of late years received many white immigrants from
other countries (e. g., Italy) where the taboo is weak because the
problem has never been pressing.

3. But to prevent intermarriage is only a small part of the solution,
since most mulattoes come from extramarital miscegenation. The only
solution of this, which is compatible with the requirements of eugenics,
is not that of _laissez faire_, suggested by the National Association,
but an extension of the taboo, and an extension of the laws, to prohibit
all sexual intercourse between the two races.

Four states (Louisiana, Nevada, South Dakota and Alabama) have already
attempted to gain this end by law. We believe it to be highly desirable
that such laws should be enacted and enforced by all states. A necessary
preliminary would be to standardize the laws all over the Union,
particularly with a view to agreement on what a "Negro" legally is; for
in some states the legislation applies to one who is one-sixteenth, or
even less, Negro in descent, while in other states it appears to refer
only to full-blood or, at the most, half-blood individuals.

Such legislation, and what is more important, such public opinion,
leading to a cessation of Negro-white amalgamation, we believe to be in
the interests of national eugenics, and to further the welfare of both
of the races involved. Miscegenation can only lead to unhappiness under
present social conditions and must, we believe, under _any_ social
conditions be biologically wrong.

We favor, therefore, the support of the taboo which society has placed
on these mixed marriages, as well as any legal action which can
practicably be taken to make miscegenation between white and black
impossible. Justice requires that the Negro race be treated as kindly
and considerately as possible, with every economic and political
concession that is consistent with the continued welfare of the nation.
Such social equality and intercourse as might lead to marriage are not
compatible with this welfare.

CHAPTER XV

IMMIGRATION

There are now in the United States some 14,000,000 foreign-born persons,
together with other millions of the sons and daughters of foreigners who
although born on American soil have as yet been little assimilated to
Americanism. This great body of aliens, representing perhaps a fifth of
the population, is not a pool to be absorbed, but a continuous,
inflowing stream, which until the outbreak of the Great War was s