Introduction
In 1924 the United States passed the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act that drastically decreased the number of immigrants allowed into the U.S. through the implementation of a quota system. The Immigration Act established both the Visa process and was the beginning stricter border security protocols being introduced. The quota system disproportionately favored Western countries in Europe as countries such as the United Kingdom received higher quotas, whereas Southern and Eastern European countries received stricter quotas. The document “Letter Regarding the Immigration Act of 1924” was written by Portugeese-American Manuel S. Amaral in 1925 as a response to the quota set on immigrants from Portugal. The Immigration Act granted Portugal a total of 440 immigrants per fiscal year to be allowed to enter the United States. Authored on behalf of 200,000 Portugeese-American citizens living in California, Amaral requests the U.S. government amend the Immigration Act to allow more Portugeese to enter the country. The letter was sent to James J. Davis who served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1921 to 1930. Under this role Davis was responsible for carrying out the actions established by the Immigration Act.
I selected this document because of its significance to the Immigration Act of 1924 and showcases how American immigrants resisted the act throughout the 1920s. The letter offers insight into the Portugeese-American experience in California and presents arguments against the quota act through the lense of immigrant farmers out West.
Document
Document Text
Hon. James J. Davis,1James Davis was…
Dept. of Labor,
Washington, D.C.
November 25, 1925.
Dear Sirs:
In the name of 200,000 Portugese people, citizens of California, we beg to enlist your endeavour to have amended the Immigration Act, which limits the admission into this country to 500 Portugese each year. Or if this means of solving the pressing problem be impracticable to find some other way to overcome the hardship which this limitation places upon one or more of California’s leading industries.
We beg to remind you that approximately 90 per cent of the Portuguese population in California came from the Azores and Madeira Islands. They emigrated to California to make their homes, rear their families, live the lives of good citizens and to educate their children to follow in their footsteps. They are an industrious, frugal, home-loving people and comprise and one of the most useful and patriotic elements of our composite population. There is not a more law-abiding class of citizens in our State or one that is more uniformly contributive to substantial development of its basic industries and the spiritual, social and material advancement of the commonwealth.
In the great Valleys of the State, in the foothills and plains, the Portuguese people will be found successfully engaged in diversified agriculture, truck farming, dairying and horticulture. They have reclaimed the virgin land and developed it to that high state of productivity which contributes so largely to the wealth of the State and the Nation. They have clung to the soil, and constitute one of the greatest and most dependable factors in the conservation of the most important of all California industries- the farm.
Many of the largest dairies in the State are operated by the Portugese who are naturally adapted to that line of work, as experience proves. There are approximately 3,500 Portugese dairies in California and the labor involved is in large measure performed by the families of the owners. In the face of existing labor conditions, it would be utterly impossible to replace these workers with other help. Americans of other racial extractions cannot be induced to labor in the various agricultural pursuits, especially in the arduous work of the dairy, despite the high wages prevailing. This is patent to anyone familiar with the situation in all lines of agricultural operation.
With the immigration quota as low as that now permitted to Portugal, our Portuguese farmers and dairymen find it impossible to overcome the losses and wastage of the necessary help to continue their business, from other available sources.
We appeal, therefore, to out California representatives in the Congress to use their best endeavors to relieve a condition that threatens thousands of out Portugese farmers- these industrious and constructive citizens from The Azores and Madeira Islands- and their families, with financial ruin and a loss annually to the State and Nation of millions of dollars. Whether this relief comes from the admittance of more willing and competent workers in this field from Portugal or through other means is immaterial so long as the essential objective is attained.
May we ask you, therefore, to give this vital problem to the best interests of the foremost industry of California the serious consideration that it deserves?
Respectfully yours,
Mr Manuel S. Amaral
Citations and Sources
Letter to James J. Davis, Department of Labor, from Portuguese Citizens of California Regarding the Immigration Act of 1924; 11/25/1925, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Record Group 85; National Archives Building, Washington, D.C. https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/letter-immigration-act-1924
The Immigration Act of 1924(brief overview): https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act
Senior History and American Studies student at Ramapo College of New Jersey enrolled in Discovering Digital History course taught by Dr. Hajo during Spring 2021.
