Speech #460087093

Mr. Chairman. authorizes the Sacretary of the Treasury to resort to institutions and hospitals scattered over the country for the care of the imnaigrants. and provides the proper penalties for the enforcement of these provisions. Until 1876 it was confidently assumed th ththe States possessed the general power of passing all laws necessary and proper for protecting themselves against the introdnition of foreign paupers. lunatices. convicts. and others unable to live without being a public burden. The decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in that year virtually deprived the States of the power which bad been assumed. by holding that the only practicable exercise of it conflicts with the rights and powers of the General Government. In this decision the Supreme Coni declares thatWe aTre of opinio that this whole subjot has betan confided to Congress by the Countittion . that Congress can mere appropriately and with mere aeptanexercise it th anyee no o oat by providing a system of laws is these matters applicalble to all parto and to sit vesola a serious question. which has long been a matter of contest and complaint. may e effealply and satisfactorily srted. The unprecedented prosperity of the American Republic brilliantly illustrates the advantages to the country of immigration in the past. Its importance in the development of our vast unoccupied domain. a recruiting our industries. and its hearing upon American civilization and American institutions in the future cannot be overestimated. With the establishment of the Pacific railways and the opening of unoccupied sections in the South. Southwest. and West. the tide of immigration will continue to increase. The State of Texas alone. six times the size of the State of New York. would. if as thickly populated as Massachusetts. contain a pupa1tiou of fifty millions. The great benefit of encouraging and protecting immigration inures not to the Atlantic States. not to New York only. but mainly to the Western and Southern States. but. while encouraging immigration. we must guard against spoliation upon the immigrant and the landing of paupers. destitutes. and criminals upon our soil. It is impossible fully to appreciate the value of immigration to this country without recalling to some extent the number of immigrants who have served to swell our population. and the skill. energy. and genius which they have added to the bodypolitic. Authorities differ as to the wealth which immigration has brought to our shores. Mr. Edward Young. Chief of the Bureau of Statistice. in his report dated March 17. 1871. estimates the increase from this source forthe fifty yearsproceding. to be more than $6.24:l.880.800. and for 1870 at $25.000.000. But even this is based upon an estimate of the mere physical. uncultivated powers of the immigrant. How shall we determine the measure of value to our country and its institutions of the rare intelfcts. the skilled artisans. and the creative geniuses who have poured in upon us from foreign lands? In all the walks of public and private life they have appeared and left their impressin the avenues of commerce. in the workshop. and in the delicate functions of government.