Speech #500051077

I am informed by the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations . who has just come into the Chamber. that the subject of limiting the immigration of paupers. etc.. is now befbre that committee. Therefore. with the leave of the Chair. I will have the reference of the petition changed. The petition was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. and ordered to be printed in the RECORD. as follows: Mcemorial. To the honorable Senate and House of Repescnlaives in Congress asremnbled: The senate and house of representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in general court assembled present this memorial: The act of Congress regulating immigration. passed 1882 and amended 1884. forbids the landing of convicts. lunatics. idiots. orany other person liable to become a public charge. and provides for thereturn of all convicts arriving at any portof the United States. except those convicted of political offenses. to the countries from which they came. From testimony submitted to a committee of this Legislature it is evident that. notwithstanding these enactments. convicts are released from penal institutions in Great Britain and Germany. before the expiration of their terms of sentence. upon the condition of their accepting a passage ticket to this country or to Canada. that persons who have received relief from public charity. or who ara likely to ask for such relief. are also sent to this country. that a few. through the vigilance of the immigration officers. are detected and returned. but that by falsehood. subterfuge. assistance of interested parties. and by being in possession of prepaid tickets to some interior town or city. large numberssucceed in evading the law. especially when the immigrant is accompanied by a relative or volunteer friend who has once been in the United States. and who is ready to vouch for the good character and the ability of the immigrant to earn alivelihood. It is plain that any examination. conducted with the utmost vigilance on the part of the immigration officer. of one thousand or more passengers at the gangway of a steamn ship. at the best can only be superficial. and that convicts. who by their vocation of crime have habituated themselves to evade the law and deceive detectives. in many instances are able to effect a landing. It is an indisputable and wellestablished fact that convicts are not only released from prison. but that they are transported to this country either at the . expense of foreign governments or by associations acting in concert with the officials. who. in disregard of international comity. violate the laws of the United Slates. thus imposing their burdens upon the people of this countrya procedure which should awaken the just indignation of every American citizen. and which calls for remedial legislation. The reports of the public institutions of this Commonwealth show a marked disproportion between the native and foreign born inmatesthe foreign born receiving public charity being 60 per cent . a very large proportion of whom have arrived in this country at a comparatively recent date. In other States. especially those that have received large accessions from Great Britain. the increase of foreign born in the charitable institutions is equally disproportionate to the native born. In one of the reputable literary reviews for the month of March. 1888. it is stated that nearly every pauper from Great Britain was assisted to this country either by governmental aid or by socalled philanthropic associations. The transportation of theimprovident and thriftless classes to other countries is openly advocated as a measure of philanthropy in an article published in a reputable literary review in London. January. 1888: .. There is no wider field of work for the philanthropist than this: Let each benevolent person take up one thriftless family as a special charge. and assist emigration. Care must be taken to provide a friend on the other side. for the thriftless do not lose their thriftlessness on the voyage. and a good start in the new home is invaluable." In 1882 and again in 1883. by acts of Parliament. $1.000.000 was appropriated to assist emigration from Great Britain. coincident with that legislation. and with assistance by philanthropic effort in that country. is a marked increase ils the disproportion between those of nativeand foreign birthin the prisons. almshouses. and asylums for the insane throughout time United States. Of paupers in the almshouses of the United States in 1880 there was 1 in 986 of the nativeborn inhabitants to I in 29t of the foreignborn. Of the crimInals in prisons and workhouses. there was 1 In 938 of the nativeborn inhabitants of the country to 1 in 518 of foreign birth. Of the inmates of insane asylums there was 1 in 662 of the nativeborn population to 1 in 254 of the foreignborn. From an examination of the reports of the public institutions in several of the States the evidence seems to be conclusive that the disproportion between the native and foreign born inmates of those institutions is much greater than that reported by the census of 1880. To the end. therefore. that thepeople of this Republic may be protected from the evils and burdens resulting from the importation of convicts. paupers. idiots. insane. and the thriftless of other countries. the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. with this memorial. asks for such amendment of existing laws as shall effectually exclude these classes of immigrants.