WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMMIGRATION

27

Mr. Davis. Mr. Chairman, I have a short prepared statement
which I shall give with your permission. From what you said to
me before the hearing I believe that you wish to hear about the
trip which I have just taken to Mexico and to Canada as a Foreign
Service inspector.
During the past year I have visited some 30 consular offices in
Mexico and Canada, and have attended four conferences of consular
officers called by the Department of State with a view to insuring
the observance by consuls in contiguous territory of standards of
admissibility equal to those observed by their colleagues in Europe
and elsewhere in carrying out their responsibilities under section 2 (f)
of the immigration act of 1924.
The response of the consular officers in the field to the measures
taken by the State Department in the connection I have just mentioned
 has been most gratifying. The applying of uniform standards
has had a most pronounced effect upon the volume of immigration
from Mexico. The total number of immigration visas issued to
Mexicans during the past five fiscal years, that is, since the enactment
 of the Johnson Act, was, as Mr. Simmons pointed out in his
statement, 284,338, or an average of 56,868 per annum. The
monthly average during this period was 4,739. Since the conference
at Mexico City at which consuls were instructed as to the standards
which should be universally applied under the immigration act of
1924, the volume of visas issued has been greatly reduced. During
the first six months of the present fiscal year the monthly average has
dropped from 4,739 to 1,354.
Mr. Box. May I interrupt? That period began July 1, 1929?
Mr. Davis. The computation did. The conference took place——
Mr. Box (interposing). Is that not over a period in which it is
claimed that the whole body from Mexico returns to Mexico?
Mr. Davis. No, sir.
Mr. Box. Is it true that the big incoming of ‘Mexicans is in the
spring of the year?
Mr. Davis. No, sir. There are two seasons of increased immigration,
 one in the spring and one in the late summer and fall.
Mr. Box. That they come here then for employment; the figures
don’t show that?
The Cuarrman. Proceed.
Mr. Davis. As I said, during the first six months of the present
fiscal year the monthly average has dropped to 1,354, which represents
a decrease of 71 per cent, as compared with the volume for the five
years ended June 30, 1929. This is at an annual rate of issue of but
16,242, which is gross immigration, and is only 28.6 per cent of the
former average annual volume.
. It may be pointed out that this comparatively small volume
includes many Mexicans who would not be subject to quote restrictions
 and others who do not represent new immigration. Of the
Mexicans receiving immigration visas since July 1, 1929—
About 15 per cent were students who presumably would be entitled
to nonquoto immigration visas under section 4 (a), even if quota
restrictions were extended to Mexico.
About 21 per cent were wives and children of Mexicans in the
United States who, to a large extent, would be entitled to nonquota
Immigration visas under section 4 (a) either actually or potentially.