“Shut the Door”Date: April 9, 1924
Author: Ellison DuRant Smith
By 1924 calls for immigration restriction were not new. Over the preceding five decades they had grown progressively in number and forcefulness. The Chinese were but the first group to bear the brunt of the new political clout of the nativists, being excluded from entry in 1882. Before World War I the list of those prohibited from entry included the mentally handicapped, contract laborers, polygamists, political radicals, Japanese, prostitutes, illiterates, alcoholics, and others. A Bureau of Immigration was established under the Treasury Department to oversee immigration in 1885.
Added impetus to the nativist crusade came from the United States Immigration Commission, better known as the Dillingham Commission. Its findings added fuel to the restrictionists’ cause, providing material for many popular writers including Madison Grant. An attorney and noted conservationist with degrees from Yale and Columbia Universities, he also promoted eugenics which sought to create a better form of human being through selective breeding and forced sterilization of those found unworthy. Grant combined this with his support for immigration restriction to pen The Passing of the Great Race which gained exceptional popularity among like-minded people. Preaching a message of Nordic superiority, Grant's writings, along with others of similar message, added a strong element of racism to the already charged nativist drive for further restriction.