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Scientific Pro bleeds of Human Migration: Wissler 9 each project, followed by open discussion. Time was also given for a consideration of the whole scheme for investigation, and suggestions were sought for re-shaping and revising the program. In this way each in- vestigator was encouraged to look upon the work of the Committee as a whole and to feel full joint responsibility in the undertaking. Since each of these investigators represented a University center, these conferences may well be looked upon as an important phase of the work of the Committee. During the latter half of the year ~925, Professor G. M. Stratton, then Chairman of the Division, acted as Chairman of the Committee. and visited most of the institutions where projects were under way, discussing the status of his problem with each investigator. Finally, in January, 1926, the present Chairman assumed full respon- sibility for the work of this Committee. Since the three years set as a limit to its work would be reached the following June, the duties of the new Chairman were largely to attend to the routine business of the office and to prepare the final report for submission to the Division of Anthro- pology and Psychology of the National Research Council. THE PROGRAM During the years I923-I926, sixteen projects were supported in whole or in part. Most of these had been completed as the time of filing this report and as to the others, we are-assured that they will be earned through and important findings published in due course of time. The complete list is as follows: MA TOR PROJECTS I. Internationalizing or Universalizing Mental Measurements. Under the direction of Professor Carl C. Brigham at Princeton Uni- versity. ~923-~926. a. Study of Primitive Forms of Human Response. Under the direc- tion of Professor Raymond Dodge at Wesleyan University. ~923-~924. Project transferred to the Institute of Psychology, Yale University, since ~924. 3. Analysis of Human Personality. Under the direction of Professor W. V. gingham and C. S. Yoakum at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. 1923-1924. In the fall of 1924 Professor Yoakum went to the University of Michigan, and work on the project was continued there under his direction. 4. Analysis of Measurement of Mechanical Abilities. Under the direc- tion of Professors Richard M. Elliott and Donald G. Paterson at the University of Minnesota. I923-I927.
lo Scientific Problems of Human Migration: Wissler 5. Influence of Race upon Pathology. Under the direction of Doctor Raymond Pearl at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. ~923-~925. 6. Behavior of Physical Traits in Race Intermixture. Under the direc- tion of Doctor Clark Wissler at the American Museum of Natural History. ~923-~926. 7. Shortage and Surplus of Labor in the United States in its Relation to Emigration and Immigration. Under the direction of Prod fessor Wesley C. Mitchell at the National Bureau of Economic Research. ~923-~924. 8. Available Data and Sources of Information in European Countries regarding Causes of Migration. Under the direction of Professor Henry P. Fairchild, in Europe. ~923-~924. 9. Development of Automatic Correlation Computing Machine. Under the direction of Professor Clark L. Hull at the University of Wisconsin. ~924-~926. lo. Studies of Will-Ten~perament and Handedness. Under the direc- tion of Professor June E. Downey at the University of Wyoming. -~926. I. Study of Emotional Types. Under the direction of Professor Margaret F. Washburn at Vassar College. ~924-~925. As. Comparative Psychological Study of Negroes and Whites. Under the direction of Professor Joseph Peterson at the George Pea- bo~dy College for Teachers. ~924-~927. MINOR PROJECTS a. Visual Tests of Insight. Under the direction of Professor Robert M. Yerkes, in collaboration with Professor Raymond Dodge and Doctor lIaroId C. gingham, assisted by Miss Geraldine Stowell and Miss Margaret S. Child. ~923-~925. b. Anthropometric Measurements of Negro and White Women at Nash- ville, Tennessee. Under the general direction of Doctor Clark Wissler, work conducted by Miss Beatrice Blackwood. ~924- ~925. Anthropometric Measurements of Negro Men at Howard University, Washington, D. C. Under the general direction of Doctor Clark Wissler, work conducted by Doctor Melville l. Herskovits. d. Iso-agglutination Tests on Indians and Filipinos. Under the general direction of Doctor A. F. Coca, work conducted in the field by Miss Clara Nigg and Mrs. Ella F. Grove. ~925-~926.
