Speech #480078719

R. 2550. and recommend its pas- made. sage. with the following amendment. as substitute for both of said bills: Add to section 5 the following: "Nor shall anything in this act be so con- The testimony shows that the wages of laborers in our factories have strued as to prevent any person or persons. partnership. or corporation from frequently been reduced in some localities 10 or 15 per cent. by the imengaging under contract or agreement skilled workmen in foreign countries to perform labor in the United States in or upon any new industry not at present portation of Italian or Hungarian laborers. That these imported laexisting or etablished in the United States. provided skilled labor for that pur- borers abandon their employment after a little time and become wanpose can not be otherwise obtained. nor shall the provisions of this act apply to dering vagrants or else return to their European homes. professional actors. lecturers. or singers."T Thisrecommendation is founded upon the investigations ofthe committee and There is nothing which tends more directly to degrade the honest the conclusion to which the committe e hecome. bascd upnn suc iuvcstiga- labor of this country than this system as it has been practiced in some tio. tha the evils complained of and sought to be remedied by the bill actually of the manufacturing districts. end to an alarming extent exist. The bill in no measure seeks to restrict free immigration. Such a proposition would be. and justly so. odious totheAmerican people. The foreigner who voluntarily and from choice leaves his native homes to a foreign laud under false pretenses. much less does it beland and settles in this country with the intention of becoming an American friend the laboring men of our own country. citizen. a part of the American bodypolitic. has always been welcome to our While I approve the objects of the bill. I could not vote for it in its shoes Asarcntwienwlad oSuch an immigrant by his coming to this country gives us a certain assur- present form. The friends of the bill have honestly desired to prevent anceas to hisability to takecareof himselfand tohold upthestandardofsocial the evils to which I have just alluded. But in their zeal to do this wellheing which he finds already existing among our working classes." Such an immigrant comes here because the institutions of the country are in they have drawn a bill altogether too rigorous in its provisions. I live consonance with his social and political ideas. and hiecause of the advantages in a commumity in which those of foreign descent form no small proand opportunities afforded by the extent of our domain and its material re- portion of our entire population. Instances have frequently come under sources. He comes to better his social and financial condition. to take advan- m bevto hr emnIiheadNrein iigi age of the facilities which he finds here. and as he come s own volition by his own means. and from choice. lie always exacts for his labor the highest WVisconsin have sent for their kinsmen abroad to come and share with rates which the market affords. No one is injured by his coming. and as he them the prosperity of their adopted home. generally makes agood citizen. the State is benefited by the acquisition. These IneeyState theeaeAeia iieso oeg it h r immigrants are generally of ahighereclass. socially. morally. and intellectually I vr eeaeAeia iizn ffrinbrhwdar and have aided largely in the development of our industries and the material laying aside some portions of their earnings to devote them to the aid progress of our people. WVith this class of immigrants this bill has no concern. of their relatives beyond the seas. There are men and women. too. all Its object is to restrit and prohibit the immigration or rather the importation of an entirely different class of persons. the immigrant who does not come by over the land who are indulging thoe that next month or next year "his own initiative. ut by that of thefcapitalist." It seeks to restrain and pro- they can send money enough to pay the passage of some relative to hibit the immigration or importation of laborers who would have never seen America. It can not be the purpose of those who reported the bill to our shores or e inducements end allurements of men whose onh object te pretnse fm e de t be is to obtain labor at the lowest possible rte. regardless of the social ca n prevent those ac o f uroity. rial wellbeing of our own citizens and regardless of the evil consequences practice of which I have just spoken is not an abuse. but one which which result to American laborers from such immigration. This class of immigrants care nothing abot outr institutions. and in many in- i srese ct fo wlThe suipps of th plear. bill s prevn stances never even heard of them. they are men whose passage is paid by the i s t wih s tpuort i the n l o ois importers. they come hereunder eontractto laborforacertain numberofyears. is added to the bill moderating its strict provisions I can not give itmy they are ignorant ofor social conditions. and thattheymayremain so they are vote. I have prepared an amendment which I think will cure this deisolated and prevented frm coming into contact with Americans. They are feetin of our wie defectis nstan haverence uder generally from the lowest social stratum. and live upon the coarsest food and in hovels of a character before unknovn tohAmerican workmen.