-set-america-on-path-screening-out-undesirable-immigrants-180969636/