This file consists primarily of telegrams and correspondence between the Department of Labor headquarters and members of the public on the issue of admission of aliens who landed soon after their quotas were exhausted. Steamship companies often rushed to get them to Atlantic ports before quotas ran out and a large backlog developed in November 1923 at various ports, straining the resources of the Immigration Service. The vast majority of the immigrants in question were Jews from Poland or Russia. Most of the public opinion expressed took the form of the included standardized petitions, addressed to President Calvin Coolidge, which usually read in part as follows: "I appeal to your well-known exemplifications of American sense of justice, to admit them to this country ... who (immigrants) are the innocent victims of circumstances over which they had no control. Humanitarianism prompts the plea for admission." The included responses, usually from Second Assistant Secretary of Labor Robe Carl White, also generally took a standardized form as follows: "each individual case coming before the Department will receive the most careful and sympathetic consideration, and everything possible consistent with law will be done to alleviate the situation." Also included is a small amount of correspondence with members of Congress in which the Commissioner General of Immigration gave more substantive replies, which provided insight into the difficulty of handling the situation. Of note, part 55374/282 C contains a telegram dated November 17, 1923, from New York Representative (and future mayor) Fiorello La Guardia in which he criticizes the Commissioner of Immigration at Ellis Island, Henry Curran, for sending conflicting signals as to whether these immigrants were to be admitted or excluded and questioned the linkage to an election. This file does not reveal the outcome of these immigrants' cases. The whereabouts of part 55374/282 B is unknown.
