October 20: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

October 20, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1925, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON — During the first year of the 1924 Immigration Act the tide of aliens seeking residence in the United States divided itself nicely into two approximately equal groups — those who came from quota countries and those who did not. The total immigration for the fiscal year 1925 amounted to 294,314 aliens, of which 148,366 came from Europe and 141,496 from America. From Asia, Africa and the Pacific came a few thousand more to balance the total. As all European countries come under the quota provisions of the new law, immigration thence has naturally been sharply reduced. But what puzzles Department of Labor officials here is an almost corresponding drop of aliens from non-quota regions, that is, from the countries of North and South America against which no restrictions have been raised. The two chief American countries to send immigrants across the borders of the United States are Mexico and Canada. In the fiscal year 1924 Canadian immigration approximated 200,000, while aliens poured in from Mexico to the number of 89,336. But during the last fiscal year, without any change in the law regarding their entrance, the number of Canadians admitted as immigrants to the United States declined to 100,895. Aliens from Mexico came to only 32,964 for 1925. Thus it will be seen that the total of this major portion of American non-quota immigration has taken a tumble within a year from about 290,000 to 133,500, or, in other words, has been more than halved.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1940, the Eagle reported, “The youthful lawbreaker needs only a little aid to make good, the Queens Grand Jurors Association was told at a recent meeting in Lost Battalion Hall, Elmhurst, by Magistrate Henry A. Soffer. He reported that only two of 100 youths brought before him had failed after he found them jobs. He declared that improper environment and the lack of work to keep them off the streets were the main causes of juvenile delinquency. ‘Our aim is to save the boy from a criminal career if possible, not only for his own sake and his family’s sake,’ he said, ‘but from a material standpoint as well, since crime costs the nation $10,000,000 a year.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1941, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — Three Republican Senators today introduced a bill to repeal the entire neutrality act as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to hold secret hearings on a House measure to strike out the act’s ban on arming merchant ships. The Republican measure to repeal the entire act was offered by Senators Styles Bridges (N.H.), Warren R. Austin (Vt.) and Chan Gurney (S.D.). Anti-interventionists, led by Senator Burton K. Wheeler (D., Mont.), have threatened to offer a rider to any such repealer to force a vote on an outright declaration of war against Germany. The Foreign Relations Committee voted 12 to 9 to hold secret hearings on the House-approved resolution authorizing the arming of merchant ships. Several anti-interventionist members of the committee served notice that they would not observe the rule of secrecy. The anti-interventionists described the move for secret hearings as a ‘gag.’ The hearings will begin tomorrow and end not later than Friday. Today’s committee meeting was prefaced by a statement by Chairman Tom Connally (D., Tex.) that American sailors and ships should ‘shoot and shoot to kill’ to avenge the attack on the U.S.S. Kearny in which there were 21 American casualties.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1947, the Eagle reported, “Jews and Arabs in the Holy Land can easily live as partners in peace, a group of Palestine Jewish leaders told a general meeting of the National Council for Labor Palestine, yesterday at the Barbizon Plaza Hotel, Manhattan. More than 300 delegates from the United States and Canada and four from Tel Aviv heard Joseph Sprinzak, general secretary of Histadrut (Federation of Jewish Labor in Palestine) and an adviser on Palestine to the Jewish Agency delegation at the U.N., declare that ‘as a resident of Palestine for the past 39 years, I have not been impressed by the Arab threats. We have always lived with the idea that there can be peace with the Arabs.’ Mr. Sprinzak said that present strained relations between the Palestine labor movement and the British labor government may soon be corrected. But he added that it would not be accomplished at the price of Jewish existence.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1950, the Eagle reported, “‘Louisa,’ Universal-International’s widely heralded family comedy starring Ronald Reagan, Charles Coburn, Ruth Hussey, Spring Byington, Edmund Gwenn and Piper Laurie, will have its New York premiere at the Maytag Theater on Tuesday, Oct. 24. ‘Louisa,’ which has been designated as ‘the outstanding family comedy of the year’ by the New York City Federation of Women’s Clubs, was produced by Robert Arthur and directed by Alexander Hall.” (Editor’s note: Piper Laurie acted for more than 70 years after debuting in “Louisa.” She earned Oscar nominations for “The Hustler” in 1961 and “Carrie” in 1976 and recently played voice roles on the podcast series “Around the Sun.” She died Oct. 14 at age 91.)

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ON THIS DAY IN 1952, the Eagle reported, “The Trendex rating from Oct. 6 on CBS-TV’s ‘I Love Lucy’ show broke all previous program records by scoring a 60.2 rating. The results were based on a survey of 10 cities where there were three or more competitive stations. The results also revealed that the nation’s No. 1 TV show garnered 90.4 percent of the audience.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Wanda Jackson, who was born in 1937; Baseball Hall of Famer Juan Marichal, who was born in 1937; “Boy Meets World” star William Russ, who was born in 1950; Foreigner co-founder Al Greenwood, who was born in 1951; “thirtysomething” star Melanie Mayron, who was born in 1952; broadcaster and former N.Y. Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez, who was born in 1953; Oscar-winning filmmaker Danny Boyle, who was born in 1956; “Little Miss Sunshine” co-director Valerie Faris, who was born in 1958; “Green Book” star Viggo Mortensen, who was born in 1958; U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who was born in 1964; “Cobra Kai” star William Zabka, who was born in 1965; political commentator Michelle Malkin, who was born in 1970; three-time NBA All-Star Eddie Jones, who was born in 1971; and model and philanthropist Candice Swanepoel, who was born in 1988.