NATIONAL ORIGINS PROVISION OF IMMIGRATION LAW 141

understand it, in the city of New York were burned at the Ellis
[sland fire of 1896. Many of the early records were destroyed when
the British occupied the city of Washington, all the data was necessarily
 lacking or not kept; and Doctor Hill and his committee faced
this tremendous task, and to the best of their ability tried to perform
 it, but the whole thing is impossible of human performance
and ascertainment, without being offensive.
Senator Reep. May I interrupt you with a question?
Representative McCormack. I would be glad to have you do so.
Senator Reep. Have you read the entire statement of the American
Legion?
Representative McCormack. Yes; I have.
Senator Reep. Do you think there is no force in their argument
that 53 per cent of the foreign born who were called in the draft
claimed exemption on account of alienage?
Representative McCormack. Not on this question; no, I do not.
Senator Rzep. Do you think we ought to base our quotas on a
group of which 53 per cent declined to serve the country in time of
crisis and ignore all the native-born Americans?
Representative McCormack. As I said before, the argument, in
my opinion, advanced by the representative of the American Legion
is an inflammatory, emotional, and irrelevant argument. Just as a
fundamental question on immigration I would say this—I hope the
Senator does not think I am trying to evade this question; if I fail to
do so, I want you to keep right after me; I do not want to duck it,
in plain language—but it seems to me if Congress wanted to say, “ We
will give southern Ireland this much, we will give Scotland this
much—England with Scotland, Wales, and North Ireland this
much ”—if you and I as Members, performing our duty as we see it,
and the majority accomplishing it, agree we will give each country
a definite quota, I have no controversy. I might disagree, but we
will assume our responsibility. We here say that it shall be determined
 upon national origins.
We then pass to the President’s commission of three eminent men,
distinguished men—not of my political faith, but that is immaterial—politics,
 in my opinion, ceases in the main on election day.
We are here to do what we can nationally. Those men admit inferentially,
 at least, in both their reports that they have no faith in it,
at least they say they do not guarantee its correctness. That is
a fair inference to be drawn in both their reports. Doctor Hill
admits that he feels it to be statistically correct—that is, his first
report—statistically correct. He does not believe it to be correct,
only statistically correct.
Senator Rep. Did you see Doctor Hill’s testimony that he believed
that the 1890 computation involved greater uncertainties than the
national-origins basis?
Representative McCormack. No.
Senator Reep. You did not see that?
Representative McCormack. No. I did read something purporting
to come from Commissioner of Immigration Hull to the effect that
1890 basis is better and more desirable—I think I saw in Senator
Shipstead’s article, which I found very interesting. I say that not
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