44 
THE IMMIGRATION PROBLEM 
In 1864, on the recommendation of President Lin 
coln, a bill encouraging immigration was passed. In 
1866 a joint resolution condemned the action of Swit 
zerland and other nations in pardoning persons con 
victed of murder and other infamous crimes on 
condition that they would emigrate to the United 
States, and in 1868 the encouraging act was re 
pealed. 
Some of the States had provided for the collection 
of money to support immigrants who had become pub 
lic charges; but these laws were finally declared un 
constitutional by the United States Supreme Court, 
and in 1882 the first Federal Immigration Law was 
approved. This forbade convicts, except political of 
fenders, lunatics, idiots, and persons likely to become 
public charges, to land. During the following years 
there was considerable agitation for further restriction 
or regulation, which culminated in 1888 in the selec 
tion of the “Ford Committee” by the House of Rep 
resentatives. In the testimony before the committee 
it was shown that sometimes immigrants coming by 
steamer to Quebec, within forty-eight hours of their 
arrival, applied for shelter in the alms houses of the 
State of New York, and like cases of gross abuse ex 
isted by the thousands. 
No further legislation, however, was enacted until 
1891, when a bill was passed which added to the ex 
cluded classes persons suffering from a loathsome or 
dangerous contagious disease, and polygamists, but 
from that time on there has been an earnest effort to 
protect the United States against such undesirable 
immigrants. In Chapter XVI a more detailed study 
of these acts will be given.