Scientific Problems of Human Migration: Wissler ~ It will be noted that of these projects twelve were considered as major, or leading projects, and were classified in the minutes of the proceed- ings of the Committee as, Psychology ...... Anthropology .... Sociology ........ Unclassified ~ ~ ~ However, this grouping is according to the emphasis in technique, since all of the psychological projects were aimed at the determination of similarities and differences among migrating peoples and at the develop- ment of methods of examination. The anthropological projects in a similar manner dealt with anatomical characters, and although the socio- logical projects were not strictly comparable, they were directed toward the ultimate comparisons of migrating groups; so that, with two possible exceptions, all twelve projects were aimed at the comparative study of migrant groups. They were SAG fundamental in that basic biological functions were the chief points of attack. This point is emphasized here, because the wide range of projects presented in the foregoing list conceals the unity of objective. Thus, the question is frequently asked: What have these projects to do with migration? This cannot vrell be answered in a simple statement; but remembering that the Committee set out to encourage the discovery of new methods and to perfect exist- ing ones essential to the study of migrating groups, it will be seen that the following questions roughly define the objectives and justify the choice of projects: I. How may we proceed in intelligence estimates irrespective of lan- guage and culture differences ? a. How may we objectify elemental emotional and motor responses to simple stimuli, to discover the basic differences in groups, if there are such ? 3. How may we diagnose mechanical aptitudes ? 4. What may be taken as significant traits in estimating personality? is. How have specific races, side by side in the same environment, stood the organic strain of life, as shown in their medical history? 6. What can be demonstrated as happening to the bodies of men when crossed racially. 7. By what statistical method can the relation between business cycles and the migration of labor be revealed ? 8. What mechanical aids can be devised to facilitate the computation of the statistical data developed in these several lines of inquiry ?
12 Scientific Problems of Human Migration: Wissler It will be further apparent that the solutions to the problems described above will give better methods and new insights into human behavior, equally useful in administration, education, industry, and social prod cedure. It is in this respect that these researches are fundamental, and, in so far as they are fundamental, not peculiar to migration problems. The Committee, having at the outset decided to promote the investigation of fundamental rather than immediate problems in migration, it was in- evitable that any specific investigation should bear upon many aspects of the human problem as well as upon migration, and that, in conse- quence, the program might appear to have lost sight of the Committee's chosen objective. As previously stated, the Committee believed that the three years they might reasonably be expected to function would only suffice to initiate kinds of investigation that promised a clear view of the relative im- portance of the several proposed approaches to the complex phenomena of migration, and to start the development of such techniques and ap- pliances as might prove of service in future investigations. It is in this light that the specific grants made should be interpreted. Although it was clear that the most desirable thing would be a closely coordinated attack upon the more urgent fundamental problems involved, such a program could be undertaken only after experience in the formulation and exploration of sources and methodology in research. There is, however, a coherence in the projects selected by the Com- mittee. As previously indicated, the Committee regarded the subject of individual human behavior, using that term in a broad sense, as the weakest spot in the situation. Notwithstanding all that had been done in the way of mental measurement, the methods available were adapted to our own outlook upon life and to our national stock and not readily readjusted to immigrant groups. For one thing, language barriers had not been surmounted. Hence, the need was for intensive experimenta- tion with methods of measurement, disregarding language; and ulti- mately the determination of norms for the national stocks concerned. Naturally, the fundamental objective was a technique in which all lin- guistic and social factors were to be reduced to a minimum. Further, it appeared that one of the important functions in behavior is what may be termed insight; a function for which there is as yet no satisfactory method of study and observation. Assuming that in this complex func- tion may lie one of the secrets of individual and group differences, the significance of an advance in this direction is obvious. Closely related to these problems is what may be characterized as the measurement of mechanical abilities and aptitudes as manifest in the individual. The
Sctentiic Problems of Human Migration: Wissler ~3 immediate success of the immigrant and his future in the new in- dustrial setting may well depend upon the success with which he can fit into the situation and adapt himself to the new order of life, since he, like everyone, must earn a living. In broad terms, his potentialities for citizenship are in need of measurement. Naturally, an. inquiry of this kind is of first importance, regardless of immigration; but if selective immigration is to be what the name implies, there is need of a clearer insight into and a satisfactory method of estimating such abilities and aptitudes. It was in this light that the Committee gave encouragement to projects numbers ~ and 4 and to. minor project a. The alternative policy of the Committee would have been to accept existing methods of measuring mental traits, performance, and aptitudes as the best available, and to have proceeded to an immediate rating of migrating groups; a job that could have been well organized and carried through in a way similar to the work of the personnel division of the Army; however, the Committee rejected this alternative as the least · . promlslng. It is generally recognized that the emotional and temperamental factors in life are of first importance; hence, it is clear that in any approach to the comparison of immigrant stocks and estimation of their fitness to join in any form of culture, consideration must be given to! these factors. As everyone knows, little progress has been made with the measurement of the emotions. Perhaps the conservative course to have taken would have been to rule that the subject was too forbidding and~should there- fore be ignored; but the Committee regarded the wiser course to be a cautious but definite attempt to open up the subject. Accordingly, ap- proval was given to several projects, such as numbers 2, 3, lo, and ~ I. In brief, then, the psychological program of the Committee was aimed at a single, ultimate objective; namely, effective means of measuring mental, motor, and emotional traits. The value of an equipment of this kind to a program of research in migration and later in the administrative aspects of the question can scarcely be over-stated. Turning now to the social and economic aspects of the problem, it was the opinion of the Committee that a study of migration into the United States should be made at the source; but before a decision could be made as to the most promising and feasible inquiries, a survey of the statistical data available in the several countries of Europe seemed neces- sary. Accordingly, such a survey was made a part of the first year's program. Another matter of specific importance was the study of labor supply in relation to immigration, since it was the current belief at that time that here was one of the fundamental relations to be considered
~4 Scientific Pro bleats of Hutnan Migration: Wissler in any policy of immigration restriction. So, in the social science part of the program, one major investigation was authorized and a pre- liminary survey of available data in Europe proposed: numbers 7 and 8. These projects were supported by the Committee during the year ~923 :924. This seems a convenient time to state the administrative difficulties faced by the Committee in developing this part of their program and to explain the outcome. In later consideration of the social science side of the problem of human migration, the Executive Board of the National Research Council declined to approve the taking on of obligations in the field of the social sciences, on the ground that the National Academy of Sciences, under whose auspices the National Research Council operates, does not concern itself with the social sciences, and was not, therefore, prepared to assume responsibility for investigations in this field. Be- cause of this decision, the Committee could not consider new projects in the social and economic aspects of their problem. Hence, the objec- tives of the Committee were from that time on limited to psychological and other biological aspects of human migration. Incidentally, it may be remarked that the newly organized Social Science; Research Council set up ~ committee of its own, under the same title, and took over the projects and recommendations of our Committee relating to the social sciences. Though the two committees have worked in friendly cooperation, they are, by the nature of their origins, independent; and this report must needs therefore deal exclusively with its own activities, limited as indi- cated above to the psychological and biological aspects of the problem. To the field of general biology one naturally turns for data to aid in formulating an opinion as to the relative resistances of different racial stocks, not only to diseases as such, but resistance to industrial and cul- ture strains peculiar to modern life. The answers to questions on such topics should lie in the records of hospitals, departments of health, etc.; but in order that it may be known if such records are adequate to the purpose, studies of existing data are necessary. And the primary prob- lems here are those of methodology in the gathering of such data and of selecting the significant observations to be recorded. In close associa- tion with these topics are the problems of relative death and birth rates the angle from which the results of race intermixture can best be approached. Studies of this kind were under way in Baltimore before the Committee was organized; hence, it was considered wiser to sup- port and intensify those investigations in their effort to further develop methodology and at the same time secure some specific results. Further, this study, due to the population setting in Baltimore, would not only
